The National Law Journal's L.A. Legal Pad

Drew draws misdemeanor charges in MySpace trial

Lori Drew, the 49-year-old mother who impersonated a 16-year-old boy on MySpace in order to cultivate an online relationship with a 13-year-old girl that resulted in the girl's suicide, was convicted by a Los Angeles jury today of three misdemeanor counts of accessing a computer without authorization. Each count is punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.  The jury stopped short of convicting Drew of the more serious felony charge of accessing a computer without authorization to inflict emotional distress.

According to a prosecution witness, Drew took on the persona of "Josh Evans" in order to exact revenge on 13-year-old Megan Meier for spreading rumors about Drew's daughter Sarah.  The trial lasted for five days in front of U.S. District Judge George H. Wu. 

See the LA Times story here and analysis from last week's WSJ Law Blog.

Half a dozen lawyers and 15 staff members let go from Newport Beach firm

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, a California law firm with a sizeable corporate and securities practice, has cut about a half dozen lawyers and up to 15 staff members in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The firm, based in Newport Beach, Calif., employs about 100 attorneys. It was unclear whether the reductions were due to performance issues or the downturn in the economy.

Calls to C. Craig Carlson, co-founder of the firm, and Michael Flynn, chairman of the corporate practice, were not returned. Robert Whalen, a shareholder in the municipal finance and redevelopment practice, also did not return a call for comment.

Read the full story at NLJ.

New real estate partner in Sonnenschein LA office

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP announced yesterday that David N. Fong has joined the law firm as a partner in the Real Estate Practice. He comes to Sonnenschein from Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner and will reside in the Los Angeles office.

Fong regularly represents  commercial banks, investment banks, and other financial institutions in originating a variety of lending products. He also advises private equity funds, utilities and power companies, REITs, internet and telecommunications companies, universities, and developers.  

Fong, who is also a licensed California real estate broker, earned a J.D. degree from New York University School of Law and a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from New York University.

New litigation counsel at LA office of Latham & Watkins

        Latham & Watkins LLP announced today that Franklin D. Kang has joined the firm as counsel in the Litigation Department in the Los Angeles office.  Kang’s practice focuses primarily on complex patent cases involving electronics, computer hardware, software, semiconductor, biotech and biomedical, and related technologies. 

        Kang advises large multinational corporations regarding their intellectual property rights and portfolios, and in connection with both domestic and international disputes. Many of his cases have involved clients based in Korea and other Asian nations. For example, he was involved in the prosecution and favorable settlement of several high-profile patent infringement suits involving numerous patents relating to plasma display panel (PDP) technology used in plasma televisions and monitors on behalf of a Korea-based company that is one of the world’s largest PDP manufacturers.

        Kang joins Latham from Sidley Austin LLP in Los Angeles, where he was counsel in the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group.  He received a law degree from Cornell Law School in 1997, where he served as the Notes Editor of the Cornell Law Review, and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1994.

A year of firm implosions makes candidates more cautious and inquisitive

In good times, potential lateral partner candidates tended to focus more on practice fit and compensation. Now, hiring partners and recruiters say they are being asked more specific questions about the financial history, equity levels, borrowing habits and financing plans of the firms these candidates are considering. And they are being posed them earlier in the process.

But even asking all the right questions doesn't guarantee a firm won't end up in trouble years down the line.

Read the full Recorder article and see how lateral candidates are trying to cushion themselves in this unsteady environment of increasingly shrill headlines from Wall Street and around the globe.

Judge says no remorse, no excuse, and no home confinement for Christensen

Despite a plea earlier last week to soften an "excessive" and "draconian" sentence, Terry Christensen received three years in federal prison for wiretapping his opponent in a child support case.  U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer of the Central District of California said at Christensen's sentencing hearing that the attorney "showed disrespect for the system of the law on a grand scale" and "marred the legal profession."  She went on to say that by eavesdropping onto conversations protected by attorney-client privilege, Christensen's behavior affected hundreds of people.

Fischer also referred to the U.S. Probation office's recommendation as "simply ludicrous. Home detention in an 8,000-square-foot home is not just punishment." Christensen has also been ordered to pay a $250,000 fine within 30 days.

Christensen remains free on bond, pending the appeal of his conviction.

Read the full NLJ story here, and see the WSJ Law Blog's collection of Christensen coverage.

Appellate court keeps lethal injection on back burner

Death penalty opponents and the attorneys for two condemned men at San Quentin won another round in their quest to delay executions in California when a state appeals court on Friday held that newly revised rules for administering lethal injections are illegal. The ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco means the execution chamber is likely to remain idle through much of 2009, if not longer, pending a likely appeal to the California Supreme Court and possibly another lengthy review and redrafting of the procedures.

Executions have been officially suspended since December 2006, when U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose ruled that the state's method of administering the three-drug lethal injection cocktail amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution. Before Fogel could pass judgment on whether the new procedures were acceptable, attorneys for death row inmates Michael Morales and Mitchell Sims challenged the legality of the measures because they hadn't been submitted for public comment, as required by state law.

The state has the largest death row population in the country, with 677 condemned to die.

Read full story here with commentary at Legal Pad here.

In latest move against development, environmental groups hope the CCC trumps the Cal Supremes

Claiming the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors violated numerous environmental protection laws in their approval of developer Matt Osgood’s plan to build along the coastline a few miles north of Isla Vista, the Naples Coalition, in cooperation with the Environmental Defense Center and the Surfrider Foundation, filed a lawsuit against the county and the board on Thursday.

Under Osgood’s Santa Barbara Ranch Project — which was approved by the board of supervisors on Oct. 21 by a vote of three to two — 71 estate-sized homes would be built at Naples. Of those 71 homes, nine would sit directly along the coastal bluffs, and each would be between 7,500 and 10,000 square feet, not including additional structures such as barns and guest houses.

The Naples Coalition is claiming the county violated several different environmental protection laws when they approved the development, including the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Coastal Act, State Planning & Zoning Law and the California Land Conservation Act, also known as the Williamson Act.

See full story here.

Layoffs cut deeper at firms "not large enough to be emotionally detached"

In the past several months, numerous law firms have laid off lawyers and staff members as the financial crisis dips into their bottom line. At some of the nation's largest law firms, such as White & Case and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which announced layoffs this month, dozens of lawyers have been affected.

While the numbers might not seem as startling, layoffs at smaller firms have the added pain of cutting into an already lean operation.

Los Angeles law firm Richardson & Patel had never let anyone go in its 23 years, but then the financial crisis took its toll. In an attempt to avoid layoffs, the firm scrapped expansion plans and shifted associates to other groups, such as the bankruptcy and China practices. But by August, the numbers still weren't looking good. Read the NLJ story about how Nimish Patel's firm has coped with having to cut into an a 50-lawyer operation that feels like family.

Kansas City to take a train or a plane to LA: Lathrop to merge with Spillane Shaeffer Aronoff Bandlow

In a deal scheduled to close January 1, Lathrop & Gage LC will combine with litigation and intellectual property firm Spillane Shaeffer Aronoff Bandlow LLP, a seven-lawyer boutique firm whose clients include NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., and Nordstrom Inc.  The merger makes Lathrop & Gage only the second Kansas City-based law firm with an office in Southern California, the other being Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP. 

Joel Voran, Lathrop & Gage’s CEO, says the Los Angeles office probably would keep a focus on litigation and intellectual property matters but also could add other practice areas, such as employment law. The merger also gives Lathrop & Gage direct access to California courts for its existing clients, cutting the need to hire co-counsel to handle matters on the West Coast. In turn, Spillane Shaeffer Aronoff Bandlow will receive more lawyer support for larger litigation cases.

Read the full Kansas City Business Journal story.