The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Groups Push Changes to Civil Procedure Rules

A partnership between the American College of Trial Lawyers and a non-profit in Colorado is fleshing out some ideas to speed up the pace of civil lawsuits.

The ideas go to the foundations of the civil justice system, including discovery rights and the timing of trials and pretrial conferences. They also address the standards for civil pleadings, an issue that has recently also drawn the attention of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Advocates hope that the changes would make the civil justice system more efficient, responding to concerns that too many cases settle for financial reasons, not because of merit.

Hoping to study civil justice issues, ACTL paired up in 2007 with the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver. They released a report in March of this year outlining general principles for discovery rules in state and federal courts. Click here for a National Law Journal story on that report.

In two reports released today, the groups outline rules that they say jurisdictions could follow if they chose to implement pilot programs for the ideas. Click here to download the reports.

An example of one proposed rule, which would govern responses to pleadings: “Any statement of fact that is not specifically denied in any responsive pleading is deemed admitted. General denials are not permitted and a denial that is based on the lack of knowledge or information must be so pleaded.”

Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty in D.C. to False Statements

A 40-year-old former FBI special agent pleaded guilty today in federal district court in Washington to fraudulently obtaining nearly $42,000 in lodging expenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said.

Jeffrey Shim, who first took a position with the FBI in 2002 in the Honolulu division, fraudulently claimed $41,658 in housing vouchers to which he was not entitled over a 15-month period, U.S. Attorney's Office officials said. Shim resigned from the FBI last week. He has agreed to make restitution.

Authorities say Shim, who was reassigned to the Newark field office in January 2008, submitted false documents to FBI headquarters for reimbursement for claimed lodging expenses. In May 2008, Shim was on temporary duty assignment at FBI headquarters in Washington.

Shim, according to court records, falsely represented he was renting a room in Beltsville, Md., when he was living with his family in Olney, Md. Shim and his wife bought a house in Olney in August 2006.

Shim presented false documents to the FBI that included two fake "rental agreements" with forged signatures of a fictitious landlord, according to court records. The first rental agreement, submitted in June 2008, said Shim was paying $1,400 weekly in rent.

U.S. Attorney's Office officials said the FBI discovered "irregularities" that led to the investigation of Shim. The false statement charge was filed against Shim last month. Assistant U.S. attorneys Daniel Friedman and Matthew Solomon are prosecuting the case.

Shim is scheduled to be sentenced next February before U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton. Shim faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Shim's lawyer, David Shapiro of Washington's Swick & Shapiro, could not immediately be reached for comment this afternoon.

Former OLC Chief OK With Criminal Inquiry

A former acting chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel said today he is "not opposed" to a criminal investigation of the office, which was at the center of the Bush administration's internal debate about torture.

Daniel Levin's comments were unusual because other former Republican appointees have opposed additional investigations in the Office of Legal Counsel. He led the office from July 2004 to February 2005.

Levin spoke at a forum at American University’s Washington College of Law on whether and how former government lawyers should face discipline. He said he does not have an opinion on the best way to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by government lawyers, but he suggested that a criminal investigation of the Office of Legal Counsel – though a “blunt instrument” – could be worthwhile.

“I personally am not opposed to criminal investigations of myself and others from our time there,” said Levin, now a partner in the Washington office of White & Case.

At the same time, Levin defended the motives of two other former OLC officials, Jay Bybee and John Yoo. Bybee and Yoo have drawn the most criticism because of their involvement in writing or approving so-called “torture memos” after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I genuinely believe, for what it’s worth, that they genuinely believed the advice they were giving was correct,” Levin said.

Former Law Partner in Mich. Sentenced to Prison for Tax Crimes

A former partner at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone in Kalamazoo, Mich., was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison for tax-related crimes that involved a client, the Justice Department said.

The lawyer, John "Jac" Campbell, 68, pleaded guilty in April 2008 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan to one count of conspiring the defraud the government. A client, Oskar Rene Poch, was sentenced yesterday to one year of probation.

Poch, who owned Trillium Staffing, an employee-leasing company in Kalamazoo, pleaded guilty last year to obstructing the administration of Internal Revenue Service laws. Poch, represented by Myers Nelson Dillon & Shierk, said in a letter to the court that lying to the IRS “jeopardized everything I have spent a lifetime building.” Poch has repaid $1.63 million in taxes since pleading guilty.

Justice prosecutors said in court papers that Campbell, represented by Butzel Long partners in Detroit, promoted and implemented illegal tax shelters for clients between 1999 and 2006 and also helped Poch evade income taxes for 1999 and 2000. Three of the tax shelter promoters were convicted on conspiracy charges last month after a four-week trial.

Campbell said he retired from Miller Canfield in 2007 after having worked in tax and employee benefits arena for more than 40 years. He said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Janet Neff that he has resigned from the Michigan bar and that he has no intention to resume the practice of law or to give tax advice.

“My reputation as a tax advisor has unquestionably suffered as a result of my actions and conviction,” Campbell said in the letter. “This event has ruined my professional and personal reputation, built over many years, in Kalamazoo.

The Morning Wrap

Not So Above the Law: A professor at the University of Miami School of Law is suing the legal gossip blog Above the Law for $22 million dollars, reports The National Law Journal’s Karen Sloan. Donald Marvin Jones says the Web site portrayed him in a false light and invaded his privacy when it featured him in a series of posts after he was arrested and charged with trying to solicit a prostitute. The charges were eventually dropped. And Jones says ATL's coverage degenerated into vicious racism.

Mutual Suspicion: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday seemed reluctant to question the fees mutual funds pay to the investment advisers who run them. According to The National Law Journal’s Tony Mauro, several justices seemed ready to side with business groups in Jones v. Harris and Associates, wondering aloud whether the court was in a place to second-guess market decisions.

Another Dreier?: Partners at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Rothstein Rosenfeldt Alder are asking the court to dissolve their firm after discovering money missing from accounts created by its co-founder, Scott Rothstein. According to court filings, the politically connected attorney may have sold non-existent settlements to investors. The Wall Street Journal says the firm could meet the same fate as New York’s Dreier LLP, which collapsed after revelations that its own founder had defrauded investors by selling bogus notes.

Bullets are Flying…Off the Shelves: Gun owners are spending a record amount of money on guns and ammunition, which has left a shortage of bullets in stores, says The Washington Post. Americans bought 12 billion rounds this past year, up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year.