Media Roundup: Clash of the Advisors

The reports on the Conrad Black trial, which have been posted overnight, all zeroed in on the clash between one lawyer's advice and another's:

1. From the Hamilton Spectator, in the "Business Briefs" section, a recap of yesterday's testimony in the second-last item. Mentions that William "Bud" Rogers testified that he never really dealt with either Conrad Black or David Radler.

2. Canadian Business has webbed a forecast that cross-examination of Csr. Rogers will commence today, and another Cravath, Swaine and Moore lawyer, Paul Saunders, will testify later this week.

3. From Peter Brieger and webbed by the Ottawa Citizen, an article that focuses upon the objections that Csr. Rogers had made to Darren Sukonick's disclosure advice. It also notes that the Hollinger Int'l executives he talked to had docilely went along with his opinion, but Beth DeMerchant, Csr. Sukonick's then-boss, defended the interpretation of her then-underling. The Regina Leader-Post has a slightly modified version of this report, which omits Csr. De Merchant and adds that Csr. Rogers had reacted to a memo written by Csr. Sukonick on Apr. 19, 2001. The latter report, posted more recently, also contains a quote from Csr. Rogers' objection letter, sent to Peter Atkinson and Jack Boultbee. That quotation ends with: "'Mr. Sukonick did not copy us on the e-mail... We were not at all aware cash payments were made to individual executives and Ravelston.'"

4. The same theme has been taken up by the Globe and Mail's Paul Waldie. His report notes that Csr. Rogers felt misunderstood when he learned that "Mr. Sukonick had also suggested that Mr. Rogers agreed with Torys conclusion." He objected to Torys' line of reasoning on the basis of his more cautious, perhaps less cavalier, interpretation of U.S. securities legislation. Mr. Waldie also notes that "one of the lawyers who worked with Mr. Rogers said he found the payments 'weird' and added that they looked like a 'trick' to get money to executives."

5. This morning's report from Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star opens with a recount of the objections defense lawyers made about Jeffrey Cramer's questioning. It also mentions that Csr. Rogers testified that both Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Boultbee had led him to believe that CanWest had insisted that the individual non-competes be signed as part of the deal. "That was not the case, the jury has heard."

6. Janet Whitman of the New York Post is back on the trial beat, with a write-up on Conrad Black's opening remarks from made yesterday morning.

7. The Chicago Sun-Times' Mary Wisniewski continues her own coverage of the trial, which ends with a note that the "bickering" between defense and prosecution counselors is verging on the personal.

8. In another article, Mr. Waldie of the Globe points out that the Park Avenue apartment that Mr. Black bought from Hollinger International, which is mentioned in Count 10 of the indictment, is now being introduced into evidence by the prosecution.