Cynthia Baldwin, who served as a justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 2006 until January, has joined law firm Duane Morris LLP's Pittsburgh office as a partner in the trial practice group and appellate litigation sub practice group.

Prior to her appointment to the commonwealth's highest court, Baldwin spent 16 years as a judge in various divisions of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Duane Morris, based in Philadelphia, opened its Pittsburgh office in 2003.

Schmidt & Clark, LLP, a nationally recognized drug litigation law firm has announced today that it has recently added additional content to its Trasylol recall website.

Trasylol has been marketed by Bayer for 14 years. Bayer marketed it aggressively until it was used in approximately 1/3 of all cardiac bypass surgeries. In the last two years, Trasylol has been linked to kidney or renal failure, heart attacks, strokes and approximately 22,000 deaths.

At the heart of current and pending litigation surrounding Trasylol side effects, is the fact that Bayer was aware of the potential problems over two years ago. A study connecting Trasylol and serious side effects was presented in January 2006, but the drug was not recalled until November 2007. Bayer failed to present their research to the FDA in their September 2006 meeting. The chairman of that FDA advisory panel, Dr. William Hiatt, said that he would have voted for a Trasylol recall back in 2006 if Bayer had not withheld the data from their study.

Michael E. Schmidt, Managing Partner of Schmidt & Clark, LLP has noticed an alarming number of inquiries to the firm related to Trasylol. Mr. Schmidt stated, “Our firm has substantial expertise in the areas drug litigation. As a result, we have received a number of inquiries from heart bypass surgery patients claiming serious or life-threatening side effects including death, kidney or renal failure, heart attacks, and strokes.”

Schmidt & Clark, LLP represents a number of Trasylol recall victims and continues to be contacted by victims of Trasylol on a frequent basis.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of a Trasylol induced side effect, the firm suggests that you visit their Trasylol website. The site includes detailed lawsuit information, news and more.

About Schmidt & Clark, LLP

Schmidt & Clark, LLP focuses on helping individuals and families. The firm has built a reputation for success, and represents their clients in group and individual lawsuits nationwide.

Although Schmidt & Clark, LLP is national in scope, they level the playing field for their clients by providing them with access to a level of professional legal representation previously available only to large corporations, while still providing personal attention to each client.

For more information on Schmidt & Clark, LLP or Trasylol lawsuits, please visit: http://www.schmidtandclark.com/Trasylol/ or call toll free 24 hrs/day (866) 588-0600.

Former book publishing powerhouse Judith Regan was sued Monday for legal fees by the firm that prepared her lawsuit against HarperCollins LLC after the publishing company fired her.

In court papers, Dreier LLP says Regan reneged on a retainer agreement she signed and then fired the law firm "in a transparent and calculated effort to avoid paying petitioners the agreed upon fee."

After Dreier prepared and filed the lawsuit, court papers say, Regan hired Los Angeles lawyer Bertram Fields to negotiate a settlement with HarperCollins. The terms were not disclosed.

After the settlement was final, Regan fired Dreier and refused to pay the firm, court papers say.

The lawsuit names Fields as a defendant and accuses him of tortious interference with the business relationship between Dreier and Regan.

A Dutchess County jury Saturday convicted Charles Gilleo Jr. on 30 of 31 murder charges in the Jan. 19, 2007, shootings of Manuel and Tina Morey and the stabbing and bludgeoning of their three boys in their Fishkill home.

The jury's verdicts capped more than 37 hours of deliberations over a four-and-a-half days in the Dutchess County Courthouse, in Poughkeepsie.

Gilleo, 33, of Hopewell Junction, N.Y., also was convicted on five counts of armed robbery, two counts of conspiracy, one count of perjury and two counts of arson.

A co-defendant, 30-year-old Mark Serrano, was convicted last year on 31 first- and second-degree murder charges, in addition to arson, robbery, conspiracy and perjury charges.

Gilleo and Serrano were accused of going to the Morey home on Route 82 in Fishkill and robbing Manuel and Tina of cash and cocaine, killing all five members of the family and setting fire to their house and car in an attempt to cover up the crimes.

A Venezuelan pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in the alleged cover-up of a plot to smuggle $800,000 into Argentina to fund a presidential election campaign, officials said on Monday.

Carlos Kauffmann, 35, was one of five men accused of acting on behalf of Venezuela's anti-U.S. government in a case that touched off corruption allegations in Argentina and diplomatic tensions between the Washington, Caracas and Buenos Aires.

Kauffmann entered a guilty plea on Friday to a charge of conspiring to act as an agent of Venezuela without registering with the U.S. government and could face five years in prison. He agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, according to a plea agreement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami.

Kid Rock has pleaded not guilty to a charge of battery from a fight at a Waffle House in Atlanta. Robert James Ritchie, better known as the musician Kid Rock, was not present for the plea. His attorney, Darryl Cohen, waived an arraignment hearing and entered the plea on Ritchie's behalf in DeKalb County State Court, according to Cohen's office.

Ritchie and five members of his entourage were arrested October 21st on a misdemeanor charge of simple battery. The charges stem from a fight at a a metro-Atlanta Waffle House, where they had stopped following his performance at The Tabernacle.

Officials say a fight broke out after another customer recognized a woman in Kid Rock's party and exchanged words with her, prompting Ritchie to exchange words, too.