Antitrust Law

Judge Cites ‘Egregious Breach’ of Ethics, Slashes Law Firm Fee from $12M to $500K

An antitrust class action over the fees charged to law graduates to take the BAR/BRI test preparation course for their bar exams was settled for $49 million in 2007. The settlement by West Publishing Corp., which owns BAR/BRI, resolved claims that it made a secret market-monopolization deal with Kaplan Inc.,…

Sep 28, 2010 8:11 PM CDT

Six Tech Companies, Including Apple and Google, Settle Poaching-Pact Probe

Apple, Google and four other technology companies have settled an antitrust probe into allegations that the companies agreed not to poach each other’s employees. According to a Justice Department complaint filed along with the proposed settlement, the companies had agreed to refrain from cold calling other’s employees to solicit them…

Sep 27, 2010 3:15 PM CDT

EU’s Top Court Rejects In-House Attorney-Client Privilege

Lawyers had hoped the European Union’s top court would rethink its position on the attorney-client privilege in an antitrust case involving a Dutch chemical company. They were rebuffed today when the European Court of Justice ruled that communications between in-house lawyers at Akzo Novel NV and company employees were not…

Sep 14, 2010 3:09 PM CDT

Un-Google That

Google’s new pact may have crisscrossed copyright law

Sep 1, 2010 7:40 AM CDT

Lead Attorney in Microsoft Case Hogged Lion’s Share of $75M Legal Fee, Suit Says

A lead lawyer in a $179.5 million class action antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corp. shared the $75 million legal fee with attorney Richard Hagstrom and the Minneapolis-based Zelle Hoffmann law firm, the Associated Press reports. But Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines, Iowa, didn’t honor an agreement to pay 20 percent…

Jul 6, 2010 10:09 PM CDT

NFL Fumbles; Unanimous Supreme Court Allows Antitrust Suit over Merchandise Marketing

The U.S. Supreme is allowing an Illinois company to bring an antitrust challenge to the National Football League’s exclusive marketing agreement with Reebok for caps with trademarked isignias. The decision was a defeat for the NFL and a victory for American Needle, the company that lost its contract with the…

May 24, 2010 4:14 PM CDT

Airline, Law Firm on Hot Seat in Discovery Debacle & Collapse of Big Price-Fixing Trial

A well-known law firm is on the hot seat along with its client airline over a belatedly produced 2005 e-mail that reportedly undermined a high-profile criminal cartel trial against four present and former British Airways executives. The four were exonerated today after the United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading said…

May 10, 2010 9:51 PM CDT

While Winning $1.25B in Bet-the-Farm Case, Lead Trial Lawyers Also Were Divorcing Each Other

As one of the top trial lawyers in California, partner Linda Smith of O’Melveny & Myers was an obvious choice to work on a major antitrust case against Intel Corp. on behalf of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. And so was her husband, O’Melveny partner and litigation star Chuck Diamond. The…

Apr 13, 2010 8:54 PM CDT

Defense Lawyer’s ‘Punch Me’ Claim: Colleagues Drove Up Legal Costs

An antitrust lawyer who worked at Drinker, Biddle & Reath until he was asked to leave last year is claiming that defense lawyers’ legal strategy drove up the costs of a lawsuit over nurses’ wages in the Chicago area. Lawyer John Cusack told the Chicago Tribune that lawyers representing the…

Mar 15, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Can Antitrust Law Save the American Farmer? Holder Pledges Scrutiny

Attorney General Eric Holder told Iowa farmers at a public forum Friday that he is working with federal agricultural officials to scrutinize anti-competitive practices that affect farmers. About 500 people attended the meeting, including farmers and public relations executives for Monsanto, said to be under investigation already for its practices…

Mar 15, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

70-Year-Old Lawyer Hits One-Year Mark in Jail in Contempt Case

A year ago, a Los Angeles County superior court judge sentenced lawyer Richard Fine to jail indefinitely after he refused to provide personal financial information in an attorney fee dispute. Now? He is still in jail, Dan Walters writes in a column for the Sacramento Bee, if not still a…

Mar 10, 2010 7:03 PM CST

Employees of 5 Companies Charged in Alleged Bribery Plot; Substandard Foods Sold

Federal prosecutors have accused a food supplier of orchestrating a scheme to pay bribes to get food companies to buy foods that were sometimes substandard. Frederick Scott Salyer, the owner of tomato processing company SK Foods, has been charged with racketeering, fraud and obstruction of justice, the New York Times…

Feb 25, 2010 1:21 PM CST

Meet Microsoft GC Brad Smith: He Put ‘a Smiling Face on an Aggressive Strategy’

Even when Microsoft was facing antitrust sanctions from the European Union, the company’s chief lawyer kept his sense of humor. Legal counsel Brad Smith joked with Europe’s antitrust lawyer about the way negotiations were like the movie Fatal Attraction, according to the Seattle Times blog Microsoft Pri0. In the movie,…

Feb 23, 2010 4:50 PM CST

McGuireWoods Denied Fee in $49M BAR/BRI Settlement; Conflict Cited

A federal judge has ruled that McGuireWoods won’t get any attorney fees in a $49 million antitrust settlement with BAR/BRI parent company West Publishing Corp. U.S. District Judge Manuel Real ruled earlier this month that the law firm is not entitled to $12 million in fees because of a conflict…

Feb 18, 2010 1:50 PM CST

Can Patent Holders Buy Off Infringers? Courts Take Another Look

For the second time in three years a case about “reverse payments” is before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And this time the New York City-based court may ignore its own binding precedent and do a sharp about-face on the issue. The last time the 2nd Circuit considered…

Feb 15, 2010 2:01 PM CST