The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Hearing Committee Finds No Ethics Violations by Solo Practitioner

Updated 1:25 p.m.

In a split decision, a hearing committee of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility found that longtime local solo practitioner Stephen Yelverton did not commit ethics violations.

Yelverton's client, Michael Snow, claimed to have been assaulted by a woman named Mary Carrick. After a District of Columbia Superior Court judge acquitted the woman accused of the assault in a criminal proceeding, Yelverton moved for a mistrial (the prosecutor wasn't involved). The judge denied the request, citing double jeopardy. In a flood of post-trial filings, Yelverton and Carrick's lawyer traded allegations of ethical violations.

The Office of Bar Counsel charged Yelverton with failing to provide competent representation, failing to serve his client with skill and care, filing frivolous motions and interfering with the administration of justice. In a report (PDF) issued on Friday, the hearing committee found that while Yelverton "had no basis in law" for filing the motions in Carrick's case, there was no harm done to his client or the judicial system.

This Week in The National Law Journal

ITC chip fight turns political: Jenna Greene reports that members of Congress are weighing in on a patent fight between Intel Corp. and X2Y Attenuators LLC, which has accused Intel of infringing on its microprocessor patents.

Midsize, and loving it: Lawyers who brought regional books of business with them to large firms during the prerecession hiring boom are increasingly leaving for smaller firms, finding that they're a better fit. Leigh Jones has the story.

Cops + data = cell division: Mike Scarcella reports that while cell tower data is a powerful tool for law enforcement, judges across the country are confronting — and dividing over — new and challenging legal issues under the Fourth Amendment that pit emerging technology and law enforcement demands against a person's privacy expectations.

The Morning Wrap

Isaac: Delaying the start of the Republican National Convention to Tuesday, Tropical Storm Isaac approached the Tampa Bay area on Sunday with heavy rain and strong winds, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Isaac likely will bring three inches of rain to the Tampa Bay area, with storm totals of up to 15 inches. The storm is expected to strengthen to a hurricane and make landfall in Louisiana.

Obama, Romney: President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney are running neck and neck as they go into the conventions, The Washington Post reports. Romney is at 47 percent among registered voters and Obama at 46 percent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Apple: The $1.05 billion verdict Apple Inc. obtained on Friday against Samsung Electronics Co. in their smartphone and tablet trial will stand as the largest patent verdict in history if it isn't reduced in post-trial motions or on appeal, The Recorder reports.

John Hinckley's Lawyers File Papers to Withdraw Representation

The lawyers representing John Hinckley Jr. today said they want to back out their representation, citing outstanding legal bills and the family's intent not to fund the attorneys any longer.

Hinckley has long been represented by a team from Dickstein Shapiro, including Barry Wm. Levine, the co-leader of the firm's business litigation and white-collar criminal defense practice. Hinckley, who attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan in 1981, remains hospitalized in Washington as he undergoes mental health treatment.

In court papers filed today in Washington, Hinckley's legal team said "the repeated hearings that the Government has insisted upon have been extremely expensive, even at the reduced rates that undersigned counsel has charged."

Levine wrote: "There are significant outstanding legal bills in arrears, and the Hinckley family has informed undersigned counsel that it will not provide future funding for attorneys' fees, expenses or related experts in this matter." Levine was not immediately available for comment this afternoon.

GOP Convention Security Preparations Include Use of a Drone

By Andrew Ramonas and Todd Ruger

Security preparations for the Republican National Convention next week, including the use of a drone to patrol the skies up to 4,000 feet above Tampa, Fla., are highlighting several controversial legal issues.

The final details of the carefully choreographed convention were made public late this week. Outside the convention hall, the ACLU teamed up with Tampa police to publish a legal guide for protestors at the event, the Tampa Bay Times reports. It includes a statement about filming police, a practice that has spawned lawsuits across the country because officers have arrested photographers even when no laws were broken.

"If detained, ask what crime you are suspected of. You may remind officers that taking photos is a right and does not constitute suspicion," the guide states.

King & Spalding Expands Government Investigations Practice

King & Spalding has added a partner to its special matters and government investigations practice in Washington.

John Richter, formerly vice president and deputy general counsel at WellCare Health Plans, Inc., will focus his practice on health care investigations and qui tam cases. He joined WellCare in January 2010 at a time when the company was accused of False Claims Act violations.

"Wellcare at the time was facing a whole bunch of civil and criminal issues," Richter said in an interview. "I was asked to come in-house and not only respond and work through those issues, but help the company put itself back in a position to avoid those kinds of consequences in the future."

Classes Certified in Lawsuit Over D.C. Forfeiture Policy

The third time was the charm for plaintiffs in a class action against the District of Columbia over how it forfeits cash seized by police during an arrest. After two motions for class certification failed to meet the proper criteria, the plaintiffs succeeded this week on their third and, in the court's eyes, final attempt.

Police can seize cash as part of a drug arrest, but D.C. law requires the city to notify individuals before that money is forfeited to the city. The complaint, which was filed in Washington federal court in 2009, accused the city of failing to notify arrested individuals before forfeiture.

It's a case that could cover several thousand people, according to the opinion (PDF) that U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins released on August 22. Wilkins granted class certification to two groups of individuals who had cash seized during an arrest: those who claimed they never received notification of the forfeiture and those who claimed they were never notified while incarcerated.

D.C. Circuit: Cigarette Graphic Warning Labels Violate First Amendment

A divided federal appeals court today struck down as unconstitutional proposed graphic warning labels that government officials wanted to slap on cigarette packs to deter smoking.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 2-1 against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration graphic labels that tobacco companies assailed and public health groups heralded. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and other companies sued the government in Washington's federal trial court to block enforcement of the FDA label rules.

"These inflammatory images and the provocatively-named hotline cannot rationally be viewed as pure attempts to convey information to consumers," Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote for the majority. "They are unabashed attempts to evoke emotion (and perhaps embarrassment) and browbeat consumers into quitting."

Brown also wrote: "FDA failed to present any data—much less the substantial evidence required under the (Administrative Procedure Act)—showing that enacting their proposed graphic warnings will accomplish the agency’s stated objective of reducing smoking rates."

The Morning Wrap

Throwing in the jersey: Acclaimed professional cyclist Lance Armstrong is dropping his fight against doping charges, saying "enough is enough." Armstrong now risks losing his seven titles for wins in the Tour de France cycling event. Armstrong called the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's pursuit of him "an unconstitutional witch hunt." More coverage here and here.

Glossy: All those postcards and letters and glossy magazines that law schools publish to tout achievements? A new study of the influence the material has on U.S. News & World Report rankings shows "little correlation between the amount and content of the mailings and improved rankings," The National Law Journal reports. "Most of this stuff is not making a difference, year-to-year," the author of the study said.

Facebook flap: From The Recorder: "A juror who posted comments on Facebook about his case during trial will have to turn over the posts." The California case has drawn close attention over defendants' fair-trial rights and privacy expectations of social media users.

Appeals Court Sets Guidelines for Attorney Fees in FOIA Cases

For the first time since the District of Columbia adopted its Freedom of Information Act statute in 1976, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has spelled out when prevailing parties in FOIA cases can recover attorney fees and how judges should weigh those requests.

In an opinion (PDF) issued this morning, a three-judge panel explained that while the city's FOIA law is different from the federal FOIA statute, local trial judges should use the four-factor test that federal judges rely on to decide whether to award attorney fees.

The ruling is a loss for the city's police union, which appealed a District of Columbia Superior Court judge's decision denying attorney fees after the union prevailed in a FOIA case against the city. The appeals court found that Judge Anita Josey-Herring correctly used the four-factor test and upheld her finding that the union failed to satisfy enough of the criteria. The court also rejected the union's argument that prevailing parties should be automatically entitled to fees.