David Bernick, the star litigator who led W.R. Grace & Co. to acquittal last May in the biggest environmental crimes case ever, has accepted a position as general counsel with Philip Morris International.
Bernick lives in Chicago and has spent 32 years at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. He made his name as a [...]
A federal judge heard arguments Tuesday on the merits of a retired physician’s lawsuit against the Missoula Police Department, and must now decide what factual issues to allow at trial and which to exclude.
Walt Peschel, 67, of Missoula brought the suit in May 2008, alleging a host of civil rights violations he says occurred during [...]
In the three months that I covered the criminal trial of W.R. Grace & Co., I frequently parked outside the Russell Smith federal courthouse in Missoula, averaging about two parking tickets a day.
Most mornings I’d pump a buck in quarters into the meter and make a frenzied dash to the courthouse to watch the trial, [...]
David Bernick, lead counsel for W.R. Grace & Co., stands outside the Russell Smith federal courthouse on Friday, moments after a jury unanimously acquitted the global chemical company and three former executives. Photo by Michael Gallacher.
After deliberating one full day, jurors in the W.R. Grace & Co. trial unanimously acquitted the global chemical company and [...]
On Wednesday night, after absorbing 35 days of testimony and evidence, jurors seated in the environmental crimes trial of W.R. Grace & Co. were spirited away to a remote chamber in the Russell Smith federal courthouse to begin deliberations.
There they remained Thursday, hashing out the proof for the first time since Feb. 19, when the [...]
Having absorbed 11 weeks of evidence and heard testimony from scores of witnesses, jurors began deliberations Wednesday evening in the sprawling environmental crimes case of W.R. Grace & Co.
Hotly contested by a determined fleet of defense lawyers, the motion-a-day trial plodded along arrhythmically at times, and the presentation of evidence hardly emerged as a single, [...]
The W.R. Grace & Co. trial sputtered toward its finale Tuesday as defense counsel called their final witnesses, clearing the way for jury instructions and closing arguments to begin first thing in the morning.
U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy is adamant that jurors will receive the case and begin deliberations by Wednesday evening, and said [...]
As the weeks and months drag on, all those involved in the W.R. Grace trial are beginning to feel tapped out – the judge, the jury, the lawyers, the daily courtroom observers, and even us reporters. We’re physically and emotionally taxed, and the microbes living in the ring around my collar are starting to get [...]
First, Locke lied under oath, according to the judge’s certitude. Then, it was revealed that prosecutors concealed evidence from the defense that could have used on cross-examination to show that the corporate insider had naked biases against W.R. Grace (Locke has a pending lawsuit for wrongful termination, which has been quashed by the company’s bankruptcy).
When [...]
At the behest of prosecutors, a federal judge dropped charges against yet another defendant in the W.R. Grace & Co. trial Thursday morning, leaving three remaining defendants and the company to contest allegations of corporate pollution.
Late Wednesday afternoon, attorneys for William McCaig urged prosecutors to dismiss their client from the indictment, arguing that evidence presented [...]