Former U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval has joined the Nevada law firm of Jones Vargas.

Sandoval, a Republican, resigned from the bench last month to launch a campaign for governor.

He said he will focus on building an alternative dispute resolution practice for the firm, one of the state's largest with significant lobbying presence in Carson City.
Sandoval said he isn't worried about a conflict of interest.

"I know there's a government relations department in the firm, but I will be completely independent of that as well," Sandoval said. "I'll have zero involvement with them."

Sandoval becomes one of two gubernatorial candidates working for law firms that are major lobbyists. Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid, a Democrat, is a shareholder in Lionel Sawyer and Collins.

Sandoval is a former Nevada attorney general, assemblyman and chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says her nomination process was so tightly scripted that even her clothes were chosen for her.

Sotomayor made the comments when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday.

The New Haven Register reports that Sotomayor spoke to 1,800 alumni, students and faculty, describing her recent grueling nomination process.

State Sen. Ed Meyer was among those in attendance. He says Sotomayor became teary at times but kept the crowd laughing. He says Sotomayor talked about shopping for clothes to wear to her acceptance ceremony. Government officials, however, told her to bring five suits and they recommended which one she should wear.

Sotomayor, the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, attended a luncheon, coffee reception and a 30th reunion dinner with about 50 guests.

San Francisco officials say cigarette maker Philip Morris has dropped its lawsuit challenging the city's prohibition on tobacco sales at pharmacies.

The announcement Thursday by the city attorney's office follows a federal appeals court ruling denying the company's request for an injunction that would have kept the city from enforcing the year-old law.

City officials say the ban makes sense when tobacco products are unhealthy and drugstores are supposed to promote health.

The city still is defending the law in a separate lawsuit brought by the Walgreens drugstore chain. A Superior Court judge dismissed that case, which is now on appeal.

There were 13 law firm mergers during the third quarter of this year, up from seven deals recorded during the second quarter, according to a new report from Altman Weil Inc.

Most of the quarter's mergers were tiny acquisitions, reflecting "the continuing caution of law firms in response to the recent economic turmoil," said Bill Brennan, principal of Altman Weil.

The meatiest deal reported was Boston-based Bingham McCutchen’s acquisition of McKee Nelson, a 120-lawyer firm with offices in Washington and New York. The merge formed a 1,100-lawyer firm called Bingham McCutchen LLP.

Also during the quarter, Washington-based Howrey LLP acquired Day Casebeer Madrid and Batchelder, a Silicon Valley intellectual property boutique.

While those two deals involved large firms, eight of the quarter’s 13 deals were all small regional combinations. Brennan explains that law firms are not looking to assume the risks inherent with big mergers right now and are instead scooping up small firms or groups of lateral partners with portable business.

There were 25 law firm mergers and acquisitions reported in the first quarter of 2009.

The U.S. Senate, without opposition, on Tuesday night confirmed Seattle attorney Jenny Durkan as U.S. attorney for Western Washington, the Northwest's most important job in federal law enforcement.

"She will do a great job and make us very proud in that job," said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

A member of a prominent Irish-American political clan - her father ran twice for governor - Durkan has for years been deeply involved in the intersection of politics and law in the region.

Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, she has co-chaired a
bipartisan panel that screens candidates for federal judicial vacancies, and sends suggested finalists to the state's U.S. Senators.

Durkan was lead legal counsel for Gov. Chris Gregoire in the 2005 Chelan County Superior Court trial that threw out a Republican legal challenge and confirmed Gregoire's narrow election. In fact, it expanded Gregoire's victory margin from 129 votes to 133 votes.

In Wenatchee, on the night before a crucial cross-examination, Durkan learned that her father, former state Sen. Martin J. Durkan, had died.

A co-counsel offered to take over in court the next day. Durkan excused herself, went for a long nocturnal walk, came back . . . and performed a stellar cross-examination the next day.

A Notre Dame alumnus, Durkan once worked for Washington, D.C.'s famed Williams & Connolly criminal law firm. She served as legal counsel to Gov. Mike Lowry in the 1990's.

Polsinelli Shughart PC has completed its move to Lower Downtown Denver, the firm announced Monday in a letter to clients.

Effective Monday, the law firm is now located the newly built 1515 Wynkoop office building in the LoDo Historic District. Before, its offices were in downtown's Independence Plaza at 1050 17th St.

Earlier this year, Shughart Thomson & Kilroy PC, a Kansas City-based law firm with a Denver office, merged with Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus PC, a larger Kansas City firm that did not previously have a Denver presence.

Lawyers for homeowners and homebuilders who used drywall suspected of causing corrosion and possible health risks say they expect Chinese manufacturers to ignore hundreds of lawsuits filed against them.

So, who's going to be on the hook for any court-ordered damages?

That's the pivotal question for lawyers as they pursue about 300 lawsuits in U.S. District Court in New Orleans that allege a flood of defective Chinese drywall was sent to Gulf Coast states after hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. The material is known to decay, creating corrosive chemicals and fumes.

Plaintiffs' lawyers say they are considering action against U.S. investment bankers who financed the companies, and possibly seizing ships that transported the material to the United States.