Cooper
Wojcieszak
Live from New York
Dicta’s Gotham correspondent reports that the baddest firm in little East Alton is taking a shot at the Big Apple.
SimmonsCooper is opening a New York City office on May 16, sources report, located on Madison Avenue.
The firm is creating a civil litigation joint venture with NYC-based Hanly, Conroy, Bierstein, and Sheridan. It will bankroll litigation on behalf of smaller clients, taking 20-40 percent of the payout.
In a world of fewer-and-fewer asbestos opportunities for SimmonsCooper, we suppose this is part of the firm’s ‘diversification’ strategy. Last year lead partner Jeffrey Cooper told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the firm planned on moving into new areas of litigation, including securities fraud, government whistleblower cases and lawsuits alleging poor working conditions in South African mines.
No Mas
Metro East’s favorite ‘victims’ group, trial lawyer-backed ‘Victims & Families United,’ is pining for an end to judicial elections. It’s calling upon state leaders to establish merit selection of judges.
“We cannot afford a repeat of the (Lloyd)Karmeier/(Gordon)Maag race,” said spokesman Doug Wojcieszak in a written statement, referencing last fall’s State Supreme Court battle royale.
No kidding—- for Wojcieszak, that is.
His Democrat candidate, Maag, lost election in a Democrat-leaning district in flying colors. Remembering the race last week, one state government reporter called Maag’s selection ‘one of the dumbest political moves ever.’
Wojcieszak’s plan calls for a statewide six-attorney ‘merit selection’ board to replace us voters.
The Prez
Belleville attorney Jack C. Carey is in line to become president of the Illinois State Bar Association in June 2008. He was chosen 3rd vice president last week.
Carey, 62, is a personal injury lawyer who served previously as president of the St. Clair County Bar Association. He attended East St. Louis Sr. High School and St. Louis University Law School. He and his late wife, Susan, have three children.