Legal Pad

The Pros and Cons of Toiling Away in Your Own At-Home Sweatshop

2009-12-17T16:03:47-08:00

So this New York Times story has nothing to do with lawyers, except we thought it interesting that the writer chose to compare assosiates to the well-paid/overworked entrepreneurs on Etsy, that Web site where the arts-and-crafts inclined hawk their toilet paper cozies. (A brief aside: That was the first absurd tchotchke to come to mind so we went with it -- but we were quite pleased to discover, with just one Google, that even the stuff we spout off the top of our head turns out to be incredibly spot-on.)

Anyway, here's the part of that NYT story that caught our eye:

Ms. Gibran, who is in her 30s, had been selling her hand-knit scarves and accessories on the site for less than a year when she decided last November to quit her day job at a copy center in Atlanta. Thirteen months later, she would seem to be living the Etsy dream: running a one-woman knitwear operation, Yokoo, from her home and earning more than $140,000 a year, more than many law associates.

Jealous? How could you not be? Her hobby is her job. But consider this before you quit your day job: at the pace she’s working, she might as well be a law associate.

Unfortunately, though we loved the pose in the photo the NYT chose to run of Ms. Gibran, we were disappointed the paper didn't actually quote any lawyers-turned-arts&crafts moguls. If you're out there, email us. Maybe we'll write about you.

— Pam Smith

Really, email me

An Attempt to Bring Bud Selig to His Knees

2009-12-17T13:03:50-08:00

Oakland A’s fans queasy that their storied team could be lured south to San Jose have a new best friend –- San Francisco’s top litigator.

Today City Attorney Dennis Herrera wrote to Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, advising him in a six-page “sternly-worded letter,” as his press release calls it, that San Francisco is not pleased by the notion of another franchise moving into Giants territory.

Herrera made it clear that San Francisco is interested in protecting the millions of dollars in rent and tax revenues generated by the Giants franchise, and he walked Selig through the promises San Francisco had to make to keep the Giants in town and build AT&T Park, all with the understanding that major league baseball wouldn’t do anything to undercut the financial viability of the franchise.

Stern words can hurt, after the jump ...

“Tampering” with the Giants’ rights to its territory, Herrera wrote, “would be just the sort of action that the city believed Major League Baseball was in effect promising it would not do.”

The buck stops with Selig, reportedly an old college fraternity brother of A’s owner Lew Wolff, who wants to move his team to San Jose.

A coalition of San Jose residents who oppose the A’s move, including friends of the minor-league San Jose Giants, has Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman senior associate Todd Smith working for them, addressing an environmental impact report on the proposed stadium for the A’s.

Photo credit: Tage Olsin/via Wikimedia Commons

— Kate Moser

Rounded Up: Ninth Circuit to Vote on Prop 8 Decision, Possibly Close Jeppesen Courtroom

2009-12-17T11:49:31-08:00

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will receive $23 million to ease its growing problem of backlogged cases. The agency saw a record number of complaints in 2008. [NLJ]

The Obama administration is appealing to the Ninth Circuit to close the courtroom for a lawsuit accusing Bay Area flight-planning company Jeppesen Dataplan of aiding the CIA in torturing terrorist suspects. [SFGate]

Critics of torture memo-ist John Yoo are calling for California Deputy Attorney General David Carrillo to cancel his plans to teach con law with Yoo at Boalt Hall next semester. [SFGate]

The Ninth Circuit will vote to reconsider its decision to bar gay rights activists from accessing internal communications from the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. One of the 27 judges on the court called for the vote. [L.A. Now]

Former Warner Bros. GC John Schulman is opening an entertainment practice at Mitchell Silderberg & Knupp. [NLJ]

Tom Campbell is reportedly considering dropping out of the California governor's race to contest Sen. Barbara Boxer's re-election. [Fox & Hounds]

Meg Whitman isn't coming out of the eBay trial looking or smelling like a rose. [Contra Costa Times]

— Cynthia Foster

No Cameras Allowed in Prop 8 Trial. Unless They Are.

2009-12-16T17:12:24-08:00

Update: The Ninth Circuit on Thursday issued a press release saying cameras would be allowed in courts under its jurisdiction on an experimental basis. Does this mean cameras for the Prop 8 case? Well, here's the most interesting sentence in the release:

Cases to be considered for the pilot program will be selected by the chief judge of the district court in consultation with the chief circuit judge.

Walker: Camera-shy, yet so photogenic …

Chief justice for the Northern District? That guy over there on the right. We'll have more on CalLaw tonight, and our original post is below.

As of today, cameras will not be permitted to televise the federal challenge to Prop 8. But that may change by the time trial starts next month.

Under local and circuit rules, television cameras aren’t allowed into court, said Northern District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker during a final pretrial conference Wednesday. However, the Ninth Circuit conference passed a toothless resolution a couple years ago supporting the concept in civil bench trials, just like the Prop 8 case. Now, the circuit’s governing council is mulling a pilot program to allow it, which “may be considered in the near future,” Walker said.

Later in the day, Legal Pad just happened to be at Seventh and Mission, chatting with Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. So we asked whether the circuit might pass the pilot program in time for the Jan. 11 Prop 8 trial. The normally loquacious Kozinski turned a touch furtive. “I really don’t want to comment,” he said.

En banc review of the recent Ninth decision on the case? Follow the jump.

Walker, for his part, clearly wants to revisit the topic if the circuit signs off. And lawyers representing the same sex couples do, too. “We have a great deal to say about it when it’s appropriate and propitious to do so,” said Ted Olson of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. The Yes on 8 campaign didn’t weigh in on Wednesday, but it has previously opposed cameras on the grounds that they would subject Prop 8 supporters to public retribution.

In other matters, Walker decided he will hear from all of the anti-gay-marriage experts proffered by the Yes on 8 defendants, and then make decisions as to their credibility after the trial. The same sex marriage plaintiffs had sought to bar some of those academics from testifying at all, saying they were unqualified.

Walker also announced that he received a phone call Wednesday morning from the Ninth Circuit, saying there had been a call to review en banc a recent panel decision on internal Yes on 8 documents. Walker had ordered the campaign to turn over internal communications, but an appellate panel overturned him. Now, apparently, the full Ninth Circuit will take a look at whether the First Amendment protects those papers.

Walker indicated the circuit will make “every effort” to resolve the issue before trial next month. If the appellate court actually acts that fast, it would have to be an all-time record.

— Dan Levine
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Pro Bono Mexicano

2009-12-16T14:30:58-08:00

M.C. Sungaila and David Ettinger, both partners at Los Angeles-based appellate firm Horvitz & Levy, were celebrating along with human rights groups last week when an international tribunal found Mexico liable for failing to investigate and prosecute a pattern of sinister murders of maquiladora workers — girls and women at foreign-owned factories in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Sungaila, left, the principal author of a pro bono amicus brief in the case for Amnesty International and others, and Ettinger had been brought in by a lawyer for the family of one of three young women whose unsolved murders were at the heart of the case. That was after he’d seen a brief Sungaila had filed in a domestic-violence-related lawsuit against the United States before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

One thing leads to another, after the jump ...

How big of a deal was last week’s ruling? Sungaila’s not one for understatement: “Brown v. Board of Education –- it’s about that important.”

The court ordered Mexico to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to the victims’ families as well as undertake a broad range of remedies in the face of the gender-based violence, including publishing specific paragraphs of the decision in newspapers and building a public monument memorializing the hundreds of women murdered in Ciudad Juarez since 1993.

Sungaila found the ruling particularly sweet in the face of Mexico’s long-running denial that there is a problem. “To have somebody tell these families that they were wrong, they’re responsible and here are all the things that they did — it’s more rewarding than anything you can do in a domestic court.”

— Kate Moser

Rounded Up: No Class Action Against Merck, But the FTC is After Intel

2009-12-16T14:04:01-08:00

The Second District Court of Appeal has ruled that no class action may proceed against Merck, the maker of the purportedly "unsafe" and over-priced painkiller Vioxx. [Metropolitan News-Enterprise]

Up to nine of the 50 courts in Los Angeles County may be closed in the next three years, due to budget constraints. [Daily Bulletin]

Gun rights activists are speaking out against two gun control ordinances proposed by a San Mateo County supe. [Mercury News]

The Federal Trade Commission is alleging that Intel has "abused the market" for over a decade, resulting in a monopoly. [LAT]

Los Angeles attorney Brian Currey, well known for his involvement in reform panels at the scandal-riddled LAPD, has been selected as new chief legal counsel for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa . [L.A. Now]

A jury has deadlocked in the trial of the youngest-ever defendant charged as an adult in San Mateo County. The defendant was 14 when he was arrested for allegedly killing a rival gang member. [SFGate]

— Cynthia Foster

While Supremes Ponder, Bilski is Still Slayin' at the Local Level

2009-12-15T17:46:48-08:00

While the Supreme Court is weighing the merits of In Re Bilski, patent litigators are still using the landmark Federal Circuit ruling to win cases on the ground.

On Friday, Northern District Judge Saundra Armstrong tossed (.pdf) FuzzySharp’s patent lawsuit against 3DLabs, essentially declaring FuzzySharp’s two software patents on improving 3-D computer graphics, a flimsy excuse for an invention with the new case law on the books. Under Bilski, the highly talked-about patent case, the Federal Circuit ruled that methods must either be tied to a machine or transform an article to be patentable — the aptly named “machine or transformation” test.

The lawyers, the logic, and Armstrong's final word, after the jump.

Represented by Dechert’s Jonathan Baker, 3DLabs argued that FuzzySharp’s inventions relating to “Visibility Calculations for 3D Computer Graphics” didn’t pass the Bilski test, calling them pure algorithms and math. This has now become a popular — and successful — defense in patent infringement cases.

FuzzySharp by means of its lawyer, David Fink, of the Texas firm Fink & Johnson, protested that did pass the test because it was tied to a machine, namely a computer. But Armstrong didn’t buy it.

“Fuzzysharp’s arguments miss the mark,” she wrote in the Friday order. “The salient question is not whether the claims are tied to a computer. Rather, as Bilski makes clear, the question is whether the claims are tied to a particular machine.”

Armstrong invalidated the patents and FuzzySharp’s lawsuit against 3DLabs, which in fairness was filed in 2007 before Bilski was decided.

— Zusha Elinson

Illegal Alien Still Fighting 1986 Cocaine Plea

2009-12-15T17:03:28-08:00

Cocaine! Courtesy of your Dept. o' Justice.

Some people just can’t let go of things.

Take Roy Cupis, who — 23 years after the fact — is still trying to withdraw his plea in a San Mateo County criminal case.

Earlier today, San Francisco’s First District Court of Appeal rejected the guy’s efforts, even though Cupis argued he didn’t understand the immigration consequences for pleading no contest to possessing cocaine for sale. Cupis was an illegal alien when he pled on Nov. 10, 1986, and today’s ruling doesn’t make clear his current status.

The court’s unpublished ruling held that Cupis’ motion wasn’t timely and his arguments had no merit.

Okay ... but who the hell is "Sherel Ann"?

“Defendant’s argument is premised on contentions that are either unsupported or contradicted by the record,” Justice James Lambden wrote.

Cupis, who was given probation two decades ago and served 120 days in jail, contended that his attorney didn’t advise him that his plea would prevent him from ever becoming a United States citizen. He also argued that the plea form given him was in Spanish, which he insisted wasn’t his primary language.

The appeal court shot down both arguments, as well as one in which Cupis claimed that neither he nor his attorney had signed the plea form. Lamden said there was no evidence to support that argument, even though he conceded the signature on the document was “not a model of outstanding penmanship” and even appeared to read “Sherel Ann.”

Too little too late, Roy.

— Mike McKee

Rounded Up: Backdating, Pot, Mortgages and the State Budget Crisis

2009-12-15T12:19:18-08:00

U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney has tossed all criminal and civil charges in the Broadcom case, due to prosecutorial misconduct. [NLJ]

Marijuana legalization activists say they've collected enough signatures to put a measure on the 2010 ballot. [LAT]

Backers of federal legislation that would allow judges to rewrite mortgages say the effort may be on its last legs. [The Hill]

A Sonoma County judge ruled last week to invalidate the county's permit ordinance for medical marijuana clubs. [Press Democrat]

U.S. District Judge Napolean Jones, one of the few black judges in San Diego County, has died. [San Diego Union Tribune]

Governor Schwarzenegger has named a new finance director: Ana Matosantos (currently deputy director of the Department of Finance) will take the helm as Schwarzenegger prepares to deliver his final budget proposal. [The Sac Bee]

— Cynthia Foster

S.F. Associate Wins a Million Bucks in Wonky ESPN Game

2009-12-14T17:21:03-08:00

The young millionaire (pretax), as seen on his ESPN profile.

Update: We put together a longer followup on Thompson's big win, which you can read over at CalLaw.com.

We predict Blake Thompson is about to become the most popular associate in San Francisco.

Thompson, who focuses on constitutional and civil rights law at Rosen, Bien & Galvan, just beat three other contestants to claim a $1 million grand prize in ESPN.com’s Streak for the Cash Pick-Off after correctly guessing the Queens Park Rangers (QPR) would win or tie with West Bromich Albion in a Football League Championship match today.

The objective of the fantasy game is to accumulate the longest winning streak by selecting the winning team or player ahead of the matchups. Today’s game ended in a 2-2 draw, according to ESPN’s online coverage of the competition, which started in April. Thompson’s final pick extended his winning streak to nine correct picks in a row, while the remaining three contestants — all of whom picked West Bromich Albion — all saw their streaks come to an end.

Thompson, who’s 31, picked 29 winners in a row in various sporting events to land himself in the finals. He previously won $10,000 and a trip to Connecticut this weekend to compete in the finals.

Rosen, Bien & Galvan partner Mike Bien said the 16-lawyer firm is excited: “We told him if he wants the weekend off, we get 50 percent,” Bien said (only half-joking, we’re sure).

Bien noted that Thompson applied his well-honed legal skills. “He did some research and was able to track things. The guy used his brains as much as his knowledge of sports.”

Thompson, a 2007 Boalt grad, could not be reached this afternoon to tell us what his plans are. But Bien has some ideas. Asked whether he expected Thompson to return to his civil rights practice, Bien said: “He’d better. He’s doing a very important brief for me that’s due in a couple of weeks.”

— Petra Pasternak