Legal Lawyer

"America's Most Smartest Model" star Andre Birleanu is using a free Legal Aid Society lawyer to help him with his recent brushes with the law in New York.

Birleanu -- a working model who has said he is employed at Cipriani, an upscale restaurant -- has appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court five times in two weeks to answer misdemeanor molestation and stalking charges involving two women, The New York Post reported Wednesday.

Each time the 25-year-old model appeared in court, he used one of the Society's lawyers, who are appointed by judges as public defenders for indigent defendants.

A spokeswoman for the Society told the newspaper Birleanu has until his next court date, Dec. 7, to provide proof of indigence or get his own lawyer.

Asked by a reporter why he didn't just hire his own attorney, Birleanu replied, "It takes a lot of paperwork."

Birleanu has served several prison stints since 2000 on charges including assault, harassment, criminal contempt, criminal mischief and trespassing.

The Thomas Jefferson School of Law will leave Old Town and longtime parking squabbles there for downtown's gentrifying East Village.

The law school submitted plans for an eight-story, $40 million school on land once slated to house condominiums at Island and 11th avenues near Petco Park.

The move will give the 38-year-old school room to expand. Its nearly 800 students are crammed into old office buildings on two sides of San Diego Avenue.

It also will put Thomas Jefferson in the heart of the city's legal community and possibly raise the profile of the smallest of San Diego's three law schools. The other law schools are the University of San Diego School of Law and California Western School of Law.

The injection of students should be a boost for the burgeoning East Village, especially as the nonprofit school plans to partner with a for-profit developer to build housing so students can live nearby.

Dean Rudy Hasl said the school's parking problems – which led to a now-settled lawsuit filed by a neighbor – didn't push it out of Old Town, but they were a factor.

"We are in very tight quarters here and in buildings that were never meant to be educational facilities," Hasl said. "This gives us an opportunity to reposition the school in a very strategic location downtown . . . and be in a facility that is designed to enhance what we are trying to do."

The move reinvigorates the city's need to find a new location for its only "sobering" unit, which occupies the Island Avenue site.

San Diego Councilman Kevin Faulconer, whose district includes downtown, has pledged to find a new home in his district for the facility, which is where police take intoxicated people to sober up without going to jail.

Steve McNally, Faulconer's chief of staff, said he expects a new downtown location will be announced by year's end.

The law school wants to start construction in the middle of next year and finish in mid-2010.

The 180,000-square-foot tower will offer more than twice the space the law school is using in the 1920s-era Old Town office complexes.

The new building will offer a ground-floor bookstore, cafe and a legal clinic for the poor operated by Thomas Jefferson faculty and students.

The school plans to offer underground parking, but officials expect students also will use the nearby trolley.

The new building and the possibility of creating a supply of market-rate apartments earmarked for law students should enhance the school's status in the eyes of potential students.

That's what the dean hopes, at least. Hasl said he expects attendance at the new campus will increase to 975 students, which would make Thomas Jefferson the city's second-largest law school after USD.

Clifford Chance was awarded the top prize at last night's annual IFLR Middle East Awards, winning 'Middle East Law Firm of the Year'.

The firm triumphed at last night's award ceremony, walking away with awards for "Equity Team of the Year" and "Project Finance Team of the Year", as well as three "Deals of the Year" awards for M&A, Equity and Project Finance.

The Deals of the Year awards were given for the firm's work on the Egyptian Fertilisers Company acquisition, and together with The Law Firm of Yousef & Mohammed Al Jadaan, with whom Clifford Chance has an association in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe Company IPO and the Al Waha petrochemical project.

The Law Firm of Yousef & Mohammed Al Jadaan also won "Saudi Law Firm of the Year", confirming the association's high profile practice in the Kingdom.

Accepting the award on behalf of the firm, Dubai office Managing Partner Graham Lovett applauded the Clifford Chance team:

"These awards are a recognition of the strength and depth of our Middle East practice, confirming Clifford Chance's top ranking in the region. We are delighted to have been recognised in this way; a tribute to the dedication of our team in the Middle East and globally."

Jewelry Boxes | Wrestling | Goggles The awards ceremony was held on Tuesday night at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, and was attended by lawyers from throughout the Middle East.