The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Patent Lawyers Urge Congress to Act on Trolls

A group of patent lawyers in Washington said at a panel discussion today that Congress should solve the problem that patent trolls pose to innovation, and urged legislators to pass the SHIELD Act to protect American companies from meritless lawsuits.

Organized by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the event was held on Capitol Hill a day after representatives Peter de Fazio (D-Ore.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced a bill to force patent trolls, more formally known as non-practicing entities, to take financial responsibility for what their many critics say are their frivolous lawsuits. According to a recent Boston University study, trolls cost operating companies $29 billion in direct costs in 2011.

"The dramatic rise in abusive patent litigation…imposes significant costs on American businesses, threatens innovation, and is ultimately detrimental to economic growth,” said Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) at the event.

Grassley Targets DOJ for Use of Gulfstream Jets

The Department of Justice is catching criticism from a Republican senator for how it has used two Federal Bureau of Investigation jets for executive travel.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a U.S. Government Accountability Office study Thursday that found the the DOJ spent $11.4 million between 2007 and 2011 on "non-mission" travel for attorneys general and FBI directors.

"These luxury jets were supposedly needed for counterterrorism, but it turns out that they were used almost two-thirds of the time for jet-setting executive travel instead," Grassley said in a press statement.

States, Private Plaintiffs Press Suit Against Wall Street Reform Law

Updated 10:09 a.m.

The plaintiffs that are challenging the constitutionality of the Wall Street reform law and the leadership of the Obama administration's new consumer protection agency are fighting to keep alive a suit in Washington federal district court.

The private plaintiffs, including the advocacy group Competitive Enterprise Institute and Texas-based State National Bank of Big Spring, late Wednesday responded to the U.S. Justice Department's effort to end the litigation. The eleven states that have joined the suit include Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Michigan, Oklahoma and Ohio. (The states' response is here.)

The attorneys for the private plaintiffs, including O'Melveny & Myers partner Gregory Jacob and C. Boyden Gray, said in their court papers that the plaintiffs have presented sufficient evidence that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act gave "unchecked and unprecedented powers" to federal agencies, including the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"[T]he government has manufactured a jurisdictional challenge by mischaracterizing, fabricating and ignoring" the plaintiffs' evidence, the lawyers for the private plaintiffs said in their response to DOJ's insistence the suit should be thrown out. The states that joined the lawsuit are only challenging the government's ability to liquidate the largest banks. The states are not challenging the composition of the consumer protection bureau.

In 2012, Dickstein Shapiro's Gross Revenue Dipped, But Net Income Grew

Updated 5:04 p.m.

On paper, Dickstein Shapiro's fiscal year 2012 financial metrics represented a big change from 2011. Whereas gross revenue held steady in 2011, last year it dipped 3.2 percent to $258.5 million. But revenue per lawyer, profits per partner and net income all showed strong growth. Revenue per lawyer climbed 7.7 percent to $840,000 and profits per partner increased 3.8 percent to $950,000. Net income had the largest gain of any metric category, jumping 8.9 percent to $55 million.

"From the perspective of our firm, we thought it was a good year," chairman Michael Nannes said. "We know it's a challenging time."

Nannes said that the litigation, insurance, government contracts and intellectual property practice contributed to the firm's success in 2012. He expects these practices will continue to be strong through 2013. The corporate practice also finished out the year strong, in part bolstered by the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff.

D.C. Courts: Sequestration Won't Cause Layoffs, Furloughs

If Congress fails to reach an agreement by March 1 to avoid $85 billion in automatic budget cuts known as sequestration, the District of Columbia's local courts system could have to find $14 million in savings from its fiscal year 2013 budget. Court officials don't expect layoffs or furloughs, but declined to release details on how they would make the required cuts.

The spending cuts would be spread across court operations, capital projects, and the defender services budget, which includes funding for court-appointed lawyers for indigent defendants. The chief judges of Superior Court and the Court of Appeals declined to discuss the court's sequestration plan, as did officials in the executive office.

In a letter in the court system's monthly newsletter, executive office officials said that under the plan, the cuts would likely have a "significant" effect on infrastructure projects. Superior Court officials have had longstanding plans to expand the downtown courthouse, and in an interview late last year, Chief Judge Lee Satterfield said those plans could be put on hold if the court was faced with sequestration.

Senate Committee Approves Three District Court Nominees

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Thursday three judicial nominees for district courts in New York, California and Louisiana, as well as the nominee to become chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.

The committee unanimously voted to approve Nelson Roman to be a judge for the Southern District of New York and Shelly Dick for the Middle District of Louisiana. The other nominees had opposition from Republicans: William Orrick for the Northern District of California was approved 11-7, and David Medine for the privacy board was approved 10-8.

In opposing Orrick, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that he had concerns about some of Orrick's views, particularly on immigration. Grassley, the ranking minority on the committee, also said that Orrick had provided "non-responsive" answers to some of Grassley's questions. "Mr. Orrick's non-responsiveness rises to a level well above what we typically see from nominees," Grassley said.

The Morning Wrap

Farewell: The Pope made his final public address yesterday, one day before his resignation takes effect. The New York Times chronicles Pope Benedict XVI's last cruise in the popemobile around St. Peter's Square.

SCOTUS: Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act may be in jeopardy, as conservative justices expressed skepticism during oral arguments Wednesday. Our own Marcia Coyle reports.

Testify: An expert witness testified in the BP trial that the company deceived federal regulators about the condition of the well and moved ahead with "unsafe and dangerous" drilling operations. Bloomberg reports.

Confirmation: Jack Lew was approved as Treasury Secretary by the U.S. Senate Wednesday, thrusting him into the ongoing budget debate, Reuters reports. Meanwhile federal agencies are preparing for furloughs and the pending sequestration cuts.

DOJ: Dismiss Suit Over Supreme Court Visitor's 'Occupy Everywhere' Jacket

Fitzgerald Scott was viewing exhibits inside the U.S. Supreme Court last year when a police officer confronted him and demanded he remove his jacket.

Painted on the jacket were these words: "Occupy Everywhere." The deputy chief of the Supreme Court Police, Timothy Dolan, told Scott to take off the jacket or leave the building. Scott, according to Dolan, was violating the law that restricts expression inside the high court: no signs and no demonstrations.

Dolan, according to prosecutors, warned Scott he'd be arrested if he didn't comply. Scott was charged, under District of Columbia law, with unlawful entry. (He wasn't booked on the federal law that prohibits certain expressive activity inside the Supreme Court building.) Prosecutors, however, later abandoned the case. Scott filed suit in Washington federal district court.

This afternoon, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia asked a federal judge in Washington to dismiss Scott's case, which claims the authorities had no basis to make an arrest. The complaint also said the jacket's "pure speech" was protected under the First Amendment.

DOJ Names Acting Leader of Criminal Division

Updated 6:21 p.m.

As Lanny Breuer prepares to leave his post as the top lawyer of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, his successor is now known: Mythili Raman.

A DOJ official said Raman, a longtime federal prosecutor, will serve as the acting assistant attorney general after Breuer's departure. Breuer, a former Covington & Burling litigation partner in Washington, has served as the head of the division since early 2009. His last day at the helm is Friday.

In Breuer's front office, Raman has served as the principal deputy assistant attorney general since September 2009. Her federal prosecution career began in 1996 as a trial attorney in DOJ's Narcotics and and Dangerous Drug Section. Other roles have included appellate chief in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland and senior counsel to the deputy attorney general.

"Mythili is an exceptionally talented lawyer, and I have no doubt that she will continue her extraordinary career in public service as a brilliant leader of the criminal division," Breuer said in a statement today.

Circuit Nominee Enjoys Extra Friendly Reception at Senate Committee Hearing

Jane Kelly got an extra friendly reception from the Senate Judiciary Committee at her confirmation hearing Wednesday for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, soaking up a stream of compliments and fielding questions about why diversity in the courts is important.

Kelly, an Iowan who would be only the second woman judge in the circuit's history, has also been a federal public defender in the Northern District of Iowa, a contrast to many prosecutors on that circuit's bench. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced her as a lawyer who stood out as a person of intellect who has wide bipartisan support from the Iowa legal community.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), usually delivers the toughest questions for nominees as the committee's ranking member and typically lone Republican at the hearings. But Wednesday, he noted that his staff had already told Kelly what the questions would be, "so there should be no surprises here."