"I have read the (plea) agreement, and I accept responsibility," Crutchfield told U.S. Judge J. Daniel Breen.

Defense attorney William Farmer characterized the money that Crutchfield admitted taking as a "gratuity" rather than a bribe.

"They gave him a gratuity _ thanks for all your help _ long after he had already agreed to support this bill," Farmer said outside court.

Crutchfield and former Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis, were the last of the Tennessee Waltz lawmakers still facing trial. The others have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.

Bowers' attorney, William Massey, said she would plead guilty on Monday.

"She brings this one blemish to the courtroom but a lifetime of good work and a positive history in the community," Massey said. "We hope to convince the judge it's not necessary to punish her severely."

If prison time is ordered, he said, "that's what she'll do. She's strong."

Tennessee Waltz indictments were returned in May 2005, charging the five with taking payoffs from a company called E-Cycle Management, which turned out to be a creation of the FBI.

Farmer said that Crutchfield, who has served in the General Assembly for 31 years, plans to resign "in due time," before the Legislature returns to session in January.

Crutchfield still will be eligible for a $42,000 annual pension because his membership in the state's retirement system predated changes in a law designed to strip benefits from convicted lawmakers.

He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, though federal guidelines for a first-time offender would call for a much lighter sentence. Sentencing was set for Nov. 28.

The indictment against Crutchfield accused him of splitting $12,000 in bribes with a so-called "bagman" and former lobbyist, Charles Love. Love pleaded guilty and was to testify against Crutchfield at trial.

Prosecutors say the Tennessee Waltz investigation is ongoing.

Pushing through a crowd of reporters and photographers outside the Memphis courthouse, Crutchfield refused to talk about Tennessee Waltz.

"I'm ready to go home to Chattanooga right now," he said.

Crutchfield was first elected to the state House in 1956 and served 14 terms in the Senate. He was Senate Democratic leader for six years until losing a caucus vote about five months before the Tennessee Waltz investigation became public.

"It is our hope that this does not obscure what was a record of noteworthy public service. Senator Crutchfield represented the people of his district with distinction for a very long time," Democratic caucus chairman Joe Haynes said in a statement.

In all, 11 people have been indicted on Tennessee Waltz charges, including several officials in Memphis and Chattanooga. Nine of those charged, including Crutchfield, now stand convicted.

The law firm practices in several areas, with a focus on federal criminal defense, environmental and regulatory law and civil litigation, according to a news release.

Callaghan has been mentioned in political circles across the state as a potential candidate for West Virginia Attorney General or state Supreme Court justice in 2008.

Regarding these rumors, Callaghan commented, "It's flattering to have people holding you in high enough regard to be considered as a potential candidate for those positions. Truth be told, my focus right now is just building my law practice. So, that's what I see in my future for the time being."

Neely and Callaghan have both been media fixtures throughout their careers, given their histories of public service. They hope to capitalize on their experience with civil and criminal cases and plan on working on a deliberately small caseload to help give their clients a very high level of personal attention.

"I look forward to this new phase of my life," Neely said. "Mike and I plan to organize our practice around a small number of difficult cases that clients believe justify the personal attention of senior, experienced lawyers from start to finish."

One of Northern Kentucky's most active community leaders is leaving his law firm for an executive position. A.J. Schaeffer will become principal of Union-based Drug Enhancement Co. of America (DECA) July 31, according to a news release from Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald PLLC.

Schaeffer has been a member of the Covington-based law firm since graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1999. Among his civic activities, he serves as co-chairman of Northern Kentucky's Vision 2015 community planning process.

DECA, a client of Greenebaum, develops health care technologies for treatment of various diseases and disorders. It was founded by Roger Griggs, an entrepreneur who has started several Northern Kentucky-based firms, including Richwood Pharmaceuticals and Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals.

Jeffrey McKenzie, chairman and CEO of Greenebaum, said that although the firm is saddened by Schaeffer's departure, "his extensive participation in the community, coupled with his enthusiasm for serving his clients, is a combination which emulates the Greenebaum culture."

A Business Courier Forty Under 40 winner, Schaeffer is past president of Legacy, a Northern Kentucky civic group for young professionals, and is a frequent public speaker.

Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald operates offices in Covington; Cincinnati; Frankfort; Lexington; Louisville; Washington, D.C.; and Nashville, Tenn.

In a centennial birthday present to itself, Fox Rothschild has acquired a North Jersey law firm, Roseland-based Goldman and Kramer.

The move gives Fox Rothschild, based in Philadelphia and known for its prominence in the southern part of the state, a more aggressive position up north, firm officials said early this week.

It also means an expansion of the kind of work the firm does for businesses and wealthy individuals.

"Goldman and Kramer have built an impressive practice over the past 25 years, especially in the areas of tax, estate planning and estate administration," said Mark Silow, administrative partner and chief operating officer of Fox Rothschild.

This is just the latest in a spate of mergers that have brought the firm's roster to more than 400 at torneys.

London-based law firm CMS Cameron McKenna is to make almost half of its IT staff redundant as part of plans to outsource more work to India.

After embarking on a review of its IT operations at the end of last year, the law firm has now signed a £10m deal with Indian outsourcing company HCL.

CMS Cameron McKenna's IT services will now be delivered by a combination of in-house IT workers and dedicated HCL staff in London and Chennai, India.

Before the changes the size of CMS Cameron McKenna's IT department was 70 people, which included around 20 non-IT print room staff. Now that figure will be almost halved to 40 people as part of the outsourcing deal.

A spokesman for CMS Cameron McKenna said the consultation process is still ongoing but added that 20 IT staff will be made redundant and around 10 will transfer across to HCL. The moves are expected to be finalised over the next few weeks.

The spokesman said: "The target was to get a more flexible and highly skilled workforce to assist us with future development. There are cost issues as well."

Philip Rooke, head of IT at CMS Cameron McKenna, said the decision to make staff redundant was "not taken lightly".

He said in a statement: "We have been at pains to keep staff informed and consulted both within the department and with the firm's Staff Council throughout this review."

While some dedicated on-site IT support will remain in-house, HCL will be responsible for CMS Cameron McKenna's data-centre support, network, security and managed desktop services and application development, support and management.

Montreal consumer Olivier Dumoulin started a class-action lawsuit against Dell, arguing that the company wouldn't honour Axim sales made on its Canadian website, before the erroneous prices of $89 and $118 were rectified. The real prices were $379 and $549 respectively.

At issue for the Supreme Court is a caveat used by Dell and a growing number of retailers on the sale of everything from computers to cellphones.

It's a clause that obliges dissatisfied customers to challenge companies through arbitration - and not class-action lawsuits.

"This clause for us is abusive. Its goal is to block class-action lawsuits," said Charles Tanguay, a spokesperson for Quebec's Union des consommateurs, which is spearheading the case with Dumoulin. "What we're defending here is a principle. When a price is advertised, it must be sold at that price."

In 2004, the Quebec Superior Court granted the union and Dumoulin class-action certification.

Each member of the class is asking for Dell to supply the Axim at the transaction price, plus compensatory damages of $100 and punitive damages of $1,000, court papers show.

A lawyer for Dell couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

Dell's appeal of the Superior Court's decision has broad implications for most Canadian provinces. While such arbitration clauses are no longer permitted in Quebec - their use is also forbidden in Ontario - Friday's decision would set the standard for retailers in other provinces, legal experts say.

"There's a big trend of retailers favouring arbitration clauses," said Frederic Bachand, a McGill University law professor.

Bachand was part of a team of lawyers representing a neutral intervenor in the Dell case.

While the trend is more limited in Canada, Bachand estimates that these clauses are used in more than half of U.S. consumer contracts - or purchases of goods and services.

Arbitration is advantageous for big business because it's done privately - sparing companies potentially negative publicity - and usually less costly, he said.

Some arbitration clauses also force customers to challenge a company as individuals, which could dissuade customers from taking action because of fees.

"What the big-business side is trying to do is to force the consumer to go to individual arbitration," he said. "We've seen some cases that are obviously abusive, where companies are trying to shift the cost (of arbitration) to the consumer."

Dell wasn't trying to gouge customers on fees, Bachand said.

Along with the Dell case, the Supreme Court is also expected to decide on a similar lawsuit involving Rogers Wireless.

A Quebec customer trying to launch a class-action lawsuit against Rogers for high mobile fees was also told he had to go to arbitration instead of court.

Duane Morris said Thursday it has officially opened law offices in Vietnam's two principal cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The expansion plans were originally revealed as the Philadelphia-based law firm announced the opening of a Singapore office in late December.

As with Singapore, the Vietnam effort will be led by Duane Morris partner and former Mexican Ambassador to Singapore Eduardo Ramos-Gómez.

The Vietnam offices will be staffed with three lawyers and focus on the areas of corporate finance, project finance, energy, cross-border transactions, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and telecommunications. The firm's Asia-based lawyers service clients in, or with interests in, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The office and staff are fluent in the major languages of those countries.

Sheldon Bonovitz, chairman of Duane Morris, said Vietnam has thriving manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries and a heavy investment concentration from Singapore and other countries in Asia, as well as from the United States. In addition, Bonovitz said Vietnam's accession to membership in the World Trade Organization in January promises further economic development in the future.

http://www.duanemorris.com