Law Firms

California sued GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and 37 other pharmaceutical companies as part of a lawsuit accusing drugmakers of defrauding the state’s $34 billion Medi-Cal program by inflating prescription prices. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who sued Abbott Laboratories in 2003, added the other companies in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston […]

A Manhattan judge has ruled that a law firm accused of legal malpractice over advice it gave clients on mutual fund “late trading” can seek discovery from two other law firms, one of which is now representing the same clients in ongoing government investigations of late trading. Supreme Court Justice Rolando Acosta ordered LeBoeuf, Lamb,

The US government has seized almost $9m from Conrad Black, the embattled media tycoon, alleging that the proceeds of his sale of an elegant New York apartment were the result of a fraudulent scheme. FBI agents swooped on Friday night as the $10.5m sale of the Park Avenue property was completed. They seized $7.9m. Earlier

In 1996, Eugene Stearns and his Miami-based law firm joined a team of lawyers representing thousands of gas station owners around the country who claimed they’d been ripped off by oil giant Exxon. Just before Stearns and his firm signed on as lead trial counsel with the team, which included Pertnoy Solowsky & Allen of

The mass murder trial of Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants proceeded with its usual chaos Wednesday, with the proceedings were peppered with outbursts from Saddam and his half-brother. Defense attorneys questioned the validity of the memories of the witnesses and accused the witness of being coached, as Barazan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Saddam Hussein lectured

American International Group Inc., the world’s largest insurer, probably will announce a $1.6 billion settlement of U.S. state and federal regulatory investigations later today, people familiar with the matter said. The agreement would resolve New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s allegations that AIG used sham reinsurance contracts to hide losses and understate liabilities, two people

Plans are afoot in Victoria, Australia to ban the title solicitor because it confuses lawyers with prostitutes, beggars and hawkers. The Attorney-General, Rob Hulls, said the word “evokes thoughts of panhandlers, door-to-door salesmen and streetwalkers”. “In fact, in the US there are signs around the place saying, ‘Do not give money to solicitors’.” To clearly

Average profits at the top 50 firms fell for the second year running, depressed by the lack of corporate mergers and acquisitions and the slowdown in capital market activity. That compares with fee growth at the top 50 firms of 8.6 per cent in 2001-02 and 21 per cent in 2000-01. Profits were down 0.9

It has been decades since Tony Blair had his day in court. That expertise could prove invaluable, particularly as there is only one precedent for a serving prime minister appearing in public before a judicial inquiry. John Major, the former Tory prime minister, gave evidence at the Scott Inquiry into the arms-to-Iraq scandal and was

Like most elite US firms, Cravaths’ awards are handed out solely on a seniority basis with no performance criteria. Cravaths’ announcement, which was made to associates on 8 December, ends weeks of intense speculation over whether New York firms would this year sanction significant increases to the awards handed out in 2002, given the post-summer