Law Firm

Michele Wein Layne decided on a career change 17 years ago when she was at her office at 10 p.m. poring over a mind-numbing legal document. Layne was an up-and-coming corporate litigation lawyer at a big Los Angeles law firm. But the grueling hours and unrewarding work left her miserable. She wanted something more meaningful, and soon after joined the Securities and Exchange Commission's local office as a lawyer fighting investment fraud and insider trading. After a series of promotions, she was chosen last month to lead the 150-person office.

Orange County Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly will be investigated for alleged sexual misconduct as part of an aggressive new county procedure that was put in place after the arrest of Carlos Bustamante, the former county official accused of sexually assaulting female workers in his office. It took nearly a year for law enforcement investigators to be alerted to the allegations against Bustamante. The case was initially handed off to one of his subordinates and then farmed out to a law firm, which prepared a report the county filed away and few saw. Daly, the former mayor of Anaheim who is running for state Assembly, is the first big name in county government to be subject to the new protocol.

Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer has accused local employee associations of being behind a 911 call that led to an officer giving him a field sobriety test outside his home. "This has gone way over the line," Righeimer said at a news conference Friday outside City Hall. "I understand that pensions are a tense issue, that pay is a tense issue. I understand that some people may disagree, but when what looks like someone is paid to follow me around town and set me up for a DUI in front of my kids and my house, it's crossing the line.

Question: My homeowners association has contracted with the same attorney firm on retainer for more than 25 years. The attorney also receives 40% of any money collected from dues and fines, and the association is demanding more in settlements to recoup its attorney expenses. In response to questions of this practice at a board meeting, the president said that "we have no choice in this economy due to the high number of delinquencies but to use the attorney's services, and all HOAs are doing this now. " Many of my longtime neighbors are walking away from their homes because they can't meet these higher re-payment demands by the board.

Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti is neck-and-neck with City Controller Wendy Greuel in the fundraising race for next year's mayoral campaign. According to records filed with the city's Ethics Commission on Tuesday, the two candidates have each raked in more than $2.2 million since the campaign began, with Garcetti outpacing Greuel by a mere $322.31. The candidates are vying to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who must step down next summer because of term limits. Other contenders in the race include City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who has raised roughly half the amount collected by Garcetti and Greuel, and former federal prosecutor Kevin James, who has raised one-tenth of that amount.

It's hard to go into a courthouse in Southern California without meeting at least one person who knows Mike Alder, the current President of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, and has a story to tell about him. Invariably, it's a complimentary one: "I saw him in trial last month and he was amazing"; "Mike tried a case in our courtroom six years ago and still stops by to say hello"; "he remembers the case I'm working on and asks me...

A century-old red brick office complex in Venice that once housed the business of legendary furniture designers Charles and Ray Eames has been sold to New York investors who plan to improve the property. The husband-and-wife Eames team were among the most famous designers of the 20th century, creating popular modernist pieces, including a curvy leather-and-plywood lounger, that were widely embraced in the decades after World War II and are still sold today. DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners bought the building at 901 Abbot Kinney Blvd.

A high-rise office building on Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles has been acquired by CBRE Global Investors, an affiliate of L.A. real estate brokerage CBRE Group Inc. CBRE Global bought 400 S. Hope St., a 26-story tower at the southeast corner of Hope and 4th streets. The price of the sale by New York investors Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc. was not disclosed, but downtown real estate experts familiar with the property valued it at $236 million. The 700,000-square-foot building was completed in 1982 to be the headquarters of law firm O'Melveny and Myers.

A consumer watchdog group has joined with a car buyer to file a lawsuit alleging Hyundai Motor America misleads consumers with inflated fuel economy claims for its popular Elantra. The lawsuit is the second of its type filed recently against an automaker and highlights the aggressive use of mileage numbers by manufacturers in advertising their vehicles. The litigation also underscores growing consumer frustration over mileage claims as the auto industry has shifted its marketing focus from performance attributes such as horsepower and speed to fuel economy, now among the top features consumers look for when buying a new car. "This is becoming a customer satisfaction issue," said Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Automotive.

Paul Zuckerman was sifting through resumes when he paused, "astounded," over a particularly strong applicant for a law clerk opening: Ivy League undergraduate, top-notch law school, legal work for two judges in Washington. Zuckerman's Los Angeles County firm handled personal injury cases - auto accidents and slip-and-falls. He figured the applicant, whose credentials marked him for a prestigious "white shoe" firm, had applied to the wrong place. Then he read the cover letter. Stephen Randall Glass wrote that he was a disgraced former Washington journalist.