#" 3
A NEW CIVIL WAR
New York is in a shoot-out with southern gun dealers.
#Y THE TIME THIS
magazine is published,
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg may
have entered the 2008
presidential race. If so,
he shouldn’t count on
any support from South Carolina
pawnshop owner Larry Mickalis.
Mickalis and 26 other gun
dealers in mostly southern
states were sued by New York
in 2006 for allegedly making
illegal sales; guns sold previously by the shops wound up in
the hands of violent New York
criminals. Fifteen of the retailers have settled and submitted to
three years of oversight by city-appointed monitors. But Mickalis answered that the mayor was
out of bounds and sued him and
the city right back.
Last month, Mickalis finally had a chance to confront
Bloomberg, whose only gun-slinging experience came on a
Boy Scout rifle range. His lawyer, Carl Pierce II of Charleston, South Carolina, deposed
the mayor near New York’s City
Hall. Pierce quizzed Bloom-
berg for seven hours on everything from gun theft statistics
to his presidential ambitions.
The mayor was cordial, Pierce
says, though his lawyers from
the city’s Corporation Counsel Office and from Pillsbury
Winthrop Shaw Pittman “went
nuts” when he was asked about
the 2008 race.
Twelve of the gun dealers are
fighting the city’s suits. Three
of them, including Mickalis,
have countersued Bloomberg
in separate cases now in federal
district court in Georgia and
state court in South Carolina,
variously claiming conspiracy,
fraud, defamation, and damages
of at least $400 million. Former
congressman Bob Barr represents a Georgia gun dealer suing New York.
Pillsbury partner Kenneth
Taber says he knew from the
moment the city contacted him
in early 2006 that the litigation
would be historic. He calls the
legal conflict “a modern day
Civil War.”
“You’ve got the people of the
South rising up, saying, ‘How
dare the mayor of New York interfere with our right to do anything we want with guns?’ ” says
Taber. “The simple fact is that
federal law says that you can’t
do whatever you want.”
A dozen Pillsbury lawyers
have logged more than $2 million in pro bono hours working
with the city on the gun litigation, says Taber, who has been
skeet shooting in the past, but
considers himself a bad shot.
Judges in Georgia and
South Carolina have so far refused to dismiss the defamation
suits, ruling that statements by
Bloomberg and other officials
(one official said the dealers had
“New Yorkers’ blood on their
hands”) are not necessarily protected speech in those states.
Meanwhile, the first of the city’s
suits is set for trial on April 28
in the Eastern District of New
York.
The case has become something of a cause célèbre among
gun enthusiasts, so whatever the
outcome in the courts, the mayor
has successfully annoyed a large
segment of armed voters—
argu-ably a bold move even if you’re
not a potential dark horse presidential candidate. Two Virginia
gun dealers named in the suits
even sponsored a “Bloomberg
gun giveaway” in their home
state last year to show their disdain. “He has to mind his own
business,” said local sportsman
Stephan Mayr, who walked away
from the event with a burning sense of injustice and a new
Browning bolt-action “Varmint
Stalker” rifle. —D B
CITATIONS
This indictment “should send a
chill down the spine of every
transactional lawyer.”
William Schwartz of Cooley Godward
Kronish, lawyer for Joseph Collins of
Mayer Brown. Collins is accused of helping
Refco Inc. conceal more than $1 billion of
trading losses.
—Chicago Tribune, December 19
“The salaries for associates and
partners have become so high that
companies don’t even think about
hiring someone from a law firm.”
Gary Davis, a recruiter with Patterson Davis
Consulting in San Francisco.
—The Recorder, December 27
“We appreciate the feedback we’ve
received, and we’re acting on it.”
A December 14 statement by Edward Adams,
editor and publisher of the ABA Journal,
in which he announced that former U.S.
attorney general Alberto Gonzales was the
magazine’s “Newsmaker of the Year,” not the
“Lawyer of the Year.”
“Felons are people too, and I
thought Lerach had an argument.”
John Pomfret of The Washington Post, after
he asked William Lerach to write a column
for the paper decrying the millions of dollars
in payouts for ousted CEOs at Citigroup Inc.
and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
—The Wall Street Journal, December 12
“I am not optimistic, and I think we
will see a decline of more than 25
percent in M&A activity in 2008.”
Martin Lipton of Wachtell, Lipton in a letter
to clients. —Reuters, December 18
“The women of Wal-Mart are one
step closer to their day in court.”
Brad Seligman of Berkeley, California,
plaintiffs counsel in the sexual discrimination
class action against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
after the Ninth Circuit af rmed the class
certi cation. —Reuters, December 12
“The White House has made an
abysmal effort to send nominees to
the Senate to replace the fired U.S.
attorneys and to fill vacancies in
those districts and many others.”
Senator Patrick Leahy.
—The Washington Post, December 23
