LAUSD TO SUE TOP L.A. LAW FIRM.Byline: Greg Gittrich and David R. Baker Staff Writers Waging war against one of the city's top law firms This list of the world's largest law firms by revenue is taken from The Lawyer and The American Lawyer and is ordered by 2006 revenue:[1]
It may contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as construction progresses and new information becomes available. deal. The decision to file a malpractice malpractice, failure to provide professional services with the skill usually exhibited by responsible and careful members of the profession, resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the party contracting those services. lawsuit against the firm was the board's first official response to a scathing report released Tuesday by the LAUSD's top investigator, who charged O'Melveny and its attorney David W. Cartwright breached their professional duty by failing to protect the district's interests in the $200 million project. O'Melveny issued a written statement soon after the board's decision, calling the threatened civil action ``unfortunate and without merit.'' School board members also announced that they - and not Superintendent Ruben Zacarias - would discipline nine LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) officials singled out in the internal audit for allowing the district to build Belmont atop an oil field plagued by potentially explosive and deadly gases. They face possible dismissal. After consulting with lawyers, Zacarias said he offered to bow out of the disciplinary process ``to avoid the appearance of a conflict.'' Don Mullinax, the director of the LAUSD Internal Audit and Special Investigations Unit, included Zacarias on a list of employees who he said failed to exercise proper judgment on Belmont issues. Zacarias said the board has assured him that his removal from the personnel decisions in no way reflects any loss of confidence in his performance. ``This action will also permit me to maintain my focus on the educational needs of the district while the disciplinary process goes forward,'' Zacarias said after a lengthy private meeting with the board. Board President Genethia Hayes said the district would immediately begin disciplinary proceedings against nine employees, including Chief Administrative Officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive David Koch There are several people called David Koch:
According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Hayes, the board has not decided whether to place the employees on administrative leave. She said the board will follow the district's established procedures for disciplining employees. This is a process of hearings and possible appeals that could take months. ``We will not react in any kind of knee-jerk fashion,'' she said. ``It is my belief that is how the district got into trouble in the past.'' Hayes denied a Daily News report Thursday that the board intended to evaluate the superintendent's overall job performance immediately in light of charges by Mullinax that Zacarias ``failed to supervise the Belmont project in a diligent dil·i·gent adj. Marked by persevering, painstaking effort. See Synonyms at busy. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin d , professional and effective manner.'' An administrator quoted in Thursday's article stood by the account, saying a discussion of Zacarias' job performance was in fact planned until hours before the meeting. Calling it a clarification of previous remarks, a board member mentioned in the article said discussion of the superintendent's review was indeed planned, but any formal action would have required specific public notice. The member said the board did not discuss Zacarias' job status, but a subcommittee is defining the scope of the evaluation. ``When the time comes Adv. 1. when the time comes - at the appropriate time; "we'll get to this question in due course" in due course, in due season, in due time, in good time to evaluate the superintendent,'' Hayes said, ``this board will perform its duty in a manner that is thoughtful, fair, thorough and based on fact. That is the same way we will proceed in acting on Mr. Mullinax's recommendations. ``The two issues - both extremely important - should not be confused.'' Zacarias denied reports that he was locked in conflict with the school board and its new reform-oriented majority. ``I want to, once and for all, make sure everyone understands that there is no power struggle,'' Zacarias said ``That doesn't mean we don't have disagreements over policy, but I want you to understand that I have the highest respect for each and every board member'' The lawsuit against O'Melveny will be handled for the district by the law firm of McClintock, Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava and MacCuish. The litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. could pose unrelated problems for the district since O'Melveny serves as the principal collective-bargaining law firm for the district. ``To lose that representation would be huge,'' a district official said. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, another of the city's big-three law firms, has been representing O'Melveny in recent weeks on Belmont. It was not immediately clear whether the working relationship would carry over to the district's lawsuit. Mullinax charged that O'Melveny improperly advised the district on both real estate and environmental issues, engaged in a conflict of interest and failed to protect the district's interests when negotiating the development contract. ``We intend to defend the (firm) vigorously, and we expect to prevail,'' the law firm's statement said. ``We represented the district concerning the Belmont Learning Center capably and in compliance with our professional obligations.'' The announcement of the lawsuit brought a surprised reaction from some of the public officials gathered at the press conference. ``That'll cost as much as two high schools,'' said Steve Soboroff Steve Soboroff (born August 31, 1948) is a real estate developer and president of Playa Vista. Mr. Soboroff is the Chairperson of the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. , mayoral candidate and chairman of the Proposition BB bond issue oversight committee. Staff writer Beth Barrett contributed to this article. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Ruben Zacarias, superintendent of Los Angeles schools The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. and a himself a target of criticism in the dispute, bows out Thursday from dispensing discipline in the Belmont Learning Center deal. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer |
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