3rd Circuit: Time to Cure Mortgage Default Ends at Auction
New Jersey homeowners facing foreclosure will have to move faster to cure a mortgage default, under a federal appeals court decision. The 3rd Circuit held that the right to cure ends when the property is sold at auction, rejecting the owner's argument that it continues until the deed is delivered to the purchaser. The ruling in the closely watched case, which drew amici on both sides, resolves a more than decade-old split among federal bankruptcy and district judges in New Jersey.
2nd Circuit Sorts Out 'Truth' From 'Puffery' in Advertising Dispute
The 2nd Circuit has upheld a decision preliminarily enjoining DirecTV from airing television commercials on its high-definition service's quality in markets where Time Warner Cable operates, but the court also found that a federal district judge erred in preventing DirecTV from running some of its Internet ads. Second Circuit Judge Chester J. Straub wrote, "The Internet advertisements' depictions of cable ... are not even remotely realistic. It is difficult to imagine that any consumer" would be fooled.
Survey Says Librarians Like Their Jobs but Are Displeased With Vendors
Today's law library is tightly integrated with the rest of the firm. It's vital for finding case law and for finding new business, too. 's sixth annual survey of law librarians at Am Law 200 firms reveals that they're continuing to move beyond legal research and into marketing and competitive intelligence, computer training and even knowledge management projects. But while job satisfaction rates remain high, headaches come from the vendors who sell access to electronic research tools.
Getting Law Firms to Boot Up to Green
Are you one of those people that leaves your desktop running so valuable time isn't wasted in booting the operating system? You're not alone. Consultant Brett Burney offers a few simple tips to turn your firm's desktops on to a lighter shade of green.
Retired Pilots Claim Delta Owes Them at Least $100 Million in Pension Benefits
About 1,000 retired Delta Air Lines pilots asked a federal bankruptcy judge Tuesday to award them at least $100 million in pension benefits they say Delta hasn't paid them because the company is misinterpreting federal tax law. "While it is not unusual to litigate the validity of proofs of claim after confirmation of a plan, it is unusual for a claim of this magnitude to be filed after confirmation," said a bankruptcy attorney.
Judge Won't Overturn $32.7M Jury Verdict in Ponzi Scheme Case
Once again, a federal judge has refused to overturn a jury's verdict of more than $32.7 million in a suit brought on behalf of the victims of a $1 billion Ponzi scheme operated by a Pennsylvania businessman. At the time of its collapse in 1995, The Foundation for New Era Philanthropy was the biggest financial scandal in the history of American charities. Most of the money was stolen from Christian religious organizations and other Philadelphia-area charities.
Troutman Sanders Joins Bandwagon, Raises First-Years' Pay
Troutman Sanders raised associate pay $15,000 across the board in its Atlanta, Washington, Virginia and North Carolina offices Thursday, with the starting salary going to $145,000. The raises are effective Jan. 1, 2008, the same date the raise that Alston & Bird announced to its Atlanta associates last week goes into effect. Troutman Sanders made the first move in the round of associate pay increases that rippled through Atlanta in February, when the firm bumped starting pay from $115,000 to $125,000.
Suit Alleges Private Equity Firm Hid Problems at Refco, Seeks Almost $1B Damages
Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, which recently sued Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw over the law firm's role in the collapse of commodities brokerage Refco, was itself sued Wednesday by Refco's creditors. The complaint filed in New York federal court is seeking almost $1 billion in damages. It alleges that Lee, which bought a controlling interest in Refco in 2004, knew about serious problems with Refco internal governance, but concealed or ignored them because it wanted to proceed with an IPO.
Thelen Restructures U.K. Joint Venture
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner and U.K. law firm Pinsent Masons have announced that they're reconstructing the global construction law joint venture that they launched with great fanfare in 2003 into a less firmly cemented "best friends" bond. The joint venture, Masons Thelen Reid, was profitable from nearly the beginning, according to Thelen Co-Chairman Steve O'Neal, but the firms realized they could "accomplish the same thing" without the costs incurred from maintaining a separate legal entity.
Six Holland & Knight Partners Quit to Launch Boutique Firm
Holland & Knight suffered its first large partner exodus in years when six of its top lawyers announced that they were leaving to start their own firm. The new firm, to be known as Avila Rodriguez Hernandez Mena & Ferri, includes Alcides I. Avila, former head of Holland & Knight's banking and finance group. "We believe that there's a strong market for a small boutique firm that can provide personalized services," Avila said. "We're going to have a lot more flexibility in the type of cases we can handle."
New Rules for Unaccredited Calif. Schools Start in 2008
The State Bar of California has approved rules for the regulation of unaccredited law schools. The rules, which go into effect on Jan. 1, include requirements that unaccredited schools maintain adequate records, pay oversight fees and meet library standards. Deans of California's accredited law schools worry that the new regulations will blur the line between their institutions and the unaccredited schools. Deans from the unaccredited schools fear the new rules will endanger their "nonbar" J.D. degrees.
Name: SyroBro