Profiles Spotlight

PODCAST

Social Networking and the Law

On Lawyer 2 Lawyer, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi had an insightful conversation with three guests who had very different perspectives on social networking and the law: Chris Carfi, co-founder of business-networking company Cerado; Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law; and Kara Swisher, co-executive editor of All Things Digital.
Listen to or download the program from this page.

Attorney Provides Avenue for Recovery to Injured Small Investors

Daily Business Review

Retiree Jacob Richard Froess thought it was safe to invest his savings through the brokerage arm of his bank, but lost $14,000 before he could get his money out. Last month, he scored a difficult victory before an arbitrator with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, with help from attorney Mark Tepper. "To me, the greatest sound in the world is the sound of Goliath falling to his knees," says Tepper, a former New York prosecutor who moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and now focuses on representing investors.

Dedication to Customer Service in 'Day Job' Helped Lawyer Early in His Career

The National Law Journal

John Zervopoulos, who is now the managing attorney of the Woodbury, N.Y. office of Salenger, Sack, Schwartz & Kimmel, got his foot in the door in an unusual way -- while working at a cleaners. In the summer of 1994, Zervopoulos was working full time as the front desk manager of Manor French Cleaners while also attending Hofstra University School of Law. Local customer Robert Sack, a founding partner of the firm, was so impressed with Zervopoulos' work ethic that he offered him a firm clerkship.

Ex-Lehman Lawyer Uses Company's Bankruptcy as a Launching Pad

Corporate Counsel

Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy last fall was a nightmare for Lawrence Bortstein, the company's global head of technology law. But it also presented him with the opportunity to realize a dream. First it spurred him to consider his career options. Then, after he decided that he was ready to start his own law firm, it gave him his first client: the Lehman estate. Bortstein's new firm is doing some of the same things for the estate that his old in-house team did for the company before it collapsed.

D.C. Lawyer Takes a Stand on Ticket for Flashing Lights in Speed Zone

The National Law Journal

Mark Zaid, a solo practitioner, was driving with his family to a Washington Nationals game when an officer working a speed enforcement detail pulled him over and gave him a $50 ticket because he was flashing his lights to warn motorists about a speed trap. In court Tuesday, four tickets for flashing lights, including Zaid's, were dismissed, and a police spokesman says it's been determined that the action is not a violation. But Zaid says his quest for justice doesn't end with the dismissal of the ticket.

My Father, the First-Year Associate

The Connecticut Law Tribune

Greg Bachand was burned out after selling life insurance for 35 years, but his daughter Tanya had a solution. She had just taken over a busy personal injury practice and Greg, who passed the bar exam but never practiced law, had the business acumen she needed. Now he's working as a first-year associate with his partner-level daughter at Bachand DiScala. He feels some pressure as the young associate: "I make sure I come in on time every day, right at 7:30." Tanya's retort: "And I usually come in around 10:30."

Law School Clinic on Wheels Helps Veterans

The National Law Journal

A group of Detroit law school students is touring the country in a Winnebago-turned-law-office, helping low-income veterans obtain disability and pension benefits. The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law students are traveling in what is believed to be the first mobile law office on wheels with the Project Salute program. The program, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, has helped more than 2,000 veterans in 11 states and has an army of 740-plus pro bono attorneys across the country.

Bingham Lawyer Describes Uighurs' Journey to Freedom

The American Lawyer

Most days, Bingham McCutchen partner Sabin Willett works out of his office in Boston. But on the morning of June 11, Willett was at work in a clothing store in Bermuda. He was accompanying four longtime clients, all Chinese Uighurs who had landed on the island only hours before after spending seven years as Guantanamo detainees. The journey to freedom included many roadblocks for the Uighurs and their lawyers. Now free, the men were in need of some basics -- shorts, shirts, bathing suits.

Co-Founder of Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment Dies in Car Crash

The Recorder

Luke Cole, executive director and co-founder of the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, died in a car crash in Uganda on Friday, where he was traveling while on sabbatical. He was 46 years old. His wife, Nancy Shelby, survived the crash and is stable in a hospital in Amsterdam. Cole was one of the leaders of the environmental justice movement, fighting many well-known cases for low-income communities and communities of color. Colleagues described Cole as a lawyer driven to help others.

Fostering Interfaith Religious Tolerance Takes Litigator to Middle East

The Connecticut Law Tribune

James K. Robertson Jr. thrives on conflict and disputes as a litigator at Connecticut's Carmody & Torrance. But away from work, he focuses on cooperation and tolerance among a group of people probably more at odds than any of his clients: Christians, Jews and Muslims. For 15 years, Robertson has been involved with the Hartford Seminary, a non-denominational think tank, working to improve interfaith relations, a goal that has taken him to Turkey, Syria and Libya. Next year, Iran is on his schedule.

Atticus Finch Meets the Khmer Rouge

The American Lawyer

Marc Kadish had just graduated law school in 1968 when the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia, launching one of the most brutal genocides of the 20th century. As a war crimes tribunal opened in Phnom Penh in March, Kadish traveled to Cambodia to teach classes on trial advocacy as part of the ABA's Rule of Law Initiative. The director of pro bono activities and litigation training at Mayer Brown explains what Atticus Finch can teach lawyers working in any country.