Asa Hutchinson, the former congressman and federal Homeland Security undersecretary, said Friday he has returned to his old Washington law firm in a new position following his defeat in the 2006 Arkansas governor's race.

Hutchinson, a Republican who lost to Democrat Mike Beebe in the Nov. 7 general election, said he rejoined the Venable law firm as a partner, but as a litigator rather than in the lobbying role he served after leaving the Bush administration in early 2005.

He said he would split his time between Washington and Little Rock, where he formed the Hutchinson Group, a homeland security consulting firm.

"I've got a great team built up here for consulting and business development," Hutchinson said. "But in my heart I'm a litigator and I want to return to the courtroom."

Hutchinson was a federal prosecutor in Arkansas and later litigated more than 200 cases in private practice before being elected to Congress in 1996.

He was a House manager during the impeachment of President Clinton.

He was appointed by President Bush to head the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in 2001 and later headed border and transportation security in the Homeland Security Department.

He joined the Venable firm after leaving the department and before entering the governor's race.

During the race, his job at the firm came under criticism from Democrats who accused him of violating ethics laws by lining up the job before leaving government. He denied wrongdoing.

Hutchinson said Friday he returned to the firm as a senior litigant, to oversee complex litigation as well as handle complex investigations, corporate and congressional.

He said he would maintain his home and residency in Arkansas.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider a discrimination case in which a Coca-Cola bottling company fired a black employee.

Coca-Cola asked the Supreme Court to hear the lawsuit, which involves allegations that a supervisor of employee Stephen Peters was motivated by racial bias and influenced a human resources manager to fire the worker.

Such circumstances are sometimes referred to as "cat's paw" or "rubber stamp" liability. Coca-Cola fired Peters for insubordination after he refused a request to work on a weekend during his scheduled days off.

A federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit brought on Peters' behalf by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The appeals court said a federal judge placed too much emphasis on the fact that Peters' immediate supervisor made no express recommendation to fire him.

In asking the court to hear the case, the company asked the justices to consider when an employer may be held liable for intentional discrimination when the person who fired an employee harbored no discriminatory bias. Peters worked at the Coca-Cola facility in Albuquerque, N.M.

DETROIT — The law firm of Miller Canfield has announced that Tim A. Attalla has joined the firm as senior counsel in the Detroit office. He will focus his practice on commercial and international matters.

Prior to joining Miller Canfield, Attalla was in private practice in Dearborn, for 18 years.

Attalla is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. He is active in and sits on the board of numerous organizations. He is a national board member of Seeds of Peace of New York, a member of Wayne County Mental Health Board and a member of Ishmael and Isaac of Chicago. He is a past board member of American Arab & Jewish Friends. He was the first Arab-American to be appointed to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. He was appointed by Governor John Engler and served two, four-year terms from 1991-1998.

Attalla resides in Northville, Michigan. He received his J.D. from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and his B.A. is from Wayne State University in Political Science. He is fluent in Arabic.

The 350-attorney law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. was established in Detroit in 1852 and has offices in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Howell, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Monroe, Saginaw, and Troy, Michigan. Other offices are located in New York City; Naples; Pensacola, Florida; Windsor, Ontario; and in Gdynia, Warsaw, and Wroclaw, Poland.

http://www.millercanfield.com

A total of 53 executions were carried out in 2006, down from 60 in 2005. Executions over the past three decades peaked at 98 in 1999. Among the many causes given by prosecutors, lawyers and death penalty critics: the passage of more state laws that allow juries to impose life without parole; an overall drop in violent crime; and a reluctance among some authorities to pursue the death penalty because of the high costs of prosecuting a capital case.

On Tuesday, a New Jersey State commission recommended that the state abolish the death penalty completely, replacing it with a life sentence without the possibility of parole. If the commission's report makes its way into law New Jersey will become the first US jurisdiction to ban capital punishment in over 35 years. In December, Florida Governor Jeb Bush suspended all executions in that state after a lethal injection execution there was botched, and a federal judge in California effectively suspended capital punishment there by ruling that that state's lethal injection procedure creates "an undue and unnecessary risk" of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Raleigh-based Maupin Taylor P.A., is merging with Virginia-based Williams Mullen in a move that will create a regional law firm with 300 attorneys.

"It's a good thing for us and a good thing for the region," says Keith Kapp, the managing partner at Maupin Taylor, a historic firm that was founded in 1870 and currently has 50 attorneys.
 
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. There will be no layoffs as a result of the combination, which has been in the works for a little less than a year.

Final details of the merger are still being confirmed, but it is scheduled to close March 1.

The merger increases the geographic reach and client base for both firms. Maupin Taylor doesn't have an office outside North Carolina, while Williams Mullen has locations in Virginia, Washington, D.C. and London.

The name of the firm will be Williams Mullen, although North Carolina offices will operate under the name Williams Mullen Maupin Taylor for a transition period. Julious Smith, the chairman and CEO of Williams Mullen, will continue as chairman and CEO of the merged entity.

The firm's attorneys and staff will combine to total nearly 700 employees.

"We're really excited," says Smith. "Coming down there is a great opportunity for us. We had looked at Raleigh for a long time."

Maupin Taylor claims to be the oldest law firm in North Carolina. Williams Mullen is Virginia's third largest law firm.

"Our clients are more and more involved in North Carolina," Smith says. "It helps us to be on the ground there."

Gary Joyner, the managing partner in the Raleigh office of Kilpatrick Stockton, thinks that the area will see similar moves in coming years as Raleigh continues to grow.

A bi-coastal U.S. law firm merger that would have created a 1,200-lawyer national firm with annual revenue of $1 billion has been called off, the firms say.

Dewey Ballantine of New York and San Francisco`s Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe called off the merger less than three months after the firms` executive committees backed the combination, The American Lawyer reported.

Since the initial agreement, a number of 'significant challenges' arose, the firms said. Adding to the strain, more than 10 Dewey partners left, though not all departures were merger-related, the American Lawyer said.

A former partner attributed the breakdown of the merger to a leak early in the discussions between the two firms.

The combined firm, whose name would have been Dewey Orrick, would have ranked among the 10 largest law firms in the United States.