The National Law Journal's annual Most Influential Lawyers special report this year spotlights the contributions of 40 attorneys to the profession, industry and practice areas between January 2000 and December 2009. NLJ Editor in Chief David L. Brown puts it like this: These are the lawyers who've defined a decade. In the coming weeks, check back on NLJ.com for video profiles of some of the selected attorneys.
Supreme Court correspondent Tony Mauro this week previews a so-called "foreign-cubed" case that the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to take up this morning. Foreign-cubed cases involve foreign investors, foreign issuers and foreign conduct -- and yet because of some company tie to the United States, the cases are brought in U.S. courts. The high court today will hear argument in Morrison v. National Australia Bank. The Court is awash in amicus briefs from foreign companies and countries, a signal of the worldwide importance of the case.
Last week it was standing room only in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where plaintiffs' lawyers met to argue about where to try dozens of cases rooted in Toyota's safety problems, Amanda Bronstad reports. The lawyers met before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which hears jurisdictional issues regarding MDL proceedings. A ruling is expected in the next several weeks.
Jordan Weissmann examines a little-noticed U.S. Supreme Court case that advocates for domestic violence victims say could make it more difficult for victims to enforce restraining orders against their abusers. The case, Robertson v. U.S. ex rel. Watson, challenges the way restraining orders are enforced in the District of Columbia. The high court is scheduled to hear oral argument March 31.
The Justice Department's most ambitious Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecution, unfolding in federal district court in Washington, has the white collar criminal defense shaken up, Mike Scarcella reports. Twenty-two people are charged with FCPA violations following a two-year undercover sting that some defense lawyers are calling entrapment. The prosecution is grappling with consolidation while the defense lawyers meet regularly to explore common legal issues.
And over in the Inadmissible column, read about Baker Hostetler taking on health care reform at a cut rate, the harrowing adventure of a group of law students from Al-Biruni University in Afghanistan and, among other items, the spirited one-on-one between U.S. Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer.
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