The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Republicans Attack DOJ Deal in Whistleblower Case, Again

Republicans stepped up their criticism of Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez on Tuesday, saying he misled the Senate about a controversial whistleblower case at his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Labor.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a longtime defender of whistleblower laws, is among a group of Republicans in Congress who say their oversight investigation already has uncovered an inappropriate quid pro quo deal orchestrated by Perez in the Minnesota whistleblower case last year. Perez leads the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

Republicans say their investigation found the Justice Department had agreed to a "secret deal" to not join the whistleblower case against the city of St. Paul, ultimately dooming the case. In exchange, the city dropped its appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court in an unrelated case that could have affected the department's ability to use the disparate impact theory in fair housing cases.

Voting Begins in D.C. Bar Elections

Voting is underway in this year's D.C. Bar elections for general and sections positions. The two lawyers vying for president-elect – the precursor post to serving as president – carried a bevy of endorsements into the election, which began April 30 and ends May 24.

Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner Brigida Benitez and Jenner & Block partner Lorelie Masters are this year's candidates for the bar's top job. The winner will serve as president-elect for a year before spending a second year as president, and then will serve a third year as immediate past president.

Both candidates have made expanding pro bono work and promoting access to justice top priorities. Benitez, in an interview today, said she wants to find ways the bar can be more creative in providing services and support partnerships with the legal services community. "It's something where the bar has been a leader, but I think the need is as great as ever," she said.

Rail Companies Push to Decertify Class in Antitrust Case

Freight rail companies accused of scheming to bump up rates through "aggressive" fuel surcharges argued this morning to undo a court order certifying a class in the case, arguing the decision was based on a faulty model of injuries and that the order would unfairly force them to settle.

The class – thousands of businesses that shipped products via freight rail – sued the four largest freight railroad companies in the United States for antitrust violations in 2007. U.S. District Senior Judge Paul Friedman certified a class last summer, which pushed up the total possible damages into the billions, according to court papers in the litigation.

Sidley Austin's Carter Phillips, arguing for the rail companies, told a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel today that Friedman's order conflicted with a U.S. Supreme Court decision in March on class certification in antitrust cases. The plaintiffs' expert created a model that identified injuries to entities outside the class, he said, which under the high court's ruling in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend would bar class certification.

Alabama Lawyer to Take Helm of NRA

With Washington lawmakers still debating gun control measures, the politically powerful National Rifle Association elected as its next president an Alabama lawyer who last year called Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. "rabidly un-American."

James "Jim" Porter II, a special assistant attorney general for Alabama, will take over leadership during the NRA's annual meeting in Houston, which includes speeches today by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Porter, whose father was a former NRA president, has been volunteering as a legal adviser and counsel to the NRA in federal court litigation, the group said in a statement Thursday.

'Coercive' Jury Instruction Means New Trial in Murder Case

A man convicted of second-degree murder in a 2005 shooting will get a new trial after the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled today that the trial judge gave an "impermissibly coercive" instruction to the jury.

After a jury told District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Michael Rankin they couldn't reach a decision, the judge gave an instruction that crossed the line from communicating his desire for a verdict to making it seem as though the jury had to reach a verdict, the appeals court said.

Because coercion was "probable," Judge Stephen Glickman wrote for the panel, "we are unable to 'say with assurance that the jury arrived at its verdict freely and fairly.'"

Court Strikes 1892 Case Law on Contracts with Mentally Ill

Replacing precedent dating back to 1892, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled today that contracts entered into with mentally incapacitated individuals will no longer be considered automatically void.

Under the new standard, those contracts will be voidable, as opposed to inherently void. According to the ruling, a contract will be binding unless the incapacitated person or someone approved to act on his or her behalf takes steps to cancel it. If an incapacitated person or the representative does want to cancel a contract, they can only do so if it would be fair to the parties involved.

Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby, writing for the court, said the new standard, which is used in the majority of jurisdictions in the United States, "better comports with modern contract law and modern understandings of mental illness."

D.C. Chief Judges Celebrate Law Day on Twitter

Summing up courthouse policy and practices in 140 characters isn't easy, but the chief judges of Washington's local courts gave it a try this morning as part of this year's Law Day festivities.

Replying to tweets with the hashtag #AskTheCJs, Chief Judge Lee Satterfield of the D.C. Superior Court and Chief Judge Eric Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals spent an hour collaborating on responses via Twitter. A photo posted by the court showed the two judges seated with tablets in front of a large television screen displaying the Twitter feed.

The judges fielded two questions about jury duty, tweeting that the court was making efforts to tailor the number of people summoned to meet courthouse needs. They engaged in creative abbreviating to stay within the 140-character limit.

Law Firms Raise $3.6 Million for D.C. Civil Legal Services

Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit made an impassioned plea yesterday for law firms to take more responsibility for the welfare of civil legal services groups, lamenting the small percentage of the legal industry's billion-dollar revenues that go to financially-strapped providers.

Tatel spoke at an event honoring 36 law firms that contributed $3.6 million last year to local civil legal services through the D.C. Access to Justice Commission's second annual Raising the Bar in D.C. Campaign. Firms were honored based on the percentage of annual D.C. office revenues donated to legal services; the number of participating firms in 2012 was up from the 23 that participated in 2011.

Tatel praised the private bar's efforts to assist their colleagues in civil legal services, but warned the challenges facing individuals who can't afford a lawyer "is only getting worse." In the District of Columbia, for instance, he noted that more than 90 percent of litigants are unrepresented in certain types of civil cases.

Q&A: Nixon Peabody’s Jeffrey Lesk

Updated 6:16 p.m.

On days when he commutes by bicycle to the office, Jeffrey Lesk uses what he calls his Superman closet. In it Lesk, the managing partner of Nixon Peabody's Washington office, keeps suits, shirts and ties for a quick, post-shower change after his 25-mile roundtrip commute. 

In 2007, Lesk started as the leader of the tax credit finance group. Two years later, he took over as managing partner of the Washington office. Lesk is also a U.S. Green Building Council LEED accredited professional, a certification related to green development. Looking back at the accrediation test, Lesk quipped that it was the hardest test he took, second only to the bar exam.

The office has three broad focuses – regulatory, transaction and litigation. All of those, however, play into the larger role of the Washington office, which largely interacts with the government in some way.

Legal Times sat down with Lesk April 26 to discuss the business of the firm, his own practice and yoga.

Obama Vows Closure of Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

President Barack Obama said he will again press to close the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, calling it "not something that's in the best interest of the American people."

"I'm going to go back at this," Obama said at a White House press conference Tuesday morning, in response to a question about prisoners staging an on-going hunger strike over being held without trial.

"The idea we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, it's contrary to who we are. It's contrary to our interests and it's got to stop," Obama said. "All of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this?"