The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

This Week in The National Law Journal

Equity gender gap: This special report explores the gender gap in equity partnerships at the largest law firms in the United States.

Sharia law: Amanda Bronstad reports that Muslim groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, believe state bans on enforcing "foreign" laws reflect a veiled animus toward their faith. The fight over the bans themselves are ending up before the courts.

Publicity rights: A group of lawsuits brought by former college and professional football players against video game maker Electronic Arts Inc., spotlight a legal issue that has divided courts for decades: To what extent can public figures restrict others from depicting them in expressive works? Sheri Qualters has the story.

The Morning Wrap

Gray: The 2010 campaign of D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray had a database of almost 6,000 public housing residents whom it targeted in get-out-the-vote efforts, which seems to be an unapproved use of private government information, The Washington Post reports. Gray said he didn't know about the database. "Frankly, such a list wouldn't have been of any use," he said in a statement.

'Lawyered Up': The suspect in the Aurora, Colo., shooting last week isn't cooperating with police, The Associated Press reports. James Holmes has been in solitary confinement at a Denver-area county detention facility since he allegedly killed 12 and left 58 wounded during a Batman movie. Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said Holmes is "lawyered up." The chief said: "He's not talking to us."

Associate Bonuses: A year after 47 Am Law 200 and Magic Circle firms gave associates spring bonuses that ranged from $2,500 to $20,000, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan was the only firm that confirmed to The Am Law Daily that it gave such payments to its associates this year. "Profitability at firms has flattened, and in many cases declined," said law firm consultant Joel Henning. "Bonuses typically reflect profitability."

Federal Circuit Weighs New Precedent in Human Gene Patentability Case

This morning marked a reunion of sorts for the parties involved in a controversial dispute over whether isolated human genes are patentable. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled last year that they are, but was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to take another look in light of new, possibly related precedent.

The defendants in the case, which include Myriad Genetics Inc., have been fighting challenges to patents on two genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation filed the original suit in May 2009, claiming the genes are "products on nature" and can't be patented.

Following the federal circuit's ruling last July that such genes are patentable, the Supreme Court issued a decision in March in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories Inc. In Mayo, the court found that the patents at issue in that case involved the "laws of nature," which they ruled couldn't be patented. Shortly after issuing the Mayo decision, the high court vacated the federal circuit's ruling in Myriad and asked it to reconsider the case in light of its findings in Mayo.

Venable Partner Decamps for Littler Mendelson

Littler Mendelson has added a lateral attorney to its complex litigation and jury trials practice.

Linda Jackson, a former Venable partner and member the of firm's executive committee, joins Littler as a shareholder in its Washington office.

Jackson's practice focuses on whistleblower investigations, non-competition agreements, trade secret disputes and business competition issues. Her clients include government contractors, supermarket chains, airlines, law firms and child care services, among others. She brings experience arguing before the Eastern District of Virginia as well as state courts in Northern Virginia.

In an interview, Jackson said that she was attracted to Littler because the firm's focus matched that of her practice. She added that there has been lots of activity recently in the realm of whistleblower and non-compete disputes.

One Year In, Consumer Financial Agency Has Had 'Extraordinary' Impact

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau marks its first birthday tomorrow as an independent agency, a year in which it remained a potent political target but also made considerable headway implementing its agenda.

"They're not messing around," said Venable counsel Jonathan Pompan, a consumer financial products specialist. "A year ago, we said there was a new sheriff in town. It's not just a sheriff - it's an army."

Alan Kaplinsky, who heads Ballard Spahr's consumer financial services practice, agrees. "Their impact has been absolutely extraordinary," he said.

When the White House on July 17, 2011 announced that Richard Cordray had been nominated to head the agency, President Obama promised Cordray would be "looking out for ordinary people in our financial system."

Toyota and Longtime Lobbyists at Brown Rudnick Part Ways

Updated at 5:16 p.m.

Brown Rudnick has stopped lobbying for two motor vehicle companies, ending advocacy work that began in the mid-2000s.

The government advocacy relationships the firm had with Toyota Motor North America Inc. and Yamaha Motor Corp. concluded on June 30, according to lobbying termination reports filed with Congress this week.

Brown Rudnick received at least $1.8 million from Toyota since it started to lobby the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for the company in 2004, congressional records show. The firm most recently lobbied for the holding company for the Japanese automaker's U.S. manufacturing and sales companies on financial, energy and environmental matters. Brown Rudnick principal Michael Lewan and director Anne Saunders Fabry, as well as former firm director Kristen Gullott, worked on the account this year.

At Hearing, Nominees Say They Are Prepared to Take Superior Court Bench

At Senate confirmation hearings today for nominations to the District of Columbia Superior Court, both candidates stressed how the job would be challenging, yet would also allow them to continue public service.

Both nominees, Rainey Brandt and Kimberly Knowles, told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that their work with the Superior Court now gives them firsthand experience on how to be an associate judge.

Knowles has been a magistrate judge since 2010; Brandt has been special counsel to chief judge since 1998.

D.C. Circuit Revives FBI Agent's Discrimination Claim Against Bureau

One of the highest-ranking Arab-American agents at the FBI today won a second chance to pitch a discrimination claim rooted in allegations the bureau bypassed him for a key counterterrorism role after the Sept. 11 attacks.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit revived discrimination claims that the agent, Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian-born American citizen, filed against the FBI in Washington's federal trial court.

The appeals court, however, upheld a jury's verdict that rejected Youssef's retaliation claims against the FBI. The discrimination part of the suit alleged the FBI should have put Youssef in a substantive counterterrorism role after the Sept. 11 attacks. The suit was first filed in 2003.

Youssef claimed in the complaint that the FBI should have used his experience and language skills in a counterterrorism position following the terror attacks. Youssef was instead placed in a new program in the FBI that examined written material seized in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Lawyer Suspended in New York Given Lower Penalty in D.C.

Frederick Salo, a New York-based attorney suspended for a year by that state bar for misappropriation of funds, successfully argued for a lower suspension in the District of Columbia, where he's also a member of the bar, as opposed to reciprocal discipline.

In an opinion (PDF) issued yesterday by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the three-judge panel suspended Salo from practicing in D.C. for six months. The suspension was effective Dec. 30, 2011, meaning Salo has already served out the penalty.

Salo had faced disbarment or a lengthier suspension in New York, but the court there credited testimony from psychologists that Salo inadvertently misappropriated the funds in part because of post-traumatic stress he suffered after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was suspended for a year in New York starting in August 2010 and was reinstated without opposition in February of this year, according to the D.C. court's opinion.

The Morning Wrap

Deadly Shooting: At least 12 people were killed, and dozens more injured, in a shooting at a movie theater in Colorado, the authorities say. A 24-year-old suspect named James Holmes is in custody. The authorities say the shooter, who entered the theater wearing a gas mask, opened fire during a midnight showing of the new Batman movie "The Dark Night Rises." President Obama called the shooting "horrific and tragic." Click here for amateur video of the scene after the gunfire.

Voter ID Suits: The New York Times today examines legal challenges to voter ID laws around the country. Supporters of the laws contend the measures will help combat voter fraud. Liberal groups call the laws an attempt to suppress votes among minorities and the poor. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. recently likened the Texas voter ID law to "poll taxes," a comment that drew fire from conservatives.

Suing: An FDA scientist who complained about the agency spying on him had earlier sued two hospitals where he'd worked and sued a dozen medical-device companies, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The furor is likely to focus attention on the credibility of Dr. Smith, who led the complaints of the five scientists," according to the report. Smith's attorney said the FDA is trying to portray his client as a "serial whistleblower in a "classic smear campaign."