Saturday, June 30, 2001
SPECIAL EVENT:
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LITIGATION MANAGEMENT SUPERCOURSE
STAMFORD MARRIOTT HOTEL
Friday, July 20, 2001
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
Ruden McClosky's Terry Russell (President of the Florida Bar) Featured in The Florida Bar Journal
Described as "Caring and courageous with service and leadership in his soul."
Jan Pudlow - The Florida Bar Journal - July/August 2001 Edition
In 1978, when Terrence Russell was a young lawyer and Nova was a young university, both were flung into a David v. Goliath battle that not only secured his career as a stellar trial lawyer but rescued the school from the brink of extinction. And that's no exaggeration.
"Terry saved the university. Not only do I think highly of his legal skills but also as a man. He is ethical, and he loves the law," says Abraham Fischler, president of Nova University from 1970 to 1992, a former public member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors who also served on the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission.
It was a riveting, high-profile trial that grabbed front-page news in Ft. Lauderdale. The defendant, the permanent trustee of a trust set up by insurance millionaire Leo Goodwin, Sr., had refused to turn over a $14.5 million bequest to Nova University. Money tied up in the trust was the barrier between the law school and full accreditation from the American Bar Association that had required Nova to construct a law center instead of having law classes scattered around campus. It was a particularly critical time for the survival of the entire Nova University, at the forefront of cutting-edge distance learning while foundering financially.
"That school would be dead today were it not for the fact that Terry was able to get that money collected . . . every penny that we said was owed," agrees Carl Schuster, who hired Russell to join his Ft. Lauderdale firm in 1970 that is now Ruden McClosky Smith Schuster & Russell. Read The Entire Article
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Litigation Funding Companies Get Ethics Victory in Florida
Florida Bar Approves Ethics Opinion Allowing Companies to Buy Into Plaintiff Cases
Adam Miller -- Miami Daily Business Review -- June 25, 2001
Litigation financing companies, which began operating in Florida only in the last several years, provide money upfront to cash-strapped clients and recover the principal and interest only if the plaintiff wins a judgment or settlement. Litigation funding has become a controversial issue among attorneys and business groups concerned that it could lead to an increase in lawsuits.
Read more . . .
Monday, June 25, 2001
Profits vs. Pain Relief
Debra Rosenberg - Newsweek (via MSNBC) - July 2, 2001 Issue
In Virginia, disgruntled OxyContin users and their relatives have filed a $5.2 billion class-action lawsuit against the painkiller's maker, Purdue Pharma, charging that the company failed to adequately warn consumers of the risks of using such an addictive drug and that it marketed it irresponsibly.
Read more. . .
Tampa-based law firm takes on nursing home industry
Scott Shepard - The Tampa Bay Business Journal - June 22, 2001
Tennessee's nursing homes are in the cross-hairs of a Florida law firm that has single-handedly created a new industry: personal injury lawsuits against nursing homes. Starting in Florida and then advancing through Alabama, Texas, Arkansas and now Tennessee and California, the Tampa-based firm of Wilkes & McHugh has been compared by critics to the Borg, a sci-fi race that consumes everything in its path and then moves on.
[Ed. note: As the Network's resident 'Star Trek' fan, that's not exactly what the Borg does. The Borg seek perfection by assimilating what they do not already possess. Wilkes & McHugh sound to be more like the "Doomsday Machine," a destructive force that destroyed many worlds, as well as the USS Constellation. (Star Trek: The Original Series - 1968.) - Edd]
Read more. . .
Sara Lee pleads guilty to misdemeanor in recall
Associated Press - Business.com - June 22, 2001
Sara Lee (SLE, news) Corp. pleaded guilty on Friday to one federal misdemeanor count of producing and distributing adulterated hot dogs and deli meats that were linked to more than a dozen deaths. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Phillip Green said there was no evidence the company knew the products were adulterated. As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, the Chicago-based food and consumer goods maker was fined $200,000 and agreed to a $1.2 million civil settlement with the government for meat it sold to the U.S. Defense Department. Sara Lee also agreed to pay $3 million to fund food safety research at Michigan State University.
Read more. . .
Jury Hands Down $51.5 Million Verdict Against Wal-Mart in Service Vending Deal
Associated Press - Business.com - June 22, 2001
A jury returned a $51.5 million verdict against retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for the way it ended a business deal with a vending company. The jury reached its verdict Wednesday after a three-day trial in Lawrence County Circuit Court. The jury awarded $1.5 million in actual damages to Service Vending Co. and $50 million in punitive damages.
Read more. . .
Sunday, June 24, 2001
ADR on the Upswing
David Hechler -- The National Law Journal -- June 25, 2001
In 1997, when David B. Lipsky and Ronald L. Seeber, two Cornell University professors, surveyed the Fortune 1000, 87 percent of the companies responding had used mediation at least once during the previous three years and 80 percent had used arbitration.
Today, most of the organizations that collect ADR data report substantial increases in recent years. For example, of the cases filed between 1996 and 2000 with the American Arbitration Association, mediations and arbitrations combined almost tripled. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in March 2001 that mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts are legal (Circuit City Stores v. Adams, No. 99-1379), many in the field, including the Cornell professors, expect the numbers to explode.
From their own widely cited research, Lipsky and Seeber conclude that roughly 10 percent of the Fortune 1000 dislike ADR and rarely use it. Another 80 percent are in what Lipsky calls an experimental mode: "There's a lot of benchmarking going on -- companies looking at each other and trying to figure out what to do." But he and Seeber were most intrigued by the remaining 10 percent that had institutionalized ADR by implementing conflict-management systems. This surprised the professors, who decided to zoom in from the wide-angle approach of their first study for close-ups.
The pair spent 18 months examining 19 companies from the Fortune 1000. In their study, which will be published later this year in a New York University labor law book, they will explain why companies made the leap.
Read more . . .
Thursday, June 21, 2001
Associates Rate Partners -- What Next? Rating Clients?
Article (not the above headline) by Brenda Sapino Jeffreys -- Texas Lawyer -- June 21, 2001
Partners who treat associates like slaves may soon be as rare in large Texas firms as manual typewriters. Firms hope the use of 360-degree reviews will help change the behavior of inconsiderate partners -- that they'll even vie for the good opinion of underlings. "We have a really competitive bunch," says Susman Godfrey's Robert Rivera. "There's how much business you bring in, how much [money] you win, and what do the associates think."
[Recalls for me Alice talking to herself in Chapter Two, "The Pool of Tears": "`You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, `a great girl like you, to go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall."]
Read more . . .
Rising Incidence of Men Suing Men for Workplace Sex Bias
Randall J. Peach -- New Jersey Law Journal -- June 21, 2001
More and more men are claiming to be victims of sexual harassment in the workplace -- usually by other men. In the past, the conduct now being complained of by men would have been dismissed as harmless "locker-room" antics, say lawyers. But now, a man's sexual harassment claim may result in a lawsuit more often than a woman's claim, since companies may be slower to recognize a problem involving a male victim.
Read more . . .
Wednesday, June 20, 2001
Top of Mind: McCarthy Tétrault Consistently Recommended as a Leading Canadian Law Firm by the Lexpert Directory
Toronto, March 2001 – McCarthy Tétrault maintains a prominent position as one of the leading law firms recommended by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory ("Lexpert Directory") for 2001. Once again, the firm and its lawyers were recognized in the Lexpert Directory as having an industry-leading place in a broad spectrum of practice areas.
With more rankings than any other Canadian law firm, McCarthy Tétrault continues to be home to an impressive number of the leading practitioners recognized by the Lexpert Directory. The Directory records
that 140 McCarthy Tétrault lawyers are recommended in their areas of practice, with a total of 204 citations for these practitioners in one or more related practice areas.
McCarthy Tétrault is one of the "most frequently recommended" firms for banking and financial services, corporate and commercial, corporate finance and securities, corporate commercial litigation, medical
negligence, personal tax planning and property development. The firm increased its recommendations in 12 practice areas in the Lexpert Directory 2001, including: asset securitization, banking and financial
services, computer and IT, litigation (all categories), oil and gas, personal tax planning and property development.
The firm is honoured to be ranked among the leading Canadian law practices which have established a "strong presence" in international markets. According to the Lexpert Directory, of the "magic circle of firms" known as the Seven Sisters, none "can match McCarthy Tétrault in terms of its formidable presence in of the four major markets in Canada." Moreover, McCarthy Tétrault is the only firm that has top-tier, full-service offices in Toronto, Montréal, Calgary and Vancouver.
The annual Lexpert Directory is a comprehensive guide of leading law firms and practitioners across Canada in over 50 practice areas. McCarthy Tétrault’s continued prominence in the Lexpert Directory attests to our prominence among Canadian law firms and the high-profile, ‘top of mind’ reputation of our lawyers.
Big Suits – Big Decision: McCarthy Tétrault Wins Significant Decision for Municipalities and Receivers across Canada
Toronto, March 2001 – McCarthy Tétrault represented the Corporation of the City of Hamilton (the “City”) in a precedent-setting judgement released February 28, 2001, by the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Mr.
Justice Austin for the Court of Appeal held that the claim for property taxes by a municipality in a receivership has priority over the claims of fully secured creditors.
The case arose out of the receivership of Usarco Limited, a scrap metal dealer and processor with property in Hamilton. Usarco owed a secured creditor, the Toronto-Dominion Bank (the “Bank”), about $18 million on the property as well as property tax arrears to the City. The Bank appealed from the decision of Mr. Justice Alvin Rosenberg made June 2, 1997; that the property taxes from the receivership should have been paid to the City before the Bank received payment.
Read More . . .
The Power and the Glory: McCarthy Tétrault Partner Appointed Chairman of NERC
Montréal, April 2001 – Richard R. Drouin, Q.C., a partner in the Montréal office of McCarthy Tétrault, was recently appointed Chairman of the Board of the North American Electric Reliability Council (“NERC”).
Privacy Notice Requirement is an Opportunity to Get in Touch with Clients
Ruth Bryna Cohen - The Legal Intelligencer - June 20, 2001
A recently noticed Federal Trade Commission regulation (16 CFR Part 313) accompanying the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires law firms to send notice of their privacy policies to any individual with whom they have a "customer relationship" by July 1. (16 CFR Part 313, is available online at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/05/65fr33645.pdf.)
"Although Gramm-Leach-Bliley was drafted to apply to financial institutions, the act considers tax preparers to fall into that category, which includes law firms that provide tax-related services. Real estate settlement transactions for individuals also are covered by the FTC regulation. The notice requirement does not apply to tax preparation or acting as a settlement agent for trusts, foundations or other non-individual entities."
See Network member firm Ruden, McClosky's website for a good example of a notice that could be sent to your clients.
Read more. . .
Monday, June 18, 2001
Snell & Wilmer Gets Kudos from Altec for Job Well Done and Being Well Done
Alex Marconi received this letter from Rob Hunter regarding a matter currently being handled by Snell & Wilmer for Altec:
Alex:
I wanted to thank you for hooking us up with Terry Roman [of Snell's Phoenix office] on our DOT matter and to let you know what a great job she has done. Not only is she knowledgeable of the law and creative in her approach, but she also knows the political roads to follow in seeking resolution. Beyond that, she has offered to provide us an opinion letter that will permit us to operate during this period prior to formal resolution of the problem. This latter action, in my view, represents the attorney/client relationship at its very best - the lawyer is not just providing opinions, but is willing to stand behind them, and, more importantly, is providing solutions. . . . I'm convinced you have put together the best team I possibly could have. Regardless of outcome, I appreciate that.
Rob
Tech provides evolving opportunity for law firms - Specialized units spring up as laws governing tech ventures grow more complex.
Chad Eric Watt - Orlando Business Journal - June 15, 2001
Law firms in Central Florida and elsewhere are discovering that serving as legal counsel for emerging technology companies can be a lucrative business. But advising a young start-up tech firm presents challenges that don't often come up in more traditional law practices. Tech companies face a volume of varied legal questions as they develop. To work with those companies, corporate law firms are breaking down the walls between traditional legal divisions, in an effort to get closer to their clients.
Read more. . .
Got a score to settle? Consider an arbitrator.
Noel C. Paul - The Christian Science Monitor - June 16, 2001
"Consumers growing weary of the nation's backlogged court system are discovering other outlets to settle their legal disputes. Hastened by calls for speedier trials and lower legal fees, public and private arbitration and mediation services have sprouted up across the country in the past decade. Their procedures are less formal and confrontational, and the absence of lawyers is not uncommon. Some experts believe the services have injected a spirit of creativity and flexibility into a legal system that has grown increasingly rigid over the past 20 years. Mediations are not legal hearings, yet a signed mediation agreement almost always holds up in court. A third party - not a judge - simply helps guide the two parties toward a mutual agreement. The sessions usually last no more than a few afternoons, and often cost less than $200.
"Perhaps best of all: Some 85 percent of mediations end with agreement, according to the National Arbitration Forum (NAF). Arbitration hearings take longer to settle - from a week to a few months, or even a year. They are normally run by a former judge or attorney whose decision is binding. Legal fees are higher, and both sides often call witnesses. Yet the cost is usually about one-fourth that of going to trial. Both methods appear to be drawing more Americans away from the courts."
Read more. . .
Nursing homes brace for legal assault
Scott Shepard - Memphis Business Jouranl - June 15, 2001
Tennessee's nursing homes are in the cross-hairs of a Florida law firm that has single-handedly created a new industry: personal injury lawsuits against nursing homes. Starting in Florida and then advancing through Alabama, Texas, Arkansas and now Tennessee and California, the Tampa-based firm of Wilkes & McHugh has been compared by critics to the Borg, a sci-fi race that consumes everything in its path and then moves on. Typically retaining 40% of any settlement, Wilkes & McHugh has generated more than $100 million in contingency fees in the past five years, but officials with the firm say it's not about the money -- it's about putting the nursing home industry out of business. And driving their liability rates sky high is part of the plan.
Read more. . .
SEC lawsuit points up the need for background checks
Jenni Bergal - Sun-Sentinel - June 17, 2001
The offer sounded great: A rapidly growing Miami company that hosted Internet Web sites was looking for investors, who were told they could expect huge returns. But the operation wasn't what it appeared to be, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Web Hosting Headquarters Partnership and its officials in December, claiming securities fraud. The SEC alleged that at least 132 investors across the nation were defrauded out of $2.5 million in the scheme, which it called a boiler-room operation. Not only did the company exaggerate its customer numbers and mislead investors about potential returns, but it failed to disclose any information about the two men who controlled Web Hosting behind the scenes, according to the SEC civil lawsuit. Both had extensive disciplinary histories of securities or commodities laws violations, the suit alleged. The men have denied the SEC's allegations, and a lawyer for one characterized the difficulties as basically start-up problems. State and federal officials have grown increasingly concerned about Internet fraud and the backgrounds of some of the people who run both real and phony dot-com companies. Last month, the FBI and Justice Department charged 88 people within 10 days in a nationwide series of investigations into Internet fraud, in which more than 56,000 victims lost $117 million.
Read more. . .
OxyContin makers face another lawsuit
The Associated Press - June 16, 2001
A multibillion-dollar lawsuit has been filed against the makers of the painkiller OxyContin and two doctors, claiming they failed to alert patients that the drug was dangerously addictive. The drug, intended for use by terminal cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers, has been linked to at least 120 overdose deaths nationwide. The suit was filed Friday in Lee County Circuit Court by seven people who are former addicts or relatives of addicts. The suit, which seeks class-action status for other victims, alleges the drug's makers aggressively marketed the painkiller while downplaying its risks.
Read more. . .
Sunday, June 17, 2001
Wildman Harrold Wins Patent Infringement Suit
CHICAGO – After a three-day trial and 2½ hours of deliberation, a Federal Court jury returned a verdict in favor of Northfield Corporation, a manufacturer and servicer of coupon insertion and labeling equipment.
In Unique Coupons, Inc. v. Northfield Corporation, the plaintiff alleged that Northfield’s Model 3200, when used in combination with its customers’ equipment, infringes two of plaintiff’s patents. Northfield proved that its coupon insertion method utilized a coupon insertion method not covered by those patents.
Tried before the Hon. Harry D. Leinenweber of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the case was bifurcated to separate damages and liability issues. This first phase was tried to determine if there was infringement of the patents. Had the jury found in favor of Unique Coupons, the case would have proceeded to a hearing on damages.
Lead counsel for Northfield, John Letchinger, commented, "I am grateful that the jury listened to the testimony on Northfield’s coupon insertion method and was able to distinguish that method from those covered by the patents. The jury’s level of attention to the technical details is a credit to the system."
Northfield still has pending counterclaims and will ask the Court to award it attorneys’ fees and costs under both the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Patent Statutes.
Unique Coupons, based in Illinois, also manufactures and markets coupon inserting equipment in competition with Northfield, a Wisconsin-based company.
John Letchinger and Heather Boice of Wildman Harrold represented Northfield at trial. George Bosy of Roper & Quigg represented the plaintiff.
Wildman Harrold is a Chicago-based law firm with a full-service intellectual property practice of 35 attorneys. The firm’s 215+ lawyers maintain a broad practice, including e-commerce, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and securities, venture capital, tax, finance, creditors’ rights, employment, environmental, employee benefits, estate planning, probate and family law, governmental affairs, health care and real estate, in addition to its national litigation practice. The firm also maintains suburban offices in Lisle and Waukegan, Illinois.
| Lowenstein Sandler Acquires Commercial Finance Group in Connection with its New New York City Office | |
Lowenstein Sandler PC, New Jersey's second largest law firm, recently announced that a group of attorneys concentrating in commercial finance, including asset-based lending, has joined the firm and opened a New York City office. The new practice areas will complement the firm's established strengths in corporate and commercial financing, and broaden the services offered to its regional base of clients.
The Commercial Finance Practice Group will focus on asset-based lending, equipment leasing and bank lending. Miriam L. Cohen, who previously practiced with Hahn & Hessen, a highly-recognized bankruptcy and commercial law firm in New York City, will chair the Group and will be the resident New York office leader. Ms. Cohen will be joined by Linda C. Berman, Scott J. Giordano and Lowell A. Citron, as well as several additional attorneys. "I am extremely pleased about our decision to join Lowenstein Sandler. Our clients will be well served by the added strength of a regional, full-service firm," stated Ms. Cohen. |
 Miriam L. Cohen represents financial institutions in all aspects of asset-based lending. Her experience also includes workouts, restructurings, debtor-in-possession financing, trade finance and factoring. Ms. Cohen was selected by The Export Import Bank of the United States to assist in revamping its working capital guarantee program and she worked closely with the Bank to revise the documentation relating to the program. In addition, she has worked with major investment banks in structuring transactions where credit support is essential. Ms. Cohen is a member of the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association. |  Linda C. Berman represents financial institutions in the structuring, negotiation and preparation of documentation for both working capital and acquisition financings. Ms. Berman has also been involved in many loan workout and restructuring matters for commercial banks and finance companies as well as factoring matters, debtor-in-possession financing and asset-backed warehousing and repurchase transactions. In addition, Ms. Berman has extensive experience in structuring and documenting healthcare receivables transactions. She serves on the Executive Board of the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys, and is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. |
 Scott J. Giordano concentrates his practice in commercial finance, factoring and equipment leasing matters. He has represented financial institutions, factors and leasing companies in the preparation and negotiation of complex finance, factoring, leasing and general corporate law documentation. Mr. Giordano is a member of the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys, the Equipment Leasing Association and the American Bar Association. |  Lowell A. Citron has structured and closed numerous asset-based financing transactions, mortgage warehousing transactions, bank work-out transactions, trade finance transactions, factoring arrangements and mortgage repurchase transactions for money center financial institutions and major investment banks. While he works on a wide range of transactions, he is typically involved in complex financing deals including multinational syndicated transactions. Mr. Citron is a member of the Commercial Finance Association, the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. |
 "Lowenstein Sandler's enhanced practice in commercial finance, including asset-based lending fully complements the firm's strength in all aspects of corporate and commercial financing. The attorneys in the Commercial Finance Practice Group will provide broader services to the firm's existing clients and provide support to related practices such as banking and bankruptcy," said Michael L. Rodburg, Lowenstein Sandler's Managing Director. "This acquisition comes just one year after we acquired one of the largest bankruptcy practices in New Jersey, with major matters in New York and Delaware," added Rodburg. |  "The firm's New York City presence and the prominence of its office location will enable us to better serve our regional base of clients and fuel our continued growth," said John D. Schupper, Lowenstein Sandler's Chief Financial Officer. |
| The firm's new offices are located at 1330 Avenue of the Americas, 21st Floor, New York, New York, 10019. Complementing its well-known traditional corporate and litigation practice is a commitment to technological innovation in the practice of law. In 2000, the firm placed fourth nationally in a law firm technology survey conducted by AmLaw Tech. Lowenstein Sandler PC is ranked among the nation's top 200 firms. The full-service firm has approximately 200 attorneys with offices in Roseland, Somerville and Princeton, New Jersey, as well as New York City. |
Major Victory for Corr Cronin Client in Potential Class Action Involving 10,000 Plaintiffs
On June 1, 2001, Whatcom County Superior Court Judge David Nichols granted the State of Washington's motion for summary judgment dismissing most of the claims brought by 13 plaintiffs and their putative class of 10,000 foster children against the State of Washington. All procedural due process claims, all 1983 civil rights claims, all federal claims based on the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, and all claims based on the Washington State Constitution were dismissed with prejudice.
This ruling was particularly significant because plaintiffs based virtually all of their punitive damages, attorneys' fees, class claims, and injunctive claims on the causes of action that were dismissed.
Hired as Special Assistant Attorney Generals by the State of Washington, Corr Cronin wrote the brief and argued the motion for the State of Washington.
Friday, June 15, 2001
On a Roll, SF Member Firm Morgenstein & Jubelirer Shoots into Las Vegas |
 |
|  Bet BLACK BELT CHAMPION
John Worden,
M&J's newest member of the Nevada Bar, will be in the chips as M&J's newest office gets rolling in dicey Las Vegas. | |
LAS VEGAS 
|
SAN FRANCISCO 
|
M&J's New Las Vegas Office Morgenstein & Jubelirer, LLP
Hughes Center II
3753 Howard Hughes Parkway
Suite 200
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702-892-3900
702-892-3950 Fax
| Also, please update your phone numbers for M&J's SF office: Morgenstein & Jubelirer, LLP
Spear Street Tower
32nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-901-8700
415-901-8701 Fax |
| Finally, congratulations to David Bromfield and Shawn Parrish, M&J's newest partners, both based in SF. |
 David is a 1988 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a note editor of the Michigan Law Review. His commercial litigation practice includes products liability, environmental contamination, and construction defect and delay claims, with particular focus on claims involving allegations of fraud and unfair business practices. David received his bachelor of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined Morgenstein & Jubelirer after practicing law at Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, where he was a member of the appellate practice group. He continues to handle a variety of post-trial challenges, including appeals.
|  Shawn is a 1991 cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. He received his bachelor's degree cum laude from Princeton University in 1987. From 1991 to 1992, he clerked for Hon. Glenn Mencer of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. And, he is the co-author of articles that have appeared in the Santa Clara Law Review and the National Law Journal. Prior to joining Morgenstein & Jubelirer in 1997, Shawn was an associate with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe in San Francisco. Mr. Parrish is the author of California's Trade Secrets Act: California Has Not Yet Adopted "Inevitable Disclosure" published in the San Francisco Attorney Magazine, April/May 2001. |
Gunderson's Guaranteed Bonus a Goner - Cost-cutting drive kills $20,000 associate perk
Renee Deger - The Recorder - June 14, 2001
The law firm that started the salary wars is in retreat. Menlo Park, Calif.'s Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian canceled its guaranteed bonuses for associates, effectively cutting salaries by as much as $20,000. As if that's not a glaring enough sign of the economic downturn, the firm's associates have largely swallowed the cut and said they are pleased to still have jobs.
Read more. . .
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
What Firm Administrators Really Want
Richard Barbieri and Lisa Benshoff - Legal Times - June 13, 2001
Law firms are getting serious about management -- their own. Firms are now run as businesses, and, increasingly, are run by professional managers. What are the backgrounds of the new breed of law firm managers, and what do they do? Legal Times explores these questions with Washington, D.C., area law firm administrators. Also, experienced administrators offer advice on preventing workplace violence, and how to find financial management talent to ensure the future of a firm.
Read more. . .
Skadden Strikes Alliance With Italian Firm
John E. Morris - The Deal - June 13, 2001
Count one less independent European law firm. Italy's Chiomenti Studio Legale has agreed to an exclusive alliance with New York's Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom -- in the biggest foray yet in Italy by a New York-based firm. Chiomenti, with 120 lawyers and tax advisers, has a reputation as one of the best Italian corporate practices. It was wooed last year by New York's Shearman & Sterling and is the last big Italian firm not allied with one in London.
Read more. . .
Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Paying the Price - Consultants forecast layoffs at firms that 'overpaid'
Jeff Blumenthal - The Legal Intelligencer - June 12, 2001
The economy has taken that aforementioned downward turn, firms are not as busy as they have been in recent years and managing partners are plotting their next move. With the raises doled out during strong economic times and firms trying to pay for them during a slowdown, the ugly word "layoff" has begun to spill out of the mouths of some respected law firm consultants as the eventual and most viable alternative. Firms need to keep track of staffing ratios and expenditures in technology and marketing. And they need to evaluate what lawyers and what practices are strong and which ones are not, and then act on that information.
Read more. . .
Saturday, June 09, 2001
$14M Compensatory and $25M Punitive Damages Awarded in Texas TM Infringement Suit
Friday, June 08, 2001
Small Law Firms Find Way to Compete With Giants
Jonathan D. Glater - The New York Times - June 8, 2001
Alliances among law firms are one way that smaller firms are trying to compete with firms with offices all over the country, not to mention elsewhere in the world. The networks also offer an alternative to growth by mergers or acquisitions, which can create a host of problems because they require law firms to prune clients with conflicting interests and combine managements that might differ in substantial ways. While it is difficult to determine how many networks there are, lawyers say that after a lull during the recession of the early 1990's, the networks began to proliferate again as the economy expanded and the number of cross- border legal issues increased.
* * *
By JONATHAN D. GLATER
When his client presented Steven M. Nobil, a lawyer, with a problem involving California labor law, Mr. Nobil had a choice. He could deal with the issue from his office in Cleveland, probably costing the client, White Consolidated Industries, a few hundred extra dollars for legal research, or he could simply refer the question to a California firm.
He chose the referral.
This was not a case of lawyerly altruism. Mr. Nobil's firm, Millisor & Nobil, belongs to a network linking 24 small employment law firms that represent corporate managers. The firm to which he referred White Consolidated was also in the network.
"We work together as service providers who mutually scratch each other's backs," Mr. Nobil said. "It was more cost effective for him to be referred" to lawyers who could answer the question immediately over the phone, he said, recalling the referral of several years ago. "I probably could've answered his question if I had gone and done some research."
Alliances among law firms are one way that smaller firms are trying to compete with firms with offices all over the country, not to mention elsewhere in the world. The networks also offer an alternative to growth by mergers or acquisitions, which can create a host of problems because they require law firms to prune clients with conflicting interests and combine managements that might differ in substantial ways.
While it is difficult to determine how many networks there are, lawyers say that after a lull during the recession of the early 1990's, the networks began to proliferate again as the economy expanded and the number of cross- border legal issues increased.
"If you look back 10 years, there might have been 100" networks, said Charles A. Maddock, a principal at Altman Weil Inc., a consulting firm based in Newtown Square, Pa., that advises law firms. Today, he said, "we've identified more than 300 national and international law-firm networks."
The networks function primarily as a way for lawyers to refer their clients to colleagues in other cities, states, or countries, particularly when those clients need help in another jurisdiction. Technology has enabled more and more companies to do business worldwide, lawyers say, and that means corporate clients need to have legal advice in many locations — from Los Angeles to New York, and also at times in Moscow, Buenos Aires or Tokyo.
Smaller law firms seeking to avoid being swallowed up in mergers, but still competing to serve corporations that need legal advice spanning national and international borders, can use networks to compete around the country or around the world. Through networks, they can pool resources and maintain relationships with lawyers in other jurisdictions.
One older network, Lex Mundi, which was created in 1989, is just such a counterweight to global firms. The network has more than 158 member firms in 90 countries, and allows law firms that may not have the manpower of a New York behemoth like Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom to offer a client advice about a merger with a Brazilian company as well as about a domestic stock offering.
The network carefully screens law firms before inviting them to join, to try to ensure that the same quality of legal service will be provided by any member. The idea is not only to refer clients who may not know where to look for lawyers in another jurisdiction, said Lynne E. Deitch, a partner at the Detroit firm of Butzel Long and the incoming chair of Lex Mundi, but also to draw on local expertise.
For example, Ms. Deitch had a client that wanted to use an employment application form in several states, but needed to make sure that the form met the different requirements in each jurisdiction.
"I got answers from experts in those states," she said, using law firms that belonged to the network. Lawyers at her firm could have done the research to find out what the law in each state was, but it would have taken longer and cost the client more. "It was much more cost-effective doing it this way," she said.
In another case, she said, member firms helped conduct research on a trademark that a company wanted to register in 23 countries. In that case, to simplify the client's life, Butzel Long received all the bills for work done by the various law firms, and sent the client one big bill. Usually, once a client is referred, each firm separately charges for its services. Fees are normally not shared among the firms, and law firms within networks do not charge for referrals.
Other law firm associations are looser and may serve a different function. One such network, Private Enterprise Counsel, is not intended to serve primarily as a means of referring clients, but as a way for its six member firms to pool resources, said Terri Krivosha, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at the Minneapolis firm of Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand.
"The emphasis of this network was different," she said. "It was a network designed for law firms that were not in competition with each other to leverage off each other" by sharing their management expertise and marketing materials.
For example, the firms shared the cost of surveying small-business owners about their service needs, allowing each member firm to share the data with its own clients. Members of the two-year-old network may also use each other's promotional materials, with one firm taking another's brochure and adapting it to use itself, she said.
Law firms that belong to networks are still independent of each other — one advantage of the network is avoiding the cost of a formal merger, lawyers say. That independence can create a problem if a member firm cannot take a referral because that client is suing another of its clients. In that case, clients must find a local lawyer some other way.
Because law firm alliances allow small firms to compete more readily against large firms for big corporate clients, they have also been used to help lawyers historically unable to break into that part of the market. The American Bar Association created a network of 21 minority-owned law firms in 1989, and lined up three big companies — General Motors, Chrysler and Aetna Life and Casualty (now Aetna Inc.) — as sponsoring clients. "It grew to over 100 minority-owned firms and over 60 corporate sponsors," said Manny Sanchez, a founding partner of Sanchez & Daniels, which was the smallest of the 21 initial firms. At the time, Sanchez & Daniels had only three lawyers; the largest firm had approximately 25 lawyers. It also showed that minority-owned firms could indeed provide the services that large corporations need.
Out of the A.B.A. network came the Elephant, a network of minority- owned firms that Mr. Sanchez helped organize. That network ultimately imploded when some of its larger member firms disbanded, he said. Now, Mr. Sanchez's firm belongs to the Harmonie Group, a network founded in 1992 that has approximately 60 litigation firms, ranging in size from 12 lawyers to more than 200 lawyers, specializing in noncriminal defense.
While networks help smaller firms to take on referred business from far-off markets, they confer advantages on big firms, too. "We're members of several networks and always have been," said Bill H. McBride, managing partner of Holland & Knight, a law firm in Tampa, Fla., with more than 1,200 lawyers in offices in several states and overseas.
Holland & Knight has expanded through acquisitions of smaller firms, but Mr. McBride said the networks were also helpful because it was not possible to have offices everywhere. The networks "give you an opportunity to know someone to whom you can refer your clients," he said. (Holland & Knight has also been a pioneer in the more controversial practice of offering nonlegal services, like private investigations or translation services along with traditional legal advice.)
The decision of Mr. Nobil to refer his client, White Consolidated, a maker of home appliances for Sears, Roebuck and others, illustrates how such arrangements are handled within legal networks. He told Richard Chesnick, the chief labor lawyer for White Consolidated at the time, that a firm in Los Angeles could probably answer his question quickly and cheaply. And one of Mr. Nobil's partners called the California firm to explain that Mr. Chesnick was a valued client.
"The local firm knew the answer" right away to a question about California laws on the minimum wage and maximum overtime hours, said Mr. Chesnick, who is now vice president for human resources at Brush Engineered Materials Inc. "They were very cost-effective."
White Consolidated was a longtime client of Millisor & Nobil, Mr. Chesnick added, and so he trusted its judgment. "Labor work especially is specialized, and it's hard to find good labor counsel in small towns," he said. "I liked Millisor & Nobil."
The high cost of legal services, Mr. Chesnick said, means that it makes sense to hire big law firms only for complex civil lawsuits or corporate transactions. Large firms may charge more than $200 an hour for a junior lawyer. "I don't need that level of overhead when I'm dealing with labor cases, because they tend to be smaller," he said. "It just seems like overkill."
Thursday, June 07, 2001
Thompson Hine Issues Warning: Urgent Deadlines for Protecting Your Domain Names
Seven new generic Top Level Domains (gTLD's) were recently approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to be added to the existing .com, .net and .org gTLD's. The registration process for this has been implemented. If you wish to prevent another party from registering a .biz or .info domain name incorporating your valuable trademarks, or your company wishes to register its own domain names using either the .biz or .info gTLD's, the time to act is now!
As you may have heard, seven new generic Top Level Domains (gTLD's) — .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, and .pro — were recently approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to be added to the existing .com, .net and .org gTLD's.
In this regard, finalized accreditation agreements with the Registries for two gTLD's with possibly the widest potential interest to most businesses, namely .biz and .info, have just been released. The "business" .biz gTLD is restricted to bona fide business or commercial purposes, while the "informational" .info gTLD is unrestricted. Under the accreditation agreements, a limited "sunrise" period has been designated so that parties having preexisting trademarks who wish to register .biz and .info domain names corresponding to those trademarks may assert their rights prior to the release of the .biz and .info gTLD's to the general public.
Accordingly, if you wish to prevent another party from registering a .biz or .info domain name incorporating your valuable trademarks, or your company wishes to register its own domain names using either the .biz or .info gTLD's, the time to act is now!
The method and requirements for asserting trademark rights in each of the new gTLD's is different. Click to learn more about this process.
Wednesday, June 06, 2001
Going ... Going ... Gone - Firms investigate online bidding of legal services
Marissa N. Scarvel - The Legal Intelligencer - June 6, 2001
The Internet has changed the way lawyers communicate, both professionally and personally. Firms have Web sites, use the Internet for legal research, have regular contact with clients and others through e-mail, and in some cases advertise on the Internet. Now some law firms are taking the Internet one step further, turning to a process called e-bidding. More and more companies like Bayer Corp. are using e-bidding to find law firms. While some lawyers say the method is not appropriate for legal services, others say e-bidding is here to stay -- but the transition will be a bumpy one. It threatens some longstanding business relationships between clients and law firms.
Read more. . .
