The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Study Finds Shared Blame for Judicial Vacancies

At almost every Senate judicial confirmation vote, both political parties unleash a flurry of statistics about the high number of vacancies on the federal court benches. Democrats use the numbers to paint Republican senators as obstructionists. Republicans use numbers to blame the White House for being slow on nominations.

So who actually bears responsibility when a vacancy doesn't even have a nominee? Both sides do, according to a new study by Russell Wheeler, a Brookings Institution fellow and judicial confirmation process expert.

That is, at least as far as the Wheeler can discern about a nominations process generally conducted outside of public view. He looked at the history of nominations and the 84 actual and future vacancies on the district and circuit courts.

Greenberg Traurig Lobbyist’s Disclosure Questioned

By Todd Ruger and Andrew Ramonas

A Greenberg Traurig lobbyist is at the center of a U.S. senator’s investigation into how "political intelligence" can affect markets. The inquiry includes an examination of the lobbyist’s email about a dramatic change in government’s health care policy more than an hour before it was announced.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is seeking all of Greenberg Traurig's internal and external communication about the April 1 announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services dealing with proposed rate cuts, according to a letter Grassley wrote this month to the law firm’s outside counsel.

The letter focuses on how Height Securities, a Washington political intelligence firm, issued an advisory to its clients at 3:42 p.m. that day about the move, about 45 minutes before the announcement. Trading volume for the top three affected stocks jumped by $662.8 million in the final minutes of trading, Grassley said.

The Morning Wrap

Charged: From today's National Law Journal: "A former senior KPMG LLP partner in Los Angeles has been charged with passing confidential information about clients to a close friend in exchange for cash bribes." Coverage here in The New York Times.

Overcrowding: A three-judge district court panel has given California 21 days to come up with a plan to reduce prison overcrowding, The Los Angeles Times reports. "At no point over the past several months have defendants indicated any willingness to comply, or made any attempt to comply, with the orders of this court," the panel said. "In fact, they have blatantly defied them."

Big donor: The Am Law Daily reports: "Simpson Thacher on Hand for Lauder's $1.1 Billion Cubist Art Donation to Met."

Mishandled: "The military justice system at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which has been dogged by charges of secret monitoring of proceedings and defense communications, became embroiled in a fresh controversy Thursday when it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of defense e-mails were turned over to the prosecution," The Washington Post reports.

U.S. Senate Confirms Patty Shwartz for Third Circuit Seat

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Patty Shwartz of New Jersey to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, more than 18 months after President Barack Obama first nominated her.

Shwartz, a federal magistrate in New Jersey since 2003, drew some opposition from Republicans who felt they did not get an opportunity to fully follow up on key issues such as her opinions on the campaign finance issues in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission and her views on Roe v. Wade.

Shwartz was first nominated in October 2011. The vote Tuesday was 64-34.

Judge Reverses Suspensions of Two Prosecutors in Ted Stevens Case

The U.S. Justice Department violated internal procedure in disciplining two federal prosecutors accused of ethical misconduct in the corruption case against Ted Stevens, a judge concluded in a ruling that voids the suspensions imposed on the two attorneys.

Benjamin Gutman, an administrative judge who hears Merit Systems Protection Board disputes, said the department shirked procedure when a senior management attorney was allowed to take over for the rank-and-file lawyer who was assigned to make a recommendation about whether the prosecutors committed misconduct.

The ruling vacating the suspensions marked the latest chapter in the saga of the Stevens case, which collapsed in Washington federal district court in 2009 amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. A court-appointed attorney who investigated the failures in the case did not recommend criminal charges against any of the Stevens prosecutors.

Sen. Tim Kaine’s Congressional Campaign Chair Joins Venable

Venable has hired a close confidant of Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) for its government affairs group, the law firm announced Monday.

Lawrence Roberts, who most recently advised Kaine on the senator's transition to Congress after his election in November, joined Venable as a partner in its Washington and Tysons Corner, Va., offices. He will focus on Virginia-related matters concerning transportation and telecommunications, among other issues.

Roberts said Venable has a strong government affairs practice and Tysons Corner office, where he said he will spend about 75 percent of this time.

The Morning Wrap

'Iron Lady': Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died after a stroke, the BBC reports. She was 87.

More Jobs: The legal sector picked up 2,000 positions in March, The Am Law Daily reports. This was the highest single-month gain in almost a year.

'No Poach': A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday denied class certification to the plaintiffs in the "no poach" litigation against tech behemoths including Google Inc. and Apple Inc., The Recorder reports. The plaintiffs allege that the companies had negotiated a series of agreements that restrained competition for highly skilled employees.

Justice Dept. Asks Court to Dismiss Suit over Secret Court’s Opinions

Updated 5:58 p.m.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in Washington operates largely out of the public spotlight, issuing secret orders that are not generally available for public review. In a pending lawsuit, the U.S. Justice Department is fighting to block the disclosure of information about a case in which the court determined government surveillance activity violated the law.

Last August, the advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the department in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to try to get any written order or opinion from the surveillance court about that case. The lawsuit followed the release of information from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) about once instance when the secret court found the government's implementation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had "circumvented the spirit of the law."

The government said it declassified four statements and permitted Wyden to disclose the information "in an effort to strike the right balance between government transparency and the protection of critical intelligence activities." The Justice Department on Monday night filed court papers asking a judge to terminate the case, saying that no more information about the apparent transgression can be, or should be, revealed to the public.

Former Trade Representative Kirk Joins Gibson Dunn

Updated 1:13 p.m.

Ron Kirk, the former U.S. Trade Representative, has joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as senior of counsel in the Dallas and Washington offices.

According to a release from the firm, Kirk will advise companies about international business.

As President Barack Obama's principal trade adviser, Kirk handled all aspects of U.S. trade policy. The trade office oversaw the ongoing Doha Development Agenda, an effort before the World Trade Organization which tries to eliminate trade barriers.

"The knowledge that I bring of negotiating in the trade arena can be a great value to many of our clients, particularly in many of the emerging economies," Kirk said in an interview. "I look forward to continuing my work in the international arena."

The Morning Wrap

Corporate Scorecard: The value of corporate transactions in 2012 was up in both mergers and acquisitions and capital markets work, The American Lawyer reports. For its annual Corporate Scorecard, the publication interviewed practitioners at a dozen firms about the deal environment in 2012 and their thoughts on 2013.

Texas Slayings: Texas authorities are investigating the slayings of a state prosecutor and his wife who were found dead on Saturday, The Dallas Morning News reports. The murders of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and Cynthia Woodward McLelland came less than two months after Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was killed.

FBI Director: Lisa Monaco, who stepped down this month as the head of the U.S. Justice Department's National Security Division to become President Barack Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, is among the top contenders to replace FBI Director Robert Mueller when he leaves the bureau on September 4, The Washington Post reports.