Plans to abolish juries in complex fraud trials do not amount to a general attack on jury trial, the Attorney General insisted today. Lord Goldsmith QC unveiled plans to enact a change in the law which was passed by Parliament more than 18 months ago. It will allow a single judge to sit on complex […]

John J. Rigas, who built the Adelphia Communications Corporation into the country’s sixth-largest cable company, was sentenced to 15 years of prison today for looting hundreds of millions of dollars from the company’s coffers and concealing its true debt load from investors. John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications, entering court today. “Even to this

A federal judge overseeing the Justice Department’s lengthy civil racketeering trial against major cigarette makers called both sides to a closed-door meeting on Monday. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler did not publicly disclose the reason for the meeting or whether mediation talks would take place. A Justice Department spokesman said he could not comment on

Baker & McKenzie and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary are fighting it out to take control of Coudert Brothers. Coudert’s long-established Chinese practice remains the jewel in a depleted crown but the two firms are also keen on the firm’s Russian practice and the corporate practice in its New York headquarters. DLA Piper refused to

Even in a city accustomed to wel- coming immigrants, they are a breed apart: law firms that leave their home markets, where they often dominate, to open offices in New York, where they struggle for a foothold. But come they have-and do-inexorably, for the last 25 years. By our count, 94 out-of-town firms in The

A jury convicted L. Dennis Kozlowski today of 22 of 23 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, grand larceny and falsifying records, and acquitted him on one charge. Kozlowski, former chief executive officer of Tyco, was found guilty in state Supreme Court. He was acquitted on a single count of falsifying records. Sentencing is tentatively scheduled

Accounting experts think it unlikely that the US Department of Justice will bring criminal charges against accounting firm KPMG over the sale of abusive tax shelters. The Justice Department has been investigating past sales of certain tax shelters by KPMG for several months . The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that US prosecutors had built

Parties involved in a family dispute that threatens to break up a Utah law firm say they have been contacted in an FBI investigation. The dispute involves the firm Gregory, Barton and Swapp, famous for it’s television commercials boasting, “One Call, That’s All.” Keith Barton, the public face of the firm in commercials, is being

The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to investigate whether politics influenced a recent decision to reduce the proposed sanctions in the government’s racketeering case against cigarette makers, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility plans to review the decision to scale back the proposed sanctions in the tobacco case from $130 billion

The ailing King Fahd, one of the world’s richest and most powerful men, is facing an embarrassing public showdown in a British court later this year with a woman who claims to be his estranged wife. The 83-year-old ruler of Saudi Arabia is being sued by Janan Harb for a share of his $22bn (£12.2bn)