For drama there is not much to match the trial of Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants. But this is not supposed to be about drama – it is supposed to be about establishing whether Saddam Hussein and senior members of his government are guilty of crimes against humanity. There has been precious little of […]
Lost in the hum of daily routine deep in the Eighth Avenue beehive of white-shoe law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore Feb. 13 was the insertion of pale-blue interoffice envelopes into the mailboxes of the firm’s 350-odd associates. The spare memorandum inside contained news that might have set your average drone abuzz: They were getting
The Top 20 Firms Last Years Rank 1. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, New York 1 2. Cravath Swaine & Moore, New York 2 3. Sullivan & Cromwell, New York 3 4. Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, New York 4 5. Jones Day, Cleveland 6 6. Baker & McKenzie, Chicago 7 7. Davis Polk
Bush, who as governor of Texas made tort reform a primary objective, has encountered nothing but roadblocks in his campaign on the federal level. His most recent setback came last month when Senate Democrats prevailed in a filibuster over a proposal to cap punitive damages in medical malpractices cases at $250,000 or twice the amount
While bankers, brokers and dealers have seen earnings slashed and thousands of colleagues made redundant, latest figures show that the City’s corporate lawyers are still earning huge amounts. Of the six-strong ‘magic circle’ of top firms, only Slaughter & May – a specialist in mergers & acquisitions work – reported a fall in turnover, and
William Lerach, 57, is a flamboyant, sharp-elbowed showman. Together, as cochairmen of one of the most feared law firms in the nation, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, they have bullied corporate America out of $30 billion in damages and counting. In building the modern-day model for the shareholder class action, their mission has been
A trial in the case could start as soon as September 13, the date that Judge Rodney Melville set during a hearing in Santa Maria on Friday. During the court proceedings, Jackson’s lead attorney, Thomas Meserau, said Michael Jackson’s $3 million bail amount is excessive. However, prosecutors argue $3 million is a fraction of Jackson’s
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is in talks to take on the bulk of Clifford Chance’s West Coast securities litigation practice as the magic circle giant continues to overhaul its troubled US practice. The proposed deal would see nine partners from Clifford Chance’s San Francisco branch transfer to Orrick and leave Clifford Chance with only a
Famed defense lawyer Barry Scheck, whose Project Innocence has worked to free dozens of prisoners here and elsewhere, will ask federal courts to reform Louisiana’s system of providing the poor with legal counsel. Scheck, who gained international fame as O.J. Simpson’s DNA defense lawyer, has accepted Shreveport Sen. Lydia Jackson’s invitation to address the gubernatorial
The Supreme Court’s first case – Act versus MP Donna Awatere Huata – started chaotically yesterday with a shortage of seats leading to some reporters being barred from the opening stages of the historic first sitting. Oddly for a courtroom, the venue for the first real sitting of New Zealand’s replacement for Britain’s Privy Council
