Former KLA-Tencor Corp. executives have agreed to settle a lawsuit over stock option backdating after four years of torturous litigation, according to a court filing Monday. About $33 million in cash will be paid by the executives and the California company's insurer to KLA, according to lawyers briefed on the settlement, who requested anonymity because details of the deal haven't been made public. The deal has been a long time coming.

An attorney who conveys an alleged agreement to cover the legal costs of another lawyer's client can be held liable for unpaid fees, a unanimous New York appellate court panel ruled Tuesday. The decision allows the firm of DePetris & Bachrach to pursue claims against the Shiboleth law firm and one of its lawyers, Charles B. Manuel, that they had promised that their clients would make good on DePetris & Bachrach's fees.

Lawmakers have decried the use of the filibuster to block judicial nominations, but anyone frustrated with the process shouldn't expect a quick change, a panel of Senate experts said Tuesday. Makan Delrahim, now a Brownstein Hyatt partner, saw how "brutal" the process can be for nominees while he was a Republican lawyer for the Senate Judiciary Committee during George W. Bush's administration. Said Delrahim, "I have a real problem with the filibuster. I think it eats away at the Senate and the decorum the Senate is known for."

With technology, a legal department can speak with a single voice, think with a single mind, and act like a partnership even with lawyers dispersed around the world. Consultant Rees W. Morrison discusses 20 techniques that increase coherence and effectiveness in a spread-out department.

Lehman Brothers and its lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges sent a clear message this week to the judge hearing Lehman's bankruptcy case: Make public the full report about Lehman's demise. In a motion filed Monday by Weil's Harvey Miller, Lehman says it has cooperated fully with the special examiner investigating the bank's failure and has turned over more than 20 million pages of e-mail.

CLEVELAND: Relatives of the victim sobbed and held each other as a judge handed down a life prison term Tuesday for a doctor convicted of killing his wife by lacing her calcium supplement with cyanide so he could be with his mistress.

The Summit-Akron Solid Waste Management Authority will hold a special collection of household hazardous waste on April 10 for residents of southern Summit County.

Summit County wants to sell the former Edwin Shaw property in Lakemore — and quickly. The county has owned the one-time tuberculosis hospital and about 100 acres of surrounding land since 1908.