Thursday, February 1, 2007

Over 2.5 million people have visited the online virtual world, Second Life. Instead of showy graphics and rapid-fire gameplay, Second Life offers its players something unique: intellectual property rights over their own creations within the world. But how are IP rights enforced in a virtual world? Real-life (and virtual) attorney Philip Cooper and others are now working to formalize online arbitration as a required first step in Second Life disputes, without resorting to real courts and their costs.
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A New York federal judge has ruled that a suit may proceed against a law
firm that allegedly sent out debt collection letters without conducting
any meaningful review of the cases referenced in the correspondence.
Upton Cohen & Slamowitz sent a letter to Arthur Miller seeking payment
for charges to a Lord & Taylor credit card. Miller sued, claiming the
letter was designed to confuse the "least sophisticated consumer" and
purported to be by an attorney who was not meaningfully involved in the
matter.
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If the current trend continues, there will again be fewer insurance cases filed in federal court this year than in 2003 and 2002, according to a report by LexisNexis. There were 3,991 cases in which "insurance" is the nature of suit filed in federal courts in the first half of 2004. That compares with 4,298 for the first half of last year and 4,463 in the first half of 2002.


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Veteran lawyer Morris Olmer has been suspended from the practice of law for six months for his role in a real estate transaction that may be a blatant case of mortgage fraud. While the degree of culpability among those involved is disputed, there's no question in state disciplinary officials' minds that Olmer falsely reported the sale price of a West Haven, Conn., property and deserved punishment. However, Olmer characterized his handling of the real estate transaction as nothing more than sloppy oversight.
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After 23 years with Cotchett, Pitre, Simon & McCarthy, name partner Bruce Simon is leaving to start his own boutique in San Francisco. The antitrust and securities litigator expects to officially open The Law Offices of Bruce L. Simon with associate Esther Klisura this week. Antitrust attorneys say handling enormous cases in a small firm is no cakewalk, and good relations with that section of the bar -- which typically forms coalitions of attorneys from various firms -- will be of utmost importance.
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Jurors found a woman guilty of poisoning her Marine husband with arsenic so she could spend $250,000 in veteran's benefits on luxuries including breast implants.

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