RIAA Lawyer Jumps Ship

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA's top litigation lawyer, who has been personally leading the RIAA's litigation campaign for the past several years, Richard Gabriel, will be leaving his law practice after getting a job as a state court judge for a 2-year term in Colorado. What this will mean to the RIAA's litigation machine is anyone's guess. Mr. Gabriel has personally argued all of the RIAA's main cases, including Elektra v. Barker, Atlantic v. Howell, Atlantic v. Brennan, Capitol v. Foster, Atlantic v. Andersen, UMG v. Lindor, and London-Sire v. Doe 1, and personally tried the Capitol v. Thomas case, the only RIAA case that has ever gone to trial. He was working directly under the supervision of the RIAA's mysterious 'representative' Matthew Oppenheim."

Comments

New sympathetic venue for RIAA cases

[Adriax]

It means they'll file to get every case moved to his courtroom.

Re:New sympathetic venue for RIAA cases

[Penguinisto]

That would sort of depend on why he left. If he left due to any acrimony, the RIAA would likely go out of their way to stay well clear of his courtroom (and it would only affect Colorado residents anyway)

Also, he may have left after sniffing the wind and seeing that other judges are starting to find the RIAA's tactics to be questionable at best... and likely wants to be well clear of the RIAA if/when it finally (okay, hopefully) implodes.

Finally, even if he did hear any of these cases, he's have two fears constantly on his mind: Appeals, and the possibility that not recusing himself from an case involving his former employer would likely land him in hotter water than by simply recusing himself in the first place.

Just idle thoughts - standard disclaimers pply, etc. :)

/P

Re:New sympathetic venue for RIAA cases

[Penguinisto]

...I was under the impression that most, if not all, judges start out as lawyers.

Frighteningly enough, so do most politicians...

/P

Appointed by Gov Ritter

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently Governor Ritter doesn't realize how corrupt this makes him look. Anyone associated with RIAA is tainted, and now that taint just got on the governor. I hope Colorado voters know this happened.

Re:What do you call 1 lawyer at the ocean's bottom

[Bohabo]

In the old days people had a way of dealing with people like the RIAA execs. They grabbed them, stripped them, beat them, coated them in tar and feathers. In other words they made a public example of them to discourage other similar-thinking assholes from doing the same thing. Are we too civilized for that today?

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
        - Hunter S. Thompson

Re:What do you call 1 lawyer at the ocean's bottom

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Umm... no, they didn't. Because in the old days, the RIAA would be the people with the money and power - ie, the nobility. They don't get beaten.

Re:awesome

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Why, Mr. Gabriel. How nice to see you. Welcome aboard the Slashdot Express ... ticket, please. I don't think that AC was Mr. Gabriel.

I think it's some new guy they hired, who doesn't know that I'm 60, that I've met Mr. Gabriel a number of times and communicate with him many times a week, and that I understand Mr. Gabriel's job a lot better than Mr. Gabriel does.

Re:awesome

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

I've been a litigation attorney for almost 30 years. Some of the best friends I have are people I met as spirited adversaries in contentious, lengthy, hard fought, litigations. If you think I have anything against Mr. Gabriel because he was "upholding the rule of law" or advancing "a legitimate gripe" or because he was on the "wrong" side of legal issues.... you don't know me at all.

Re:What do you call 1 lawyer at the ocean's bottom

[splorp!]

Judges who must recuse themselves from any case involving the RIAA? Sounds good to me.

Re:No mention of the RIAA

[Technician]

that's just because mccain aint gonna win. why waste the money on him?

Favors and influence. With no campaign support (little) they will have very little pull.

"Hey McCain, we need you to not veto bill XXXXX"

"RIAA, take a flying leap. You gave 6X the money to Democratic competitors in the campaign"

They are not going to have much pull with this one, unless they dangle re-election money. If they do, they need to start early.

I'm with you, I think McCain is going to win. There are enough Democrats that either fully hate Clinton or Obama that there is no way they would vote for them in the primary. McCain is going to get all the Republican votes and maybe 1/3 of the Democratic votes from those who can't vote for which ever canidate that wins the Democratic primary. The mud is way too heavy and the lines of who you can't elect are being drawn. Enough know universal health care is simply health care everyone needs to buy regardless of whether they can afford it. (It's paid by higher taxes and is health care and a government administrative overhead reducing effeciency) so many can't vote for Clinton.

The anti-white and America preacher with the re-opening the race card issues that were settled long ago, and the Hussain name make Obama un-electable as those fearing reverse discrimination, a fear of a president enabling boldness in our terrorist enemies, and such produce another segment of Democrats that will never vote for Obama in the general election.

For these reasons, I think McCain will win. There are too many Anybody but Clinton and Anbody but McCain democrats to elect either in the general election. I may be wrong, but that's what I see. McCain may get really mud covered in the general election as he enters the spotlight after the primary, so things may change. McCain's weak point is the perception of Bush pollitics as usual and the war so he does have a segment that will never vote for him also.