Cravath, Swaine & Moore will not have to hand over documents related to its client, the energy company Royal Dutch Shell, as part of discovery, reversing a decision by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York that would have handed over the documents to a group of Nigerian plaintiffs suing over human rights abuses. The panel-composed of Circuit Judges Dennis Jacobs, JosA Cabranes and Richard Wesley-found that an order forcing Cravath to turn over their client's documents in a suit the lower court found it lacked jurisdiction was an abuse of the district court's discretion.
Susman Godfrey , the Houston-based litigation boutique that has repeatedly made news during associate bonus season, is once again paying year-end associate bonuses that far exceed the market-setting scale set by Cravath, Swaine & Moore . The firm, which has a total of 47 associates and 130 lawyers in its offices located in Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York, announced Monday it will pay associates median bonuses ranging from $45,000 to $170,000, with two associates who were exceptionally successful in business development receiving bonuses that total more than $220,000.
"I always hate talking about myself in a positive way," said attorney Rowan Wilson when asked by state Sen. John Bonacic, the Republican chair of the chamber's Judiciary Committee, if he has the temperament to become an associate judge on New York's Court of Appeals. Lucky for Wilson, then, that he had been preceded by representatives of the state Bar Association and the Trial Lawyers association who called him an impressive nominee with experience in both commercial litigation and pro bono work at the Manhattan offices of the prominent law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore.