US Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald played portions of White House briefing room videos Thursday as the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby continued. Fitzgerald said the tapes show Libby's eagerness to publicly conceal conversations he had with reporters about CIA official Valerie Plame. US District Judge Reggie B. Walton allowed Fitzgerald to play portions of the videos that show former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan publicly clearing Libby's name and announcing that individuals responsible for the leak would be fired. Judge Walton did not allow Fitzgerald to show a heated question and answer session between McClellan and reporters.

Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation into the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Libby's defense team has indicated that they plan to call Libby's former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, to testify and that Libby also plans to take the witness stand himself. Walton has denied a request from several news organizations seeking the daily release of audio recordings of arguments and testimony.

Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that 23 of the firm’s senior counsel have been elected to partnership. This includes attorneys from the firm’s Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville, Madison, Milwaukee, San Diego/Del Mar, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Tampa and Washington, D.C. offices.

New partners in the Chicago office include:

Steven M. Gerenraich is a member of the Business Law Department and the Transactional & Securities, Commercial Transactions & Business Counseling, Finance & Financial Institutions, Health Care Finance & Restructuring and International Practices. He represents and counsels business owners and entrepreneurs in all areas of commercial activity and corporate operations and has worked on transactions including mergers of public and private companies, stock and asset purchases and joint ventures.

Jill L. Murch is a member of the Litigation Department and the Business Reorganizations and Real Estate Practices. Murch’s expertise encompasses all facets of bankruptcy and insolvency, including representation of lenders, creditors’ committees, indenture trustees, bondholder committees, foreign representatives, individual creditors, Chapter 11 debtors, governmental agencies, and federally chartered entities. Murch also specializes in insolvency issues related to the real estate, automotive, and financial industries.

Lisa L. Tharpe is a member of the Litigation Department and the firm’s Securities Litigation, Enforcement & Regulation and White Collar Defense & Corporate Compliance Practices. She concentrates on corporate litigation, with a primary focus on the representation of parties in the securities and financial services industry. In addition, she has been involved in conducting several corporate internal investigations. She has participated in defending individuals and firms in connection with proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers and state securities regulatory bodies.

The new Detroit office partner is:

Jeffrey S. Kopp is a member of the Litigation Department and the Labor & Employment Practice. He has handled numerous age, sex and race discrimination lawsuits and has successfully defended FMLA and ADA claims both at the trial and appellate levels. He has extensive background in prosecuting and defending violations of non-compete agreements and trade secrets claims. He also defends unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board and has advised employers in strike and union matters.

New partners in the Jacksonville office include:

Matthew G. Breuer is a member of the Business Law Department and the firm’s Real Estate Practice. He has experience in a broad range of commercial real estate matters with a particular focus on real estate finance. He represents national, regional and local lending institutions in a variety of secured lending transactions.

Dabney D. Ware is a member of the Litigation Department and the Labor & Employment Practice. She focuses her practice in the area of labor and employment law and has extensive experience in employment related litigation and in counseling clients on all aspects of compliance with federal, state and local laws.

New partners in the Madison office include:

Paul S. Hunter is a member of the Intellectual Property Department, the Electronics and Mechanical & Electromechanical Technologies Practices, and the Emerging Technologies, Insurance and Nanotechnology Industry Teams. His technical experience includes a wide range of electronics and computer technologies, including telecom, computer software/hardware, Internet applications, semiconductor devices and processes, e-commerce, electromagnetics, motors and “business methods.”

Carl R. Kugler is a member of the Business Law Department and the Commercial Transactions & Business Counseling, Transactional & Securities and International Practices. His practice includes experience with a variety of general corporate and commercial transactions, including domestic and international product distribution matters, mergers and acquisitions, contract law and financing transactions.
Michael D. Leffel is a member of the Litigation Department and the firm’s General Commercial Litigation and Appellate Practices. He has represented clients in complex commercial litigation matters in state and federal courts around the country and before various regulatory agencies and in congressional investigations. He has served as counsel in three cases on the merits and as counsel for amicus curiae in a number of other cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

New partners in the Milwaukee office include:

Jason W. Allen is a member of the Business Law Department, the Finance & Financial Institutions Practice and the Energy Industry Team. He focuses his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, finance and general corporate and commercial law, with a particular emphasis on transactions in the energy industry. His background in project and infrastructure finance transactions involves the acquisition, divestiture and financing of numerous domestic and international power projects.

Peter D. Fetzer is a member of the Business Law Department, the Transactional & Securities and Finance & Financial Institutions Practices, and the Energy Industry Team. He focuses his practice on general corporate and securities law with an emphasis on securities offerings, acquisitions and investment company and investment adviser representation. He regularly counsels issuers in public securities offerings, as well as companies buying and selling businesses.
David J.B. Froiland is a member of the Litigation Department and the Labor & Employment Practice. He represents employers throughout the country in all areas of employment law, with a particular focus on employee benefits litigation, reductions in force, and employment discrimination cases, including class action litigation.

Froiland also counsels employers on plant closing issues, harassment issues, disability accommodation, problematic terminations and other workplace issues regarding the legal rights and obligations of employers.
Brian S. Kaas is a member of the Regulated Industries Department and the Insurance and Health Care Industry Teams. His practice is concentrated in the areas of corporate, transactional and regulatory insurance law. He also is experienced in the areas of reinsurance, runoff and commutation matters, captive companies, insurer insolvencies and corporate restructurings.

Zhu (Julie) Lee is a member of the Business Law Department and the firm’s Tax & Employee Benefits, International and Tax, Valuation & Fiduciary Litigation Practices. She counsels clients on a broad range of US and international tax matters. In addition, she advises clients on a variety of legal and business issues arising from doing business in China, including cross-border contracts, foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property protection, cross-border technology transfer, international tax planning and compliance and dispute resolution. She has frequently been a speaker on these topics.

Timothy L. Voigtman is a member of the Business Law Department and the Tax & Employee Benefits Practice and Tax, Valuation and Fiduciary Litigation Practices. He focuses on general corporate and tax law, including the business and tax consequences of the formation, ownership, operation, sale and reorganization of C corporations, S corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies. He also has significant experience in the areas of taxation of executive compensation, like-kind exchanges and passive activity loss restrictions. Voigtman is also a Certified Public Accountant.

The new partner in our San Diego/Del Mar office is:

Douglas H. Carsten is a member of the Intellectual Property Department, the IP Litigation Practice and the Life Sciences Industry Team. He focuses his practice on complex patent litigation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. Carsten is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Central, Northern and Southern Districts of California, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The new partner in our San Francisco office is:

Page R. Barnes is a member of the Litigation Department, the General Commercial Litigation Practice and the Securities Litigation, Enforcement & Regulation Practice. She has an extensive law and motion background and experience in coordination of strategic planning and discovery in complex disputes. She has litigated cases involving breach of contract, fraud, bad faith, breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder derivative, construction defect and unfair trade practices issues. She also represents stockbrokers and brokerage firms in arbitrations with the National Association of Securities Dealers and in state court proceedings.

The new partner in our Silicon Valley office is:

Antoinette F. Konski is a member of the Intellectual Property Department, the Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice and the Life Sciences Industry Team. Her practice focuses on developing, analyzing and managing patent portfolios for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, along with rendering due diligence determinations, patentability, patent validity, non-infringement and right-to-use opinions. She has prepared and prosecuted patent applications for foreign and domestic clients in diverse areas of technology, including drug discovery, genomics, immunology, small molecules and drug delivery.

The new partner in our Tampa office is:

Curt P. Creely is a member of the Business Law Department, the Transactional & Securities Practice, the Private Equity & Venture Capital Practice and the Life Sciences Industry Team. His practice focuses on securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate business transactions. He regularly serves as counsel to both private and public companies in connection with a variety of sophisticated transactions and business activities.

New partners in our Washington, D.C. office include:
George C. Best is a member of the Intellectual Property Department and the IP Litigation and Appellate Practices. He has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and he has conducted direct and cross-examinations of witnesses in bench and jury trials. He focuses on litigation and client counseling and has been involved in all aspects of patent, trade secret and business tort cases. Best also has extensive experience in expert discovery, document discovery, depositions and motions practice.

Courtenay C. Brinckerhoff is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Department, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical, Chemical & Pharmaceutical and Appellate Practices and the Life Sciences Industry Team. She works with clients in diverse industries, including pharmaceuticals (chemical and biotechnological), human and animal food products, nutraceuticals, and medical devices. Her practice focuses on client counseling in all aspects of obtaining, licensing and enforcing patents and conducting freedom-to-operate and due diligence investigations, and she has represented clients before the U.S. Patent Office, the U.S. Patent Office Board of Appeals and Interferences, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Elizabeth P. Gray is a member of the Litigation Department and the Securities Litigation, Enforcement & Regulation and White Collar Defense and Corporate Compliance Practices. She represents public companies, broker-dealers, officers and directors as well as other institutions and individuals in connection with securities enforcement, counseling and compliance matters. She has extensive experience with matters arising under the federal securities laws – including allegations of insider trading, accounting irregularities, option timing and market manipulation.

Jeffrey S. Newman is a member of the Regulated Industries Department and the firm’s Government Procurement Practice. He focuses his practice on government contracts, federal and state procurement and administrative law and litigation. Newman counsels clients on the wide array of contract formation and administration issues relating to government prime contracts and subcontracts, and provides assistance regarding other types of procurement activities such as grants, CRADAs and other transactions. Newman works extensively with contractors to protect their intellectual property rights and other proprietary information. He further assists a wide range of entities that seek to generate revenue through government contracting, whether commercial vendors that are initially seeking to sell their products and services to the government or companies that would like to increase their government business.

Foley & Lardner LLP provides the full range of corporate legal counsel. Our attorneys understand today’s most complex business issues, including corporate governance, securities enforcement, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property counseling and litigation, outsourcing and information technology, labor and employment, and tax. The firm offers total solutions in the automotive, emerging technologies, energy, entertainment and media, financial services, food, golf and resort services, insurance, health care, life sciences, nanotechnology, and sports industries.

The firm’s Web site can be found at www.foley.com

International law firm Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP and leading Spanish law firm Ramón & Cajal are delighted to announce that they have entered into an independent correspondent relationship to ensure clients have access to top-tier legal services in key geographic business centers. The relationship establishes formalized cooperation, client development and referral arrangements between the two firms.

Ty Fahner, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw’s Chairman for the past eight years, said that this important relationship further extends the firm's global footprint into Continental Europe following the announcement of a similar relationship with Tonucci & Partners (formerly Studio Legale Tonucci) in January 2006.

"This pairing with Ramón & Cajal increases our ability to provide clients with superior service no matter where they need it,” said Paul Maher, Vice-Chairman elect and London Senior Partner, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. “Significant commercial activity over the last few years in Spain, combined with an increase in foreign companies doing business in Spain as well as Spanish companies seeking to invest outside of the country, highlights the strategic importance of Spain."

Ramón & Cajal primarily advises corporate and financial clients and focuses on the provision of high quality legal advice to Spanish and international companies doing business in or from Spain.

Chairman of Ramón & Cajal, Pedro Ramón y Cajal Agüeras, and partner Alberto Alonso Ureba are, together with Francisco Palá Laguna and Francisco J. Bauzá Moré, managing and co-managing partners of the firm, respectively. They maintain day-to-day management of the merged firm while remaining focused on client transactions and relationship development.

"We look forward to working with an international firm which is as well respected globally as Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw,” said Francisco Palá Laguna managing partner at Ramón & Cajal. “We are ideally placed to assist its clients looking to expand their operations in Europe, and in particular, into Spain. The firm has an enviable market reputation, partner expertise and global capabilities. We welcome our new colleagues to Spain and look forward to introducing our people and clients to those who will help take this important two-way relationship forward."

Today, Ramón & Cajal has more than 70 lawyers, of whom 20 are partners. This enables both well staffed transactions for clients and the personal commitment and involvement of partners. It maintains offices in Madrid and serves clients operating across Spain and more widely in Europe and into South America.

The firm has a consolidated client base which includes many of the largest Spanish companies in terms of market capitalization. Over recent years, the firm has provided services to almost half of the companies comprising the Ibex-35 Index. Ramón & Cajal’s clients also include the Spanish Government and related agencies and companies as well as a growing number of foreign corporations.

"We are independent law firms but with complementary practices, so we have begun cross-referring work in a meaningful way particularly into and out of Paris,” said Jean-Philippe Lambert, Partner-in-Charge of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, Paris. “We look forward to developing this relationship with our firm’s 13 other offices around the world to ensure our clients are receiving the best legal opportunities available."

"This announcement follows a year of close collaboration for Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw in Italy with Tonucci & Partners and the opening of the firm’s Hong Kong office,” continued James D. Holzhauer, Chairman elect, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. “With the inclusion of Ramón & Cajal to our extensive European and global network we are ever closer to realizing the goals we outlined when we combined Mayer, Brown and Rowe & Maw in 2002. Spain is an exciting and competitive market. Increasingly its largest companies are becoming global players in the business world. This is a great development for both firms."

The relationship between the two firms is significant in that there is an enormous overlap of the type of work on which both firms advise, including corporate (mergers and acquisitions, commercial advice and corporate governance), finance and banking, capital markets, restructuring and turnaround, competition and regulation, administrative law, real estate, planning, tax and litigation and dispute resolution.

The complementary service offerings will provide a strong platform for the establishment of the ongoing cross-referral of work as well as joint business development and marketing initiatives to help the two firms to work closely together across all areas of legal advice to clients.

Former Enron prosecutor Kathy Ruemmler has joined the law firm of Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C.

Ruemmler was one of three Assistant U.S. Attorneys who took leading roles in the 2004 Enron Nigerian barge case and the criminal trial of former Enron executives Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay last year.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice in 2001, Ruemmler was Associate Counsel to President Bill Clinton. She also handled white collar criminal defense cases and civil litigation at both Latham and Zuckerman Spaeder in Washington.

She joins former Enron Task Force chief Sean Berkowitz, who joined Latham in November.

The woman who claims to be James Brown's fourth wife wants half of the singer's estate and to be allowed back into the South Carolina home she was locked out of soon after his death.

Tomi Rae Hynie's lawyer said she filed a petition in Aiken County probate court Thursday, claiming that she is the surviving spouse of the singer and entitled to part of his estate, according to court documents obtained by the Associated Press.

She wants the court to allow her to return to Brown's Beech Island home to retrieve "personal possessions" that belong to her and their 5-year-old son, including furniture she picked out for the home, according to the court papers.

"She's not asking the court to live there," said Robert Rosen, Hynie's attorney. "They locked her out and wouldn't let her in but she has a right to go in and get her stuff - furniture, her clothing, her son's toys. They keep saying that they're going to do it but they never do it so we're going to ask a judge to order them to do it."

Brown's attorney and trustee, Buddy Dallas, said Hynie never asked for any personal items from the singer's home.

"She never requested anything," Dallas said. "She's used a camera crew and a lawsuit. I'm sure the court will inquire into it and make a proper determination."

Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, two of three men indicted in 2004 by a US federal grand jury on charges of engaging in a 15-year conspiracy of providing funds to Hamas, were found not guilty of racketeering Thursday. While the men were exonerated of the most serious crime alleged, they were convicted of lesser charges. Salah, who spent 5 years in an Israeli prison in 1993 after confessing to transporting funds for Hamas, was convicted of obstruction of justice for providing false answers in a civil case involving an American student killed by the terrorist group while in Israel. Ashqar was convicted of obstruction of justice and criminal contempt for his refusal to testify before a federal grand jury after receiving immunity. The third man indicted, Abu Mousa Marzook, is currently living in Syria, and is considered to be a fugitive.

Controversy in the case arose when US District Judge Amy St. Eve closed the courtroom during the testimony of two Israeli security agents who were called to counter Salah’s claims that his 1993 admission to being in Hamas was false, and the product of Israeli torture during his interrogation. In a statement made after Thursday’s ruling, Amnesty International USA, while pleased with the “generally favorable verdict,” remains concerned that “evidence likely obtained by the use of torture even entered the courtroom.”

Opponents of the legislation said the issue was settled in the November election and lawmakers should not have revived it.

This year's bill would allow rape victims to get abortions if they report the rapes to police within 50 days. Doctors would have to confirm the report with police and would have to take blood from aborted fetuses and give that information to police for DNA testing.

In the case of incest, a doctor would have to get the woman's consent to report the crime along with the identity of the alleged perpetrator before an abortion could be performed. Blood samples from fetuses would have to be provided to police in incest cases, too.

Abortions could be done only until the 17th week of pregnancy in cases of incest and rape. The bill carries a tougher maximum penalty for illegal abortions than last year's bill - 10 years in prison instead of five.

It would allow abortions to save women's lives and in cases in which their health would be seriously jeopardized by a continued pregnancy. However, a doctor could perform an abortion only if a doctor from another practice concurs that a woman's health is in jeopardy.

In Utah, a state House committee voted 6-2 on Tuesday to ban abortion, setting the stage for a costly legal battle if the bill clears the Legislature and is signed into law. The committee sent the measure to the full House.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the bill likely is unconstitutional and if it becomes law could be costly to defend against any legal challenges.