The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Appellate Specialist to Take Seat on D.C. Court of Appeals

Veteran Washington appellate attorney Roy McLeese III will be a judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

The Senate confirmed McLeese with a unanimous consent vote late Thursday, sending the chief of the appellate division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to a bench spot left vacant when Judge Vanessa Ruiz announced her retirement earlier this year.

During his confirmation hearings in March, McLeese suggested that expanding the electronic case management could be a solution to the district’s heavy caseload, which makes it a challenge to provide high-quality yet timely opinions.

This Week in The National Law Journal

Suits pile up over toning shoes: Leigh Jones reports that at least 90 personal injury lawsuits are pending in federal and state court against Skechers USA Inc., maker of Shape Ups, with plaintiffs claiming the round-bottomed shoes are dangerously unstable, resulting in broken ankles, busted knees, even head injuries.

Plaintiffs lawyers 'like' Facebook IPO: Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering has prompted a dash to courthouses across the country by plaintiffs attorneys representing shareholders who invested in the social-media giant, reports Jenna Greene and Leigh Jones.

Judge-picking, D.C. style: Zoe Tillman explores the different paths candidates for judgeships on the D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Court of Appeals can take to connect with the decision-makers outside of the formal application.

The Morning Wrap

Bankrupt: Dewey & LeBoeuf filed for bankruptcy Monday night in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, The New York Times reports. “This is a very sad day for the legal profession,” said Richard J. Holwell, a former federal judge in Manhattan now in private practice. “Dewey is a fabled firm with a lot of great lawyers and a demise of this magnitude is unprecedented.”

Honored: President Barack Obama will award John Doar the Medal of Freedom today for the 90-year-old's work on the front lines of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, The News Star reports. Doar served as assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the 1960s.

Sentenced: A federal judge in New York says the Department of Justice insists on mandatory minimum sentences for minor players in the drug trade, which has robbed judges of sentencing authority, Adam Liptak of The New York Times reports.

SEC Bars Andrews Kurth Lawyer From Appearing Before Agency for a Year

UPDATED at 5:18 pm The head of Andrews Kurth's corporate governance and securities enforcement practice has been barred from appearing before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for one year for violating federal conflict of interest rules.

Spencer Barasch, who served as associate district director in the SEC Fort Worth, Texas office’s Division of Enforcement from 1998 to 2005, billed the Stanford Group Co. for 12 hours of work for SEC-related matters in 2006, according to the agency. The company was part of the financial empire of R. Allen Stanford, who was found guilty in March of 13 counts of fraud after prosecutors accused him of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

While at the SEC, Barasch allegedly took part “personally and substantially” in matters involving entities associated with Stanford. The agency permanently bans ex-employees in private practice from working on any matter that they directly participated in while at the SEC.

Thompson Hine Hired to Lobby on 'Market Access' for Alcoholic Beverages

Thompson Hine has a little Captain in it.

The firm on Thursday revealed to Congress that it is lobbying for a subsidiary of London-based Diageo Plc, seller of Captain Morgan rum, Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, Smirnoff vodka, Tanqueray gin and Guinness beer, among other alcoholic beverages. Thompson is focusing on "[m]arket access and related issues" for Norwalk, Conn.-based Diageo North America Inc., according to a lobbying registration report.

David Christy Jr., a Thompson partner, is handling the account. He didn’t have an immediate comment.

Appeals Court Finds Judge 'Punished' Defendant for Confronting Witness

Bobby Thorne, a local man convicted in January on drug possession charges, will get a new sentencing hearing after the D.C. Court of Appeals found that there was a good chance the trial judge "punished" him for exercising his constitutional rights at trial.

In an order (PDF) published yesterday, a three-judge panel found that D.C. Superior Court Judge Jennifer Anderson's statements in court that she would "take into account" at sentencing Thorne's decision to cross-examine a government witness warranted a new hearing before a different judge.

"In view of the judge’s comments, there is a reasonable likelihood that she punished appellant for invoking his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation," the court found.

The Morning Wrap

Arrested: The authorities in New York say they have in custody a suspect for the 1979 murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The suspect, Pedro Hernandez, a 51-year-old New Jersey resident, allegedly confessed to choking the boy. The New York Times has this look-back on Patz's disappearance. Hernandez is expected to be arraigned today.

Narrow View: Prosecutors prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court in a dispute over the applicability of the double jeopardy clause, The National Law Journal reports. The high court ruled the government can proceed with the retrial of an Arkansas man even though the first jury voted unanimously that he was not guilty.

Guidance: The federal judge handling a privacy-related suit against Facebook Inc. has made clear she will not rubberstamp any settlement, The Recorder reports. The judge, Lucy Koh of San Jose federal district court, told the lawyers in the case she recently rejected two settlement proposals because she considered the terms unfair.

Two Prosecutors in Stevens Case Cited for Professional Misconduct

Updated: 5:25 p.m.

A Justice Department internal investigation of the botched prosecution of Ted Stevens concluded two prosecutors committed reckless professional misconduct and should be sanctioned through forced time off without pay.

DOJ officials recommended Joseph Bottini be suspended without pay for 40 days and James Goeke be suspended for 15 days without pay. DOJ did not find that either assistant U.S. attorney acted intentionally to violate ethics rules, a finding that is contrary to a parallel criminal investigation. Bottini and Goeke, who were Alaska-based prosecutors at the time of the Stevens trial, have the option to appeal the misconduct finding to the Merit System Protection Board.

OPR concluded in a 672-page report the government violated its obligations under department policy and constitutional principles to disclose certain information to Stevens’s lawyers, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said in a seven-page letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas.)

“Our prosecutors and agents work hard to keep our country and communities safe and to ensure that defendants are brought to justice honorably and ethically,” Weich said in the letter, which accompanied the OPR report. “Nonetheless, when there is even a single lapse, we must, and we do, take it seriously.”

Leahy this afternoon released the full OPR report on the Senate Judiciary Committee's web site. The committee also posted responses from Bottini and Goeke to the proposed suspension. Leahy announced the committee will hold a hearing on June 6 to explore the discovery obligations of federal prosecutors. He said in a statement that "prosecutors must adhere without fail to the directive to seek justice for all parties, not just convictions."

Fox Rothschild Hires Three IP Lawyers for Its D.C. Office

Updated 2:17 p.m. 5/25

Fox Rothschild has hired a trio of intellectual property attorneys for its Washington office, the firm has announced.

Sunwoo Lee and Benjamin Maskell join Fox Rothschild as a partner and associate, respectively, from Roetzel & Andress. Lee was previously the head of Roetzel’s intellectual property practice group. On Friday, Fox Rothschild announced that former Dewey & LeBoeuf partner Jeff Schwartz had joined the firm’s ip practice.

Schwartz focuses his practice on patent infringement litigation revolving around materials science, mechanical, electrical and software solutions. He also works on trademark infringement, trade secret, domain name and contract disputes.

Holder Promotes Drug Courts at Superior Court Program Graduation

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., addressed graduates of the D.C. Superior Court's Drug Court program today, praising them as proof that problem-solving courts and diversion programs - once a controversial idea - have been a success.

The ceremony was also something of a homecoming for Holder, who was a judge on the Superior Court bench from 1988 to 1993 and then served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1993 to 1997. Drawing on his experience in the local courts and now overseeing public safety initiatives nationwide, Holder said he could appreciate how significant it was for participants to overcome their addictions and avoid rearrest.

Citing the high rates of drug use and addiction among people who are arrested or incarcerated, Holder said that, "fortunately, the people in this room are demonstrating that it's possible to break this destructive pattern."