The Morristown law firm McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter has acquired a 49 percent stake in the Hispanic-owned law firm Espinosa & Espinosa, in hopes of fostering greater diversity in New Jersey's legal community.

McElroy Deutsch, the seventh-largest law firm in the state by gross revenue, bought the ownership interest in the small, Weehawken-based firm last month for an undisclosed amount.

McElroy Deutsch, which grossed $76 million in revenue last year, according to the New Jersey Law Journal, will take a portion of Espinosa & Espinosa's profits and has agreed to upgrade the smaller firm's computer system, provide training for its staff and help in recruiting, said Edward B. Deutsch, managing partner of McElroy Deutsch, which employs 230 lawyers. Also, Espinosa & Espinosa can call upon the larger firm's lawyers to help on larger cases. Espinosa & Espinosa specializes in commercial transactions and commercial litigation.

"If substantial litigation comes in that needs 10 lawyers and they can provide five, we can provide the other five," Deutsch said. McElroy Deutsch has offices in Ridgewood and Newark, as well as Philadelphia, Denver and New York City.

Some major law firms, including Day Pitney in Florham Park, have formed loose strategic alliances with small, minority--owned firms to show their support for diversity.

Deutsch said he believes his firm is the first in New Jersey to take an equity stake in a minority-owned firm.

As Espinosa & Espinosa increases its staff in the coming years, "our participation will wane," Deutsch said.

Espinosa & Espinosa has served many small and medium-sized Hispanic--owned business in northern New Jersey since principal Juan Espinosa's Cuban emigre father launched the firm in 1975.

But like most minority-owned firms, Espinosa, with 11 attorneys, is too small on its own to be in the running for big contracts with Fortune 500 companies.

"You have to be big to get big cases," Espinosa said.

Nonetheless, opportunities for minority-owned firms to land big contracts have been on the rise since a document titled "Call to Action: Diversity in the Legal Profession" was circulated in 2004 by Rick Palmore, general counsel for Sara Lee Corp.

The document calls upon U.S. corporate legal departments to boost minority representation on their staffs and to use diversity as a criteria when hiring outside law firms.

More than 100 corporations have signed on.

A racy billboard proclaiming "Life's short. Get a divorce" caused enough of an uproar, city workers stripped it from its downtown perch after a week.

It wasn't so much about the partially clothed man and woman on the law firm's ad. It was the phrase that lawyers Corri Fetman and Kelly Garland chose that drew scores of complaints from neighbors and from other attorneys who said it reflected poorly on their profession.

A city alderman who lives nearby found a technical reason to jettison the sign.

"I called the building inspector and told him to do his job and he did," said Alderman Burton Natarus. "It has nothing to do with content or anything else. They did not have a permit and they were ordered to take it down."

Fetman and Garland say they're upset the sign was removed.

"They ripped our billboard down without due process," Fetman said. "We own that art. I feel violated."

Despite its brief run, the sign apparently was good for business. Since it went up last week, the two women said calls to their law firm have gone up dramatically.

Katona, 56, was charged in January with siphoning money from an investment pool belonging to the rural Lake Huron county where he was treasurer - an elected post - from 1993 until his dismissal last year.

State police said he authorized wire transfers totaling $186,500 last summer to overseas accounts linked to the well-known Nigerian scam. They suspect he lost more than $1.2 million in county funds altogether - plus $72,500 of his own money, despite a warning from his bank that he might be getting swindled.

"I'm sure if you were to ask Mr. Katona how did this happen, he'd just shake his head and say, 'I don't know how I let it happen, but I did,"' White said in a telephone interview.

Variations of the scheme have been around for years. They begin with unsolicited letters - or, increasingly, e-mails - seeking help in transferring millions of dollars from Africa to overseas accounts.

The recipients are typically offered a generous share of the money if they pay what they are told are upfront costs such as taxes, fees and bribes. Those who play along can lose large sums before realizing they've been fleeced.

Katona entered his pleas during a routine hearing ahead of a trial that was to begin later this month.

The Michigan attorney general's office, which is prosecuting the case, offered no plea bargain. White said Katona pleaded guilty to all charges to avoid wasting the court's time and money "proving what is very apparent."

Matt Frendewey, spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox, said Katona's decision was "a testament of the strength of the case the state had against him."

Sentencing was scheduled for June 12. A count of forgery is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, while the maximum is 10 years for embezzlement and five years for attempted embezzlement.

"If he gets a long enough sentence, I think the county can start healing," said Kevin Boyat, chairman of the Alcona board of commissioners. "There's still going to be people mad for a long time."

Katona pleaded guilty to two felonies in 1998 after falsifying documents for private accounting clients. Under his plea bargain, the charges were dismissed after he stayed out of trouble for a year.

Voters re-elected him in 2000 and 2004.

Boyat said he hoped Katona would provide a detailed accounting of where the money went. The attorney general's office will seek restitution, Frendewey said.

It won't be clear how the thefts will affect Alcona finances until the state treasurer's office finishes auditing the county's books, Boyat said.

"It doesn't look real good," he said, adding that spending cuts might be needed.

A slender man of medium height with short brown hair, Mr Woodroffe-Hill had his head bowed and remained expressionless throughout the hearing.

Described by homicide detectives as a resident of Tenterfield, police told the court he had been arrested at the Banksia unit about 10.30am (AEST) today after being questioned by detectives at Tamworth police station.

It is believed the arrest was carried out as a result of the work of Strike Force Penfold, a special task force set up within hours of the discovery of Mr Hutchinson's headless body.

Mr Woodroffe-Hill did not lodge a bail application.

Police applied to the court for forensic procedures to be carried out, asking permission to conduct a buccal swab and remove a hair sample to test his DNA.

Mr Woodroffe-Hill's Armidale lawyer David Clifton did not oppose the requests and permission was granted on condition they were completed at Tamworth police station by 9pm today.

The court was told Mr Woodroffe-Hill had not been a voluntary patient at Banksia.

It is understood that although he was not being held under section eight of the Mental Health Act, he had not been scheduled for release from the unit until May 31.

The matter was adjourned to Armidale Local Court for mention on May 23, but police said it may be up to six weeks before the results of the forensic tests were known.

Mr Clifton said outside the court that "this (the arrest) is tragic for him (Woodroffe-Hill), tragic for his family and for the wider family of the victim".

Mr Hutchinson was a former artillery gunner who served in Papua New Guinea and Borneo.

He had lived alone in his Markham Street home since 1985 and was known to his local community as a quiet but friendly man respected for his work with the local RSL and legacy war widows.

The crime initially baffled police, with robbery being ruled out early on as a possible motive.

A prominent Breckenridge lawyer missing for more than a week may have fled to Brazil, and authorities are trying to account for money that he controlled, according to two sources close to the investigation into his disappearance.
One source said between $1 million and $1.5 million of money from several property sales is unaccounted for.

Breckenridge police are expected to issue an arrest warrant for Royal "Scoop" Daniel III as early as Wednesday, the sources said.

Daniel, 61, was last seen in his Breckenridge law office, located at 130 Ski Hill Road, early the morning of April 27. Later that day, after Daniel missed appointments, his office staff called police.

They found his glasses broken on the floor of his office, near one of his favorite pens, but no sign of the popular attorney. His beloved Golden Retriever, Ben — identified on his law firm's website as his "official greeter" — was also in the office, as were his keys. His car was parked outside.

The state Supreme Court's Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, which regulates lawyers in the state, has filed a petition for Daniel's immediate suspension today to protect the public, said John Gleason, the head of the regulation office.

Breckenridge Police Chief Rick Holman declined to comment on the status of the investigation this afternoon.

One source said investigators had many questions about how Daniel handled his clients' money. A forensic auditor was brought in to examine the accounts that Daniel controlled or to which he had access.

Another source said investigators were trying to locate between $1 million and $1.5 million that was generated by a series of real estate transactions known as "1031 exchanges" or "like-kind exchanges." Also known as "Starker exchanges," the sales are governed by section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Service code. They allow real estate investors to sell property and defer paying capital gains taxes by rolling the money into a new purchase within six months.

The exchanges are common, and the primary requirement is that the new piece of property cost as much, or more, as the one that was sold. But they do not have to be similar — and investor can sell a condominium complex and buy a warehouse, for example.

The law requires that the second purchase be made within 180 days of the sale.

Daniel acted as a fiduciary — the person who controlled the money between the transactions — in several recent sales, one of the sources said.

The website for Daniel's firm includes a section explaining his expertise in hanlding 1031 exchanges: "The Daniel Law Firm LLC is experienced and capable in acting as a Qualified Intermediary for taxpayers for so long as they are not already clients of the firm."

A divorced father of eight children, Daniel was well known in Breckenridge. He has been a memmber of Father Dyer United Methodist Church and sang in the choir. Friends said the lawyer often had financial problems because he didn't like to charge clients for work. He's also been known to help West Africans who work in the community obtain legal residency, and he has volunteered with a jail inmate ministry.

Daniel's disappearance sparked a massive search involving at least 100 volunteers who joined about 30 members of the Summit County Rescue Group. But neither they, nor bloodhounds, found any sign of him.

However, friends noted in the days after he vanished that he loved Brazil.

"He said many times that if he disappeared he'd go to Brazil," said Nancy Lovell, a former girlfriend, told the Summit Daily News.

Holman, the police chief, would not answer questions about Daniel, his whereabouts, or the status of the investigation.

"We are doing everything we can think of, and I think we owe that to the community, and we owe that to Mr. Daniel," Holman said. "Not for one minute do we think we have all the answers."