The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Age Discrimination Suit Against Georgetown Law Dismissed

Former North Dakota Attorney General Nicholas Spaeth has lost his age discrimination lawsuit against Georgetown University Law Center. A Washington federal judge ruled yesterday that Georgetown presented non-discriminatory reasons – chiefly, Spaeth's lack of academic scholarship – for rejecting his application for a tenure-track teaching job.

After a long career practicing law in government and private practice, Spaeth began pursuing law school teaching posts around 2009. He sued Georgetown and five other schools in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after he failed to get an interview through the Association of American Law Schools faculty recruitment conference in 2010.

In yesterday's opinion, Huvelle found the record was clear that academic scholarship was a "primary concern" for Georgetown in weighing applicants. Spaeth failed to list any relevant publications in his application, she wrote, rebuffing Spaeth's argument that the focus on scholarship was a pretext for age-based bias. Even if Spaeth made it to the interview stage, she found, he failed to show he would have been hired over the three applicants who did get teaching jobs that year.

D.C. Circuit Grapples with Judicial Independence Case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard arguments this morning on whether an administrative law judge for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs can sue the agency for what he believed were violations of his judicial independence.

J. Jeremiah Mahoney, acting chief administrative law judge for the department, accused agency officials of interfering with his independence by selectively assigning cases and communicating with litigants. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg dismissed the case in November 2011, finding Mahoney lacked standing to sue.

Today, Mahoney's lawyer, Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner Michael Williams, argued Mahoney did fall within the "zone of interest" to have standing to challenge the agency's actions. Williams said Mahoney didn't have to be a beneficiary in the same vein as a litigant to have an interest in fair proceedings.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Baker Botts

Baker Botts has added an international tax lawyer to the Washington and New York offices. Don Lonczak has joined the firm as partner in the tax and corporate practices.

Lonczak focuses his practice on structuring and negotiating the tax aspects of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate spin-offs, as well as of public and private financings and derivatives financial products. He has experience counseling clients on tax matters associated with cross border transactions. Previously, Lonczak was a partner in Shearman & Sterling’s tax group. It is the second lateral move to Baker Bott’s Washington office this week after energy partner Jay Ryan joined on Monday.

Judge Ketanji Jackson Sworn In to D.C. Federal Bench

Judges are a common sight at judicial swearing-in ceremonies in Washington's federal courthouse, but yesterday's investiture for U.S. District Judge Ketanji Jackson featured a special guest from several blocks away: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Breyer administered the oath of office, calling Jackson, who served as his law clerk, part of the "court family." Sporting a sling for his right arm after suffering a recent cycling injury, Breyer joked the ceremony was truly a family affair, noting he received treatment at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, where Jackson's husband is a surgeon.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Jackson on March 22. Prior to her appointment, she served as vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission; she filled the seat vacated by now-retired U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy.

The Morning Wrap

Facing scrutiny: FBI Director Robert Mueller III's "12-year tenure under two presidents is facing scrutiny, months from his longtime plans to step down in September, as hearings begin on Capitol Hill into what happened in Boston and why," The New York Times reports today. Mueller took over leadership of the FBI one week before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bloggers win: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with bloggers in a closely watched copyright dispute Thursday, ruling that a company suing them for posting articles lacked standing to do so," The Recorder reports.

Plundered: From The Washington Post today: "A global posse of cyberthieves, armed with laptops in place of guns, hacked into financial institutions and stole $45 million from automated teller machines in a first-of-its-kind heist made for the 21st century, authorities in New York said Thursday." More coverage here and here.

Speaking: Top lawyers will hit the commencement circuit in the coming weeks, addressing law schools across the country, The National Law Journal reports. "U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr., wins the prize for busiest graduation speaker. He will address graduates of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law on May 10; of Duke Law School graduates the next day; and of Boston University School of Law on May 19."

SEC Loses Case Against Securities Felon

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suffered a resounding loss when a federal judge last week rejected the agency's fraud case against securities felon Gary Prince.

The SEC alleged that Prince's former employer, Integral Systems, illegally failed to disclose his position with the company and his prior criminal record in SEC filings. But after a three week bench trial, Judge Gladys Kessler of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 2 rejected six counts of fraud alleged by the government. However, she did find that Prince wrongly practiced accounting before the SEC.

"Judge Kessler’s decision vindicates not only Mr. Prince's conduct that the SEC said was fraudulent, but also his decision to persevere over the past seven years and ultimately to go to trial," said Zuckerman Spaeder partner C. Evan Stewart, who led the trial team.

Energy Department Counsel Nominated for Federal Bench

Department of Energy general counsel Gregory Woods has been nominated to be a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the White House announced today.

Woods, a former partner at Debevoise & Plimpton's corporate finance and Latin American practice groups between 2004 and 2009, has been at the Energy department since the Senate confirmed him to the position in April.

At Debevoise, Woods was a member of the firm's corporate practice, focused primarily on corporate finance, and advised a variety of corporations, banks and investors in domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Davis Wright Tremaine

Davis Wright Tremaine has added a former in-house communications attorney to the Washington office. Christin McMeley has joined as partner in the firm’s privacy and security practice group. She will advise companies in industries like privacy compliance, information governance, data security, public policy, and regulatory matters.

Previously, McMeley was in-house counsel for Charter Communications and led the cable regulatory group and government affairs teams. She also served as the company’s chief privacy officer and implemented their first privacy and data security program.

Prior to joining Charter Communications in 2004, she was an associate at Davis Wright’s predecessor Washington firm, Cole, Raywid & Braverman, where she represented telecom, cable, and wireless entities in federal and state court litigation, and before the Federal Communications Commission.

Washington Attorney Gets Prison for Stealing from Clients

A Washington-based attorney who admitted in January to stealing more than $100,000 intended for his clients has been sentenced to six months in prison, followed by six months of house arrest.

Deairich Hunter was sentenced Thursday for pilfering payments to settle disability and personal injury claims by his clients. As part of his punishment, Hunter was ordered by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell to pay restitution of $253,549 and forfeit $73,901.

From 2003 to 2009, Hunter was hired by clients in disputes arising from disability and personal injury claims. Many of the clients agreed he was entitled to one third of the recovery, according to court papers. Hunter failed to notify some of his clients, however, keeping settlement money for himself. Hunter was disbarred in 2009. Hunter pleaded guilty in January to theft or embezzlement related to health care.

Judge Tosses RICO Suit for 'Extraterritorial' Allegations

A Washington federal judge yesterday dismissed a racketeering lawsuit against a D.C.-based consultant accused of plotting with the daughter of Kazakhstan's president to seize assets from two businessmen.

U.S. District Senior Judge Thomas Hogan dismisseddismissed the case without addressing the heart of the allegations. He found the plaintiffs failed to show the alleged pattern of racketeering activity had sufficient ties to the U.S. to sue under federal law.

The plaintiffs, Devincci and Issam Hourani, who are brothers, sued Alexander Mirtchev in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in September 2010. Although the Hourani brothers' original complaint accused Mirtchev of being part of a much larger scheme involving Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, they later amended their claims to focus only on his daughter, Dariga Nazarbayev, who was not a defendant.