Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Bush to Seek Legal-Cost Cap With Terror-Insurance Law
John D. McKinnon -- Wall Street Journal -- 11/27/02
WASHINGTON -- In the opening salvo of a new assault on what he called the "legal class," President Bush said he will seek to limit payments to plaintiffs' lawyers under a new federal terrorism-insurance program.
Mr. Bush said the Treasury Department would try to impose curbs as it implements the terrorism-insurance program, which will provide federal support for the troubled insurance market. "I look forward to working with the new Congress on stronger measures to prevent abusive lawsuits," the president added.
Reining in perceived litigation excesses is shaping up as one of the top priorities of Mr. Bush and his business allies when Congress convenes next year. Last summer, the president opened the administration's discussion on civil-justice-system changes, calling for new limits on medical-malpractice awards as a way to make health care more affordable.
Now, with the Republican sweep in the November elections, momentum appears to be growing for broader efforts. Possible targets include class-action suits, which critics say have spun out of control, as well as punitive-damage awards.
The effort is likely to include more-targeted attempts to ease the impact of particular types of cases -- asbestos claims, for example. The new homeland-security law Mr. Bush signed Monday protects pharmaceuticals companies from some litigation over vaccines for childhood illnesses.
* * *
The President said that the secretary of the Treasury "will work to ensure that settlements are fair to victims, not windfalls for the legal class."
Read more . . .
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
ING to force London banking firms to earn their keep
Naomi Rovnick -- 11/25/02
ING, the largest financial services group in the Netherlands, is setting up its first global banking panel in an attempt to cut costs. The panel will be for the investment and wholesale banking divisions of ING's £38bn organisation. The financial giant, which last week cut 1,000 jobs, will give a handful of international firms the bulk of its global banking work. In return firms will be expected to offer discounts on aborted deals, fixed fees and flexible rates.
According to ING's London-based head of equity and corporate governance Adrian Marsh, ING has not been as aware as it could be about who it is instructing and is missing out on demanding added value from law firms. "We're giving out a lot of work and should be aware of what law firms can give us. Panel firms will be asked to do deals for fixed fees, and, if working alongside us on an equity issue, will be expected to be flexible on things like discounts," Marsh said.
Sources close to ING told The Lawyer that individual bankers and corporate financiers have near total autonomy over the lawyers they use.
When the panel is complete they will only be able to instruct firms on the list. "It's difficult for an organisation like ours to say, 'Thou shalt only use three law firms', but we would aim to give a big proportion of our work to a few major firms," said Marsh.
ING currently uses Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Linklaters across the board; Latham & Watkins and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy for securitisation; and Dutch firms DeBrauw Blackstone Westbroek and Stibbe in the Benelux region.
Marsh said there was "no guarantee" that any of these firms would gain panel places. The panel itself is expected to be set up within the next three or four months, with invitations to tender going out in around two months. Marsh stressed that applications will be by invitation only.
It is becoming increasingly the norm for banks and other organisations to demand significant fee reductions from law firms in return for a panel place. In January, for example, Credit Suisse First Boston's investment banking division successfully negotiated discounts from firms that had won a place on its panel of external lawyers approved for global work (The Lawyer, 21 January).
See also: CSFB panel review reaps savings as firms agree to reduced legal fees
Credit Suisse First Boston's (CSFB) investment banking division has successfully negotiated discounts from firms which want a place on the bank's list of external lawyers that are approved for global work.
Read more . . .
Judge Allows St. Louis To Sue Lead Paint Manufacturers
New York Lawyer -- November 25, 2002 --Associated Press
A judge has allowed the city to continue to seek millions of dollars in damages from seven lead paint manufacturers. Judge Margaret Neill threw out some of St. Louis' claims but rejected most arguments for dismissing the city's lawsuit, which contends that the companies misrepresented or failed to disclose the hazardous nature of lead and lead products. "This court concludes that the widespread alleged presence of lead paint in the city's housing stock presents a very serious and pervasive threat to the public health, as well as an environmental hazard, and therefore qualifies as a public nuisance," Neill wrote.
The ruling, issued Wednesday and made public Friday, allows the city to continue what it says is an effort to make its housing lead-safe and to help families hurt by lead contamination.
* * *
Estimates for fixing the problem run as high as $40 million for St. Louis alone. Individuals and communities have filed more than 40 lawsuits against lead paint companies since 1989. All have failed.
A Rhode Island jury was unable to reach a verdict last month in that state's case against the paint industry. Cities including San Francisco, Milwaukee, New York and Newark, N.J., also have filed lawsuits, and several other states were considering such action. St. Louis is suing American Cyanimid Co., Atlantic Richfield Co., DuPont & Co., Glidden Co., NL Industries Inc., SCM Corp. and Sherwin-Williams Co. No trial date has been set.
A Word to the Wise -- Inexperience Can Be Really Costly; A Malpracticing Law Firm Can Be Liable for Punitive Damages Awarded Against Client
Malpractice Claims Against LeBoeuf Lamb Go Forward
New York Lawyer -- November 25, 2002
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman last week denied a motion to dismiss malpractice claims against LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green & MacRae made by former client the Sheraton Corporation, the New York Law Journal reports.
Sheraton sued LeBoeuf for $50 million last December, charging the firm mishandled a case by making an inexperienced associate lead trial counsel. A jury in the 1999 trial at issue ordered the hotel company to pay more than $50 million in damages, including $37.5 million in punitive damages, though these were later reduced by $20 million.
In upholding Sheraton's punitive damages claims, Justice Gammerman said punitive damages could be considered an economic consequence of the alleged malpractice rather than an indemnification request to a bad-faith actor.
Verdicts Swelling From Big to Bigger
Jurors desensitized, or just plain angry
Tresa Baldas -- The National Law Journal -- 11-25-2002
In the last few months, a Los Angeles jury awarded a dying smoker $28 billion in an action against a tobacco company, and a Kentucky jury delivered a $271 million award to a burn victim in a personal injury suit against a utility. A look at The National Law Journal's Top 100 Verdicts of 2001 shows the No. 1 verdict totaling just more than $3 billion in another tobacco action, Boeken v. Philip Morris Inc., No. BC 226593 (Los Angeles Co., Calif., Super. Ct.) -- well below this year's high mark to date.
And while megaverdicts are often reversed or reduced on appeal, some are surviving, like a record $290 million punitive damages award against the Ford Motor Co. that recently passed muster with the California Supreme Court. Romo v. Ford Motor Co., No. S108991.
Why are juries kicking their generosity into overdrive?
Find out . . .
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Best of LawMarketing - November 19, 2002
Law Firm Mottos [whatever]
(to see who's whose go to 100 Law Firm Branding Tag Lines
[Notably absent:
We Mean Business -- no firm
Litigation Only and Only Litigation -- Corr Cronin
Exceeding Expectations -- Snell & Wilmer
Trial Attorneys -- Wheeler Trigg Kennedy
Texas' Largest Litigation Only Law Firm -- Beirne Maynard & Parsons
A new breed of law firm -- Halleland Lewis Nilan Sipkins & Johnson
A full service law firm -- Ruden McClosky Smith Schuster & Russell
Leading the way -- Keeping Clients Ahead of 21st Century Challenges -- Moore & van Allen
Trial advocacy and Litigation Management -- Goodell Devries Leech & Dann
A civil litigation firm -- Experience, Commitment, Professionalism -- Hecker Brown Sherry and Johnson
Superior Service, Practical Results -- Nixon Peabody]
The mottos:
A global law firm for the 21st century
A law firm serving global clients
A National Law Firm Creating Solutions
A professional corporation
A source of Strength
A Tradition of Excellence
A tradition of innovation
A tradition of quality services, hard work and innovation has established Bell, Boyd & Lloyd as one of the Nation’s leading law firms.
Achieving excellence in the art and science of the law
Advancing Business Through the Law
Ahead of the curve
All we do is Work
An Indiana Law Firm Since 1863 -- We Know the Territory
Are you changing?
Attorneys who make things happen
Big firm experience, small firm attention.
California’s Business Law Firm
Challenge us.
Challenging the laws of convention
Class Action Defense in Canada
Client focus. Global vision.
Clients First. Excellence Always
Commitment to Excellence
Committed to your Success
Counseling visionaries for more than 30 years
Defining VALUE in legal services
Developing Winning Strategies, in the Boardroom and the Courtroom
Empowering local progress
Exceeding Expectations.
Experience. Expertise. Excellence -- Dykema Gossett
Extraordinary Dedication
Focused Practice, Focused knowledge, A clear view of the solutions
For the new business universe
Forging results in a new business age.
Get connected @ Manatt
Global perspective. Local commitment
Global Reach. Local Strength
Global. Connected. Collaborative. Client-focused
Hard Working Law
Innovative legal counsel for a connected world
Integrity Excellence Dedication
It’s not just business. It’s personal.
Lawyering for the information age
Lawyers for the global economy
Lawyers to the Entrepreneurial Community
Leaders in the Law of Ideas
Leadership. Teamwork. Solutions.
Legal & Business Advisors -- It’s a complex world. Be advised.
Legal excellence for more than nine decades
Legal Excellence. Practical Solutions. Worldwide.
Legal innovators
Legal Insight. Business Instinct.
Legal minds. Global intelligence.
Let our experience be your guide
Michigan’s Law Firm
New Jersey’s oldest and largest law firm.
Not if, but how.
One of America’s leading law firms to business
One of Michigan’s largest law firms, with over 120 years of excellence
One world. One Firm. Connected
Our Lawyers mean business and Next Generation Business lawyers
Partnered with Clients – Since 1924
Partnering law & technology
Practical Advice. Sound Solutions.
Practical Professionals. Practical Solutions
Problem Solved
Proskauer means Results
Results Matter
Seeing things differently
Service. Strategy. Success
Serving business since 1864
Serving clients regionally, nationally and internationally
Serving the World’s Leading Innovators
Solutions for a changing world
Staying ahead of change.
Strategic Legal Counsel
Take the lead
Take your ideas to the world.
Technology’s Legal Edge
The Brightest Bulb Burns with Insight
The law firm for the information economy
The law firm for today's Gulf South
The law firm that business builds on
The National Employment & Labor Law Firm
Think/Results
Thinking Ahead
Tradition and innovation since 1887
Trust. Commitment. Integrity.
Trusted legal counsel since 1908
Uncommon Wisdom. Common Sense.
Unique, comprehensive and creative strategies serving your legal and business interests.
Universal in scope -- personal in approach
Vision in Practice
Washington lawyers, worldwide perspective
We help clients cross borders
We know the Medicine and Serving the Professions for Over Half a Century
We’re at the top of our game.
When it counts
When Success Matters
When your future is at stake.
Where law and business meet
Where law, business and technology converge
Where leaders go.
Your guide to the Top
Your network for business law is @gdm.com
Your partners in business growth.
Your strategic business partner
(to see who's whose go to 100 Law Firm Branding Tag Lines
Monday, November 18, 2002
Snell & Wilmer Attorney Douglas Seitz Admitted to American College of Trial Lawyers
PHOENIX- (November 13, 2002)-Snell & Wilmer is proud to announce that Douglas Seitz has been admitted as a Fellow to the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premiere legal associations in America. He joins Snell & Wilmer attorneys John J. Bouma, Warren Platt and Alan Sullivan in that elite group.
Seitz, who has been with Snell & Wilmer since 1975, is a partner and practice group leader with the products liability group in the firm's Phoenix office. His practice is concentrated almost exclusively in civil litigation, focusing on defense of product liability and medical malpractice cases. He has tried cases in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Washington. His extensive defense experience, in part, earned him the fellowship with the College, where he is among only 5,200 members in the United States and Canada.
Seitz was inducted into the College at the organization's annual meeting in New York City. Founded in 1950, the College of Trial Lawyers is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only, and only after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. A minimum of fifteen years trial experience is required before an attorney will be considered for fellowship. Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province.
Thursday, November 07, 2002
SEC Issues Attorney Disclosure Rules
Tamara Loomis -- New York Law Journal -- 11-07-2002
The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed stringent new rules requiring securities lawyers to disclose evidence of wrongdoing at companies they counsel.
The proposed regulations would implement provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed earlier this summer. Congress ordered the agency to draft rules requiring lawyers "to report evidence of a material violation of securities law" to the company's general counsel and then, if the general counsel does not "appropriately respond," to report the evidence to the company's audit committee or board of directors.
Read more . . .
Emerging Lawsuits
Margaret Cronin Fisk -- The National Law Journal -- 11-08-2002
PRODUCT LIABILITY: Claims that 15-passenger vans are inherently unstable and prone to rollovers
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: Lawsuits against doctors and hospitals over aftercare following bariatric or obesity surgery
PERSONAL INJURY: Claims that post-traumatic stress has created an organic brain injury
FRAUD, NEGLIGENCE, CIVIL RICO: Lawsuits against casinos for creating and encouraging compulsive gamblers
NEGLIGENCE: Tracking cell phone use by drivers in auto accidents to determine fault, liability for employers
TELEPHONE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 1991: Class actions targeting companies sending unsolicited faxes and advertisers promoted by the 'junk faxes'
Read more . . .
Monday, November 04, 2002
Survey Says: White Male Jurors a Threat to Corporate Defendants
South Florida Business Journal -- Stephen Van Drake -- Nov. 1, 2002
The new jury target de jour is corporate America, says jury research firm DecisionQuest. Washington, D.C.-based Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), which counts women as minorities, hired DecisionQuest to conduct a scientific survey. MCCA on Oct. 16 announced major findings, including:
-- 75 percent plus of white males deeply distrust corporations (except mom-and-pop shops);
-- Most resent class-action plaintiff lawyers but like individual plaintiff lawyers;
-- Most also believe senior managers know what is going on in a business from the bottom up;
-- 85 percent believe large corporations hide information about dangers associated with their products until government or a lawsuit makes them fess up;
-- 73 percent say managers and senior executives are more likely to perjure themselves than lower-level workers; and
-- 78 percent believe many companies destroy documents hoping to avoid accountability.
Read more . . .
