Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP has honored partner Dianne Baquet Smith with the firm's first Diversity & Inclusion Award, an award that recognizes the significant diversity and inclusion commitment of a Sheppard Mullin attorney.  As part of the award, the firm has made a contribution to two pipeline programs: The USC Street Law Program and Loyola Law School's Young Lawyers Program.  These pipeline programs expose primary, secondary, or college students to the legal profession.  

The Street Law Program is a student organization at USC's Law School, whose goal is to connect law students with inner-city middle and high-school students.  The primary aspect of Street Law's program is the classroom teaching session, which provides opportunities to the students and benefits the law students.  Six Sheppard Mullin attorneys participate in the Street Law Program, including firm liaison and associate Olivier Theard.

The Judge Stephen O'Neil Trial Advocacy Mentoring Program (aka "Young Lawyers Program") is a collaborative effort of students of the Black Law Students Association and the La Raza Law Students Association of Loyola Law School.  These two law student groups created the Young Lawyers Program to bridge the gap between the law school and youth in the communities of color that surround Loyola Law School.  Five Sheppard Mullin attorneys participate in the Young Lawyers Program, including firm liaison and associate Claudia Gutierrez.

“Dianne has led the firm's diversity efforts for decades and we are thrilled to recognize her dedication to the firm's efforts and initiatives in this area,” said Guy Halgren, chair of the firm's Executive Committee.  "Dianne has been a diversity advocate within and outside the firm, and we are pleased to contribute on her behalf to two pipeline programs that are making a difference in our local communities."  

In addition to Smith's internal Sheppard Mullin achievements and accomplishments, she is the current president of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles' Foundation, a member of the LA County Bar Association's Diversity Committee, and a founding member of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals. 

"I am honored by the firm's recognition and support," said Smith.  "Diversity is important to Sheppard Mullin, to our clients, and to our profession.  Serving as the firm's diversity chair has been both personally and professionally fulfilling.  I am pleased that Sheppard Mullin's donation will support the vital work performed by the Street Law and Young Lawyer's programs, as our firm teams with them to address the current pipeline crisis."

Smith is a Labor and Employment group partner in the Los Angeles/Downtown office.  She has extensive experience representing management in litigation of wrongful discharge, discrimination, breach of contract, breach of public policy, wage and hour, unfair labor practice, ERISA, and other types of labor and employment cases, through trial. 

The Sheppard Mullin Diversity & Inclusion Award was created to recognize an individual or team of attorneys in the firm for their commitment to diversity & inclusion programs and initiatives in the legal profession.  Recipients are selected based on their overall contributions and dedication to advancing the firm’s mission in this area.  

About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with 550 attorneys in 11 offices located in the United States and Asia.  Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions.  In the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100.  For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.

Hartford-based Shipman & Goodwin today opened an office in Washington -- and the launch came with a major new client: The Hartford.

The Washington office will start with six lawyers, all formerly with Hogan and Hartson in Washington. It will be led by partner James P. Ruggeri, longtime national counsel for insurance coverage for The Hartford Financial Services Group.

"We join a strong existing litigation group and gain talented colleagues in Connecticut that will allow us to grow the practice and continue to provide first-rate service to The Hartford on a national basis," said Ruggeri.

Shipman and Goodwin, founded in 1919, has 140 lawyers. Besides Hartford and Washington, the firm has offices in Stamford, Greenwich and Lakeville.

"Our presence in D.C. will also be a further boost to other current firm practices with national reach, including health care, government investigations, petroleum marketing, export-import compliance and bankruptcy," said Scott Murphy, the firm's managing partner.

Law firm Wolf Popper, LLP announced Monday it has filed a class action lawsuit against investment bank Goldman Sachs on behalf of investors who purchased securities, options or common stock between August 2009 and April 2010. The suit claims Goldman Sachs did not disclose to shareholders that it was under investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission.

The SEC began investigating Goldman in 2008 for its role in the sale of a package of mortgage-related securities that were allegedly constructed and sold with the knowledge it would perform poorly. More recently, the SEC filed formal charges of fraud against the bank and one of its officials.

When the news of the SEC’s suit went public in mid-April, Goldman stock fell 13% in one day. Two weeks later, Goldman’s stock fell more than 9% in a single day.

According to Wolf Popper, Goldman never disclosed to its shareholders the SEC investigation, and knowingly misled investors to think Goldman was committed to its clients’ best interests.

The Wolf Popper press release did not specify a court date or contain any additional information on the suit.

The seven former inmates allege that Britain was complicit in their alleged abuse in the U.S. military prison camp on the southwestern tip of Cuba, as well as elsewhere, and are seeking damages from the government.

Their civil suit has yet to come to trial, but the government won a preliminary victory last year by securing the right to keep selected pieces of information secret.

Lawyers for the men said Tuesday that a three-judge panel overturned that ruling because secret evidence violated the principle of open justice.

The government has not yet indicated whether it will appeal.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Pfizer Inc. that sought to thwart a securities lawsuit alleging the drugmaker misrepresented the safety profile of the blockbuster pain drug Celebrex.

The plaintiffs alleged that Pfizer's Pharmacia unit deliberately withheld the full results of a medical study that showed no safety advantage to using Celebrex over less expensive anti-inflammatory drugs.

Pfizer argued that investors missed a two-year statute of limitations to bring the lawsuit. The investors said there was no evidence of a possible fraud until the Washington Post published an article about missing Celebrex data in August 2001, meaning their April 2003 lawsuit was within two years of that development.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled last year that the lawsuit was not filed too late. The Supreme Court let that ruling stand without comment.

The high court's denial of Pfizer's appeal comes a week after the justices ruled unanimously that investors didn't wait too long to file securities lawsuits alleging that Merck & Co. misrepresented the safety of painkiller drug Vioxx. Pfizer's appeal had been on hold pending the outcome of the Merck case.

The Supreme Court has refused to review the case of a British woman on death row in Texas for killing a young mother.

The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from Linda Carty, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing a woman whose child she also snatched in Houston in 2001. Carty has complained that her trial lawyers were deficient.

The British government and human rights groups have aided Carty's cause.

Carty is one of 10 condemned women in Texas. She is a former teacher from St. Kitts in the British Virgin Islands.

In September, a taped voice recording of Carty begging Britons to help save her life was broadcast into London's Trafalgar Square.

BP PLC said Monday that it will pay for all the cleanup costs from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that could continue spewing crude for at least another week.

The company posted a fact sheet on its Web site saying it took responsibility for the response to the Deepwater Horizon spill and would pay compensation for legitimate claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses.

"We are responsible, not for the accident, but we are responsible for the oil and for dealing with it and cleaning the situation up," chief executive Tony Hayward said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." He said the equipment that failed on the rig and led to the spill belonged to owner Transocean Ltd., not BP, which operated the rig.

Meanwhile, Hayward said chemical dispersants seem to be having a significant impact keeping oil from flowing to the surface, though he did not elaborate.

The update on the dispersants came as BP was preparing a system never tried nearly a mile under water to siphon away the geyser of crude from a blown-out well a mile underwater. However, the plan to lower 74-ton, concrete-and-metal boxes being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a barge waiting at the surface will need at least another six to eight days to get it in place.