Legal Research

Selections from National Law Journal Daily Headlines March 4, 2009

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: NLJ.COM, March 4, 2009.

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FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  Orrick layoffs the latest in trend: the job cuts are going deeper and deeper
"One round of layoffs hasn't been enough to stem the tide of falling profits at some major law firms. With the economy in shambles, a growing number of firms are now in their second and even third rounds of cuts. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe joined that list on Tuesday, laying off about 100 associates and 200 legal staffers."

FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  Ruling provides major boost to employers accused of allowing excessive investment fund fees
"The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has provided a major boost for employers battling allegations that they allowed excessive fee charges by investment funds overseeing 401(k) plans. The decision comes as a blow to at least 20 similar excessive fee class actions around the country and a blow to Department of Labor efforts to hold companies to the fire to find the lowest cost investment funds for employees."

WEB-ONLY  |  Justices struggle with standard to determine when due process requires recusal
"While a number of Supreme Court justices appeared troubled by a West Virginia Supreme Court justice's refusal to recuse himself from a case involving his major campaign contributor, they struggled during arguments on Tuesday with what standard might be used to determine when due process requires recusal because of the appearance of bias."

WEB-ONLY  |  Second class action filed alleging improper spying of Web users to create 'tailored ads'
"Plaintiffs' attorneys have filed a second class action alleging illegal spying of Internet users to create tailored advertisements. On March 2, a class action suit was announced against behavioral advertising vendor Adzilla Inc. and a host of Internet service providers, alleging that they secretly tracked Internet users' surfing activity, in violation of their privacy and data security rights."

WEB-ONLY  |  One Chicago group that's benefiting from the downturn: legal aid organization
"The Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services, a Chicago legal aid organization, is one group in the legal industry that's actually benefiting from the economic downturn. The organization has seen a surge in interest from lawyers who are unemployed and want to volunteer. CARPLS attracted more than 100 applications during a single week last month after it advertised for licensed lawyer volunteers to handle hotline calls in a new program that starts this month."

WEB-ONLY  |  Number of minority, female judges in Calif. state courts nudges up
"The number of minority and female judges on California's state courts has ticked up in slightly at the start of 2009 from numbers two years ago. California's Administrative Office of the Courts recently reported that nearly 29% of the trial judges are women, up from 27% at the start of 2007, including three of seven members of the state Supreme Court."

WEB-ONLY  |  Study: Number of terrorism cases brought by DOJ continues to shrink
"In October and November of last year, the U.S. Department of Justice brought the fewest number of terrorism prosecutions since September 2001, according to an analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Taking the latest available data from the Justice Department, TRAC reported that the government brought 16 new national internal security/terrorism prosecutions in November 2008, up from 13 in October 2008."

 OPINION

SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS  |  A judicial experience myth
"Chief Justice Roberts' recent praise for Supreme Court justices with prior judicial experience marks at least the third time since the heyday of the Rehnquist Court that someone who can influence who gets appointed to the court has extolled the virtues of such experience. But none of the articulated reasons for valuing prior judicial experience ? as a predictor of consensus-building skills, as a proxy for merit and to ensure that decisions are grounded in 'law' rather than 'policy' ? is supported by the facts." 
 

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on March 04, 2009 (boomark / email).