Cohen & Grigsby, a business law firm with headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA and an office in Bonita Springs, FL, is pleased to announce that the following highly experienced attorneys have joined Cohen & Grigsby's Pittsburgh offices:

•Clifford B. Levine joins Cohen & Grigsby with extensive experience in complex commercial and governmental litigation, as well as land use development, environmental, energy and construction litigation and counseling.  Levine has a statewide practice involving all phases of land use and governmental law.  He has been a featured speaker and active practitioner with current issues such as Marcellus Shale, eminent domain and takings, regulatory preemption and constitutional limitations to land use controls.  He also has experience with the development of energy projects and environmentally sensitive industries.  He has been serving as lead counsel for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in litigation involving fiscally distressed cities and has had considerable involvement with the laws governing municipalities and public authorities, including his past service as the vice chair of both the City of Pittsburgh Planning Commission and its Zoning Board of Adjustment.  Levine has considerable political experience, having recently served as chair of President Barack Obama's Western Pennsylvania Steering Committee, and is currently a member of the President's National Advisory Board.  Levine served as statewide election law counsel to the Bob Casey for Senate campaign in 2006 and currently is acting in that capacity for the Dan Onorato for Governor campaign.  Levine, a member of the Allegheny County Academy of Trial Lawyers, has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, which identifies the top five percent of lawyers in the state.  He recently was named one of the 100 most politically influential individuals in Pennsylvania.  Levine received his J.D. from Duke University and his B.A. in economics from the State University of New York at Albany.

•Alice B. Mitinger joins Cohen & Grigsby with significant experience in land use litigation and development and with appellate, regulatory, administrative and election law issues.  Mitinger has appeared before governing bodies and zoning hearing boards throughout western Pennsylvania and recently served a three-year term on the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the City of Pittsburgh.  Mitinger has represented a wide variety of clients, including wireless telecommunications providers, landfill companies, independent power producers, real estate developers and the Commonwealth's Department of Community and Economic Development.  Highly active in the community, Mitinger currently serves as the president of the Board of Trustees of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and co-director of the Alumni Schools Committee of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh, among other roles.  Mitinger received her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and her B.A. in history from Yale University.

As the Senate prepares to vote on whether Elena Kagan should fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, there remain a substantial number of other vacancies in the nation’s lower federal courts that urgently need filling.

Currently, there are about 100 vacancies in the lower federal courts. The American Bar Association says the lack of judges is affecting the efficiency and fairness of the justice system.

ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm said, “Our courts are already terribly strained at the federal level because of the caseload and the workload, and when you’re a hundred justices down…that’s a big gap.  We have speedy trial rules that require them to put criminal cases first.  As a result, all of the civil proceedings are put off and there is a real gap in terms of a significant delay as a result of the vacancies. It is edging toward a crisis not to have a full bench.”

Even if all the vacancies were filled, said Lamm, a significant number of new judgeships would still be necessary to handle caseload growth.  In fact, the Judicial Conference of the United States is recommending 67 new permanent and temporary judgeships. 

Beyond the existing 100 vacancies, more than 20 additional judges have announced that they will retire in the next several months. Since the start of the 111th Congress, President Obama has made 78 nominations to fill the empty seats, and the Senate has confirmed 36 of the nominees.  

Chastened by heavy criticism from lawmakers, a grim-faced BP chief executive Tony Hayward said Thursday he was "deeply sorry" for his company's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"I understand the seriousness of the situation, the frustrations and fears that continue to be voiced," he told a House investigations subcommittee.

But before testifying, Hayward had to endure more than an hour of mostly unrelenting criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.

"We are not small people, but we wish to get our lives back," Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the panel's chairman, told Hayward, throwing back at the oil giant comments made the day before by BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg — about how BP sympathized with the "small people" of the Gulf — and Hayward's earlier remark that he wanted his "life back."

In a sharp exchange, Stupak noted that over the past five years, 26 had died and 700 were injured in BP accidents — including the Gulf spill, a pipeline spill in Alaska and a refinery explosion in Texas. He asked Hayward whether the government should ban drilling by companies with such "poor safety records?"

Hayward insisted that safety had always been his top priority and "that is why I am so devastated with this accident." When he became CEO, Hayward said he would focus "like a laser" on safety, a phrase he repeated on Thursday.