Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Chambers USA lists top Oregon law firms
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4184/is_20030530/ai_n10045969/When it comes to Oregon's top law firms, Stoel Rives leads the pack in the corporate arena, Ball Janik beats the competition in real estate matters, and Barran Liebman and Busse & Hunt splint honors in employment issues.
At least that's the assessment of Chambers USA Guide, which has released its newest listing of the country's top law firms, on a state-by-state basis.
In selecting law firms for the 2003-2004 guide, a team of 30 full- time researchers spent 12 months talking to attorneys and clients during more than 4,500 interviews around the United States. Interviews targeted a range of professional areas, including technical ability, conduct, clients service and commercial awareness.
The researchers then selected up to six firms per state in areas that included litigation, corporate and real estate law. Employment law firms were assessed based on whether they represented plaintiffs or defendants.
Besides earning the title as Oregon's leading corporate law firm, Stoel Rives also grabbed the top slot in litigation, along with capturing second place rankings in employment defense and real estate.
Perkins Coie, which finished second behind Stoel Rivers in the corporate category, nabbed a third place slot in real estate. The firm also shared a second place berth with Miller Nash in the litigation category.
Miller Nash also captured two other spots in the guide, earning a sixth place rank among Oregon's top corporate law firms and a fourth place finish in employment defense law.
Ball Janik led a group of six firms listed in the category of real estate.
The law firm of Brusse & Hunt was named the best Oregon firm representing plaintiffs in employment issues, followed by the firm of Crispin & Associates.
Barran Liebman earned the spot as Oregon's top firm representing defendants in employment law matters, with the firm of Bullard Smith Jernstedt Wilson earning a second place ranking.
Other Oregon law firms listed in specific categories in the guide include:
Corporate law: Tonkon Torp; Ater Wynne; and Davis Wright Tremaine.
Real estate law: Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt; Preston Gates Ellis; and Dunn Carney Allen Higgins & Tongue.
Litigation: Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf; Bullivant Houser Bailey; Davis Wright Tremaine; Stoll Stoll Berne Lokting & Schlachter; Ater Wynne; and Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt.
Copyright 2003 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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Legal opinion: Scottsdale chamber violated campaign law
The Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce will meet with its attorney to determine its next actions after a legal opinion stated the chamber violated state campaign finance laws.
Mayor Jim Lane and former mayoral candidate John Washington say the opinion authored by the Tucson City Attorney's Office on Tuesday confirms what they suspected all along: mailers and television commercials the chamber disseminated last fall attempted to influence city elections, and the non-profit group should have filed as a political action committee to comply with state election laws.
The opinion partly puts to rest an issue that has been debated for more than a year,
since Lane's campaign committee and Washington filed complaints against the chamber.
Both complained about the chamber's mailers and television commercials that identified four candidates in the Sept. 2, 2008, city election as candidates who "support Scottsdale's quality of life." Lane and Washington were not among those pictured.
Their complaints said the chamber violated election law because its materials represented "express advocacy" to influence the election, yet the chamber did not form a political action committee or disclose how the materials were funded.
The chamber had maintained it was within the law and did not engage in express advocacy. Instead, the chamber argued, the mailers and commercials were part of an ongoing economic development campaign and did not use "vote for" or other language that would influence the outcome of the election.
But if the ads had not been intended to advocate candidates shown in the chamber's materials, "it would not have been designed as it was, sent when and to whom it was, and contained the text and photographs that it did," according to the opinion by Dennis P. McLaughlin, Tucson principal assistant city attorney.
"The direct mailer and the television advertisement both target Scottsdale residents," his opinion continued. "Both were timed to reach those shortly before its Sept. 2, 2008, general election. Both also present the four identified candidates in a favorable light."
Because the case involves several current and former members of the Scottsdale City Council, the Scottsdale City Attorney's Office referred the complaints to Tucson to avoid the appearance of conflict.
The opinion from the Tucson City Attorney is very different from a February decision tied to a related criminal complaint.
The Pima County Attorney's Office declined to prosecute a criminal complaint against the chamber on similar allegations of campaign finance violations, saying the laws in question were "fatally vague" and may violate First Amendment rights to free speech when applied to non-profit entities.
Chamber President and Chief Executive Rick Kidder said he was surprised by the opinion from the Tucson City Attorney's Office.
"I believe that one of the reasons we hired a good election attorney up front was to make sure our i's were dotted and our t's were crossed so that we weren't near any lines that could be construed negatively against us," Kidder said.
The chamber has not decided yet if it will challenge the ruling, Kidder added.
Lane said while it is the chamber's legal right to appeal, the process could be "destructive" and it would be better for the city if it was "all over and done with and we move on."
"The worst part of all of this is how it impugns the reputation of a fine organization for the city," Lane said. "They're an important part of this city and their work helps move the city forward."
Scottsdale spokesman Pat Dodds said the Scottsdale City Attorney's office and city clerk are reviewing the opinion to determine what actions to take.
If Scottsdale follows the opinion's recommendations, the chamber could be subject to thousands of dollars in fines and would have to disclose who contributed to fund the mailers and commercials.
Washington said he was happy to see some closure, but "it's a no-win situation for everyone."
"Regardless of what the outcome would have been, the damage was done when the act was committed," Washington said. "The only thing I would say I'm pleased about is, now we have clarity in what is allowed during elections and hopefully we won't see this happen again."
Law and order
n this Law & Order spin-off, the focus is on the dark side of the New York City underworld as the detectives of the Special Victims Unit investigate and prosecute sexually oriented crimes. Characters include Detective Olivia Benson, a child of rape; Detective Elliot Stabler, a family man; Detective John Munch, an ex-homicide cop from Baltimore; Detective Fin Tutuola, a streetwise cop; and Capt. Donald Cragen, their boss.Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was the first of several successful spin-offs of producer/creator Dick Wolf's long-running NBC series Law & Order. Rather than follow the established Law & Order formula of focusing on the "nuts and bolts" of tracking down a wide variety of criminals and bringing them to trial, the spin-off series, per its title, zeroed in on a single division of the New York City justice system: the Special Victims Unit, or SVU, which dealt primarily with such sex-based crimes as rape, incest, pedophilia, torture, and serial murder. Also, whereas the original Law & Order was essentially a story-driven series, the personalities of the main characters on Special Victims Unit often dictated the direction of the investigation and the outcome of the case. Christopher Meloni headed the cast as Detective Elliot Stabler, who sustained a calm, soft-spoken veneer on the job, and who fought a losing battle to spare his family the sordid details of his work. In contrast, Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) was volatile and impulsive; a child of rape, she tended to overidentify with the victims of the crimes she investigated and often as not had zero tolerance for the suspects, no matter what the evidence said. The two other principals were carryovers from other series: Richard Belzer repeated his Homicide: Life on the Street characterization of Detective John Munch, who leaned toward the cynical and sarcastic, and who was driven by the paranoia arising from his steadfast belief in vast sociopolitical conspiracies; and Dann Florek was seen as the SVU team's no-nonsense skipper, Captain Donald Cragen, a character he'd played for three seasons on the original Law & Order. Also in the cast were Munch's partners, departmental newcomer Detective Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters) during season one, and flippant, streetwise Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) thereafter; another street-smart cop, Detective Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd), who appeared in the first season only; forensic psychiatrist Dr. George Huang (B.D. Wong), a regular from the third season onward; Assistant DA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), who after being placed in the Witness Protection Program was replaced by ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal); and, on a recurring basis, Ken Briscoe, the son of veteran Law & Order detective Lennie Briscoe -- played by Chris Orbach, the son of veteran Law & Order regular Jerry Orbach. Popularly known as Law & Order: SVU, this series debuted September 20, 1999, on NBC. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
http://www.starpulse.com/
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