The Maryland law would have required companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least eight percent on employee health care, or pay the difference of that amount into the state Medicaid fund. The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), of which Wal-Mart is a member, filed a challenge to the health care law last year, arguing that the law is preempted by the federal ERISA, and that the law violates the equal protection clause of the constitution.

Winton Hinkle can't keep up with the demand for transactional attorneys at his Wichita firm, Hinkle Elkouri Law Firm LLC. It's a legal art, his attorneys say, building a large transaction puzzle out of tiny, detailed pieces. Leave one out, and the deal crumbles.

That's one big reason Hinkle and his partners pitched the merits of business law, Wichita and their firm Friday to a group of 20 Washburn Law School students.

The day-long seminar, "Anatomy of a Business Transaction," gave the lawyers-to-be a hands-on look at how Hinkle Elkouri would handle the sale of a fictional business.

Washburn professor David Pierce brought his students to Wichita to translate the classroom tenets he teaches into the world of business buying and selling. And for Hinkle, it was an opportunity for nine attorneys on his business sales team to interact with -- and recruit -- prospective new attorneys.

"The business is growing," he said. "We find ourselves adding one or two attorneys every year. It's pretty competitive, and we think this is a great chance to pitch Wichita to them." It's Pierce's first venture into a day in the life of a law firm.

"Our students get a view of how what they're learning in the classroom is applied in a major legal practice," he said. "And they get to see first-hand how complicated the practice of business law actually is."

The Hinkle Elkouri attorneys spent the day outlining those detailed little pieces to the business sales puzzle -- from preliminary agreement issues to due diligence and the issues a buyer faces as it assumes employees.

And in the middle, they heard from Hinkle Elkouri client C.R. Hall, owner of Hall's Culligan Water, on how a business owner interacts with his attorneys. The upshot: Handling a business deal is a detailed business.

"It's absolutely critical for you to get as much information as possible about the company you're buying," attorney Donna Bohn, a former Koch Industries transactional attorney, told the students. "I'm always amazed how much information there is on the Internet." But there's more: Company assets have to be catalogued, as do personal property and machinery.

Business inventory is a separate issue, rarely included in the purchase price because valuation is impossible until closing.

And the purchase price can remain on the table until the moment of closing. It was enough to leave third-year law student Jeremy Atwood's head spinning. "What really stands out to me are the number of things to consider that I'm going to have to understand," he said.

"You can listen to lectures," said second-year law student Amber Whitlock. "This is a great first-hand look at what we're learning in action." There will be more class trips into the real world, Pierce said.

The report measures the US dioceses' compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, drafted in 2002 in response to widespread reports of sexual abuse committed by clergymen. The report, however, has been criticized since an accompanying independent audit included only 11 full, on-site visits to US dioceses and no reviews of personnel files

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today appointed Melanie Ann Pustay as Director of the Office of Information and Privacy. Pustay is a 24-year career civil servant at OIP, starting in the Department in 1983 as an attorney advisor. She has served as Acting Director since January 2007 and replaces Daniel J. Metcalfe as Director.

Pustay manages the Department's responsibilities related to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which include developing policy guidance and ensuring compliance with the FOIA, responding to initial information requests made to the senior leadership offices, adjudicating all appeals from denials by any Department component under the FOIA, and handling FOIA litigation matters. "Melanie brings more than two decades of highly relevant experience and a record of both accomplishment and leadership to this position," said Attorney General Gonzales. "OIP and the Department of Justice will continue to benefit from her insight, expertise and dedication to public service. I'm pleased she has agreed to serve in this critical role."

During her tenure as Acting Director, OIP updated and completed the Department's March 2007 FOIA Guide, compiled the Department's report on compliance with Executive Order 13,392, and issued guidance for other agencies on proper reporting.

Before becoming Acting Director, Pustay served for eight years as Deputy Director of OIP. In that capacity, she oversaw the handling of responses to initial requests made under the FOIA for records of the senior leadership offices of the Department. Additionally, beginning in 2003 and continuing today, she has worked with government officials in China, Argentina, Chile and other countries to assist in implementing guidance for openness-in-government initiatives.

Pustay has extensive FOIA litigation experience and has argued cases before the District Court for the District of Columbia and the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, including handling a case in 1998 involving access to former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's official and confidential files. In 1992, she was responsible for the Department's senior leadership compliance with the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, which required the federal government to make records of President Kennedy's assassination publicly available.

In 1987, Pustay was given primary responsibility for drafting Executive Order 12,600, which established procedures to provide notice to businesses when their information is sought under the FOIA.

Pustay has received the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award for her role in providing legal advice, guidance and assistance on records disclosure issues. Pustay worked briefly at a Washington-area law firm before coming to the Department in 1983. She graduated from American University's Washington College of Law in 1982, where she served on Law Review. Pustay received her B.A. from George Mason University in 1979, graduating summa cum laude.

http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps9890/lps9890/www.usdoj.gov/ag/foia.htm

Powell Goldstein LLP lawyer L. Lin Wood released a statement Monday saying he will represent Howard K. Stern, an attorney who claims to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's newborn girl.

Wood, a partner with Atlanta-based Powell Goldstein LLP, was the lead civil attorney for Richard Jewell related to reporting about Jewell in connection with the 1996 bombing of Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta; the attorney for John and Patsy Ramsey and their son in matters relating to the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey in Boulder, Colo.; the attorney for former U. S. Congressman Gary Condit over the May 2001 abduction and murder of Chandra Levy in Washington; and co-counsel in the civil action in Colorado against NBA star Kobe Bryant.

Stern claims to be the father of Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern. Celebrity photographer Larry Birkhead, Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, actor and a former Smith bodyguard Alexander Denk and former Smith boyfriend Mark Hatten all also claim to be the girl's father.

Charter Communications Inc. filed a $150-million lawsuit Friday against Irell & Manella, accusing the prominent Los Angeles law firm of "critical errors" in completing a 1999 cable TV acquisition.

Charter's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, also alleges that Irell concealed its mistakes for as many as nine months in 2002 after learning about them.

Irell has been the longtime counsel for St. Louis-based Charter and its controlling chairman, Paul G. Allen, on a variety of deals, including recent refinancings.

Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont said Friday that the malpractice claims could not be resolved short of a lawsuit.

Irell partner David Gindler accused Allen of failing to "honor the intent" of the deal that Charter's board approved.

"If Charter suffered any loss at all, our firm was not the cause," Gindler said. "We are confident that we will prevail as the whole story emerges in court."