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A battle between an elderly heiress to the l'Oreal cosmetics fortune and her estranged daughter for control of the mother's finances has exploded into a series of investigations concerning possible money laundering and tax evasion and questionable political contributions. But rather than being a potential target of the probe, heiress Liliane Bettencourt, 87, is considered a possible victim, reports Reuters. If she owes taxes, Bettencourt has said, she will pay. The news agency was unable to confirm a report by a Swiss daily newspaper that two law firms in Geneva might be a focus of the investigation, which concerns the…more...

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Following a two-year investigation by Belgian police, authorities have reportedly raided Internet service providers in approximately 14 European countries, in an effort to shut down websites that violate copyright laws by facilitating illegal peer-to-peer downloading of games, software and, in particular, movies. The raids, which focused on "The Scene" in Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Norway, are intended to cripple illegal file-sharing operations rather than simply shift them to other locations on the web, according to the Law & Disorder blog of Ars Technica and TorrentFreak. Contrary to some reports, the Wikileaks website is…more...

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A coalition of civil rights groups and criminal defense attorneys has sued the Department of Homeland Security over its alleged border searches and seizures, without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, of the laptop computers, cell phones and other electronic devices of some 6,600 people. About half of those subjected to such searches were U.S. citizens, according to the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). The searches and seizures at issue, which took place between Oct. 2008 and June 2010, were also performed without any judicial review and pursuant to Homeland Security policy which sets virtually no limit on the scope of searches,…more...

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Another lawyer has waded into the mass tort fray over alleged illegal downloading of copyrighted material. Attorney John Steele of Chicago is representing three adult content producers in separate federal court claims against hundreds of unidentified "John Doe" individuals accused of using BitTorrent to pirate material created by the plaintiffs, Hard Drive Productions Inc., Lightspeed Media, and Millennium TGA, according to Information Week. Steele is the operator of the Media Copyright Group,which makes a practice of pursuing such cases, says the Hollywood Reporter. Its article provides a link to the suit (PDF) Steele filed on behalf of Hard Drive Productions.…more...

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New lawyers having trouble with their job search may want to consider practice in rural America, where they are more likely to see the inside of a courtroom and less likely to be saddled with a big mortgage payment. Eric Cooperstein, a Minneapolis legal ethics lawyer, began thinking about those benefits after he had a conversation with a lawyer from a small town about two hours outside of his city, he writes at the Lawyerist blog. The lawyer mentioned how difficult it is for law firms to find lawyers willing to practice in rural areas. She also made a prediction…more...

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Billing rates charged to large companies have increased at a faster pace for associates than for partners, according to a billing-rate study being released today. Associate billing rates increased by 16.6 percent between 2007 and 2009, while partner rates rose 8.6 percent, according to a press release and the Am Law Daily. Overall, rates rose 21 percent in Dallas, Atlanta, and Richmond, Va., during the two-year period, while rates in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles rose by only 14 percent, according to the report by CT TyMetrix and The Corporate Executive Board Company. The study also found that legal…more...

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Proskauer Rose partner Ronald Sernau has been busy negotiating a new New York lease for the law firm and developing software to standardize commercial leases. Sernau couldn’t divulge the cost of the lease on 13 floors of a new glass building across from the Port Authority Terminal. But he tells the New York Times in a Q-and-A interview that “we got a great deal.” Sernau, who co-chairs Proskauer’s real estate division, told the Times that “the negotiations went on forever—look, it’s a big lease.” Sernau says landlords are offering better deals these days, “but the market isn’t as flush as…more...

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The Indiana Supreme Court has issued a private reprimand to a lawyer and a warning to others in an ethics case concerning a neglected application for pro hac vice status. The court found that an Indiana lawyer, who wasn’t identified, partnered with a Kentucky lawyer in a personal injury case, but failed to ensure that the Kentucky lawyer applied for temporary bar admission. The court said the Indiana lawyer had engaged in misconduct by helping his co-counsel engage in the unauthorized practice of law, the Associated Press reports. “The failure of out-of-state attorneys and their Indiana co-counsel to comply with…more...

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Once derided for hiring “third tier trash” as law clerks, Justice Clarence Thomas confined his hires this year to clerks from law schools ranked in the top 15 by U.S. News & World Report. Still, Thomas still thinks outside the box created by his colleagues, the New York Times reports. About half of the Supreme Court law clerks hired since Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court in 2005 attended just two law schools—Harvard and Yale. One-fourth of the clerks attended four other schools—Virginia, Stanford, Chicago and Columbia. This term, Thomas’ clerks come from top 15 schools Duke,…more...

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The legal sector added 1,000 jobs law month, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was the second month of job gains in the legal field, the American Lawyer reports. The government originally reported that the legal sector lost 800 jobs in July, but a readjustment now shows a gain of 300 jobs for the month. Despite the gain, there are still 14,000 fewer jobs in the legal sector than a year ago, the story says.more...

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