The American Lawyer/April 2004

In the June 2004 Print Edition...
There is much more to be found in the print edition of The American Lawyer. Below are the contents of the current issue.
To subscribe, click here.

What Were They Thinking?
Bidding good-bye to client Global Crossing cost Simpson Thacher upwards of $25 million. So why is the firm still getting paid in Global's bankruptcy?
By Paul Braverman
Special Report: Gay Marriage
Breaking the Marriage Barrier
When Terry Stewart went from Howard, Rice partner to public servant, she found herself at the heart of a social revolution--and responsible for making law that could permit her own marriage.
By Susan Beck
Read this story online.
The Wedding Ring Leader
Evan Wolfson doesn't mind being called the Thurgood Marshall of the gay marriage battle. For his organization, Freedom to Marry, the stakes are just as high as they were 50 years ago for the NAACP.
By Tony Mauro
Special Report: Diversity
Courting Shell
What happens when a major corporation putting its work up for bids sets a high priority on firms' minority staffing? Shell Oil, and its law firms, just found out.
By Nathan Koppel
Slow Rise To the Top
It's the legal-business equivalent of a tortoise race. But in this year's Diversity Scorecard, some firms are making progress, ever so slowly, to hire and promote minority lawyers.

One Lump or Two?
The infamous coffee-burn case is about to get a tenth-anniversary rerun. The first verdict inspired both crude caricature and quiet reform. Which legacy will survive the rematch?
By Matt Fleischer-Black
Read this story online.
Merger by Stealth
The run-up to most mergers these days is filled with rumors and press reports. So how did Wilmer and Hale and Dorr manage to keep a secret?
By Carlyn Kolker
The Last First
When James Cole, Jr., became the first African American promoted to partner at Wachtell, Lipton, the news took New York's black bar by surprise.
By Vivia Chen
Baghdad, In Slow Motion
Firms with lawyers on the ground in Iraq, or in D.C. trying to build Iraq-contractor practices, are helping clients through the bad times, and hoping there will be good times, too.
By Carlyn Kolker
Read this story online.
Striking Out
Alex Rodriguez, Sullivan & Cromwell feels your pain. Like the heralded Yankees third baseman who floundered in the early season, the esteemed New York powerhouse firm suffered three prominent litigation setbacks in the first few months of this year.
By Susan Beck
A Paler Shade of Green
The fight over a suburban New York City golf course was the environmental-law equivalent of Donald Trump's The Apprentice: friends pitted against each other, and no one ends up looking like a winner.
By Amy Vincent
The New Deal
The Nevada attorneys featured in our February cover story about the delays in paying breast-implant plaintiffs have finally given up--after cocounsel pooled their money and paid more than $300,000 of the Nevadans' expenses.
By Douglas McCollam
The Advance Team
What kind of pro bono project brings Hogan & Hartson's Joseph Bell to the tiny island nation of São Tomé e Principe? The kind that will help an African nation deal constructively with its newfound oil wealth.
By Daphne Eviatar
Getting Slapped Around
When Diebold Election Systems legal memos leaked out, Jones Day's reaction was swift and brutal--and totally ineffective.
By Susan Beck
China's Next Wave
Now midsize firms are catching China fever. But for them, opening branches in Beijing or Shanghai requires some creativity.
By Elizabeth Amon
McCarter's Quote-Meister
McCarter & English's Robert Mintz is hardly a big name in white-collar criminal defense, at least beyond New Jersey. So why is he constantly quoted in national media about the biggest business scandals? Luck--and hard PR work.
By Jennifer Fried
Playing the Pincushion
Of the five big-firm partners on the 9/11 commission, the two Democrats--Wilmer Cutler's Jamie Gorlick and Mayer, Brown's Richard Ben-Veniste--came in for more than their share of vicious attacks. As a service to our readers, we collected some of the pithiest of the quotes.
By Andrew Longstreth
Replanting Afghanistan
Skadden's Dana Freyer is no stranger to international negotiations. But haggling over replanting trees and crops in Afghanistan, in a novel pro bono project, was even a first for her.
By Amy Vincent

In-House
The story behind the stories.
By Aric Press
Read this story online.
Big Deals

Comcast/Disney
Cingular/AT&T Wireless
Inside the Deal: Making Corporate America Safe for Golf
Reassuring words from Delaware's new chief justice.
By David Marcus
Big Suits

Pickett et al. v. Tyson Fresh Meats
Swedish Match North America, Inc., v. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company
R4 Holdings v. Tickets.com, Inc., and General Atlantic Partners et al.
Big Canadian Deals

CGI/AMS
Canary Wharf Takeover Bid
Connors Bros. Bumble Bee
Management: Constructive Candor
Lawyers as managers often confuse bluntness with candor. But there's an art to being constructively candid with underlings about their performance--and there are real bottom-line benefits to it, too.
By Drew Kugler
Read this story online.
IP Land: Go Fish
How did Fish & Richardson end up as a go-to firm, defending the most IP cases last year? It's a fish story--no less incredible because it's true. Plus, ranking the busiest IP defense and plaintiffs firms.
By Mark Voorhees
Arguments: Special Dispensation
The 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund has succeeded admirably at the morbid task that Congress assigned to it. Its legacy will be more troubling, though, when measured against a host of questions about how we mete out justice.
By Peter H. Schuck
Supreme Advocacy: Apprentice Appellants
As clinical education goes, this is as lofty as it gets--a Supreme Court advocacy shop that already has an enviable track record.
By Tony Mauro
Read this story online.
Books: Caregivers Unite!
Why should marriage be so special? Martha Albertson Fineman's The Autonomy Myth does a good job of critiquing the logical flaws in the law, but a poor job of prescribing something better.
By Amy Vincent
Dicta: Oyez, O Muse
The winning strategy in the Martha Stewart trial comes down to storytelling. It turns out that Homer has as much to teach us about effective litigation as any high-priced consultant.
By Steven Lubet

Time Off: Vietnam Redux
Vietnam is one of Asia's most welcoming destinations -- even for Americans.
By Anthony Lin
Read this story online.
Motion: Reasonable Standard
The Infiniti G35 Sport Coupe 6MT
By Ronald Gordon
Case of the Month: First-Class Seconds
Bordeaux second wines.
By John Anderson

Madame La Présidente
Why are women so vastly underrepresented in the high-stakes world of arbitration?
By Michael D. Goldhaber
Read this story online.
Wanted--A World Investment Court
Recent conflicting arbitration rulings suggest that the time is right to create a global appeals tribunal.
By Michael D. Goldhaber
Read this story online.

Library Survey: Books, Bytes, and Budgets
Corporations like Law librarians spend more time researching industry trends, financial data, and other nonlegal information than the law. They haggle with vendors and respond to weekend queries on their BlackBerrys. They do everything, it seems, except stack books.
By Andrew Longstreth
In-House Tech Survey: Mutual Satisfaction
Tired of sending work to outside lawyers, Liberty Mutual made a big bet on technology to help its in-house lawyers handle cases faster and cheaper. Plus: a look inside Corporate Counsel's annual survey of technology deployed at in-house departments.
By Eriq Gardner
Tech Tools
The world's smallest scanner; a mailing machine ten times faster than human hands; software that visualizes facts on the fly; and more.
Tech Buys
Who's buying what.

	In the June 2004 Print Edition... There is much more to be found in the print edition of The American Lawyer. Below are the contents of the current issue. To subscribe, click here.
	What Were They Thinking? Bidding good-bye to client Global Crossing cost Simpson Thacher upwards of $25 million. So why is the firm still getting paid in Global's bankruptcy? By Paul Braverman Special Report: Gay Marriage Breaking the Marriage Barrier When Terry Stewart went from Howard, Rice partner to public servant, she found herself at the heart of a social revolution--and responsible for making law that could permit her own marriage. By Susan Beck Read this story online. The Wedding Ring Leader Evan Wolfson doesn't mind being called the Thurgood Marshall of the gay marriage battle. For his organization, Freedom to Marry, the stakes are just as high as they were 50 years ago for the NAACP. By Tony Mauro Special Report: Diversity Courting Shell What happens when a major corporation putting its work up for bids sets a high priority on firms' minority staffing? Shell Oil, and its law firms, just found out. By Nathan Koppel Slow Rise To the Top It's the legal-business equivalent of a tortoise race. But in this year's Diversity Scorecard, some firms are making progress, ever so slowly, to hire and promote minority lawyers.
	One Lump or Two? The infamous coffee-burn case is about to get a tenth-anniversary rerun. The first verdict inspired both crude caricature and quiet reform. Which legacy will survive the rematch? By Matt Fleischer-Black Read this story online. Merger by Stealth The run-up to most mergers these days is filled with rumors and press reports. So how did Wilmer and Hale and Dorr manage to keep a secret? By Carlyn Kolker The Last First When James Cole, Jr., became the first African American promoted to partner at Wachtell, Lipton, the news took New York's black bar by surprise. By Vivia Chen Baghdad, In Slow Motion Firms with lawyers on the ground in Iraq, or in D.C. trying to build Iraq-contractor practices, are helping clients through the bad times, and hoping there will be good times, too. By Carlyn Kolker Read this story online. Striking Out Alex Rodriguez, Sullivan & Cromwell feels your pain. Like the heralded Yankees third baseman who floundered in the early season, the esteemed New York powerhouse firm suffered three prominent litigation setbacks in the first few months of this year. By Susan Beck A Paler Shade of Green The fight over a suburban New York City golf course was the environmental-law equivalent of Donald Trump's The Apprentice: friends pitted against each other, and no one ends up looking like a winner. By Amy Vincent The New Deal The Nevada attorneys featured in our February cover story about the delays in paying breast-implant plaintiffs have finally given up--after cocounsel pooled their money and paid more than $300,000 of the Nevadans' expenses. By Douglas McCollam The Advance Team What kind of pro bono project brings Hogan & Hartson's Joseph Bell to the tiny island nation of São Tomé e Principe? The kind that will help an African nation deal constructively with its newfound oil wealth. By Daphne Eviatar Getting Slapped Around When Diebold Election Systems legal memos leaked out, Jones Day's reaction was swift and brutal--and totally ineffective. By Susan Beck China's Next Wave Now midsize firms are catching China fever. But for them, opening branches in Beijing or Shanghai requires some creativity. By Elizabeth Amon McCarter's Quote-Meister McCarter & English's Robert Mintz is hardly a big name in white-collar criminal defense, at least beyond New Jersey. So why is he constantly quoted in national media about the biggest business scandals? Luck--and hard PR work. By Jennifer Fried Playing the Pincushion Of the five big-firm partners on the 9/11 commission, the two Democrats--Wilmer Cutler's Jamie Gorlick and Mayer, Brown's Richard Ben-Veniste--came in for more than their share of vicious attacks. As a service to our readers, we collected some of the pithiest of the quotes. By Andrew Longstreth Replanting Afghanistan Skadden's Dana Freyer is no stranger to international negotiations. But haggling over replanting trees and crops in Afghanistan, in a novel pro bono project, was even a first for her. By Amy Vincent
	In-House The story behind the stories. By Aric Press Read this story online. Big Deals Comcast/Disney Cingular/AT&T Wireless Inside the Deal: Making Corporate America Safe for Golf Reassuring words from Delaware's new chief justice. By David Marcus Big Suits Pickett et al. v. Tyson Fresh Meats Swedish Match North America, Inc., v. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company R4 Holdings v. Tickets.com, Inc., and General Atlantic Partners et al. Big Canadian Deals CGI/AMS Canary Wharf Takeover Bid Connors Bros. Bumble Bee Management: Constructive Candor Lawyers as managers often confuse bluntness with candor. But there's an art to being constructively candid with underlings about their performance--and there are real bottom-line benefits to it, too. By Drew Kugler Read this story online. IP Land: Go Fish How did Fish & Richardson end up as a go-to firm, defending the most IP cases last year? It's a fish story--no less incredible because it's true. Plus, ranking the busiest IP defense and plaintiffs firms. By Mark Voorhees Arguments: Special Dispensation The 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund has succeeded admirably at the morbid task that Congress assigned to it. Its legacy will be more troubling, though, when measured against a host of questions about how we mete out justice. By Peter H. Schuck Supreme Advocacy: Apprentice Appellants As clinical education goes, this is as lofty as it gets--a Supreme Court advocacy shop that already has an enviable track record. By Tony Mauro Read this story online. Books: Caregivers Unite! Why should marriage be so special? Martha Albertson Fineman's The Autonomy Myth does a good job of critiquing the logical flaws in the law, but a poor job of prescribing something better. By Amy Vincent Dicta: Oyez, O Muse The winning strategy in the Martha Stewart trial comes down to storytelling. It turns out that Homer has as much to teach us about effective litigation as any high-priced consultant. By Steven Lubet
	Time Off: Vietnam Redux Vietnam is one of Asia's most welcoming destinations -- even for Americans. By Anthony Lin Read this story online. Motion: Reasonable Standard The Infiniti G35 Sport Coupe 6MT By Ronald Gordon Case of the Month: First-Class Seconds Bordeaux second wines. By John Anderson
	Madame La Présidente Why are women so vastly underrepresented in the high-stakes world of arbitration? By Michael D. Goldhaber Read this story online. Wanted--A World Investment Court Recent conflicting arbitration rulings suggest that the time is right to create a global appeals tribunal. By Michael D. Goldhaber Read this story online.
	Library Survey: Books, Bytes, and Budgets Corporations like Law librarians spend more time researching industry trends, financial data, and other nonlegal information than the law. They haggle with vendors and respond to weekend queries on their BlackBerrys. They do everything, it seems, except stack books. By Andrew Longstreth In-House Tech Survey: Mutual Satisfaction Tired of sending work to outside lawyers, Liberty Mutual made a big bet on technology to help its in-house lawyers handle cases faster and cheaper. Plus: a look inside Corporate Counsel's annual survey of technology deployed at in-house departments. By Eriq Gardner Tech Tools The world's smallest scanner; a mailing machine ten times faster than human hands; software that visualizes facts on the fly; and more. Tech Buys Who's buying what.