The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Businessman Named In Drug Conspiracy Fights Continued Detention

Zhenli Ye Gon must feel like he's trapped in a revolving courthouse door, as his legal effort challenging his detention in the United States is passed from one judge to another.

Ye Gon, a Chinese national and resident of Mexico whom the U.S. Justice Department pegged as a leader in a global methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, has remained in custody since his arrest in Maryland in July 2007.

Federal prosecutors abandoned the government’s drug and money laundering case against Ye Gon in 2009 over a Washington judge’s concern that government lawyers withheld favorable information from Ye Gon’s trial counsel. Ye Gon, who owned a pharmaceutical wholesale business in Mexico, has long alleged he was not involved in any drug manufacturing or trafficking organizations.

Ye Gon remains jailed without having been convicted of a crime. The authorities in Mexico want Ye Gon prosecuted there on drug and money charges. Ye Gon is awaiting a final decision by the U.S. State Department about the surrender to officials in Mexico.

Yesterday, a federal trial judge in Washington, Amy Berman Jackson, ruled that Ye Gon must use the federal court system in Virginia to challenge his continued detention. Jackson issued an order sending the case to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia for disposition.

Ye Gon in February first filed a habeas petition in the Western District of Virginia, naming the warden of the state-run facility where he is jailed, in an effort to challenge an extradition ruling. He later filed a similar petition in Washington federal district court.

But the presiding judge in the Virginia proceeding, James Turk, did not rule on the merits of Ye Gon’s legal challenge. Instead, Turk, acting on his own, in May sent the dispute to U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia.

Law School Fights Former N.D. Attorney General's Age Discrimination Suit

Updated at 11:46 a.m.

Michigan State University College of Law, which was hit with an age discrimination lawsuit over the summer in Washington federal court, is fighting back, filing a motion this week to dismiss the case or at least sever it from the other defendants and transfer it to a Michigan court.

Nicholas Spaeth, the former attorney general for North Dakota, first sued the school on July 28 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Spaeth claims that despite his vast experience as a lawyer, the school passed him over for a teaching job because he was too old.

The school moved for dismissal on Oct. 14. Less than a month later, Spaeth filed an amended complaint (PDF) on Nov. 7, this time against Michigan and five additional schools and their representatives. On Nov. 21, Michigan renewed its motion to dismiss (PDF), and asked in the alternative that the court separate it from the other defendants and move the case to U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

“Plaintiff’s claims against MSU Law arose from a separate and distinct occurrence than those giving rise to his claims against the other law schools,” the school wrote in its motion. “Indeed, Plaintiff has not even alleged concerted action amongst the defendants.”

The other schools now named in the lawsuit include University of Missouri School of Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law, Georgetown University Law Center, University of Iowa College of Law and University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

Lead counsel for Spaeth, Lynne Bernabei of Washington’s Bernabei & Wachtel, said that because the schools in question all did not give Spaeth an interview during the same job fair in Washington, “there was a unifying adverse action that was taken in the District of Columbia.”

The Morning Wrap

Red Light: The Federal Communications Commission moved to block the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile on Tuesday on the basis of findings that it would cause job losses and higher prices for consumers, officials said. It was an unusual move for the FCC, which has not tried to block a deal since 2002, The Washington Post reports.

Blame Game: In one of the few fraud suits brought against a mortgage banking official in the aftermath of the financial crisis, a new defense has been mounted by the executive: my regulator told me to do it, The New York Times reports.

More Money: Citigroup Inc., whose $285 million settlement with U.S. regulators over a collapsed collateralized debt obligation was faulted by a federal judge as too lenient, may have to pay more money to avoid admitting it did anything wrong, said lawyers following the case, Bloomberg reports.

Suspended: Judge William Adams, who made national headlines after the release of a 2004 video of him beating his then-teenage daughter, has been suspended by the Texas Supreme Court, CNN reports.

Hot Seat: Jon Corzine, who has been publicly silent since resigning as MF Global's chief executive on November 4, was asked to appear before Congress next month to explain how his futures brokerage, among the largest in the United States, collapsed into bankruptcy so fast, Reuters reports.

Senate Confirms Seven to D.C. Courts and Agencies

In a confirmation blitz on Friday, the Senate confirmed seven nominees to Washington's local courts and law enforcement agencies.

The confirmations add two new judges to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals - the city's equivalent of a state supreme court - and three new judges to the District of Columbia Superior Court. A court spokesman confirmed that there is one vacancy left on both courts.

Superior Court Chief Judge Lee Satterfield, though a spokesman, said that he is grateful the Senate acted on the nominations, and is pleased to have more judges joining the Superior Court bench.

Corinne Beckwith and Catharine Easterly, both attorneys with the D.C. Public Defender Services, were confirmed as the newest associate judges on the appeals court. Both testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which considers judicial appointees to local Washington courts, on Sept. 23.

Beckwith was Obama’s first nominee to the appeals court. She has been an appellate lawyer with the Public Defender Service since 1999 and supervisor of the appellate division since 2009. Easterly has been with the Public Defender Service since 2003, and serves in the Special Litigation Section.

The three new Superior Court judges are Peter Krauthamer, Superior Court Magistrate Judge John McCabe Jr., and Danya Dayson. All three were nominated in July and appeared before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee on Nov. 8.

Krauthamer is deputy director of the Public Defender Service. McCabe has served as a magistrate since 2002. Dayson is an associate at Washington’s O’Toole, Rothwell, Nassau & Steinbach.

The Senate also confirmed Nancy Ware as director of the city’s Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, and Michael Hughes as the new U.S. Marshal for District of Columbia Superior Court. Both of those positions have been vacant since 2008.

Retrial In Narco-Terrorism Case In D.C. Scheduled For February

An Afghan national jailed in the United States for his alleged role in a global heroin enterprise will remain in custody at least until February, when federal prosecutors in Washington plan to mount a second trial.

A jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia deadlocked Friday in the prosecution of Haji Bagcho, charged in November 2006 in a drug trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said pumped heroin into the United States.

The case against Bagcho used common investigative techniques in the drug enforcement arena, including recorded phone calls, audio and video surveillance and controlled drug deals.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Bagcho participated in a large-scale heroin trafficking operation in the Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan. A confidential source allegedly purchased heroin from Bagcho that had a U.S. street value of about $3 million.

The jury deliberated for several days before it said in two notes last week that it was deadlocked. Senior Judge Thomas Hogan of Washington federal district court declared a mistrial Friday afternoon.

Prosecutors in court papers called the charges against Bagcho “the product of a long-term international heroin trafficking and narco-terrorism investigation” in Afghanistan and in several other countries.

The case against Bagcho marked a rare prosecution under the DEA’s expanded authority to target international drug rings with alleged ties to terrorism and terror activity.

That power came from a 2006 federal law that made it a crime to provide anything of pecuniary value to a person or group involved in terrorism. Prosecutors contend Bagcho was providing support to the Taliban. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is examining the scope of the law.

"People who commit crimes against the United States from outside our borders are not immune from justice, as this indictment proves," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a statement in 2009.

Prosecutors unsuccessfully asked for an anonymous jury to keep secret the names and employment history of panel members for their safety. An assistant federal public defender, Shawn Moore, argued juror anonymity is unnecessary and unfair. Moore said an anonymous juror would “severely limit the ability of Mr. Bagcho and counsel to select an unbiased jury.”

Hogan is scheduled to meet with the lawyers in the case next month for a status hearing. The retrial is scheduled for Feb. 21.

Failure to Serve Sends Father of Slain Iraqi Woman Back to Square One

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed (PDF) the dismissal Friday of a lawsuit against Unity Resources Group LLC, a private security company accused of fatally shooting an Iraqi woman in 2007. The plaintiff, the woman's father, hadn't properly served the company, the court found, but it left the door open for him to refile his complaint.

Jalal Askander's daughter, Genevia Jalal Antranick, was traveling by car in Baghdad in October 2007 when private security guards working for Unity Resources Group allegedly opened fire. Askander has been trying to sue Unity Resources Group and the primary contractor that hired them, RTI International, a North Carolina nonprofit, since 2008.

The case began in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, but was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina – the judge at the time thought it was a better location – in February 2010. Neither court addressed head-on whether a court in Washington would have jurisdiction over Unity Resources Group.

The North Carolina judge dismissed the federal claims. Askander, represented by solo practitioner Paul Wolf, filed a new complaint in August 2010 in District of Columbia Superior Court. The trial judge dismissed the case, finding that the companies’ ties to the city were too minimal to establish jurisdiction.

The three-judge appellate panel heard oral arguments on Nov. 7. In addition to considering jurisdiction, the judges also focused on the fact that Wolf failed to properly serve Unity Resources Group.

In the two-page opinion, the judges wrote that Askander’s lawsuit against Unity Resources Group failed the moment he didn’t properly serve the company in the District; a representative was served in Virginia. The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning Askander can refile his complaint and serve Unity Resources Group “as he indicated at oral argument that he would,” the judges wrote.

In Hot Market, Energy Lawyers Jumping Between D.C. Law Offices

Energy lawyers are in demand in Washington these days, with top-ranked lawyers jumping from firm to firm as the practice area heats up.

The most recent move came today, when McDermott Will & Emery announced it picked up go-to natural gas regulatory partner Karol Lyn Newman from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Newman advises clients on regulatory issues affecting coal gasification, liquefied natural gas, natural gas storage, and natural gas transportation projects. She called the move to McDermott “an amazing fit” and said that it “blends the strength of my regulatory practice with McDermott’s internationally-recognized transactions practice in the energy area.”

“We are very pleased that a lawyer of Karol Lyn’s caliber is joining the practice,” said Blake Winburne, partner and global head of McDermott’s 27-lawyer energy advisory practice group in a news release. “We will continue to invest in and grow this important practice area.” In September, the firm brought on Jeffrey D. (Dan) Watkiss, a leading energy regulatory partner from Bracewell & Giuliani.

McDermott isn’t the only firm adding power to its energy practice. On Nov. 17, Venable announced it added five energy lawyers in Washington. Partners David DeSalle and Daniel Malabonga and associate Michael Splete joined from Duane Morris, and partner Brian Zimmet and associate Jason Wool were formerly with Hunton & Williams.

“Energy issues occupy such a critical role in our economy today, and that makes the addition of these three partners both timely and fortuitous,” Brock Landry, who is co-chair of Venable’s government division, said in a news release.

DeSalle has extensive experience with transmission planning and generation interconnection issues, as well as issues related to unconventional shale formations. Zimmet specializes in federal regulation and restructuring of the electric utility industry, with a particular emphasis on electric reliability matters. Malabonga’s practice focuses on electricity and ancillary service markets.

Another big move came in late October, when Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced that Adam Wenner joined as partner in charge of the firm’s energy regulatory group. He moved from Chadbourne & Parke, along with of counsel Amanda Riggs Conner.

Wenner represents independent power generators — including some of the largest wind and solar projects in the U.S. — as well as “merchant” transmission companies and traditional electric utility companies in regulatory proceedings.

Other energy moves in Washington in recent months include Amy Koch, a former chair of Patton Boggs’ energy and natural resources practice group, who moved to Reed Smith.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld picked up Thomas Trimble and Jeremy Schwer from Hunton & Williams, and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius added partner Glen Bernstein, previously with Sidley Austin.

The Morning Wrap

Violence in Egypt: Protesters in Egypt continue to clash with police, as more than 10,000 people gathered Monday in Tahrir Square to demonstrate against military rule, the New York Times reports. Three American students participating in protests were also arrested by Egyptian authorities yesterday.

White House Shooter: The Idaho man accused of firing bullets at the White House appeared in Washington federal court on Monday, where U.S. District Magistrate Judge Alan Kay ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the Washington Post reports.

Closing Time: Steven J. Baum P.C., the New York foreclosure firm that came under fire for hosting a party mocking the homeless, will be closing its own doors after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stopped referring cases to the company, the New York Law Journal reports.

Penn State Investigation: Corporate Counsel reports that Penn State's Board of Trustees has appointed the law firm of a former FBI director and federal judge to investigate the university's handling of the reporting of sexual crimes.

UC Davis Fallout: As outrage continues to grow over a video showing a UC Davis police officer spraying seated protesters in the face with pepper spray, the university's chancellor apologized at a rally Monday. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that pressure is growing for the chancellor to resign.

Sterne Kessler Renews its Lease in D.C.

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox has decided to renew its lease and to grow the amount of space it's using in the building that once housed D.C.'s Greyhound Bus terminal.

The Washington-based intellectual property firm recently signed a 10-year lease to occupy about 120,000 square-feet across three floors. Presently, the firm occupies about 86,000 square-feet.

Managing director Michael Ray declined to comment on the price of the lease, but said the firm weighed the cost of relocating to Bethesda or northern Virginia before deciding to extend its lease in Washington.

“We decided to stay in D.C. for the central location,” Ray said. “This area has really come into its own. With the new city center being built, that will add more light and vibrance to the neighborhood.”

Ray said that when the firm first moved into the building at 1100 New York Avenue in 1993, there were 23 attorneys, compared with 102 attorneys today.

“We are extremely bullish on the economy and on our market segment,” Ray said.

D.C. Superior Court Mourns Loss of Former Chief Judge

Former District of Columbia Superior Court Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton died over the weekend, according to a release from the court.

Hamilton, who was 78 years old, was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1970. He served as chief judge from 1993 to 2000, and then as a senior judge. He died on Nov. 19.

"He was a man of many talents, who led our court during the crucial years of revitalization," current Chief Judge Lee Satterfield said in a statement.

Hamilton was born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1933 and earned his law degree from the University of Illinois. After serving as a Judge Advocate General Officer, Hamilton joined the civil division of the Justice Department as a trial attorney, where he served until his appointment to the bench.

During his time as chief judge, Hamilton oversaw a court in turmoil. As reported at the time in Legal Times, the fiscal crises facing the District in the 1990s meant Hamilton came under fire from local and congressional officials over how the court managed its own finances and administration. The local courts came under complete congressional oversight in 1998.

Hamilton was also credited with making a number of positive changes to the court, including the reenergizing of the family court calendar. Hamilton, who cared for dozens of foster children, gave high priority to improving how the court managed cases involving families and children.

Satterfield, in his statement, noted that Hamilton remained active on the bench after taking senior status, recently handling a high-profile case involving a young boy who was stuck at Children’s National Medical Center after no one came to get him.

"His commitment to the children of DC was evident in his final days,” Satterfield said.