The government laid it all on the line in its first major criminal case against Wall Street during the financial crisis. But, at least partly thanks to their lawyers at Williams & Connolly and Brune & Richard, Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin were pronounced not guilty Tuesday by a federal jury in Brooklyn.

To earn a crucial victory for background music provider DMX Inc. on Wednesday at the Second Circuit, Rich stood up against an entrenched licensing model, industry titans, and the daunting duo of Seth Waxman and Ted Olson. The win, he said, advances his "transcendent objective" of increasing competition in the music licensing world.

As expected, Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau yesterday announced criminal charges arising from a fire that broke out at the Deutsche Bank building in lower Manhattan in August 2007, killing two firefighters. Charges were leveled against the subcontractor, John Galt Corp., and three construction supervisors.

A federal court judge rejected Merck's argument that the testimony of plaintiffs' expert witnesses was inadmissible.

New York state court judge Charles Ramos wanted no part of this case, which targeted the Iceland unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers and former bank executives. "How many cases does the average judge in Iceland have in their inventory?," the judge asked. "I've got 350."

Cite as: George M. Chavis v. Chappius, Index 07-2304-pr, NYLJ 1202470940946, at *1 (2d Cir., Decided August 17, 2010)Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General of the State of New York