http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/index.jsp Updated daily en-us 05/07/2009 Copyright 2009. Incisive Media US Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.law.com/service/terms_conditions.shtml http://www.law.com/img/newswire/nlj_rss.gif http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/index.jsp A Los Angeles judge has blasted one of the nation's leading plaintiffs firms in asbestos litigation for trying to get the upper hand in a case through what he called a "type of judicially sanctioned extortion." The judge concluded that Waters & Kraus had re-filed in California a case that was first filed in Texas as a way to force a settlement. Calling such tactics a "waste of the court's time," the judge said Waters & Kraus has played the same "grisly game of asbestos litigation" in at least nine cases. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430510230&rss=nlj Employees in Massachusetts who injure themselves at work may not be entitled to disability retirement benefits if their employer accommodates them with a lighter job. A recent Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling held that employers can change an injured worker's duties to keep him on the job and prevent him from going into retirement and collecting disability. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430510890&rss=nlj A new study projects growth of roughly 5% in corporate legal spending over the next six months, but corporate lawyers say that fixed legal budgets preclude most increases and that any higher legal spending that is tied to the economic crisis is temporary and unsustainable. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430531960&rss=nlj U.S. News & World Report said that it is "investigating" Brooklyn Law School's responses to the magazine's annual law school ranking survey, specifically with respect to part-time students. The magazine said some rival law schools noted that Brooklyn Law wasn't listed in the part-time ranking and questioned whether the school also excluded part-time students in its responses for the overall ranking in an effort to boost its ranking. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430524801&rss=nlj Lewis and Roca has opened its first California office in Silicon Valley's Mountain View with the addition of three intellectual property attorneys from White & Case: Frank Hiscox and Dana Brody-Brown, who now are partners at Lewis and Roca, and Alexa Horne, who has joined of counsel. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430516203&rss=nlj A Los Angeles judge, ruling on a case of first impression, has found that the federal CAN-SPAM Act preempts a California law designed to curb false and misleading commercial emails. The May 4 ruling, which throws out a case claiming $45 million in damages, is the first to address the pre-emption issue in California's state courts and could stymie future suits filed under the statute. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430508702&rss=nlj The U.S. Department of Justice is cracking down on employers that discriminate against returning injured soldiers, who are having a hard time getting their old jobs back, either being demoted, or denied work altogether. DOJ is suing employers nationwide — almost on a weekly basis — for failing to promptly re-employ returning service men and women, in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430498762&rss=nlj Plantiffs' law firms Baron & Budd of Dallas and Miami-based Alters, Boldt, Brown, Rash & Culmo are teaming up to work on the groundswell of class actions being filed against homebuilders using Chinese-made drywall. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430499849&rss=nlj Massachusetts medical malpractice lawsuit filings continued their downward trajectory last year, with cases falling below the 500 mark for the first time this decade, according to Massachusetts state court data. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430497784&rss=nlj New associates, associate promotions and new partners at Minneapolis' Bowman and Brooke and other law firms. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430508587&rss=nlj A surprising thing is happening among companies spurred by the financial crisis to take a sharp pencil to operating budgets and scrutinize spending. As business contracts and companies trim outside legal costs, seek fee reductions and alternative billing arrangements, and pare rosters of outside firms altogether, epic layoffs within large law firms have been the obvious result. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430364632&rss=nlj For some contract lawyers, work is synonymous with being a galley slave, performing grunt jobs in stuffy basements or offices far removed from meaningful contact with other legal professionals. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430364595&rss=nlj From firm leaders to potential laterals, everyone involved with the movement of lateral partners wants to know how the market is, whether things are different now than in other downturns and whether firms are really making commitments in these uncertain times. The answer is both simple and complicated. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430364558&rss=nlj Enterprising lawyers who form new businesses that are irresistibly attractive to both clients and talent alike likely will drive a fundamental change in the way the business of law is conducted. Economic distress and frustrated clientele are merely catalysts of that change. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430364739&rss=nlj A recent article in The New York Times suggested that enrollment in college humanities courses is declining and that the humanities, to retain their following, must "justify their worth." The study of literature gives a lawyer, particularly a trial lawyer, many of the skills he or she needs to assess evidence and persuade a trier of fact. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430333321&rss=nlj Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage-finance company, recently stopped guaranteeing mortgages in condo buildings where fewer than 70% of the units have been sold, up from 51%. Lenders, which want to repackage loans to secondary buyers, have taken note of the new guidelines, and many banks are now refusing to make loans that Fannie Mae won't guarantee. This has resulted in essentially all new condominium projects being doomed. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430333668&rss=nlj The National Research Council of the National Academies of Science released in February a long-awaited report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward. The findings could play a major rule in shaping the future treatment of expert evidence. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430333707&rss=nlj Michael Elkin has been named managing partner of Winston & Strawn's New York office and elected to the firm's executive committee. Plus more law firm movers in this week's column. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430367533&rss=nlj The sudden, if unsurprising, announcement that Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter will retire instantly ratcheted up the scrutiny and political pressure on President Barack Obama and on the growing list of potential replacements — some of whom are already drawing fire. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430383703&rss=nlj In her first interview since taking office March 20 as the government's top lawyer before the Supreme Court, U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan spoke with The National Law Journal's Tony Mauro about her new job. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430383663&rss=nlj Although the flu strain isn't an official pandemic yet, state and local officials are already flexing legal muscles. But escalation to the pandemic stage, say health law experts, could draw officials into truly novel legal situations, such as who can order isolation or quarantine to contain the disease. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430383777&rss=nlj Whether partners or shareholders in professional firms are employees or employers for purposes of the anti-discrimination laws remains an open issue. During the present financial crisis, when law firm "right-sizing" has led to numerous partner departures, the issue has taken on increasing practical importance. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202430142095&rss=nlj With increasing frequency, a single operational or financial issue can balloon into multifront litigation. In such circumstances, regulatory, civil and, in some cases, criminal, proceedings may commence and unfold in parallel. There can be no single blueprint for navigating such "parallel proceedings," but there are some issues that are common to nearly all of them. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202429966840&rss=nlj Changes to the global landscape during the next two decades are expected to drive a new generation of disputes. Climate change and unprecedented pressure on world resources — including carbon-based energy sources, minerals, food and water — will be among the key structural drivers. At the same time, the global financial crisis and the rise of state capitalism seem set to provide the catalyst for further financial and economic conflicts. This new generation of disputes will call for a sophisticated range of dispute resolution mechanisms and may challenge existing structures. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202429784252&rss=nlj