Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Welcome to your morning round-up of stories in today's edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Today's front page features two stories from senior reporter Gina Passarella. The top story is her coverage of one of the oral arguments before the state Supreme Court. "An attorney for Jordan Lewis, found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the 2007 shooting of a Philadelphia police officer in a Dunkin Donuts, argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Wednesday that evidence put on during the guilt phase of the trial improperly swayed the jury to find Lewis committed premeditated murder. The evidence, including the widow's testimony and playing surveillance footage of the crime in slow motion, was prejudicial to his client, the attorney said."

Below the fold, Gina has a business of law story, reviewing the national and local results of a survey regarding firm profitability: "The legal industry will see on average a slight increase in gross revenue, net income and profits per equity partner in 2011, while the Philadelphia market could face a slight increase in gross revenue and flat to modest bumps in net income and PPP, according to a preliminary survey of the marketplace by Wells Fargo's Legal Specialty Group."

Reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel has today's Page 3 Regional News story, a profile of the new head of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute. "As the organization approaches its 42nd year, it's the turn of an attorney to lead the organization, specifically Harrisburg attorney Charles Wasilefski of seven-lawyer firm Peters & Wasilefski."

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

Page 5 features our "YL" or "Young Lawyer" page, this week an article by an anonymous lawyer from our South Florida affiliate, the Daily Business Review.  "The Rodent" writes about "divining the bonus pool."

Page 7 is where you'll find a "Securities Law" column by Katayun Jaffari of Saul Ewing, who wonders how the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower rules will affect companies.

Have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail [email protected].