The Washington State Senate passed a domestic partnership bill (SB 5336) Thursday which would establish a domestic partner registry, giving same-sex couples enhanced rights including inheritance, hospital visitation, and the power to authorize medical procedures. The bill, sponsored by openly gay Sen. Ed Murray (D) passed by a vote of 28-19, defeating a proposed amendment by Senator Don Benton (R) that would have added a referendum clause. Benton and others who voted against the bill said it was an attempt to undermine traditional marriage. The bill now moves to the house as House Bill 1351. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to sign the measure if it passes.

Last year Washington passed a landmark gay civil rights act sponsored by Murray, which rewrote Washington's Civil Rights Act to include the phrase "sexual orientation" among the classes of people protected from discrimination in housing, lending, and employment. Last week the state determined that a heterosexual woman could not use that law to secure health care benefits for her male partner because a federal law on the topic trumps it.

Pentagon officials announced Thursday that David Hicks, an Australian detainee held in U.S. custody for more than five years, will face two counts of providing material support for terrorism, the first time anyone has been charged under the new U.S. law governing military trials for some foreign terrorism suspects.

The case against Hicks marks the first use of rules established by the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which was enacted last year when Republicans still controlled Congress and after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down earlier rules for the military trials.

With their party now in control of Congress, some Democrats have been outspoken about wanting to revamp the Military Commissions Act to provide suspects with more rights and eliminate the use of evidence obtained through coercion. Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., have introduced legislation that would restore rights of detainees such as Hicks to challenge their detentions via habeas corpus petitions, something a federal appeals court in Washington recently ruled were prohibited under current law.

The filing of charges also could prompt Hicks' attorneys to initiate a new legal challenge of the law. Defense attorneys for a group of foreign nationals held in the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- including Hicks -- have filed lawsuits that its provisions are unconstitutional, but recently lost at the appellate level.

The detainees' attorneys said they plan to file a petition Monday for an expedited hearing in the Supreme Court. Another Guantanamo detainee, Salim Hamdan, filed a petition with the Supreme Court this week alleging that the Military Commissions Act is unconstitutional.

Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, will return to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, the law firm said Thursday.

Mehlman, who was the RNC chairman for two years beginning in 2005, started his legal career in 1991 as an associate in Akin Gump's D.C. office, where he practiced for three years before entering politics.
 
In his new stint with the law firm, he will work with clients on legislative, regulatory, constituency, corporate and public relations matters at the state, federal and international levels.

"As a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, I am delighted that Ken Mehlman ... will be back at Akin Gump," says Robert Strauss, the law firm's founder, in a statement. "We are a diversified and bipartisan firm, and Ken fits in perfectly."

Mehlman began his political career as legislative director to Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and later became chief of staff to Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas. From 2003 to 2004 he was campaign manager for George Bush and Dick Cheney as they won a second term.

Akin Gump has more than 900 attorneys in offices in the United States and worldwide

A disbarred lawyer indicted on charges of stealing about $750,000 from former clients pleaded not guilty at his arraignment yesterday.

Peter L. Schofield, 54, of 52 North St., Grafton, was arraigned in Worcester Superior Court on nine counts of larceny of more than $250, crimes he allegedly committed on various dates from Aug. 1, 2002, to March 13 of last year. He was indicted last month.

The Lithuanian War Veterans Organization alleges Mr. Schofield stole more than $500,000. 

Judge John S. McCann set bail of $5,000 cash, as requested by Assistant District Attorney Herbert F. Travers III, and continued Mr. Schofield’s case to March 20. Mr. Schofield’s lawyer, Sean R. Holland, did not object to the prosecutor’s bail request, and Mr. Schofield was released after posting the $5,000.

Mr. Schofield and Mr. Holland declined to comment on the charges after the arraignment.

Mr. Schofield, a real estate lawyer who was admitted to the bar in 1985, was disbarred May 25 based on a New York couple’s allegations that he stole more than $84,000 from them in the sale of property they owned in Grafton. Checks totaling $84,274 that Mr. Schofield sent from his trustee account to the husband and wife, Brian and Deborah Larsen, bounced, according to a Board of Bar Overseers’ summary of the allegations that led to Mr. Schofield’s disbarment.

The Larsens are listed as victims in two of the indictments against Mr. Schofield. The indictments were returned by a grand jury Feb. 16.

Another of his alleged victims is the Lithuanian War Veterans Organization Inc., which filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Schofield last year. The suit alleges that Mr. Schofield stole some of the proceeds from the $560,000 sale of the organization’s headquarters on South Quinsigamond Avenue in Shrewsbury to Adelphi Inc. of Shrewsbury, a branch of the Knights of Columbus.

The veterans group, which hired Mr. Schofield to complete the 2004 sale and resolve related legal matters, is seeking $600,000 in damages in its civil action.

The indictments list eight other alleged larceny victims, all former clients of Mr. Schofield.

Last May, the House passed a similar bill, the Federal Energy Price Protection Act, that would have required the FTC to define price gouging within six months of the bill's final passage. In addition, fuel refiners, wholesalers and retailers who engage in price gouging would have faced fines from $2 million to $150 million, the possibility of imprisonment, and increased civil penalties up to three times the amount of profits earned. The bill did not gain passage in the Senate.

Clifford Chance's Asian funds and private equity teams have been honoured with three separate industry awards this week.

On 28 February, the funds team was named Best Law Firm for Asset Management in 2006 by Asia Asset Management magazine.

Today, Clifford Chance's was voted Asia's Best Law Firm (Fund Formation) and Asia's Best Law Firm (Deals) for 2006 in Private Equity Online's annual poll.

"The awards reflect the firm's commitment to building the pre-eminent funds and private equity teams in Asia," said partner James Walker, who leads the firm's Asian funds practice.

"We have been working with our clients since the first funds were established in Asia, and we're delighted that they continue to choose us as their advisors today."

Private equity partner Andrew Whan has advised on many of the year's most significant deals. "It has been a record year for private equity in Asia, with the high level of activity, arrival of more global players, and increasing convergence between the hedge fund and private equity industries."

"Our leading private equity and funds teams work closely, enabling us to provide a well-matched, full life-cycle service to our clients as this convergence evolves."

An Oklahoma State House of Representatives committee approved a strict immigration bill on Wednesday for a full vote in the Oklahoma House. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 seeks to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining state identification, and would require all state and local agencies to verify citizenship status of applicants before authorizing benefits. The bill would also require public employers to enter job applicants into an electronic immigration database to verify legal status, and would repeal a 2003 law that permits illegal immigrants to attend state colleges at in-state tuition levels. The proposed bill states in part:

The State of Oklahoma finds that illegal immigration is causing economic hardship and lawlessness in this state and that illegal immigration is encouraged by public agencies within this state that provide public benefits without verifying immigration status. The State of Oklahoma further finds that illegal immigrants have been harbored and sheltered in this state and encouraged to reside in this state through the issuance of identification cards that are issued without verifying immigration status, and that these practices impede and obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration law, undermine the security of our borders, and impermissibly restrict the privileges and immunities of the citizens of Oklahoma. Therefore, the people of the State of Oklahoma declare that it is a compelling public interest of this state to discourage illegal immigration by requiring all agencies within this state to fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

The bill, considered one of the toughest illegal immigration measures in the country, is expected to pass easily in the state House of Representatives. The proposal would also have to be passed in the state Senate before going to the governor for approval.

The Oklahoma legislature is also now considering the Oklahoma English Language Act, which would require all official business of the state to be conducted in English, with exceptions.