http://www.law.com/newswire/ The day's top legal stories accompanied with summaries. en-us 05/22/2012 Copyright 2012. ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.law.com/service/terms_conditions.shtml http://www.law.com/img/newswire/newswire_rss.gif http://www.law.com/newswire/ In a case at the intersection of law and modern reproductive technology, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that state inheritance laws will determine whether children conceived after their father's death are eligible for Social Security survivors benefits. Also on Monday, the justices stepped into another post-Sept. 11 controversy by granting review in a challenge involving the constitutionality of 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202555444343&rss=newswire According to a law school report released Monday, exonerations in the U.S. since 1989 have topped 2,000 -- but, as one of the registry's editors put it, those are just "the tip of an iceberg." Among the findings: 64 percent of homicide exonerations nationwide were at least partly attributed to perjury or false accusations. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202555386241&rss=newswire Dewey & LeBoeuf co-vice chair Ralph Ferrara is leading a four-partner team to Proskauer Rose. Combined with a number of other Dewey partner departures in the past few days, that leaves the firm with 22 partners, at most, in its U.S. offices, with a handful of others scattered abroad. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleALD.jsp?id=1202555510634&rss=newswire Michael Lee, a U.S. senator from Utah and former Howrey partner, says his inability to retrieve his capital contributions forced him to sell off his million-dollar house and move into a rental with his wife and three children. More than a year into the firm's bankruptcy, Lee is hardly the only party to go unpaid by Howrey. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleALD.jsp?id=1202555461116&rss=newswire A former New York partner of Baker & McKenzie pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to money laundering and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Martin Weisberg's plea came as jury selection was about to begin in a trial of one of two separate indictments against him. He pleaded guilty to one count from each of the indictments. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202555407913&rss=newswire It's not easy being a lawyer these days. And even harder being part of the law firm's support staff as law firms are cutting back on those positions. John Pacenti asks "Is this more about management or greed?" http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/PubArticleDBR.jsp?id=1202554107887&rss=newswire http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202550575945&rss=newswire http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202550575463&rss=newswire Four judges talk about the do's and don'ts of trial practice as observed from the bench. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202549902452&rss=newswire The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday held that fees for translating documents in federal lawsuits are not among the costs that may be awarded to the prevailing parties. It was the term's battle of the dictionaries, and it ended with a rare flash of humor from a justice on the bench. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202555439453&rss=newswire The Senate voted 61-34 to confirm Munger Tolles litigation partner Paul Watford to the Ninth Circuit on Monday, giving President Obama his fourth appointee to the federal appeals court and giving the court its second active judge who is African-American. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202555521638&rss=newswire With malicious intrusions on the rise, yet another study is highlighting serious governance shortcomings on the boards of critical infrastructure companies when it comes to cybersecurity. Energy/utility companies fared the worst in the report released last week by Carnegie Mellon University. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202555441547&rss=newswire A former law student has won a bid in bankruptcy court to discharge nearly $340,000 in education debt because her diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome rendered her unable to repay the loans. The court found that Carol Todd met the burden of showing that she would suffer undue hardship if forced to repay her debt. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202555456097&rss=newswire Launching his defense of one of the most prominent figures ever charged with insider trading, defense lawyer Gary Naftalis of Kramer Levin argued in federal court Monday that Rajat Gupta had traded "not a single share." But Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky promised the jury it would hear the evidence needed to convict. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202555487757&rss=newswire Dewey & LeBoeuf's Washington, D.C., office continued to hemorrhage attorneys Monday with the news that four Dewey lawyers had landed at rival firms across town. Former Dewey antitrust partners Marc Schildkraut and Jacqueline Grise have joined Cooley, while partner James Bowe Jr. and senior associate William Rice head to King & Spalding. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202555416127&rss=newswire Former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer lashed out Monday at the New York AG's office for failing to consult with him or dispute that he used private emails to conduct public business, saying: "They never reached out to me to ask anything about it, and one would think a competent lawyer would have done that." http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202555495040&rss=newswire In the long-running fight over classified materials documenting enhanced interrogation techniques by the United States, the Second Circuit ruled Monday that records concerning waterboarding and a photograph of Abu Zubaydah during his interrogation in CIA custody are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202555415262&rss=newswire Two top Republican senators on the judiciary and budget committees are questioning the cost of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference planned for Hawaii in August, saying "the program reads more like a vacation than a business trip to discuss the means of improving the administration of justice." http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sign_me_in.jsp?article=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202555412605&rss=newswire The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has announced that it will hold ratification hearings on the Law of the Sea Treaty on Wednesday. With technological advances rendering the deep seabed and subsoil newly exploitable, ratification of LOST would mean the largest abandonment of territorial rights by any nation in history, says attorney Michael P. Socarras. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202555506223&rss=newswire