Former US attorney joins Cooley Godward Kronish

March 18, 2008

Former US Attorney Donald K. Stern has switched law firms. Stern, 61, who entered private practice at Bingham McCutchen when he left the Justice Department in 2001, has joined Cooley Godward Kronish, a 650-lawyer firm that opened a Boston office last year. He will be a partner in the litigation practice, where his specialties will include white collar defense and internal corporate investigations. Stern, who was appointed US attorney by President Clinton in 1993, was in private practice at Hale and Dorr from 1981 to 1987, and from 1990 to 1993. Cooley, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., has expanded its Boston office from 10 to 30 lawyers since it opened in July 2007. (Sacha Pfeiffer)

Hurley's Boston Irish Baking Co., is looking for an investor to save the business or it will have to file for bankruptcy protection. Sean Hurley, who founded the Hyde Park company six years ago, said the increased cost of ingredients and fuel, along with a dispute with a local bakery, has made it impossible to continue. Hurley's, in a lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court, has accused Boston Baking Inc., which made breads for Hurley's, of deceptive business practices for mislabeling the products. According to Hurley, 87.5 percent of the crisps were underweight and when a supermarket refused to accept the order, Hurley's could not recover. Bob Boschetto, owner of Boston Baking in Hyde Park, said, "I don't know anything about it." (Jenn Abelson)

During a one-day auction of oceanside condominiums at The Atlantica in Revere, 15 units sold for prices ranging from $245,000 for a small one bedroom to $412,000 for a two bedroom with a ocean view, said Michael DiGangi, sales manager. Originally, the developer had said it would auction off 20 units, but pulled five the night before the event, held March 9, he said. DiGangi said bid prices averaged between 18 and 20 percent below listing prices. "We were very satisfied with the result" of the auction, he said, adding, "The buyers got a deal," and "we sold two years' worth of inventory in two hours." (Kimberly Blanton)

Kathy Jo Cook, a litigator at the Taunton personal injury law firm Keches & Mallen, has been named president of the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts. Cook, who works in the firm's Boston office, took the helm of the 1,500-member organization this week. During her yearlong presidency, Cook said, she intends to help women advance in law firms, encourage female business leaders to refer work to female lawyers, and expand the association's statewide presence. Cook, who graduated from Suffolk University Law School and the University of Houston, succeeds Julia Huston, a partner at the Boston intellectual property law firm Bromberg & Sunstein. (Sacha Pfeiffer)

The New York Times Co., the publisher whose shares have fallen 22 percent in the past year, will add two outside directors nominated by investors pressuring the company to sell assets and expand online. Scott Galloway, founder of Firebrand Partners, and James Kohlberg, chairman of Kohlberg & Co., will represent common shareholders, Times Co. said. The board will expand to 15 members, ending a proxy fight. Harbinger Capital Partners and Firebrand, the publisher's largest investors, agreed to end their efforts to get four candidates on the board. Times Co. includes the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM, and more than 50 websites. (Bloomberg)

Starting today, frequent travelers should be able to pass through airport security lines quicker at Logan International Airport's Terminal A, where the federal Transportation Security Administration is testing its trio of "self-select lanes." Passengers with families or special needs can use one lane, infrequent or travelers less familiar with security screening will pick the middle lane, and expert travelers will go to the fast lane at X-ray checkpoints. Logan becomes the fifth US airport to offer this. Salt Lake City International and Denver International airports were the first to introduce this process several weeks ago, which the TSA said resulted in increased customer satisfaction and screening efficiency. (Nicole C. Wong)