News

Schlam Stone & Dolan partner Richard H. Dolan submitted a brief appealing the summary judgment granted to plaintiffs in the Larabee v. Governor New York judicial pay lawsuit on behalf of New York's Governor, David Patterson, and the State of New York. That judgment, made in June by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Lehner, required judges' salaries to be boosted to reflect the rise in the cost of living since 1999, but its implementation has been stayed until arguments for appeal can be made.

Schlam Stone & Dolan partner Richard H. Dolan represented New York Governor David Patterson and the New York State Comptroller's Office in oral argument before the Appellate Division, Third Department in Maron v. Silver, a suit brought by two state judges and a former judge seeking to force New York to raise judicial salaries. Mr. Dolan asserted that the governor and legislature have not violated their constitutional obligations toward the courts in New York by allowing nearly a decade to go by without giving state judges a pay raise and, in fact, the current gap between pay raises for state judges of nine years and eight months is a "relatively short" one in terms of state history.

Schlam Stone & Dolan partner Richard H. Dolan represented New York Governor David Patterson and the New York State Comptroller's Office in oral argument before the Appellate Division, Third Department in Maron v. Silver, a suit brought by two state judges and a former judge seeking to force New York to raise judicial salaries. Mr. Dolan asserted that the governor and legislature have not violated their constitutional obligations toward the courts in New York by allowing nearly a decade to go by without giving state judges a pay raise and, in fact, the current gap between pay raises for state judges of nine years and eight months is a "relatively short" one in terms of state history.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Lehner denied an effort by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye's lead lawyer, Bernard Nussbaum, to kick off a trial on June 2 in the case stemming from a pay dispute between New York State's judges and its legislature. Nussbaum had said he would call the leaders of the executive and legislative branches to testify about how they had linked judicial raises to other issues, principally a pay raise for the legislators themselves. Schlam Stone & Dolan partner Richard H. Dolan is counsel for two of the three key defendants, Governor Paterson and Speaker Silver.

Schlam Stone & Dolan partner Richard H. Dolan has been retained as counsel by two of the three defendants in a lawsuit stemming from a pay dispute between New York State and its judges. The action was brought by New York Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye against Governor David A. Paterson and Hon. Sheldon Silver, who is Speaker of the state's lower house, the Assembly and New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno relating to the state's refusal to increase judicial salaries as requested by Chief Judge Kaye. Schlam Stone & Dolan will be representing Governor Paterson and Speaker Silver.

Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP partner Jeffrey M. Eilender moved to dismiss a law suit to enforce an alleged contingency agreement against Judith Regan by her former law firm, Dreier LLP, on the grounds that in the course of the fee litigation Dreier violated a protective order by revealing confidential information. The motion also alleges that the Dreier firm threatened to reveal the information in order to intimidate Ms. Regan into agreeing to Dreier's settlement demand.

Schlam Stone & Dolan associate Audrey Roofeh represented a former Penn Schoen & Berland employee in a high profile employment litigation involving political pollsters for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which successfully settled out of court.

Jeffrey M. Eilender, a partner at Schlam Stone & Dolan, was quoted in Corporate Secretary on new conditions affecting whistle-blowers whose conduct may be driven by conscience but whose legal protections stem from provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

James C. Sherwood, a partner at Schlam Stone & Dolan, was quoted in Corporate Secretary on recent changes by the Department of Justice to corporate criminal investigations.

In 1997, Graciano Rocchigiani was awarded the World Boxing Council's Light Heavyweight title. In 1998, the WBC took Mr. Rocchigiani's title and, without any legal basis, gave it to Roy Jones, Jr. New York Daily News Columnist Tim Smith recaps Schlam Stone & Dolan's successful efforts on Mr. Rocchigiani's behalf, resulting in a jury verdit for Mr. Rocchigiani of $28 million. This verdict was the Verdict of the Week in the September 30, 2002, edition of the National Law Journal.