Lanny J. Davis, a high-profile Washington lawyer who was the special counsel to President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, is leaving McDermott Will & Emery to form his own law firm. The new firm, Lanny J. Davis & Associates, will specialize in general litigation issues, media crisis and public policy issues.

“I am excited by this opportunity to offer multidiscipline, solution-oriented legal-media-legislative strategies services to U.S. and international clients,” Mr. Davis said in a statement. “I especially look forward to working with not only McDermott attorneys and clients, but also with other attorneys and law firms on high-profile litigation and regulatory matters.”
Mr. Davis, who writes a weekly column in The Hill newspaper, is a well-known figure in the world of political punditry, appearing on news programs that cater to both the right and the left. Mr. Davis also writes columns for  The Huffington Post and opinion pieces for The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Davis will continue to contribute to the Legal Crisis Strategies blog that he and his former colleague at McDermott, Eileen M. O’Connor, began in 2009, together with other former colleagues at McDermott.

The Ohio Supreme Court overturned a gag order that prevented the Toledo media from reporting on one defendant's trial until the jury was impaneled on a second defendant's trial.

Jayme Schwenkmeyer and her boyfriend, David Knepley, were charged with child endangering and manslaughter in the death of Schwenkmeyer's child.

Henry County Court Judge Keith Muehlfeld ordered separate trials and imposed a gag order on the media from reporting on Schwenkmeyer's trial until the jury was seated for Knepley's trial, which began one week later.
Muehlfeld said he took this action to prevent the tainting of the jury pool in Knepley's trial.

The Ohio Supreme Court, in a per-curiam decision, granted the Toledo Blade a writ of prohibition to override the gag order.

"Judge Muehlfeld's analysis proceeded from the erroneous premise that a criminal defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial should be accorded priority over the media's constitutional rights of free speech and press," the justices wrote.

"The judge did not rely on any evidence that a continuance might minimize any prejudicial pretrial publicity resulting from press reports about the Schwenkmeyer trial," they added, lifting the gag order.

A federal immigration officer who was recorded demanding sex from a woman in exchange for a green card has pleaded guilty.

Isaac Baichu pleaded guilty to all the charges against him Wednesday in Queens. The 48-year-old is expected to receive a prison sentence of 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 years.

The case involved a Colombian woman married to an American citizen. The woman said she gave in to one sex demand in December 2007 because she was afraid, but she used a mobile phone hidden in her purse to record the encounter.

She took the recording to The New York Times and to the Queens district attorney's office.

Baichu was arrested in March 2008 after meeting with the woman again, this time with prosecutors listening in.

Employers won a big victory Thursday in the ongoing fight over medical marijuana.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that employers no longer need to accommodate workers who legally use medical marijuana.

That means employers can terminate workers with medical marijuana cards who fail drug tests.

The ruling settled more than a decade of debate about the legal rights of employers when it comes to legal marijuana use.

“If a person shows a medical marijuana card, it’s no longer a get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Rich Meneghello, managing partner at the law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP, who represents employers.

Oregon voters legalized the use of medical marijuana in 1998. The law has been the subject of numerous legal challenges since then.

The New England Patriots could find themselves defending a lawsuit by NFL fans miffed about their secret videotaping of signals from New York Jets coaches.

The NFL bans such videotaping and issued $750,000 in fines against the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick after they were caught taping signals at the Jets' 2007 home opener in Giants Stadium.

Lawyer Carl Mayer, a Jets season ticket holder from Princeton, N.J., argued in a U.S. appeals court Wednesday that fans spent vast sums of money to see games that were essentially rigged. His suit, earlier dismissed by a lower court, seeks $185 million in damages for Jets fans alone.

Mayer, who asked the appeals court to revive the suit, said he hopes to learn the extent of the Patriots' taping, dubbed Spygate, through discovery.

"The game will become more and more corrupt if there is no remedy," said his lawyer, Bruce Afran. "The NFL will degenerate into the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)."

NFL lawyers insist the Patriots violated only league rules — not any civil or criminal laws. They fear that disappointed fans will sue over myriad game day complaints if the case is upheld.

Washington, D.C. & Albany, NY – Tully Rinckey PLLC is pleased to announce the addition of attorney Brandy Hood as an associate in its Washington, D.C. law office. Ms. Hood joins the firm’s federal sector labor and employment law practice.

Ms. Hood will provide representation to federal employees in a wide range of employment and labor issues including discrimination, sexual harassment, equal pay, adverse action, and Title VII claims. She has previous experience in immigration, bankruptcy, civil litigation, and business transactions.

Prior to joining Tully Rinckey PLLC, Ms. Hood was a Judicial Extern for Honorable Lance Africk at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Frederick H. Wicker at the Louisiana Fifth Circuit of Appeal. 

Ms. Hood earned her Juris Doctorate at Tulane University Law School, graduating cum laude and earning the David L. Herman Award for her high professional standards in law. In addition to her law degree, Ms. Hood holds a B.A. degree from The George Washington University.

She is admitted to practice in New York and her District of Columbia admission is pending.

For more information about Brandy Hood’s addition to Tully Rinckey PLLC or the firm’s federal labor and employment law practice, please contact Jessica Brociek at 202-787-1900 or via email at jbrociek@tullylegal.com.