Legal ethics in the news (July 29, 2010)

• The State Bar of California named Starr Babcock as its general counsel.  (h/t: ALM)  As we discussed before, Jim Towery is now the Chief Trial Counsel.
• Dallas Justice has some skeptical thoughts about the changes to the ethics rules in Texas, especially with respect to prosecutors.
• This article by Vivia Chen suggests that Jones Day's hiring committee likes what Northwestern is doing.  How firms react to the innovations by NW's David Van Zandt could be critical to the pace of innovation in US law schools.  (I don't expect that rational arguments will force much chance in law schools.  Fear, competition, and entrepreneurial role models will be more productive.) I'm a big fan of what they're doing there, but ultimately it's the market that will have the final say.
• In the UK, law firms can retire partners at age 65.  (h/t: The Lawyer)
• Neil Rose discusses potential reform of contingency fee litigation in the UK.
• A business executive from Morgan Crucible was convicted of obstruction of justice in connection with an antitrust matter.  According to ALM, "Prosecutors alleged that Norris conspired with his subordinates to obstruct the grand jury's investigation by creating a false script that employees of both Morgan Crucible and a competitor were to follow when questioned. Also, a document destruction task force was formed to collect and destroy or conceal documents from the grand jury, prosecutors said."