Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP has combined its two D.C. offices in one location, bringing together more than 200 lawyers and government affairs professionals.

The law firm, resulting from the Jan. 1 merger of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham and Preston Gates & Ellis, has 1,400 lawyers who practice from offices in D.C. and numerous other cities around the globe, including Beijing, Boston, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

The firm's combined D.C. office is at 1601 K St. NW, a 190,000-square-foot space that was also the previous home of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham. The firm took an additional 10,000 square feet of space at that location to house the additional workers from Preston Gates & Ellis.

The former D.C. office of Preston Gates & Ellis was at 1735 New York Ave. NW.

In Washington, the firm is known for its work in financial services, including an investment management practice and a mortgage banking and consumer credit group. By merging their operations, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis also has one of the largest public policy and lobbying practices nationwide.

In addition, the D.C. office has a litigation group that handles a variety of general, commercial, securities, antitrust, government contracts, environmental and insurance coverage matters. The office also focuses on energy, telecom, media, food and drug, transportation and emerging companies.

The trial judge reduced Knoller's conviction to involuntary manslaughter, saying the defendant hadn't known her 140-pound Presa Canario was likely to kill someone. A state appeals court overruled the judge and said a defendant who knows he or she is subjecting someone to a danger of serious injury can be guilty of murder if the victim dies.

On Thursday, the state's high court rejected both the lower-court standards and said Knoller, or any other defendant responsible for unintentional but fatal injuries, can be convicted of murder if they acted with "conscious disregard of the danger to human life.''

A new San Francisco judge, replacing the now-retired trial judge, will now apply that standard, review the trial record and decide whether Knoller is guilty of murder or manslaughter.

"This is a great victory for the prosecution and the victims of a horrendous crime,'' San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said. "We believe the defendant should be sentenced as originally mandated by the jury."

Knoller, 51, who now lives in Florida, was paroled in 2004 after serving most of a four-year sentence for manslaughter. If her murder conviction is reinstated, she must return to prison for a term of 15 years to life.

Her attorney Dennis Riordan praised the ruling and said Knoller believes the new judge "will again find that the evidence in her case is clearly insufficient to support a second-degree murder conviction.''

But Deputy Attorney General Amy Haddix, the state's lawyer, said Knoller was the "poster child'' for a murder case under the new standards. Haddix said the evidence showed that Knoller had taken a dangerous, aggressive and unmuzzled dog, which she knew she could not control, into an area where it was likely to encounter people.

"I don't think that's any different than driving a car at high speeds when highly intoxicated, which has long been recognized as an act that knowingly endangers human life,'' Haddix said.

Knoller and her husband and law partner, Robert Noel, were keeping two Presa Canario dogs for their owner, a state prison inmate whom they later adopted. On the day of the attack, Knoller took the male dog, Bane, to the roof of her apartment building at Pacific Avenue and Fillmore Street, then returned to the sixth-floor hallway where Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach, was entering her apartment with two bags of groceries.

Bane charged at Whipple and jumped on her. The dog's 100-pound mate, Hera, bolted out of the couple's apartment and may have joined the attack. Medical examiners found that Whipple suffered 77 wounds, including a fatal puncture to the neck.

Noel was convicted of manslaughter for leaving the dogs with his wife, and was paroled in 2004. Their trial was transferred to Los Angeles after the couple's pretrial statements generated widespread hostility.

In interviews after the attack, Knoller said she had tried to protect Whipple and suggested that her neighbor was responsible for her own death by remaining in the hallway. At her trial, she described Bane as "gentle and loving and affectionate'' and denied having been warned that the dogs were dangerous.

But the Supreme Court said Thursday that there had been about 30 incidents before the attack on Whipple in which the dogs were out of control or threatening humans and other dogs. In response to neighbors' complaints, the couple "responded callously, if at all,'' the court said.

The justices also noted that Knoller and Noel had agreed with the prisoner who owned the dogs that they would name a dog-breeding enterprise "Dog-O-War.''

After the jury verdict, Superior Court Judge James Warren said he was convinced Knoller had been aware that the dogs were dangerous. But he said she was innocent of murder because she had not known her conduct posed a "high probability of death."

As an additional ground for reducing Knoller's conviction, Warren said he thought Noel, charged only with manslaughter, was the guiltier of the two because he had left his wife alone with the dogs, despite knowing that she could not control them.

The now-retired Warren applied the wrong legal standards to both questions, the state's high court said Thursday.

A defendant who knowingly subjects others to a risk of death can be guilty of murder, regardless of whether the conduct created a high probability of death, Justice Joyce Kennard said in the unanimous ruling. She also said judges generally can't second-guess prosecutors' decisions on whether defendants should face different charges.

US District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Thursday that he will release more than 150 letters he has received in relation to next week's sentencing of former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. While Libby opposed the release of the letters, saying that the writers did not intend for them to become public, various news sources argued that the letters were now matters of public record. Walton agreed that transparency is needed and will release the letters, minus addresses and other personal information, after Tuesday's sentencing.

Walton said that the letters run the full spectrum, with some urging leniency while others call for a substantial sentence. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald recommended a sentence of two-and-a-half to three years, following Libby's March conviction of perjury and obstruction of justice related to the investigation of the Valerie Plame CIA leak case.

"The United States takes this issue seriously,"  Mr Bush said.

"The new initiative I'm outlining today will contribute to the important dialogue that will take place in Germany next week."

He promised that America would work with other countries "to establish a new framework for greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012".

The President's language is a marked contrast to that of earlier in his administration when he questioned whether climate change was a man-made problem and refused to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, not least because it exempted China and India – who were emerging as competitors – from the first round of emissions cuts.

But his administration also made plain today that it remained opposed to Germany's call for the imposition of a strict upper limit, allowing global temperatures to increase by no more than 2C.

These would mean a worldwide reduction in emissions effectively of 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Nor is Mr Bush willing to accept EU proposals for a global carbon-trading program under which companies would buy and sell pollution permits.

Paula Dobriansky, the US Under Secretary of State, told reporters today  that the administration doubted the effectiveness of measures that "would restrict economic growth and investment for new research".

She added: "There is not a one-size-fits-all or silver-bullet solution to climate change."

The US argues that its own progress in cutting carbon dioxide emissions in 2005 shows that a less rigid policy of promoting new technology can also achieve results.

Mr Bush said that all countries, including "rapidly growing economies like India and China" needed to "establish midterm management targets and programmes that reflect their own mix of energy sources and future energy needs".

His proposals did little to impress environmental groups.

Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth, branded them a "a complete charade", adding: "It is an attempt to make the Bush administration look like it takes global warming seriously without actually doing anything to curb emissions."

There was a more muted reaction from European leaders such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who have led international pressure for more action on climate change.

Mr Blair, speaking in South Africa, said there was now a "real chance" of a deal on global warming at the G8 summit and then appealed for greater understanding over Mr Bush's position.

Mr Bush has also sought to dampen down growing tensions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, over the stationing of US interceptor missiles in Eastern Europe, inviting him to a meeting at the Bush's family holiday residence at Kennebunkport, Maine, next month.

Today, however, Mr Putin raised the rhetorical stakes further, saying that the recent test of a new Russian missile was a direct response to US actions and "imperialism" in world affairs.

"We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race," he added.

What makes the potential departure of Mr. Lerach particularly shocking is that it would come just as he is engaged in his most high-profile case to date: the shareholder lawsuit against the Wall Street banks that acted as advisers to Enron before it collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001.

While Mr. Lerach has recovered $7.3 billion for shareholders, a federal appeals panel recently ruled that the lawsuit against the remaining defendant banks could not go forward. Since then, Mr. Lerach has been leading a campaign to have the case reviewed by the United States Supreme Court, publicly pressuring and lobbying the Securities and Exchange Commission and its chairman, Christopher Cox, to support his efforts by filing a friend of the court brief in the case.

Still, people who have been briefed on the criminal investigation suggested that Mr. Lerach’s lawyer, John W. Keker, might be trying to make federal prosecutors an offer: Mr. Lerach would resign from the firm in exchange for the firm’s not being indicted.

Calls to Mr. Keker were not returned. A spokesman for the United States attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which is leading the investigation into illegal payments to plaintiffs, also declined to comment.

When reached on his cellphone Wednesday evening, Mr. Lerach declined to comment on his status at the firm. “I can’t say anything,” he said. Calls made later to his cellphone were not returned, and several calls made to a spokesman for the firm were not returned.

Going quietly into the night would also be a reversal in style for Mr. Lerach.

Boisterous and with a penchant for grandstanding, Mr. Lerach has a long history of being both feared and loathed inside the boardrooms of corporations and insurance companies.

For decades, until Mr. Lerach broke off to start his own firm in 2004, he and his former partner, Melvyn I. Weiss, tackled what they saw as rampant corporate malfeasance, securing rich settlements for shareholders and earning themselves and their firms hundreds of millions of dollars in fees in the process.

But nearly seven years ago, federal prosecutors began examining some of the tactics that had made the firm so powerful. As a result, the New York law firm Milberg Weiss & Bershad and two partners, David J. Bershad and Steven G. Schulman, were indicted last year, accused of making more than $11 million in secret payments to individuals who served as plaintiffs in more than 150 lawsuits that earned the firm more than $216 million in fees.

Although they were the main targets of the investigation, Mr. Weiss and Mr. Lerach were not indicted, and the government’s case in recent months appeared to have stagnated. Yesterday, lawyers for Mr. Schulman filed a motion to dismiss all charges against him. Some attributed the renewed momentum in the investigation to talks between Mr. Bershad, who is on a leave of absence from the firm, and prosecutors that might result in a guilty plea for his role in what prosecutors have described as a scheme to pay illegal kickbacks to class-action clients, according to another person briefed on the investigation.

It is unclear whether Mr. Bershad will ultimately cooperate with the government in exchange for a lighter sentence.

His lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, declined to comment. A spokesman for the United States attorney’s office in Los Angeles also declined to comment.

Prosecutors and former partners have said that he handled and kept track of the payments to clients. Concern that Mr. Bershad may try to provide information to prosecutors that could strengthen their case against Milberg Weiss prompted at least two of its partners, Ariana J. Tadler and Brad N. Friedman, to meet with prosecutors in Los Angeles in an attempt to reach a deal that does not require the firm to acknowledge any wrongdoing, according to the person briefed on the case.

Calls to Ms. Tadler and Mr. Friedman were not returned.

Milberg Weiss said in a statement: “We have heard reports that David J. Bershad apparently plans to plead guilty to some of the charges that have been asserted against him. We believed his prior statements to us that he had done nothing wrong and committed no crime. We intend to take steps necessary to protect the interests of our clients and of the many uninvolved firm lawyers and staff who have demonstrated their dedication to the firm in carrying out the important work we do on behalf of investors and consumers.”

Mr. Weiss’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said: “Mr. Weiss has not been charged with any criminal conduct whatsoever. He fully intends to continue practicing law and will continue to offer his clients the same extraordinary legal representation that he has provided for the past 40 years while at the same time continuing the wonderful philanthropic work that he has been devoted to for his entire life.”

While it would be unusual for the government to accept a deal in which Mr. Lerach retired from his firm, it was certainly not impossible, lawyers said.

“I have been involved in many cases where we have had nonstandard results. So is it possible? The answer is yes,” said Sean O’Shea, a criminal defense lawyer in New York who is not involved in Mr. Lerach’s case.

The government’s investigation into the tactics of the plaintiffs’ lawyers began in the late 1990s when a Beverly Hills ophthalmologist, Steven G. Cooperman, who had been convicted of art insurance fraud charges, offered to provide evidence against Milberg Weiss in exchange for a reduced sentence about his role as a frequent plaintiff in shareholder lawsuits filed by the firm.

Over the next few years, prosecutors combed through decades of documents and interviewed dozens of witnesses.

According to the charges, the scheme involving the paid plaintiffs worked like this: Plaintiffs would buy securities anticipating that they would decline in value, hence positioning themselves to be named plaintiffs in the class actions. After the court in a lawsuit awarded lawyers’ fees, the firm and Mr. Bershad and Mr. Schulman gave cash directly to the plaintiffs or to intermediary lawyers. The firm then falsely accounted for the payments as referral fees or professional fees, the indictment said.

Under New York law, it is illegal for a lawyer to promise or give anything to induce a person to bring a lawsuit or to reward a person for having done so, the indictment said.

The 20-count indictment against Milberg Weiss and Mr. Bershad and Mr. Schulman accused them of conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Lawyers for the firm, Mr. Bershad and Mr. Schulman have denied the charges.

The indictment, however, has hurt Milberg Weiss’s business. The firm has lost several institutional clients, its position in large cases, and had several major lawyers depart the firm.

FBI Assistant Director of Public Affairs John Miller said Wednesday during an interview with C-SPAN that an FBI report expected to be released next week will detail a nationwide increase in murders, robberies and other violent crimes for a second straight year. Miller said the report will likely show "a continued uptick in violent crime, particularly among midsized American cities." Miller also told AP and the New York Daily News that 2,176 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) search warrants were approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in 2006, an increase from 1,754 in 2005.

Miller said most of warrants were issued against search targets inside the United States, and attributed the increase to a "high tempo of terrorist activity." In April of last year, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reported a record number of approved FISA warrants during 2005. The Bush administration has sought amendments to FISA, which it says is inflexible and unable to meet the threat of terrorism.

In December, the FBI's Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report found an increase of 3.7 percent in violent crimes, but a 2.6 percent decrease in property crimes such as burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. In 2005, the FBI's Annual Report on Violent Crime found that violent crimes had increased for the first time since 2001 by 2.3%.

"Anybody who thinks we‘re through has missed the point. This is an ever-changing and evolving target that requires constant vigilance," the governor said.

Late last year, four school districts asked the court to maintain oversight, arguing that while the Legislature had appropriated extra money, it hadn‘t adequately addressed buildings, programs for non-English speakers and money for rapidly growing districts.

"I think we‘ve made tremendous progress as a result of this case and I think the few remaining concerns we have about education are relatively small compared to what‘s been accomplished," Heller said.

"The court has said yes, it‘s about spending more money and showing your commitment to education, but what‘s more important is how you spend it," McDaniel said.