Limited Options
The Recorder
Silicon Valley lawyers want the SEC to ease up on rules governing stock option exchanges -- a practice suddenly in vogue because old options held by employees have been rendered worthless by the stock market's slide. The way the SEC sees it, however, options exchanges are equivalent to a tender offer, and that means rank-and-file employees targeted for such exchanges could be fleeced.
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No Punis for Attorney Negligence
The Recorder
The Fourth District Court of Appeals reversed a $221 million legal malpractice verdict against a San Diego lawyer Wednesday, saying an attorney's negligence does not make him liable for lost punitive damages that a client might have collected if counsel hadn't screwed up. The ruling stems from the high-profile case brought by a former Prudential Securities stockbroker against his lawyer Robert Friedenberg.
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Bar's New Trial Counsel Has Wealth of Experience
The Recorder
Mike Nisperos Jr., public safety liaison to the city manager of Oakland, was hired Wednesday as the State Bar's new chief trial counsel, overseeing the association's immense discipline system. "I can't think of a better opportunity for an attorney who enjoys being a prosecutor," Nisperos said Wednesday. He will replace Francis Bassios, who has served as the acting chief prosecutor since May.
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City Ends Collins Saga With $750,000 Payment
The Recorder
Clayton Collins, a registered sex offender and a former city youth counselor, may have become the most expensive city employee in Oakland's history. The City Council voted in closed session Tuesday to pay $750,000 to a woman who says Collins raped her when she was 15. That case, along with several other claims and lawsuits linked to Collins, have drained city coffers of nearly $2 million in settlement costs.
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Women General Counsel Honored by McCutchen, Bar
The Recorder
At a celebration Tuesday night for women general counsel, the watchword was "wo-mentoring," according to Bar Association of San Francisco President-Elect Angela Bradstreet. "It's really awesome to know how many women are general counsel in the Bay Area," said Bradstreet, a partner at Carroll, Burdick & McDonough, to a room packed with about 200 people, including about 60 female in-house counsel.
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Justices to Rule on Medical Pot Use
The Recorder
Five years after voters passed Proposition 215 sanctioning medical marijuana use, the California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether the law creates immunity from prosecution or only an affirmative defense once a person faces formal charges. The justices will also contemplate standards for determining how many plants a patient can have before prosecutors can file felony cultivation charges.
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Nearly 200 in Coke Class Action Race Bias Suit Seek Delay in Settlement
Fulton County Daily Report
Nearly 200 members of a class action race discrimination suit against Coca-Cola Co. petitioned a federal judge in Atlanta to delay the settlement's opt-out date until after a May 29 fairness hearing. The number of class members who signed the petition is significant: In the proposed settlement, Coca-Cola retains the option of canceling the agreement if 200 or more class members decline to participate.
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Internet Service Can't Claim Immunity in Trademark Suit
New York Law Journal
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 does not immunize an Internet service provider from liability for trademark infringement associated with one of its customers, a federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday. The judge found that Mindspring, now part of EarthLink Inc., cannot escape liability for direct and contributory trademark infringement in a case involving the Gucci mark and an Internet jewelry marketer.
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No Class Action Status in Adams Mark Race Discrimination Suit
The Legal Intelligencer
A federal magistrate judge in Philadelphia ruled that plaintiffs seeking class action status in a 2-year-old race discrimination suit against the Adams Mark hotel chain cannot proceed as a class because their lawyers took too long in seeking class certification. But the impact of the ruling is unclear because plaintiffs' lawyers say another suit seeking class action status and including all the same plaintiffs has been filed.
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Builders Sue Over Loft Moratorium
The San Jose Mercury News
The powerful Residential Builders Association is suing San Francisco, saying the city's six-month moratorium on live/work lofts skirts open-government laws. The lawsuit takes aim at how the board of supervisors passed the moratorium last month -- with a resolution instead of an ordinance.

Jury Awards Damages to NFL Player in Civil Rights Case
The Sacramento Bee
A federal jury has ordered law enforcement officers to pay $249,000 to a Raiders defensive tackle and an actress for unlawfully detaining them in 1997. The city and county of San Diego and state of California were ordered to pay the damages for violating the civil rights of Shawn Lee and Cheryl Freeman, a jury decided Tuesday.

Donations to Clinton Fund Fall
The Washington Post
Former president Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) still face nearly $4 million in unpaid legal bills as private contributions to the Clinton Legal Expense Trust dipped to an all-time low, the fund's trustees reported on Wednesday. The trustees said the fund collected $750,000 in a six-month period ending in February, giving it a total of $8.7 million since it was set up three years ago.

E-Retailers May Have a Champion in McCain
The Industry Standard
In a debate before a Senate committee over the issue of giving states the right to collect sales taxes on transactions involving out-of-state businesses, including Internet sales, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., poked holes in the states' argument for collecting remote sales taxes. He also expressed reluctance to place further burdens on struggling Internet businesses.

Modern Document Review: Handling Client Files Electronically
Legal Times
When a litigation team at Washington, D.C.'s Crowell & Moring was recently asked to collect and review for production about 1.5 million pages within 90 days, they concluded that the only way to complete this request on time was to review the documents electronically. Robert Young, the firm's litigation support manager, explains how they met their deadline, even as the collection doubled in size.

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