The National Law Journal reports that a patent holding firm has sued Foley & Lardner for allegedly revealing confidential information and for undermining the company's settlement negotiations during a separate lawsuit.

Virginia-based SPH America, a company formed in 2008 by former Fish & Richardson associate Choongoo Park, filed suit against Foley Friday at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets and contract interference, among other claims.

Foley represented Japanese electronics manufacturer Kyocera in 2008 after SPH brought a patent infringement case against the company over technology used in its cell phones. According to last week's complaint, Foley allegedly publicized confidential information it gained during the course of that case by incorporating it in another lawsuit.

The American Lawyer reports that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager & Flom is cutting the size of its 2010 summer associate class by half and adjusting its recruitment strategy by making all of its offers on a single day in late September, according to a copy of a letter the firm will send to prospective summers.

Skadden hired 225 summer associates this year and expects to hire a little more than 100 next year, though the precise figure will depend on offer acceptance rates, says Howard Ellin, Skadden's recruiting partner.

The firm will not rescind offers to any prospective 2010 summers; if, say, 150 summers accept, the firm will hire all 150 even though that number exceeds the figure it currently has in mind, Ellin says.

The idea of rescinding offers "is unprofessional and a shock to our conscience," he says.

The National Law Journal reports that Brown Rudnick is shelving deferred start dates for 11 first-year associates, saying it needs to tackle a surge in bankruptcy and litigation work.

Under the plan, first reported by the Boston Business Journal, the firm will have the associates start on Sept. 14 instead of Nov. 30.

The original class included 27 first-years. Three will remain deferred until Nov. 30. Another dozen remain deferred until 2010. One more has taken a job in Singapore, said firm CEO Joe Ryan, who is also a senior partner in the firm's bankruptcy & finance practice group.

"The good news is since we made that decision [to defer] we've become very busy and it certainly looks like that's going to be sustained," Ryan said.

According to The New York Law Journal, seven of Manhattan's elite law firms took the rare step of signing on to a single letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission to voice their opinion on how the agency should implement a proposal to allow shareholders to nominate company directors.

Lawyers involved in drafting the letter, submitted Monday, acknowledge it was rare for one letter to come from all the firms, which included Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Sullivan & Cromwell and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

At least four of the firms also sent separate letters addressing concerns with the policy direction the SEC is taking.

The American Lawyer reports US Attorney Thomas O'Brien has taken on international drug cartels, some of the West Coast's toughest street gangs, and human smuggling rings. But now he has to do something that may be even more challenging: build a book of business.

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker announced Tuesday that O'Brien, who has been US Attorney for the Central District of California since 2007, will become a partner in the firm's Los Angeles office, where he will focus on white-collar cases.

"The people I met at Paul Hastings are top notch attorneys and I look forward to working with the firm to help them develop a white-collar practice in Los Angeles," says O'Brien, who was appointed US Attorney by President George W. Bush after more than two years as the office's criminal division chief.

He joins the firm Oct. 1.

The American Lawyer reports that months away from arguing a landmark securities fraud case before the US Supreme Court, Merck has passed lead counsel duties from Cravath, Swaine & Moore's Evan Chesler to Williams & Connolly, court records show.

Williams & Connolly partner Kannon Shanmugam, who argued eight cases before the high court during his four years with the US Solicitor's Office, will present Merck's case to the justices this fall. Shanmugam -- W&C's first lateral hire in 22 years when he joined the firm last year -- won six of those eight cases.

In this case, Shanmugam will argue to overturn an appellate ruling that allowed a securities fraud class action brought by Merck's shareholders to proceed.