Pillsbury to Close Century City Satellite Office

It looks like Lew Feldman is making out big in his recent breakup with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman: he’s leaving the firm, but keeping the office.

Would-be DA’s Count Their Money

The primary election may still be a week away, but the money race for Santa Clara district attorney hopefuls has come to an end.

Surprisingly (or not), the three who’ve reported numbers all have cash left in their coffers — some more than others. The two who end up making the November runoff will probably need all the money they can get their hands on. The primary is next Tuesday.

Pulling in the most contributions in this final leg was Judge Dolores Carr with $88,120 — which includes a $10,000 loan she made to herself — according to finance disclosure statements filed with the county elections office last week.

The filing period covered March 18 through May 20.

Carr spent $152,538 of her stash, which included a $60,972 check to Comcast Cable. She has an ending cash balance of $73,662, but still $54,310 in unpaid bills.

Coming in second was Deputy DA James Shore with $48,731, according to his contribution report. Shore spent $143,373 this filing period, and has $16,783 left going into next week’s primary. His unpaid bills total $400.

Chief Assistant DA Karyn Sinunu added an additional $40,388 to her campaign war chest, according to her latest filings. More than $85,000 of the $201,889 Sinunu spent this period went toward campaign literature and mailings.

Sinunu reported an ending cash balance of $14,559, with an outstanding debt of $8,064.

Assistant DA Marc Buller’s latest figures still have not reached the election’s office yet. He could not be reached for comment today.

— Julie O’Shea

Judge Drops Milberg Case, Citing Conflict

The sizable club of lawyers who want nothing to do with last week’s indictment of Milberg Weiss has gained a new member: L.A. federal Judge Dean Pregerson. The judge had handled the case since June, when it kicked off with the indictment of former Milberg client Seymour Lazar — accused of taking kickbacks from the firm — and Lazar’s lawyer, Paul Selzer, suspected conduit for those payments.

In an order recusing himself from the case, Pregerson wrote that “when the Court applied for appointment to the bench, a partner of defendant firm, William Lerach, was among the various legal, business and elected officials who wrote supporting the application.”

“Further, the Court has presided over at least one lawsuit that I can recall which was brought by the defendant firm on behalf of its clients,” he continued. “In the course of that lawsuit, the Court issued orders which, among other matters, approved attorneys’ fees and costs. The Court anticipates that issues involving the work done by the firm in connection with its various cases and the fees it received, will be a subject of the trial. Therefore, because the Court is mindful of the necessity to avoid presiding over matters in which its impartiality might be reasonably questioned, recusal is appropriate.”

It’s not clear whether anyone else on the L.A. federal bench got a recommendation from Lerach, the former Milberg star partner who left in 2004 to form Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, and who remains unindicted — though the Milberg indictment accuses him (as “Partner B”) of several illegal acts. What is clear is that the judge to whom the case has been assigned, Christina Snyder, is no stranger to Milberg Weiss. She has presided over several cases involving the firm, including an ongoing series of suits against the oil and gas industries filed by Milberg.

— Justin Scheck

The Easiest $500,000 You Ever Made

David Scott Harrison has a proposal — get him out of jail, and he'll give you $500,000.

Harrison was convicted in San Diego County Superior Court in 1990 of murdering his ex-wife, Anne Marie Jenkins, just days after she had won $700,000 from the state lottery, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. He is serving a 26-years-to-life sentence. Harrison insists that DNA testing will clear him of the crime — if somebody, somewhere could just persuade San Diego DA Bonnie Dumanis to run the tests.

So how will Harrison come up with the 500 grand? He has an innovative financing plan, as outlined in a letter to a legal newspaper:

"California Penal Code Sections 4900-4906 provide one hundred dollars for every day of wrongful incarceration," Harrison's letter states. "One hundred dollars a day, multiplied by 365 days a year for 16 years equals $584,000. … I am offering $500,000 of the $584,000 to any attorney or other person able to 1) effect DNA testing of the evidence, 2) take on the recalcitrant and corrupt law enforcement community of San Diego and 3) effect my rightful freedom."

It seems doubtful anyone will take up the offer. But if the Enron defendants wind up getting convicted, they and Harrison could probably put together a topnotch prison finance group. 

– Scott Graham