The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Stevens Trial Stays Local

An early question in the Ted Stevens trial was where it would take place. Though the charges were filed in D.C., Stevens’ legal team at Williams & Connolly pushed hard to move the proceedings to Alaska. The location would be easier for Alaska-based witnesses, attorney Brendan Sullivan announced at Stevens' arraignment earlier this month, and the move would allow the senator to campaign for re-election when the trial was not in session.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued in both hearings and briefs that moving the trial would cause unnecessary delays. Trying the case in Alaska could also potentially taint the jury pool, prosecutors asserted, because Stevens would receive widespread attention in his home-state media.

The prosecution won out. At a hearing today, Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected the defense's change-of-venue motion. Stevens didn't attend the hearing. According to the Anchorage Daily News, he was campaigning in advance of Alaska's Tuesday primary.

Fried, Frank Lays Off Staff in D.C. and N.Y.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has laid off administrative staff in its Washington and New York offices. None of the firm's 650 lawyers were let go. The National Law Journal, a Legal Times’ sibling publication, reports that those let go account for less than 10 percent of the firm’s 730 staffers, and that floating secretaries, paralegals, part-time assistants, and library personnel were primarily affected.

Through his receptionist, D.C. co-managing partner Elliot Polebaum declined to comment on the layoffs. Fried, Frank spokeswoman Paula Zirinsky would not specify how many people were let go in D.C., nor would she comment on why the New York and Washington offices were targeted. She instead released the following statement in an email:

“Over two years ago Fried Frank began a review of its administrative resources and staffing requirements. As part of this review process some departments were expanded and others consolidated. Today's administrative staff reductions are part of that business review process. Those affected are in the Firm's NY and Washington DC offices. Severance and career counseling were offered to all of those affected.”

Fish & Richardson to Send Three Middle School Students to Space Camp

Fish & Richardson announced yesterday that it has picked three local middle school students to receive a scholarship to NASA Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. this summer.

The scholarships are part of the patent law firm’s effort to get children excited about the fields of math, science, and technology. Each of the firm’s 11 offices selects three underprivileged children each year to receive scholarships.

The students in the Washington area are selected each year from the SEED Public Charter School. This year’s scholarship winners are seventh graders Tayvon Eubanks, Taylor Butler, and Capri Kennedy. They will be traveling with a chaperone whose trip will also be covered by Fish & Richardson.

“A lot of these kids [from the school] have never even been outside the D.C. metro area. It’s more than just the space camp experience. It’s a neat thing to have these underprivileged kids get a chance to see the country as well,” says James "Tripp" Fussell, an associate who heads up the firm's scholarship committee in Washington.

Former Georgetown Law Dean Dies at 90

On Sunday, Georgetown Law Dean Emeritus Paul Dean, often referred to as the "founding dean of the modern Georgetown University Law Center," who had been battling an ongoing illness, has died. He was 90.

Dean headed the Law Center from 1954 to 1969 as the school’s 10th dean.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Paul Dean," Georgetown Law Dean Alexander Aleinikoff said in a statement. "He was an inspiring and innovative leader who brought Georgetown Law to the forefront of legal education."

During his tenure as dean, Dean led the law school’s move from a single building at 6th and E Streets to the current five-building location on New Jersey Avenue at the foot of Capitol Hill.

Dean joined the Georgetown Law faculty in 1947 and taught contracts, taxation, estate planning, and trusts. He served as an editor of Estate Planning Techniques, a neutral trustee of the United Mine Workers Health and Retirement Fund, and an academic fellow of the American College of Probate Counsel.

A charter member of the Estate Planning Council of the District of Columbia, he served as legal adviser to the President’s Commission on Government Contract Compliance from 1952-1953 and as a member of the President’s Commission on Pension Policy from 1979-1981.

Dean is survived by seven children, 20 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

The Morning Wrap

Legal Credentials: The conventions are around the corner, and veep speculation is flowing. The American Lawyer, true to form, has this story evaluating the legal resumes of the potential vice presidents.

Interpretation: Lawyers representing many of the 265 detainees at Guantánamo Bay say a shortage of interpreters could delay federal court hearings, The Washington Post reports. As of now, just over a dozen interpreters work for more than 400 lawyers, acting not only as interpreters of not only language but also of culture.

Augmenting the EPA: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday said state authorities are allowed to establish air pollution monitoring requirements to supplement Environmental Protection Agency requirements that are deemed insufficient, reports Legal Times' Mike Scarcella. Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, immediately heralded the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which voted 2-1 to vacate a rule in the Clean Air Act. The court ruled against the EPA and the Washington, D.C.-based American Petroleum Institute.

Hacking Rides: The Wall Street Journal reports that a federal judge in Boston has dissolved a gag order against three Massachusetts Institute of Technology students who figured out how to take free subway and bus trips as part of a class project. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority won an emergency injunction against the students earlier this month, preventing them from presenting their findings at a computer-security conference in Las Vegas.

Covington Helps NFL Score Big Antitrust Win

The National Football League’s most important win — so far — this season didn’t happen on the gridiron, but rather in a courtroom yesterday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit affirmed on Monday a summary judgment ruling that the league is a “single entity” whose business choices are nearly impossible to challenge under Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which bars agreements in restraint of trade.

American Needle, the plaintiff, is a headwear company that claimed the NFL violated antitrust laws when it agreed to provide sneaker-giant Reebok with an exclusive headwear license to collectively market the NFL teams’ intellectual property. The plaintiff argued that the NFL teams function as competitors and not partners and, therefore, the league’s decision to provide an exclusive headwear license was unlawful. After the court found the league was a single entity, it concluded that American Needle had no claim “because, as a single entity, the NFL and its member teams could collectively license their intellectual property ‘to one or many without running afoul of the antitrust laws.’”

Covington & Burling, which has represented the NFL since 1960, defended the league in the case. According to Gregg Levy, a Covington partner and chairman of the firm’s litigation group, the ruling marked the first time such a judgment has ever applied to a single league, and it has the potential to affect other professional sports leagues. “The logic the court used suggested this decision could have a much broader reach,” Levy said.

Federal Appeals Court Bolsters State Monitoring of Air Pollution

A federal appeals court today said state authorities are allowed to establish air pollution monitoring requirements to supplement Environmental Protection Agency requirements that are deemed insufficient. Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, immediately heralded the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which voted 2-1 to vacate a rule in the Clean Air Act. The court ruled against the EPA and D.C.-based American Petroleum Institute.

The appeals court, ruling in favor of the Sierra Club, rejected a Bush administration rule that restricted the ability of states to supplement monitoring requirements of the Clean Air Act. The rule prohibited states from issuing monitoring requirements for soot, smog, mercury, and other types of pollution from stationary sources that include power plants and factories. State authorities were required to follow federal standards that Sierra Club officials say were insufficient for monitoring air pollution.

“This is huge victory against one of the most egregious rollbacks of environmental protections in our nation’s history,” Sierra Club Director Carl Pope said in a statement. “As one of the first rollbacks of the Bush Administration, this rule helped set a pattern of limiting the application of environmental laws to benefit polluters and denying the public the right to know about pollution in their communities. Public health should be a top priority, not polluters’ profits. Today’s decision will give states back the tools they need to hold polluters accountable and help ensure that everyone has clean, healthy air to breathe.”

For years, the EPA has gone back and forth on whether to allow state and local authorities the power to supplement monitoring requirements. In 2006, the EPA finally determined the agency alone would fix inadequate monitoring requirements — despite objection from several environmental groups. The EPA says allowing states to add to monitoring requirements is bad policy. State authorities can pass more stringent requirements through legislation, the agency says. “We are reviewing the Court’s decision, and will determine an appropriate course of action once that review is complete. In the meantime, we are still assessing the implications of the decision,” an EPA spokesman, Tim Lyons, told Legal Times.

Chief Circuit Judge David Sentelle was joined by Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith for the majority. “We vacate this rule because it is contrary to the statutory directive that each permit must include adequate monitoring requirements,” Griffith wrote. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh dissented, saying that the pre-existing monitoring requirements under the Clean Air Act are adequate.

But the appeals court left open the question of whose opinion wins when state authorities and the EPA conflict over whether a given requirement is sufficient to ensure compliance with the Clean Air Act. Keri Powell of Earthjustice, in New York, argued the case for the Sierra Club. Cynthia Morris represented the Department of Justice.

McGuireWoods' Convention Party Will Honor Gov. Tim Kaine

McGuireWoods and its government and public relations arm, McGuireWoods Consulting, are hosting a reception at the Democratic National Convention next week to honor Virginia governor Tim Kaine, who is also a national co-chairman of the Obama campaign.

L.F. Payne, president of McGuireWoods Consulting, says Kaine is “a personal friend of many” at the Richmond, Va.-based firm. Payne, for one, was a Democratic U.S. congressman from Virginia’s 5th District while Kaine was mayor of Richmond. Payne says that’s where he and the governor began to cross paths.

The firm is co-sponsoring the event on Aug. 27 with clients CSX, Dominion Virginia Power, Eastman Chemical, Maersk, Novartis, and Waste Management. The reception will be held at the Denver Art Museum and will feature Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and former Virginia governor Mark Warner as speakers.

Kaine is, of course, also rumored to be a top contender for Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick. Payne says it could be “potentially helpful” for McGuireWoods “to be close to the vice president or vice presidential candidate,” but adds that Kaine’s staff has told him the governor is not likely to be Obama’s running mate. Nonetheless, hosting high-profile convention parties is a chance to establish other connections. “It’s an opportunity to visit with a lot of people while you’re there, exchange a lot of information and business cards,” says Payne.

McGuireWoods is also hosting a party at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. next month. Payne says former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Republican Virginia senator George Allen will be in attendance.

Covington Lawyer Visits Chinese Students Coming to America

The United States and China, the top two countries in the medal count at the Beijing Olympics, are, for now, consumed by fierce athletic competition. In a few weeks, however, they will be working together in the classroom.

When college classes begin soon, 150 Chinese students from the earthquake-devastated Sichuan Province will be enrolled at 22 State University of New York (SUNY) colleges.

Covington & Burling senior of counsel, Paul Tagliabue, a man who knows a thing or two about sports from his time as NFL commissioner before stepping down about two years ago, visited Beijing to see the first 10 days of Olympics events and then took a day to address the university students coming to America. Tagliabue serves as the chair of the SUNY advisory board.

“They’re coming because of the earthquake that destroyed so much of their province so there was a very sober attitude. But on the other hand they . . . are really excited about spending time on SUNY campuses, “ Tagliabue said.

The students are primarily sophomores and juniors and will study for two semesters. All of the students have committed to return to China to help with the rebuilding effort in Sichuan.

The students, who arrived at JFK Airport last Friday, are fluent in English and will be studying a wide range of subjects, including engineering and humanities, according to Tagliabue. The former top NFL official gave the students some tips for topics of conversation with their new American classmates. “I told them they could talk about things like Chinese food, sports, politics, and Hurricane Katrina, because of the students at schools like LSU and Tulane that had to relocate.”

The Morning Wrap

Discriminating Doctors: The California Supreme Court Monday unanimously ruled that doctors can't invoke religion to refuse treating homosexual patients, three months after the court approved same-sex marriage, The Recorder reports (via Law.com). Doctors, like other professionals, are bound by state law prohibiting discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition or sexual orientation, the court ruled.

Explain Yourself: A federal judge on Monday ordered the CIA to explain why he shouldn't hold the agency in civil contemp over the destruction of videotapes in which high-level al-Qaida detainees were interrogated abroad, the New York Law Journal reports. The Southern District of New York's Judge Alvin Hellerstein said at a hearing that he would give the government 10 days to produce a declaration saying why the judge should refrain from ordering production of a list of the tapes, information on witnesses and any documents or memoranda relevant to the Freedom of Information Act request of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Extradition Problem: Colombian authorities say U.S. extraditions are throwing their investigations into paramilitary crimes into disarray, The Washington Post reports. Fifteen top paramilitary commanders have been extradited to the United States, and Colombian investigators argue that the United States is cutting off their best sources of information about paramilitary groups, whose death squads killed thousands.

Combat Case in Court: The Wall Street Journal previews the trial of a former Marine Corps sergeant who faces manslaughter charges for allegedly participating in the Fallujah killings in 2004. Jose Luis Nazario, who left the Marines in 2005 with an honorable discharge and a medal of valor, was charged by civilian prosecutors in a federal court in Riverside, Calif, under a little-known law that allows U.S. courts to pursue overseas combat crimes that were traditionally beyond their grasp. The trial is scheduled to begin today.