Law Firm

Victoria Reggie Kennedy will be the keynote speaker at the Massachusetts Bar Association's annual dinner next month, when House Speaker Robert DeLeo will receive the MBA's Legislator of the Year Award. Kennedy, the wife of the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, is an attorney and is co-founder of the Board of Trustees of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.   The legislator award is presented annually to a state or federal legislator who has distinguished him or herself in public service through outstanding contributions to the legal profession.

A Guatemalan mother who says her child was stolen and later turned over to a U.S. couple for adoption said Tuesday that she will go to a Missouri court seeking to get her daughter back now that the U.S. State Department has said it doesn't have jurisdiction to help return the girl. The State Department confirmed Tuesday that it has informed Guatemala's government that it can't help return Anyeli Hernandez Rodriguez because the U.S. and Guatemala had not signed the Hague Abduction Convention at the time of the alleged kidnapping in 2006.

LOS ANGELES One of the nation's highest profile class-action law firms was charged yesterday with an alleged scheme that paid more than $11 million in kickbacks to get people to take part in shareholder lawsuits. The charges follow years of investigation into the way New York-based Milberg Weiss, Bershad & Schulman conducts shareholder lawsuits against major corporations. The lawsuits generated hundreds of millions of dollars in attorneys' fees, the indictment said. The firm was a lead plaintiff in more than half the federal shareholder suits settled from 1997 to 2004.

On Harold Cohen's first day as a lawyer, he lost eight cases for an insurance company in Boston Municipal Court. "He ended the day telling them he was going to go back to driving a cab," said Bob Kalis, who knew Mr. Cohen for more than 50 years and had been his law partner. Rather than cruise the streets of Boston looking for fares, however, Mr. Cohen kept practicing law in the Boston area for the next 60 years. Mr. Cohen, who lived in Sharon for more than 40 years, died of congestive heart failure April 6 in the Orchard Cove retirement community in Canton.

Hampden District Attorney William Bennett says he will join a Springfield law firm when he leaves office next month. Bennett announced yesterday that he will serve as a personal injury and business litigation lawyer for Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury, and Murphy P.C. Bennett will, however, stay on as a special prosecutor to handle the case against former Pelham police chief Edward Fleury, who is charged with manslaughter in the accidental shooting death...

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge denied motions to dismiss charges against a New York-based law firm, one of its partners, and two others accused of keeping a pool of people at the ready to take part in class-action lawsuits and paying them millions of dollars in kickbacks. US District Judge John F. Walter rejected the defendants' arguments Monday that the fraud and conspiracy charges should be dropped because the payments made to some plaintiffs weren't illegal. The law firm, now known as Milberg Weiss, was indicted in May 2006 by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.

PARIS - A package bearing two homemade bombs exploded yesterday in a lawyer's office in central Paris, killing the woman who opened it. The motive for the unusual attack remained unclear. The building, a few blocks from the Arc de Triomphe, also housed a law firm cofounded by President Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as a Holocaust research foundation, although officials said they did not appear to be targeted. "It is a truly atrocious act," Sarkozy's spokesman, David Martinon, said on France-Info radio.

WASHINGTON -- Prominent law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist will shut its doors and pay a $76 million civil penalty in agreements with federal prosecutors and the IRS over allegedly fraudulent tax shelters that the firm promoted, the government said yesterday. The office of the US attorney in Manhattan, Michael Garcia, said the firm would not be prosecuted for criminal tax violations because of its cooperation in the investigation since 2004 and its "inability to continue practicing law as a firm.

Massachusetts State Representative James E. Vallee has joined the Boston office of Nixon Peabody LLP as counsel, the law firm said. Vallee, a Democrat from Franklin, will work with attorneys in the firm's Real Estate and Government Relations & Public Policy practices, Nixon Peabody said. During his career in the Massachusetts Legislature, Vallee has served as majority leader, as a member of the Committee on Ways and Means and, mostly recently, as House chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs.

Democratic State Senator Steven A. Baddour announced his resignation today, saying in a statement that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and two daughters, and that he will be joining an international law firm with an office in Boston. Baddour has represented the First Essex District since 2002, a district that includes Amesbury, Haverhill, Merrimac, Methuen, Newburyport, North Andover, and Salisbury. The lifelong Methuen resident currently serves as vice chairman of both the Senate and joint committees on Ways and Means.

Massachusetts State Representative James E. Vallee has joined the Boston office of Nixon Peabody LLP as counsel, the law firm said. Vallee, a Democrat from Franklin, will work with attorneys in the firm's Real Estate and Government Relations & Public Policy practices, Nixon Peabody said. During his career in the Massachusetts Legislature, Vallee has served as majority leader, as a member of the Committee on Ways and Means and, mostly recently, as House chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs.

DEEPENING INVESTIGATION: The FTC has hired prominent trial lawyer Beth Wilkinson to oversee its year-old probe into Google's business practices. LAWYER'S BACKGROUND: Wilkinson is a former Justice Department prosecutor best known for helping to convict Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1997. She is now a Washington, D.C.-based partner at a law firm. WHAT IT MEANS: The FTC stressed Wilkinson's hiring shouldn't be interpreted as a sign that it intends to sue Google Inc. But a former FTC lawyer says it is a clear sign that the FTC has uncovered problems that may...

SOCCER Chelsea eliminated defending champion Barcelona and reached the Champions League final with a grueling 2-2 tie in Barcelona Tuesday, winning the semifinal on 3-2 aggregate despite playing most of the game a man short. Seeking its first title, Chelsea advanced to the final May 19 at Munich. In the other semifinal, Real Madrid is home Wednesday trying to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Bayern Munich. Barcelona trailed, 1-0, from the first leg but took a 2-1 aggregate lead on goals by Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta.

The investigation by Walmart Stores of possible bribery in Mexico may prompt executive departures and steep US government fines if it reveals senior managers knew about the payments and did not take strong enough action, corporate governance specialists said. Walmart said Saturday that it is looking into a New York Times story that said its representatives in Mexico bribed local officials to get stores opened faster and that executives investigated allegations as far back as 2005.

Victoria Reggie Kennedy will be the keynote speaker at the Massachusetts Bar Association's annual dinner next month, when House Speaker Robert DeLeo will receive the MBA's Legislator of the Year Award. Kennedy, the wife of the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, is an attorney and is co-founder of the Board of Trustees of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.   The legislator award is presented annually to a state or federal legislator who has distinguished him or herself in public service through outstanding contributions to...

The indigent in Boston are fortunate, John G. Brooks wrote in 1970, that the city's legal community is so supportive of pro bono efforts by lawyers "to give the poor a sense of security against injustice and a small degree of equality in the eyes of the law. " Much of that luck was due to Mr. Brooks himself, who during a six-decade career as a lawyer helped lead Greater Boston Legal Services, the National Consumer Law Center in Boston, and...

ALEXANDRIA, La. - Anger over a divorce settlement may have driven a 63-year-old Baptist deacon to shoot five people in a law office, killing two, then exchange gunfire with police during a standoff, authorities said yesterday. A special tactical unit used explosives to enter the building shortly after midnight and shot John Ashley to death after he opened fire, said Sergeant Clifford Gatlin, a police spokesman. Police said Ashley shot at them during the 10-hour standoff Thursday, and even shot at a remote-controlled police robot they sent inside.

State Senator Steven A. Baddour announced his resignation Monday, saying in a statement that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and two daughters, and that he will be joining an international law firm with an office in Boston. Since 2002, Baddour has represented the First Essex District, which includes Amesbury, Haverhill, Merrimac, Methuen, Newburyport, North Andover, and Salisbury. The lifelong Methuen resident currently serves as vice chairman of both the Senate and joint committees on Ways and Means.

State Senator Steven A. Baddour announced his resignation Monday, saying in a statement that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and two daughters, and that he will be joining an international law firm with an office in Boston. Since 2002, Baddour has represented the First Essex District, which includes Amesbury, Haverhill, Merrimac, Methuen, Newburyport, North Andover, and Salisbury. The lifelong Methuen resident currently serves as vice chairman of both the Senate and joint committees on Ways and Means.

Democratic State Senator Steven A. Baddour announced his resignation today, saying in a statement that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and two daughters, and that he will be joining an international law firm with an office in Boston. Baddour has represented the First Essex District since 2002, a district that includes Amesbury, Haverhill, Merrimac, Methuen, Newburyport, North Andover, and Salisbury. The lifelong Methuen resident currently serves as vice chairman of both the Senate and joint committees on Ways and Means.