Attorneys in Action

Gang Member to Get Makeover for Trial, Says Attorney

"Clothes make the man, and a mustache couldn't hurt either," will apparently be the trial theme in Richard Rodriguez's case against the city of El Monte, California.  Rodriguez sued the city in July, alleging that a police officer used excessive…


State Assistant AG Fired After Inappropriate Cemetery Visit

A 66-year-old deputy assistant attorney general is now no longer employed by South Carolina after a police officer noticed him and another person engaging in an unspecified activity in a "secluded part of a downtown cemetery." He and the 18-year-old…


Woman Learns to Swear in Order to Make Partner

On October 12th the legal newspaper The Recorder ran a story on Judy O'Brien, who is now general counsel at a Bay Area startup called Obopay, and was formerly a partner in the Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich &…


UPDATE: Opinion in “Pilates Instructor” Case

The opinion in this case (linked below, previously discussed here) is worth a read.  Just to clarify a few of the details, the parties had filed cross-motions for summary judgment.  Plaintiff's claims against the credit-card company were dismissed, which appears…



Attorney Crashes Party at Courthouse Groundbreaking

A new federal courthouse is being built in Austin, Texas, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 2 that attracted numerous dignitaries.  The group assembled for the ceremonial portrait below included two district judges, two magistrate judges, four U.S. representatives and a…


Big Firm Rocked by Tab-Divider Scam

In what is believed to be the largest tab-divider scam yet perpetrated on a large American law firm, three men are accused of defrauding Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati out of $1 million by charging it for tab dividers that were never delivered. …


Sex Fees Not Deductible Medical Expenses, Tax Court Rules

Therapeutic?  Probably.  Deductible?  No. So ruled the U.S. Tax Court yesterday in the case of William Halby, a New York tax attorney who claimed that the amounts he spent on, let's call them personal-gratification-related books and materials, and also numerous professional intimate-therapy service providers,…



Don’t Miss The [Alberto] Gonzales Cantata

Only two shows left for The Gonzales Cantata, the world's first concert opera based entirely on former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's 2007 appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. As you may recall, Gonzales was questioned and criticized (by Republicans as well…