The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

The Morning Wrap

Litigious: The number of lawsuits challenging election procedures is racing toward an all-time hight, The Wall Street Journal reports. The cases considered most important are in battleground states like Virginia, where the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has asked a federal judge to put more voting machines in urban areas and to keep polls open late in neighborhoods with large minority populations.

It's Not Funny: Can Jerry Seinfeld's jokes be the basis of a defamation lawsuit? The comic and his wife are being sued by cookbook author Missy Chase Lapine, who says Jessica Seinfeld plagiarized her work. She sued for infringement, and then Lapine went after Jerry for referring to her as an "assassin," among other things, on "The Late Show with David Letterman." The American Lawyer has this story on the lawsuit and a new affidavit filed by Lapine, in which she says she has never "felt so frightened and vulnerable as the day my daughter, seven years old, came home from school and asked, 'Mom, what is an assassin?"

Mixed Messages: Memos released by congressional investigators yesterday show that the top officials at the Food and Drug Administration opposed federal preemption regulations that block lawsuits against drug companies, The Washington Post reports. The memos are at odds with the agency's position in a case the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Monday, Wyeth v. Levine. At issue is whether federal drug approval and warning labels should preempt stricter state laws. The FDA says they should. 

Wiley Rein Sues Former Client for Failing to Pay Bills

Wiley Rein filed a $450,000 suit against its former client SCC Acquisitions after SCC allegedly failed to pay for work the firm provided.

Thomas Kirby, a partner at the firm handling the lawsuit, says the real estate development company, which does business as SunCal Companies and is based in Irvine, Calif., retained Wiley Rein about six months ago to handle a conflict with an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that was giving the company trouble with a development.

Kirby says SCC made some payments to Wiley Rein, but the company refused to pay the balance of $453,279 despite "lengthy efforts to reach some sort of agreement."

"We hate to do it, but we run a business and we do want to get paid," Kirby says. "It's an unfortunate situation, but we're dealing with it in a businesslike manner."

SCC Acquisitions did not immediately return calls for comment.

UPDATE (1:51 p.m., Oct. 30): SunCal Companies spokesman Joe Aguirre wrote in an e-mail, "As with any matter that has entered litigation, we cannot discuss the issues pertaining to these proceedings. Our legal team is acting on behalf of our company and will respond at the appropriate time."

DOJ Hands Out Annual AG Awards

It has been a difficult, and at times demoralizing, year for the Department of Justice. But the BLT, like any other news organization that fastens to scandal, knows that the patches of bad tend to overshadow the scads of good work by the nation's federal law enforcers. Hence the Attorney General's Annual Awards Ceremony.

Yesterday's event at DAR Constitution Hall, with its dialed-up pageantry, honored prosecutors, agents, staff, and managers whose work shone among the approximately 104,000 Justice Department employees.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who had planned to emcee the ceremony but left early to attend a meeting, set the tone in his opening remarks: "There is a lot of skepticism, even cynicism, in America today about government and its ability to get things done, and to get them done well. Over the last few years, this department has endured its share of critical attention. As a result, I have been asked many times about morale at the department and about how we are going to restore the public's confidence in DOJ. My answer has never wavered: to a person, the men and women who were here when I arrived have worked hard to help me succeed and have kept their jobs on behalf of the American people."

Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip presented the awards in Mukasey's stead. Click here for Mukasey's full remarks and click here for a copy of the program, which names all the award winners.

A few highlights after the jump...

Livingston Group Gets Former Clinton Adviser

Mark Lindsay, a former senior White House adviser to Bill Clinton, has joined The Livingston Group as a consultant specializing in health care and pharmaceuticals, international relations and business development, and financial services and tax.

Most recently, Lindsay served on the Minnesota finance committee for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. He also previously held a number of senior positions at UnitedHealth Group.

In the Clinton White House, Lindsay was assistant to the president for the Office of Management and Administration. He also served as senior legislative aide to Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio). 

For Nearly 25 Years, Prosecutor Pursued Child Killers

June Jeffries, a 25-year veteran homicide prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, retired last month, leaving behind a career that steered her into the darkest fissures of society. Her specialty for more than two decades: prosecuting people who kill children.

In an interview with the BLT yesterday, the 54-year-old discussed her career. Her first case involving a child slaying came in the mid-1980s: A 10 1⁄2-month-old boy, Gregory, had been starved and beaten to death by his mother, Winda Cannon. Cannon got probation -- Jeffries says she was beside herself -- but it was later revoked for a violation. Jeffries kept the photos of Gregory in an envelope in a credenza on her desk. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, she pulled them out.

“I have kept his pictures, baby Gregory, and I’m probably the only person in the world who has pictures of this child and thinks of him -- and I think that’s skewed,” she says.

Jeffries' has a son herself, Rudy, 23, who recently graduated from the University of Northern Colorado and is now a marshal's aide at the Supreme Court. 

Howard Baker Jr. Launches Consulting Service

Howard Baker Jr., senior counsel at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, has developed a new consulting service to assist Japanese companies that do business in the United States.

"In a global economy shaken by energy and financial shocks, I'm convinced that we need to bolster our bilateral relationship [with Japan] by encouraging greater economic interaction between our private sectors," said Baker, a former Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee and ambassador to Japan, in a press release. The Japan-U.S. Strategic Advisory specifically serves companies that are expanding their activity in the United States or that want help navigating new political and economic challenges.

The Strategic Advisory also counts former Democratic senator J. Bennett Johnston and former Japanese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shotaro Yachi as advisers.

Baker belongs to Baker, Donelson's international, Japan relations, and federal public policy practices, and he splits his time between the firm's Washington and Huntsville, Tenn. offices. 

Just How Much Campaign Money Comes from Washington, Anyway?

A new report testifies to the generosity of Washington, D.C., and its suburbs—when it comes to members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

MAPLight.org, which analyzes money in politics, has released a report on three years of fundraising by House members. The report breaks down contributions by geographic area, including which ZIP codes gave the most. And in that category—helped, no doubt, by lobbying firms and interest groups—the Washington area was the runaway leader with 15 of the top 20 ZIP codes.

Here's the top 10:
1. Washington, D.C. 20005, with $28.9 million raised
2. Washington, D.C. 20001, with $27.5 million raised
3. Washington, D.C. 20036, with $27.5 million raised
4. Washington, D.C. 20006, with $21.8 million raised
5. Washington, D.C. 20004, with $17.8 million raised
6. Alexandria, Va. 22314, with $12.2 million raised
7. Washington, D.C. 20007 with $5.8 million raised
8. Chicago, Ill. 60611 with $5.3 million raised
9. McLean, Va. 22102 with $5.2 million raised
10. Arlington, Va. 22209 with $5.2 million raised

As one might expect, those ZIP codes that include parts of K Street are near the top of the list. That doesn't make MAPLight.org happy. "We, as citizens, pay House members' salaries, we pay to run elections and we pay for all their spending decisions," executive director Daniel Newman said in a statement. "However, we, as citizens, have handed special-interests the remote control, forcing our potential leaders to grovel before PAC leaders and lobbyists to raise the funds needed to win elections."

Of course, much of the money listed as coming from the Washington area originates elsewhere, from the PAC contributors spread throughout the country who have chosen to pool their resources.

Contributions from Washington, D.C., accounted for 21 percent of all the campaign money raised by House members from January 2005 through December 2007, the report said.

The Morning Wrap

Rightward: President Bush has appointed more than a third of the federal judiciary expected to be serving when he leaves office. Bush appointees control 10 of the 13 circuits, and as appeals courts increasingly have the last word, Bush's judicial picks will continue to influence the society for years to come, reports The New York Times.

Breaking Up: Thelen's Partnership Council has recommended dissolution, and a committee has been formed to vote on the matter. The firm is expected to close on Dec. 1. About 60 Thelen lawyers could end up at Nixon Peabody, a onetime potential merger partner, according to The Recorder. Yesterday, the BLT caught up with former Thelen Chairman, Richard Gary, now a legal consultant with Gary Advisors in Tiburon, Calif., for his reaction. You can access it here.

Speaking Up: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and running mate Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, called for Sen. Ted Stevens to resign yesterday, after a jury found him guilty Monday of lying on his Senate financial disclosure forms, The Washington Post reports. The Republican presidential nominee said Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator, had "broken his trust with the people and that she should now step down."

Cussing on C-SPAN?: The cable network has requested audio tapes of the coming oral argument in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, the so-called "fleeting expletives" case in which the FCC's changing policy on the one-time, unscripted use of expletives on award shows and the like will be examined. But now the question is, in airing the oral argument, will C-SPAN will run afoul of the FCC policy at issue in the case by broadcasting the same offending words? Tony Mauro has this post on the issue.

Thelen's Bank Controls Expenditures

A press release just distributed by Thelen spokesman Kevin Livingston details the firm's financial situation:

According to the release, Thelen defaulted on its primary line of credit after breaching a partner departure covenant that restricts the number of partners allowed to depart the firm within a year. Thelen's bank now controls all expenditures. Thelen is seeking to pay employees 60 days salary plus accrued vacation pay, but the response from the bank is so far that it will fund employee salary only through Nov. 30 and will not pay accrued vacation pay. Partners will not receive profits, but only minimum draws through Nov. 15. A three-partner committee is working with the bank to wind down operations. 

Former Thelen Chairman Reacts to Dissolution

Thelen's chairman from 1992 until 1993, Richard Gary -- now a legal consultant with Gary Advisors in Tiburon, Calif. -- spoke with Legal Times about his former firm's dissolution, set to occur on Dec. 1.

"I have been gone for more than five years, but I was there for more than 30 and it still saddens me greatly," Gary said.

Gary says he believes the partners at the firm "will be fine" but feels for the staff and associates.

"There were a number of constituencies that were dependent on Thelen -- not just clients. It's a very sad day."

When asked his thoughts about reports of Thelen's current chairman Stephen O'Neal talking with other firms,  including Washington's Howrey, Gary says O'Neal "is a very fine lawyer" but added "it doesn't speak very well of a chairman who would do that."

"Most of the strong law firm leaders would not have engaged in that type of behavior," Gary said. "With law firm leadership comes responsibility to the organization you are elected to serve. Now, it's not a legal responsibility, but it's just a moral and ethical issue."

Gary says he is not currently working with any Thelen lawyers.