June 17, 2008

• Ole Miss professor Curtis Wilkie, a former Boston Globe correspondent, lands a book deal to write up the Scruggs story [Paul Quinn blog]
• Embarrassing? West Virginia officials rolled out welcome mat to Mel Weiss, crowning his firm "exclusive" representative of state employee pension fund in investor suits [WV Record]
• Profile of Ohio-based class-action "professional objector" can't quite resolve whether he's been a useful watchdog or just gets paid to go away [Cleveland Scene via ABA Journal]
• Most corporate leaders view litigation as grim "tax to be paid, even though no lawmakers ever passed it, it is unfairly imposed, and business cannot calculate or anticipate it." [Joseph F. Speelman/Texas Lawyer]
• Profile of tort king Jere Beasley, whom Republican Alabama officials keep hiring to sue big business on behalf of the state [AP]
• Four vacancies may offer chance to change direction of much-criticized Florida Supreme Court, if anyone in Tallahassee has the inclination [ABA Journal]