www.LawFuel.co.nz - The 'Briefcase' Blog
Blood-Stained Lawyers, The Two Hillarys, Google Goes To The 'Wrapa . . And More
Blood Stained Lawyers
The blood on the ground at Wall Street and in the City spread to Big Law in the Big Apple even before this week's big
sell-off. It's going to get ugly out there just as many Wall Street firms were offering straight off-the-rank salaries
of up to $160,000 to newbie lawyers.
This month alone Manhattan-based Cadwaladers has laid off 35 lawyers and last month Thacher Proffitt cut 50 jobs. In
London, which has boomed along with New York, confidence has wained also. A recent survey shows that only 30 per cent of
City partners are expecting double-digit growth this year, compared to 70 per cent last year. Talking with local lawyers
from the major firms, there's certainly an acceptance that the boom has ended. Last year's M work and its ilk were in overdrive. This year, there's going to be some gingering up the insolvency, restructuring and
bankruptcy departments.
Sir Edmund And That Other Hillary
The death of Sir Edmund Hillary closes a chapter in a book on good humoured, gruff kiwi adventurers that's almost
certainly gone for good. The famous man touched many lives, like the 54 year old Malaysian lawyer named Edmund Hilary
Tensing Ponniah by his admiring father and who met Sir Ed in 1999. And don't forget the lawyer from that famous Arkansas
Rose Law Firm who told Sir Ed the famous porkie about being named after him. The fact that a kiwi hero like Sir Ed could
trigger such overweening, no-lies-barred bull in order to facilitate a climb back into the Lincoln bedroom is as
disgraceful as any other Clinton misdeed.
Googling Winemakers
News that one of the billionaire Google babies has bought into the Wairarapa's Mebus Estate vineyard got tongues
wagging and will doubtless do wonders for the district's cache with both Peter Jackson and Google in the neighbourhood.
So if you run into Larry or Sergey having a pint at the local trust hotel, ask them what happened to their super lawyer
Phil Beck - the man who masterminded Bush's appropriation of the last election - when he was to be leading the company's
defense of the $1 billion YouTube litigation from Viacom. Much heralded, he's now replaced by a trio from mega-firm
Mayer Brown.
Flying High
Talking of property and money, I'm told by my luxury transportation informant that Wellington lawyer and razor-sharp
property investor Mike Garnham, whose sense of timing with the sale of his harbour-side Deloittes building was
exquisite, is looking to buy a circa $3 million Cessna Citation Mustang jet with fellow Windy City investor and car
racer Andrew Fawcett. Lovely plane boys, but it ain't nothing on Graham Hart's Boeing 737-based BBJ, protruding from its
undersized hangar at AucklandAirport. Who screwed up that building job, anyway?
Sorry, Deborahs
Talking of screwing up, I made the most terrible error in bestowing the highly prestigious 'Boscar' on Deborah Hollings
QC in place of Deborah Manning in the 2007 finale. Both deserve all sorts of awards, of course and confusing Deborahs is
inexcusable. DM is taking an extended leave after a tiring year. More on her in a future column.
Drugged Athletes
Former sports barrister David Howman was at home over the holiday period from his cold digs in Canada where he holds a
finger in the dyke of sports drug taking as the CEO of the World Anti Doping Agency. Baseball, Marion Jones, the
Olympics are all awash with drug peddlers and drug users. Jones' successfully passed 160 drug tests without being
caught. This battle is increasingly a lawyer-driven one. It was lying that got Jones, after she admitted what she had
done, not drug testing.
High Profile Crime
Summer reading these days increasingly involves the latest revelations on the innocence of high profile, criminal
celebrities - Bain, Watson and now Lundy. This is promoted by more than just journeymen crusaders with little better to
do. The pressure on prosecuting authorities in high profile cases has been shown to create injustice in cases where
emotions and public expectations run high (think: Birmingham Six, Guildford Four, Arthur Allan Thomas). The need for an
investigation into the way serious crimes are investigated and prosecuted, along with the appeals process, is way
overdue.
ENDS