Attorneys

Civil rights groups said Thursday that they had reached a settlement with federal officials guaranteeing that workers nabbed in an immigration raid last month in Van Nuys can be accompanied by an attorney to all meetings and interrogations.

Over the years, Richard F. "Dickie" Scruggs earned a reputation as one of the nation's wiliest and most powerful plaintiff's attorneys. Along the way he was hailed as a champion of the little guy. He was also derided as a scoundrel who would stoop as low as necessary to get his way -- and fatten his bank account. On Friday, his critics rested their case in the court of public opinion.

In his books, speeches and campaign commercials, Sen. Barack Obama often harks back to his days as a civil rights attorney. It is fundamental to his autobiography, displayed on his campaign website and woven into his appeals for votes. In one of his television ads leading up to the South Carolina primary, Obama recalled "working as a civil rights attorney to make sure that everybody's vote counted."

The Broadcom Corp. founders accused of engineering a massive stock fraud have always been a study in contrasts: Henry Samueli, the professorial strategist who bought the NHL's Anaheim Ducks, and Henry T. Nicholas III, the driven deal maker whose personal life has made headlines. The differences seem to extend to the lawyers they've chosen to defend them against federal allegations. Nicholas has hired a roomful of high-profile lawyers known for famous courtroom defenses, including Brendan V.

Rare is the case that lands a defense attorney behind bars with his client. But that's what happened to lawyer Stephen Charles Hollingsworth this week. His alleged crime: tardiness. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John J. Cheroske was so frustrated with Hollingsworth arriving at court late -- or sometimes not at all -- that he threw him in jail as a way of ensuring that the attorney would show up for court on time.

Convicted securities class-action lawyers Melvyn Weiss, William Lerach and Steven Schulman, who admitted paying kickbacks to clients to win bigger fees, were sued by two former partners at their old firm, now called Milberg. Douglas Richards and Michael Buchman, who quit the New York-based law firm last year, alleged that the three men lied to them while denying any wrongdoing, according to separate complaints filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.

There were women in pearls, men in seersucker -- enough well-heeled Mississippians to conjure up a charity auction or summer fete. They were crowded Friday into a small wood-paneled federal courtroom behind a long line of sober, dark-suited attorneys to watch Richard F. "Dickie" Scruggs, a legendary plaintiffs' attorney, receive a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in March to conspiring to bribe a judge.

The Justice Department has agreed to back off hardball tactics to force corporations to turn over confidential communications between their attorneys and company executives under scrutiny by prosecutors. The new rules, outlined Wednesday in a Justice Department letter to the Senate, further ease tough steps taken after the Enron-era scandals to root out white-collar crime.

Since President Bush took office, one of the administration's most loyal and valued advisors at the Justice Department has been William W. Mercer. When a team of young White House and Justice Department staffers decided to fire a group of U.S. attorneys on Pearl Harbor Day 2006, it was left to Mercer to be the bearer of the bad news to some of the prosecutors.

When Bush administration officials at the Justice Department dismissed nine U.S. attorneys in 2006, there were various theories as to why the prosecutors were being let go. They were too soft on the death penalty. They did not prosecute enough illegal immigrants. They did not go after enough Democrats. On Monday, the Justice Department's internal watchdog hinted at perhaps the most sensational justification yet -- perceived homosexuality.