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,…