The Securities and Exchange Commission has reached plea agreements with an ex-Qwest CFO and another former company official -- the two last defendants sued by the agency over the Denver-based telecom's financial irregularities prior to 2001. The Associated Press reports that the SEC filed notice of a plea deal with the federal court under which Robert Woodruff, former CFO of Denver-based Qwest Communications International, would admit no wrongdoing and agree to pay $2.7 million to the government...

A lawsuit filed by Seattle-based Shim Law Firm in King County Superior Court in late January accuses Seattle's Pacific International Bank of aiding an admitted thief in embezzling $322,136 worth of checks from the firm. Paul Sabado, interim chief executive at P.I. Bank said in an email he didn't have a comment at this time. According to the complaint, P.I. Bank cashed checks from an employee of the law firm that was part of a scheme by the employee to embezzle money. The suit says that employee, Veronica Pak, was charged with 105 counts of theft in King County Superior Court last fall as a result of the scheme and pleaded guilty to the charges...

The Portland Business Journal's top law firms list didn’t change a whole heck of a lot over last year’s rankings. But in the areas the list did change, the moves were cataclysmic. Bullivant Houser Bailey PC experienced a big drop, falling from seventh to 14th. The drop wasn’t a huge surprise to those following Portland’s legal scene. What was surprising, though was the huge move made by Kolisch Hartwell PC. The IP firm leapfrogged 28 firms in moving from 47th last year to 19th in 2011...

A computer hacker was sentenced to prison Friday for infiltrating Marriott International Inc.’s system and threatening to leak sensitive data — unless the hotel-chain gave him a job maintaining its computers. Attila Nemeth, a 26-year-old Hungarian citizen, was given 30 months in prison by J. Frederick Motz, a federal judge in Maryland. Motz also ordered Nemeth to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which announced the sentencing...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in favor of Milwaukee Public Schools in a landmark, long-fought lawsuit over how the district identifies students in need of special education services. The suit, filed in 2001 and often referred to as the “Jamie S. case,” alleged that a student named Jamie and several other students were denied or delayed entry to special services in MPS. The ruling overturns a lower court’s contention that MPS and the Department of Public Instruction had some “systemic” violations in how they identified special education students...

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor's four-day stop in Hawaii this week has included a packed schedule with activities aligned with the causes she holds most dear: health and education. During an intimate Q&A session with members of the Honolulu legal community at the Hawaii Supreme Court late Thursday, Sotomayor showcased a side of herself that was equal parts down-to-earth, charming and self aware. Sotomayor is in Honolulu participating in the University of Hawaii's William S...

Cardinal Health Inc. said it would vigorously contest the Drug Enforcement Administration’s suspension of its license to distribute controlled medicines from the company’s Lakeland distribution center. Cardinal (NYSE: CAH), a health care services company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, said in a written statement that it would ask a federal court to block the DEA’s efforts. Cardinal said the suspension would disrupt drug shipments to more than 2,500 pharmacy customers in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina...

A former soldier pleaded guilty in Texas on Friday of participating in a scheme to obtain $69,000 in fraudulent recruiting bonuses from various U.S. Army components and an Army contractor. Former Spec. Xavier Aves, 40, of San Antonio pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft for unlawfully using the means of identification of a potential soldier, according to Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Aves was indicted of fraud on Sept...

Stoel Rives tops the Business Journal's list of top Portland law firms, with 149 local attorneys. Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt clocked in at No. 2 with 121 local attorneys. You can get a peak at the top-10 firms below and subscribers can view the complete list in the current issue of the Business Journal. Not included in the list, though certainly an indicator of the industry's health, is that a number of firms are planning to hire for various positions in the next six to 12 months. Here are those that indicated they will be hiring: Tonkon Torp plans to hire three entry-level lawyers in fall of 2012...

The Portland area's 3,550 lawyers are paid $102,020 on average each year. According to an On Numbers analysis compiled by the Business Journal, that makes lawyers the second-highest paid legal professionals in Portland. Judges, magistrate judges and magistrates bring home the biggest paychecks, with average annual pay of $112,280. Court reporters landed in the third spot at $96,730, followed by arbitrators, mediators and concilliators at $70,530, and administrative law judges at $70,020. The analysis was compiled using U...

Palm Beach millionaire John Goodman appears to have hit a legal speed bump after he adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend on the eve of a trial over allegedly being drunk at the time of a fatal accident. Palm Beach Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley initially ruled that a trust for Goodman's two minor children could not be considered by the accident jury as part of his personal wealth. Then, Goodman, 48, adopted his girlfriend, Heather Ann Hutchins, which would let her share the assets in a trust worth hundreds of millions of dollars and gain a measure of control, The Palm Beach Post reported...

Staunch Republican that he is, Drinker Biddle & Reath Chairman Alfred Putnam was none too happy to see Barack Obama elected president. But he knew the heightened regulation brought by a Democratic administration could provide opportunities to expand his law firm’s Washington, D.C., location. “In comes Obama and the importance of policy and the federal government grows,” Putnam said. “So you better have people there. Clients are going to want to know what kind of capabilities you have there...

A trio of veteran environmental attorneys has moved to another law firm. Karen Gaylord, Janis Bladine and Ronnie Hawks have left Salmon Lewis & Weldon PLC for Jennings Haug & Cunningham LLP. Both firms are based in Phoenix. “Adding this well-known environmental law team to the firm allows us to offer our clients from across the country a new range of services in Arizona, which is very appealing,” said John Sinodis, managing partner of Jennings Haug. “We feel that they are an excellent complement to the firm, bringing services that are particularly sought here in Arizona...

Family law practitioner David Steerman has joined Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg from Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel. Steerman brings with him an associate and paralegal and will chair Klehr Harrison’s family law practice. Klehr Harrison said it decided to sharpen its focus on family law in 2008, as many of its private equity and real estate clients became family law clients as well. According to Chairman Bill Harvey, the firm began to commit resources to growing the practice, including some of his own time, in 2010...

Companies in telecommunications, collections and broadband internet services received more consumer complaints than any other industry in the state last year, according to the state Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. Telecom companies generated 1,581 complaints in 2011, earning most-complained-about status, according to the division’s annual list of the top 20 complaint-generating industries in Washington. The Top 10 portion of the list was rounded out by retail, auto sales, commercial banking, mortgage lending, books/magazines/directories, electronic shopping, and health care...

The bragging rights for lead law firm on Facebook Inc.’s IPO go to… Fenwick & West LLP. The legal team working on the possible $10 billion offering includes Gordon Davidson, chairman of the Silicon Valley law firm. Lawyers from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP will represent the underwriters. Fenwick has a history with Facebook, having handled the social media company’s corporate work since 2007. “It’s a coup for Fenwick to get this business, no question about it,” Brian Erb, a corporate partner at Ropes & Gray in Palo Alto and San Francisco told The Recorder legal newspaper...

Two law firms will have to wait until next month to see which one wins a contract worth up to $500,000 for providing bond counsel services at Tampa International Airport. Nabors Giblin & Nickerson PA edged Holland & Knight LLP by two points in staff scoring of their proposals. But Thursday’s vote by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority board was placed on hold amid confusion over a staff error in the paperwork. At issue were staff reviews of alternative rate structures that brought Holland & Knight closer to the top ranking, but still in second place...

BankAlantic would have difficulty surviving a $76 million debt payment deadline in two years if a pending deal with BB&T doesn’t take place, BankAtlantic Bancorp Chairman and CEO Alan B. Levan said during litigation about the deal. The Fort Lauderdale-based company (NYSE: BBX) announced in November that it would sell most of its banking operations, including all of its deposits and branches, to BB&T (NYSE: BBT). Some holders of its trust-preferred securities (TruPS) are trying to block that in Delaware Chancery Court – a forum for many U...

K&L Gates LLP said Thursday that it will absorb the Italian firm Marini Salsi Picciau Studio Legale – a move that gives K&L Gates its 41st office worldwide. The new office is in Milan and will be K&L Gates’ eighth new office in the past two years. Click here for more. K&L Gates has more than 50 attorneys in two Triangle offices.

The University of Dayton has expanded its offer of free textbooks to include first-year law students. The university this past August announced it would provide $4,000 over four years to incoming freshmen who were accepted to the school, visited campus and completed federal financial aid forms. Now, University of Dayton School of Law prospective students who apply, visit campus and ultimately enroll in the law school will get $1,000 for textbooks, reference texts and supplemental materials in their first year...