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Cedar Rapids law firm Simmons Perrine, forced to shut its doors in the devastating floods that hit the city, is reopening this week in a middle school in the neighboring town of Mount Vernon.

The law firm expects to take over much of the west wing of the middle school and plans to have as many as 75 people working there, the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun reports. Lawyers retrieved some materials in a 20-minute visit to their Cedar Rapids office on Saturday and will bring them to the new temporary offices.

The firm reports on its website that floodwaters did not reach its permanent offices on the tenth through twelfth floors of a Cedar Rapids building, but lawyers are unable to work there.

The firm, which also has an office in Iowa City, will have to leave its new digs by Aug. 15, since school begins the following week.

Meanwhile the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun reports in a separate story that law firm Shuttleworth & Ingersoll will be operating at a temporary office at Cornell College. The firm says on its website that flood waters did not reach the fourth through seventh floors of the U.S. Bank Building where it has offices, but lawyer are not permitted to access the building.

Veteran Alexandria attorneys Lonnie C. Rich and Edward S. Rosenthal have formed a new full-service law firm, Rich Rosenthal Manitta Dzubin & Kroeger, LLP (RRMDK).

The new firm’s offices are located in the historic Torpedo Factory Office Building at 201 North Union Street in Old Town.  

RRMDK practice areas include family law; wills, trusts and estates; business organization, transactions and litigation; federal and state criminal defense and appeals; and civil liberties and constitutional law.  Rich and Rosenthal, former partners in the law firm of Rich Greenberg Rosenthal & Costle, LLP (RGRC), each bring more than 30 years experience to the new firm.    

Former RGRC associates, Lana M. Manitta, Richard F. Dzubin and Shannon L. Kroeger, have joined RRMDK as partners.

“I have never been more excited about the opportunity this new firm represents,” said Lonnie Rich.  “This allows us to build a practice focused on serving the legal needs of individuals and businesses in Alexandria and its neighboring communities.”  Rich received his J.D. from the University of Memphis Law School in 1974. His primary practice areas include wills, trusts and estate planning; business affairs; real estate and land use matters; and employment.  Additionally, Rich served on the Alexandria City Council from 1991 to 2000.  Contact lcrich@rrmdk.com. 

Edward Rosenthal graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center with his J.D. in 1976.  Rosenthal has broad experience in civil litigation; criminal defense; personal injury; and appellate advocacy.  Contact esrosenthal@rrmdk.com.

Lana Manitta received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1998.  Her practice areas include criminal defense and family law.  Contact lmmanitta@rrmdk.com.

Richard Dzubin graduated from the University of Richmond School of Law with his J.D. in 1999.  His practice areas include commercial, criminal and civil litigation, including personal injury.  Additionally, Dzubin serves as general counsel for the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.  He can be reached at rfdzubin@rrmdk.com.

Shannon Kroeger received a J.D. from the University of Richmond in 2000.  She concentrates in the area of family law and domestic relations.   Kroeger can be reached at slkroeger@rrmdk.com

Denver's Holland & Hart is merging with Hale Lane Peek Dennison in Nevada to create a law firm with more than 415 attorneys in seven states.

"We've had Hale Lane on our radar for a long time," John Husband, chairman of Holland & Hart's management committee, said Tuesday.

He credited Hale Lane as being an expert in real-estate fractional ownership, or where a purchaser buys a fraction of a property. Both firms also have strong business litigation and natural resource practices. Financial terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

The deal reflects the continuing consolidation of regional law firms. In the past two years, Denver's Brownstein Hyatt Farber merged with Nevada and California firms to strengthen its gaming and water resource law practices.

Holland & Hart, the largest firm based in the Mountain West, has 365 attorneys in 14 offices and expanded into Nevada in 2006. Hale Lane was founded in Nevada in 1971 and is one of Nevada's largest firms.

Husband and Timothy Lukas, Hale Lane's managing shareholder, described the two firms as sharing similar cultures in terms of how they serve clients and conduct community work. Holland & Hart opened an office in Las Vegas in 2006 and Reno in 2007, while Hale Lane has offices in Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City.

The Las Vegas and Reno offices of the merged firms eventually will be consolidated into one physical location, but Husband said he expects employment overall to grow over time.

Three attorneys with ties to one of the largest law firms in the city are branching out on their own. Gino Bulso and George Nolan, trial lawyers at Boult Cummings Conners & Berry PLC will team up with Bill Leader, a former member of Boult Cummings, to form a new firm specializing in trial and appellate court practice.

Initially the firm will be named Leader & Bulso PLC. The name will change to Leader, Bulso & Nolan PLC when George Nolan leaves Boult Cummings to join the new practice on July 15.

The three partners have more than six decades of legal experience and have brought about 200 cases to verdict. Boult Cummings is embracing the move.

"Gino and George have spent many years at Boult Cummings and have provided great service to us and our clients," says Jay Hardcastle, managing director of Boult Cummings.

"They are both outstanding attorneys who have contributed so much to our firm. We will miss them, but are very happy and supportive of their decision to join Boult Cummings alumnus, Bill Leader, to form a new law firm. We know that they will remain great friends of the firm."

Leader worked as a trial lawyer at Boult Cummings for 18 years and is the senior attorney at Leader & Associates PLC. He concentrates primarily in personal injury litigation.

Gino Bulso is a 22-year Boult Cummings veteran. His practice focuses on business and commercial litigation in state and federal courts. He is admitted to practice before all state courts in Tennessee and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 6th, 7th and 11th Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Middle District of Tennessee, the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, the Southern District of Texas, the Southern District of California, the District of Maine, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Nolan has practiced at Boult Cummings for 17 years. He specializes in tort litigation with an emphasis on automobile collision, medical malpractice, product liability, premises liability, and fraud suits.

He also maintains an active practice in the areas of business litigation, insurance coverage litigation, environmental litigation, and eminent domain litigation.

The firm will be located on the 17th floor of the Bank of America building.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against an Algerian convicted of conspiring to detonate explosives at Los Angeles International Airport during the millenium holiday travel rush. In its 8-1 decision, the court upheld Ahmed Ressam's conviction on an explosives charge, one of nine convictions that resulted in a 22-year prison sentence. At issue was whether Ressam should be convicted of carrying explosives during the commission of another serious crime, in Ressam's case, lying on a U.S. Customs form when he crossed the border in December 1999.

Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens said that "the most natural reading" of federal law goes against Ressam. Stevens said it is undisputed that Ressam was carrying explosives when he falsely identified himself on a U.S. customs form as a Canadian citizen named Noris. Ressam is Algerian. In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer said that the court's interpretation is too broad. Breyer said such a holding would permit conviction of anyone on an explosives charge, even if they were carrying explosives legally while engaging in a totally unrelated crime.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had set aside Ressam's conviction on the explosives count. The appeals court said the law required proof that the explosives were carried "in relation to" the underlying crime of filing a false form. Prosecutors established no such relationship, the appeals court said.