Carren B. Shulman and Russell L. Reid, Jr. have joined the New York officeof Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP as partners in the firm's Financeand Bankruptcy practice group.  Shulmanand Reid most recently practiced with Heller Ehrman in New York, where sheco-chaired the office's Summer Associate program and he chaired the New YorkPro Bono committee and co-chaired the office's recruiting committee.

Shulman focuses her practiceon bankruptcy, commercial litigation, business reorganization and creditors'rights, with an emphasis on representing secured and unsecured creditors intransactions in and out of bankruptcy both domestically and internationally.  She has represented debtors, committees,chapter 11 trustees, trade creditors and secured and unsecured lenders inbankruptcy and has advised corporate trustees in default administration.  Shulman also has significant trial experiencein commercial and employment litigation.

Reid’s practice focuses onthe areas of creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, and corporate reorganization, withparticular emphasis on default administration for corporate trustees. On behalf of debtors, creditors, committees,indenture trustees and loan servicers, he has developed and negotiateddisclosure materials and plans of reorganization, and has prosecuted anddefended litigation involving the automatic stay, cash collateral, claimdetermination, debtor-in-possession financing and plan confirmation.

"With Carren and Russelljoining us, we continue to grow signature practice groups like Finance andBankruptcy and expand national capabilities to better serve client needs onboth coasts.  In the current businessclimate where restructurings and insolvencies are on the upswing, their bankruptcyand commercial litigation expertise is of even greater value to clients,"said Guy Halgren, chairman of the firm. 

Commented Shulman, "Sheppard Mullin has a top-notch Finance andBankruptcy group.  I am impressed by itsreputation as a 'go-to' firm for banking and restructuring clients, and amlooking forward to working with Ed Tillinghast in New York."

New York-based partner Edward H. Tillinghast III leads SheppardMullin's East Coast bankruptcy practice. Tillinghast specializes in corporatereorganizations and restructurings, cross-border insolvencies, creditors’rights litigation, and distressed mergers and acquisitions, advising distressedasset investors on high-yield investments and insolvency-related securitizationopinions.

"I am excited to grow the firm's New York bankruptcy practice withEd, and Carren and I are very pleased to rejoin our former colleague MargaretMann,” Reid said. “Sheppard Mullin offers a strong platform for my practice,which includes the support needed to handle sophisticated bankruptcy andcorporate trust matters." 

Two months ago Margaret M.Mann joined the San Diego office of Sheppard Mullin as partner in the firm'sFinance and Bankruptcy practice group. Mann previously led Heller Ehrman's Restructuring and Insolvencypractice and was the firm’s National Hiring Chair. 

For ten years, Shulman hasrepresented the interests of Goodrich Corporation in litigation and complexcontract negotiations in nearly every airline bankruptcy worldwide.  She represented the largest West Coast powercompany in a multi-billion dollar claim litigation against Enron Corp.  Shulman was special counsel to WorldCom, Inc.in In re WorldCom, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, S.D.N.Y., 2002.  She represented secured lenders indebtor-in-possession financings in In re Indesco, U.S. Bankruptcy Court,S.D.N.Y., 2001; In re Cannondale, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Connecticut,2003; In re Henninger Media Services, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Virginia,2002.

Reid's experience hasencompassed for a number of years the representation of varied deal parties inthe mortgage backed securities arena. His expertise includes the interpretation and enforcement of pooling andservicing agreements, swap agreements, trust indentures, and other relateddocuments, as well as associated out-of-court restructurings and litigation.  Reid has handled an array of businessdisputes before state and federal trial and appellate courts and regulatoryagencies, as well as before tribunals appointed by the American ArbitrationAssociation and the National Association of Securities Dealers. He has significant experience with other typesof alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and summary jury trials.

Shulman received a B.A., magnacum laude, from State University of New York, Albany in 1988 and a J.D. fromNew York University Law School in 1991.  Reidreceived a B.F.A., Journalism, magna cum laude, from Southern MethodistUniversity in 1983, a B.B.A., cum laude, in 1984 and a J.D. from Universityof Texas School of Law in 1989.

Sheppard Mullin has 40attorneys based in its New York office. The firm's Finance and Bankruptcy practice group includes more than 70attorneys firmwide.

About Sheppard Mullin Richter &Hampton LLP

Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with more than 520attorneys in 10 offices located throughout California and in New York,Washington, D.C. and Shanghai.  Thefirm's California offices are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, SantaBarbara, Century City, Orange County, Del Mar Heights and San Diego.  Founded in 1927 onthe principle that the firm would succeed only if its attorneys deliveredprompt, high quality and cost-effective legal services, Sheppard Mullinprovides legal counsel to U.S. and international clients.  Companies turn toSheppard Mullin to handle a full range of corporate and technology matters,high stakes litigation and complex real estate, land use and finance transactions.  In theU.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100companies.  For more information,please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.

Carulli faces an expected five-year prison term. His sentencing was set for May 13.

"My best defense was going in front of a judge and hoping she would see my side," Carulli said outside the courtroom.

Carulli acknowledged he solicited sex online and drove from his home in Brown Mills, N.J., to Long Island for a liaison. He insisted he believed his correspondent was 24, but prosecutors maintained he knew she was 14.

Unbeknownst to Carulli, the electronic enticement was part of a police operation in which Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson pretended to be a lonely 14-year-old girl. She chatted with men online and on the phone, drawing them to a home where a camera crew from television's "America's Most Wanted" was waiting. An episode involving the sting aired in 2007.

Carulli sensed something was wrong when he got to the house and left. He was arrested at a highway exit three miles away. His defense lawyer, Robert Macedonio, had called the arrest a stunt for the media, suggesting his client was coerced into making an incriminating statement and paraded before the "America's Most Wanted" cameras.

Carulli's guilty plea came after parts of a graphic chat-room transcript was read in court, and several police officials testified that Carulli confessed that he thought he was arranging for sex with a minor.

Seven other men also have pleaded guilty in the sting.

Some people say Detroit attorney Doyle O'Connor's refusal to approve the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative for the November 2006 election ballot was an act of courage.

Others call the decision by the former member of the Board of State Canvassers an act of defiance.

Either way, the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission has charged O'Connor with professional misconduct for failing to carry out his public duties -- the first time it has invoked the charge.

More than a dozen individuals and groups, including the Michigan Democratic Party and the League of Women Voters of Michigan, have urged the state Attorney Discipline Board to drop the charges. The board tries and disciplines lawyers for alleged misconduct.

"It's really an outrage," said state Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer. "If lawyers are going to be subjected to this kind of second-guessing for acts as a public official, why would any lawyer want to serve in public office? This is a political vendetta."

But the woman who filed the misconduct complaint, Owosso novelist Diane Carey, who circulated petitions for the civil rights initiative, said O'Connor violated state law and should be disbarred.

"He violated his sworn oath to ratify a petition that was legally collected by the people and deserved to be on the ballot," Carey said.

Voters passed the initiative in 2006, 58% to 42%. It banned race and gender affirmative action in university admissions and government and public school hiring and contracting.

Proposal 2 got onto the ballot, despite complaints that sponsors duped voters, especially blacks, into believing it promoted affirmative action. Supporters denied that.

The grievance commission, which investigates and prosecutes lawyers for alleged misconduct, said O'Connor refused at a July 2005 meeting to approve putting the measure on the ballot despite a state attorney general opinion that canvassers had no legal authority to look into petition fraud.

And then, in December 2005, despite a Michigan Court of Appeals order to certify the proposal, he abstained.

O'Connor said he thought he was abstaining on a motion to close debate. The next month, he voted to put the measure on the ballot.

"If lawyers can defy a court order they disagree with, then they undermine the judicial system," said Deputy Grievance Administrator Robert Edick. O'Connor stepped down from the board in 2006 under the threat of contempt charges by the court of appeals.

O'Connor, then a labor lawyer, now works as a state administrative law judge. "Rather than being prosecuted for professional misconduct, Doyle should be given an award for trying to ensure the integrity of the electoral process," said his lawyer, Kenneth Mogill of Lake Orion, who wants the discipline board to toss the charge.

A panel of appeallate judges in Washington says the case of Ahmed Belbacha (AH-med bel-BA-kah) deserves another review by a U.S. District Court judge.

The appeals court ruling Friday says the probability of Belbacha prevailing is far from clear. But the court says he is entitled to further consideration in light of the seriousness of the harm he might face if he ends up back in his home country of Algeria.

Belbacha contends his life would be in danger, both from the government and from al-Qaida.

The manufacturer of the 911 sports car currently owns 31 percent of the shares in VW and plans to raise its stake to more than 50 percent at an unspecified point in the future.

Porsche said it had called on Volkswagen to propose changes to its articles of incorporation at a shareholders' meeting April 24 and to eliminate clauses deemed illegal by a European Union court in October.

The amendments would include annulling the right of the German government, and the state of Lower Saxony which holds a 20 percent stake in VW, to send representatives to the car maker's supervisory board.

Porsche also said the VW corporation bylaws should remove a clause that caps voting rights at 20 percent regardless of the number of shares owned by an investor.

A clause that defines 80 percent of VW shares represented at the general assembly as a "qualified majority" vote should be reduced to 75 percent, Porsche said.

A qualified majority vote from the assembly is required on certain strategic issues, effectively giving Lower Saxony a veto over some decisions.

Porsche said it wanted the amendments included in the assembly agenda because VW had not implemented a ruling from the European Court of Justice.

The court ruled that certain clauses of the so-called Volkswagen Law, passed by the German government in the 1960s to protect the carmaker from hostile takeovers, violated EU laws on free movement of capital.

Porsche urged the German government to scrap the VW law altogether, after officials said they were working on a new draft that would pass EU muster.

The luxury sports car maker has called in the past for the government to begin considering VW as "a normal company."

The Florida Supreme Court this week disciplined 19 attorneys, including two in Central Florida.

Norman Sanders Moss, 813 E. Michigan St., Orlando, was suspended until further order of the court following a Feb. 27 court order, and was ordered to stop acting as a personal representative for any estate, as guardian for any ward and as trustee for any trust.

The Florida Bar's petition for emergency suspension says Moss misappropriated $107,000 held in trust for clients. Moss, who retired from The Florida Bar Jan. 14, 2008, is currently the subject of five other Florida Bar disciplinary matters.

In addition, Paulette Deloise Singleton, 499 N. State Road 434, Suite 2019, Altamonte Springs, was disbarred for five years effective 30 days from a Feb. 14 court order.

The Bar says beginning in early 2006, Singleton began not adequately communicating with clients and failed to diligently pursue their cases. Clients attempting to reach her would find her phone disconnected, and one found mail piled outside her office door.

In one case, the Bar says she took a fee and did no work and then only partially refunded the fee. In another case, she was late for a final hearing with no evidence of preparation.

As an official agency of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 80,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida.

Bear Stearns Friday revealed it will tap JPMorgan Chase & Co. for a four-week secured loan facility to boost the company's liquidity. JPMorgan will make the loan in conjunction with the New York Federal Reserve.

Throughout this week, investors have been concerned about the investment bank's possible explosure to collapsing fund Carlyle Capital and other at-risk investment funds. Carlyle Capital, an arm of private equity firm Carlyle Group, invested heavily in poor-quality mortgage assets and has had to default on $16.6 billion in debt.

The market was concerned that Bear could end up seizing low-quality mortgage-backed securities as collateral from Carlyle. That likely would have left Bear unable to sell those assets. Bear Stearns already had taken significant writedowns on its own mortgage-related holdings.