The fall term of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has recently begun, and several high profile cases are on the docket. Two of these cases will be handled by Miller & Chevalier lawyers.

Last year, Department of Justice lawyers worked with officials in Hong Kong to convince a Washington judge to freeze more than $23.7 million that the Hong Kong government believes was funneled from HSBC accounts overseas to banks in Houston. The target in the dispute, Gang Luan, is represented by Miller & Chevalier, who contends that the judge did not have authority to restrain the accounts. According to Miller & Chevalier, there's no civil complaint pending against Luan in Hong Kong, and there's no criminal indictment against him overseas. Barry Pollack* said even if the restraining order was legal, it was only valid for 90 days. The restraint of the accounts has continued for more than a year.

In another case, Tim O'Toole is working on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to assist former lobbyist Kevin Ring in his effort to overturn his corruption conviction. Ring's lawyers argue that there was never any agreement between Ring and the recipients of his gifts. Ring was found guilty by a jury without showing any bribery agreement. "The line between relationship-building and bribery is very murky unless you require proof that two people had an agreement," said O'Toole.

*Former Miller & Chevalier attorney