The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Bancroft Firm Names Three New Partners

The Bancroft firm named three new partners on Thursday, reflecting the boutique’s sharp growth in power, if not size, since former solicitor general Paul Clement joined the firm in 2011.

Promoted were Erin Murphy, George Hicks Jr. and Jeffrey Harris. All three are former law clerks to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and have played key roles in the firm’s Supreme Court and litigation practice.

The promotions are in keeping with the firm’s goal to grow “moderately and deliberately,” said Viet Dinh, who founded Bancroft in 2004. Dinh is a former top Justice Department official who also teaches at Georgetown University Law Center. Dinh said the firm now has 14 lawyers – seven partners and seven associates – up from the three partners and eight associates the firm had after Clement arrived three years ago.

Gibson Dunn Hires Philip Alito, Son of Supreme Court Justice

After a year clerking for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Philip Alito, son of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr., will begin as an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher this fall.

Thomas Dupree Jr., hiring partner at Gibson Dunn's Washington D.C. office, confirmed the news last night. “Phil Alito is a smart, talented and hard-working young lawyer with impressive credentials," Dupree said in a statement. "We are delighted that he has chosen to begin his career with Gibson Dunn and look forward to welcoming him this fall.”

The hire will bring the young Alito into a firm that has one of the most active Supreme Court practices anywhere. The firm website states that Gibson Dunn lawyers have argued more than 100 cases at the high court, and boasts a 30 per cent success rate in getting the justices to grant review of its petitions in the last five years -- compared to a one per cent grant rate for all incoming cert petitions.

Alito will also find a kindred spirit in another son of a justice at the firm: Eugene Scalia, son of Justice Antonin Scalia, and a longtime Gibson Dunn D.C. partner.

This Week in The National Law Journal

A Region on the Rebound: This week we spotlight the legal services market in New England, assessing growth and looking at the area's 50 biggest law offices.

Boston's Best: "Boston-area corporate legal departments who are setting the standard in pro bono service, use of technology, management of outside counsel and more." The National Law Journal this week features a special report on the Boston region's top in-house law departments.

Law Schools Gain Greater Autonomy: "The American Bar Association is loosening its reins on law schools following years of criticism that its myriad rules have driven up the cost of a legal education and discouraged experimentation," Karen Sloan reports this week on the series of changes the ABA embraced.

Abuse Victims Want Case Reopened: Senior Washington correspondent Marcia Coyle examines the sex scandal that entangled financial adviser Jeffrey Epstein. Two child victims in the case want the government to reopen Epstein's deal with prosecutors. The dispute is now playing out in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Defense lawyer Roy Black wants the court to put on hold a trial judge's order requiring the government and defense to disclose certain plea-negotiation correspondence.

Judge Awards $434K in Fees in Iranian Dairy Dispute

A Washington federal trial judge yesterday approved $434,000 in attorney fees to Winston & Strawn for its work in the past year in a decades-long legal fight over interests in an Iranian dairy. The money isn't a sure thing just yet, though. Iran said it plans to appeal.

Plaintiff McKesson Corp. sued the Iranian government in 1982, accusing the country of expropriating its interests in a dairy created before the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The case has gone up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at least a half dozen times, and is pending again before the appeals court following a March judgment against Iran for $40.5 million.

Iran appealed that order, which included $10 million in attorney fees for work performed by McKesson's lawyers from 2000 to 2012. Yesterday's order from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon covered McKesson's legal fees from mid-2012 through April of this year. "Iran is planning to appeal the latest order, just as it appealed the prior fee awards," Iran's attorney, Christopher Wright of Wiltshire & Grannis, said in an email.

Report: More D.C. Lawyers Doing Pro Bono Work

Pro bono work by Washington-based lawyers is on the rise, according to a new survey released this week by the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Committee.

In 2012, 62 of the city's largest law firms reported that more than 10,000 D.C.-based lawyers completed over 825,000 hours of pro bono service—an average of 81 hours per lawyer. The numbers are up from 2011, when lawyers reported an average of 78 hours of pro bono service.

The survey results, which included details on how firms managed pro bono programs and how pro bono hours compared with total billable hours, showed more attorneys were not only reporting pro bono work, but were doing more of it. In 2011, 9,979 lawyers at 61 firms reported doing 776,234 hours of pro bono work. Of those same 61 firms, they reported that 10,045 lawyers completed 824,525 pro bono hours in 2012—a six percent increase.

Justice Ginsburg: 'Optimistic' About Women in the Courts

As a new judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the early 1980s, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recalled asking a question during oral arguments early in her tenure. The lawyer replied, "Well, Judge Wald...," confusing her with the only other woman on the court at the time, now-retired Judge Patricia Wald.

"The idea of two was too much to contemplate," Ginsburg said, earning laughs as she told the story during a panel discussion yesterday on women and the District of Columbia's federal courts. She added she was also referred to as "Justice O'Connor" after joining the Supreme Court in 1993, mixing her up with now-retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Ginsburg said the growing number of women judges in courts across the country today, notably her fellow Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, made her "tremendously optimistic" about the future. "We are no longer one-at-a-time curiosities," she said, adding that having multiple women on the Supreme Court was "exhilarating" and offered "the right picture for the children who troop in and out."

D.C. Courts Honor 4,000 Lawyers for D.C. Pro Bono Work

More than 4,000 lawyers in the D.C. legal community reported serving at least 50 pro bono hours in 2012, according to an announcement from the D.C. court system.

The courts' second annual Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll recognized D.C. bar members and other lawyers approved to do pro bono work in the city who met the goal of completing at least 50 hours of pro bono work. According to court officials, more than 2,400 of those lawyers reported completing more than 100 pro bono hours.

In a joint letter, D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Lee Satterfield and D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Eric Washington said they were "delighted" by the results of this year's honor roll, which featured self-reported tallies from area law firms and attorneys. The number of lawyers on this year's list grew by nearly 20 percent from the inaugural honor roll last year.

Ex-Booz Allen Lawyer Sues for Discrimination

A former longtime lawyer at Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. is suing the consulting firm for discrimination, claiming the company unjustifiably demoted her and eventually forced her to resign because of her age and gender.

The plaintiff, Carla Calobrisi, joined Booz Allen's law department in 2000 at the age of 44, according to the complaint she filed Friday in District of Columbia Superior Court. After several years as a senior associate in the company's law department she was promoted to principal, and said she always received positive performance reviews. However, she said younger male colleagues were given preferable treatment and there was a "glass ceiling" in the law department and throughout the company preventing women over 40 from advancing.

Booz Allen is already fighting two separate discrimination lawsuits in Superior Court filed by former female partners. In those cases, the plaintiffs accused the company of actively denying women opportunities to move up to top leadership positions.

D.C. Bar Leaders Express Concern Over Dues Increase

The D.C. Bar Board of Governors voted earlier this month to raise member dues by $10, a decision that has drawn criticism from some board members who say it was an unnecessary increase and not in bar members' best interests.

Active bar members will pay $265 in annual dues beginning July 1, up from $255 last year. Judicial member dues will also go up, from $127 to $130, while dues for inactive members will hold at $130.

Board member and local solo practitioner Gregory Smith said his opposition to the increase wasn't so much about the amount, which he acknowledged wouldn't make a difference to most lawyers, as the principle and what it would fund. Under the approved budget, the bar would continue to set aside a little over $500,000 annually for future building needs, which could include buying space, as opposed to leasing as it does now.

Twenty-One Lawyers Apply for Superior Court Vacancy

Magistrate and administrative law judges dominated the pool of Washington lawyers who applied to fill an upcoming vacancy on the District of Columbia Superior Court.

Of the 21 applicants hoping to fill Judge A. Franklin Burgess Jr.'s seat after he retires, seven are Superior Court magistrate judges and five are local administrative law judges. The other nine attorneys come from private practice, civil legal services groups, and government agencies.

Burgess is set to step down August 3 after serving 30 years on the bench; he has said he plans to ask for appointment as a senior judge. The District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission, the local body that recommends applicants to the White House for consideration, is accepting comments on the applicants by April 29.