The federal government is trying to bar a financial attorney from offering alleged fraudulent tax saving schemes that help wealthy clients, many of them in the St. Louis area, according to a suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court here.

In the suit, the Internal Revenue Service asks the court to forbid St. Louis attorney Philip A. Kaiser and others affiliated with him from promoting fraudulent tax schemes. The suit says those schemes include:

- sham transactions claiming "massive" charitable deductions, with little or no money going to legitimate charities;

- evasion of federal income tax on gains from stock sales by disguising the sales as loans;

- illegal circumvention of contribution limits for Roth IRAs;

- and evasion of income tax on business earnings by using transactions with sham corporations.

Mayer Brown continues to hemorrhage lawyers, despite what the Chicago law firm says are "encouraging signs" for 2010.

The international firm said Thursday that laid off 28 lawyers in its U.S. offices, which represents 3 percent of the approximately 925 U.S. lawyers. The layoffs did not affect partners, only associates and lawyers known as "counsel" who are not on partnership track.

Mayer Brown also reduced its administrative staff by 47 people.

This is the third job reduction since November 2008 at Mayer Brown. The two previous rounds affected at least 78 lawyers. The firm blamed the previous downsizing on the recession, which cut demand for legal services. It said Thursday that demand has bounced back but not enough. In addition, voluntary attrition has dropped, meaning that the firm was overstaffed compared to anticipated demand for legal services this year.

"Although most of our practices are performing well, overall demand for legal services has not recovered fully, and in today's tight legal job market, voluntary lawyer departures have been significantly lower than our normal levels," Chairman Bert Krueger said in an e-mail to U.S. offices. A Mayer spokesman provided a copy of the e-mail but declined further comment.

The layoffs come as Mayer Brown partners are scheduled to gather in Chicago later this month for the firm's annual meeting.

While stating that the layoffs were necessary, Krueger ended his memo touching on the firm's financial performance. "Thus far, the year off to a positive start."

The pace of layoffs across major U.S. law firms has slowed down compared to a year ago, when nearly every large firm resorted to job cuts to save their bottom lines.

Susan Merrill, who is stepping down as the head of enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street's self-regulatory body, is set to become a partner at the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP.

Ms. Merrill, 53 years old, will lead Bingham's enforcement practice and advise clients on regulatory and securities enforcement matters. She will join the firm's New York office this week.

"Susan is a recognized leader in the securities field," Jay Zimmerman, Bingham's chairman, said in a statement. "Her arrival to Bingham exemplifies our investment and commitment to building the strongest securities team."

Ms. Merrill was hired by the New York Stock Exchange in 2004 to help revive its regulation division. She became head of enforcement at Finra in 2007 when the National Association of Securities Dealers merged with the regulatory arm of the NYSE, forming Finra. Previously, Ms. Merrill was a litigation partner at New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

At Finra, Ms. Merrill helped to merge the enforcement departments of the NASD and NYSE, and brought a number of auction-rate-securities cases against Wall Street firms.

The departure of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens adds a crucial task to the Senate schedule, at a minimum, and could peel momentum from looming climate legislation if his successor triggers a searing political fight.

Stevens' announcement arrived more than a week before the anticipated release of a Senate bill restricting greenhouse gases. That timing clouds the chamber's legislative horizon by handing senators a top White House priority in the months leading to contentious midterm campaigning.

That leaves climate change -- still competing for attention with Obama's other big priorities, like an overhaul of Wall Street and a comprehensive jobs bill -- in limbo. The climate bill being drafted by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) would need to gain swift support to outpace the encompassing confirmation of a life-serving justice, according to some observers.

There's a stretch of time between two congressional recesses, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, that provides an optimal window for movement of a bill, said Chelsea Maxwell, a former climate adviser to retired Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). That gives lawmakers an opportunity to bring legislation to the Senate floor before the height of the election season and any political maneuvering over a Supreme Court nominee.

White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley was back in court Monday for domestic abuse charges.

Bradley was arrested again on Thursday after allegedly violating an order of protection from his wife.

Bradley was booked on three charges: harassment, tampering with a witness, and contempt of court.

Prosecutors claims since March 5, Bradley has repeatedly intentionally violated an order of protection not to harass or cause fear. The new charges alleged he yelled at his wife, Fumiko, on five different occasions.

The judge on Monday ordered him to stay away from Fumiko and to attend an anti-violence class.

A city spokeswoman is denying weekend reports saying that Bradley could resign as early as today.

In the first incident, Mrs. Bradley told police her husband confronted her at the house she was staying at and yelled that in order for him to save his career, she needed to enter a mental hospital or tell police she had lied to them.

A federal judge in Southern California was chosen Friday to preside over more than 200 lawsuits filed against Toyota in the aftermath of the automaker’s sudden acceleration problems, which could potentially mushroom into one of the nation’s biggest product liability cases.

A judicial panel consolidated the ever-growing list of cases before U.S. District Judge James V. Selna, 65, a 2003 appointee of former President George W. Bush. Selna’s court is in Orange County, close to Toyota’s U.S. headquarters.

“This is a big milestone in what will be a very historic case,” said Tim Howard, a Northeastern University law professor who leads a group of attorneys in 26 states who are suing Toyota.

Attorneys estimate that if Toyota were to settle the cases for even a modest payout to affected motorists, it could cost the company at least $3 billion and possibly much more.

In comparison, drugmaker Merck & Co. has paid more than $4.8 billion into a settlement fund for tens of thousands of claims from people who used its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.

In a review of lawsuits filed around the country involving a wide range of complaints — not just the sudden acceleration problems that have led to millions of Toyotas being recalled — the automaker has hidden the existence of tests that would be harmful to its legal position and claimed key material was difficult to get at its headquarters in Japan. It has withheld potentially damaging documents and refused to release data stored electronically in its vehicles.

For example, in a Colorado product liability lawsuit filed by a man whose young daughter was killed in a 4Runner rollover crash, Toyota withheld documents about internal roof strength tests despite a federal judge's order that such information be produced, according to court records. The attorneys for Jon Kurylowicz now say such documents might have changed the outcome of the case, which ended in a 2005 jury verdict for Toyota.