Corporate Law

Ex-BigLaw Attorneys Profit at Smaller Firm via Flexible Fees & Eat-What-You-Kill Comp

A willingness to be flexible about hourly billing rates and an eat-what-you-kill compensation structure has proven profitable for former BigLaw attorneys now practicing in the “Philadelphia” office of Chamberlain Hrdlicka. The office, which actually is located in Conshohocken, Pa., in the Philadelphia suburbs, resulted from a parting of the ways…

Jun 7, 2010 6:12 PM CDT

7 Surviving Union Carbide Execs Convicted in Case Over 1984 Bhopal Disaster

More than 25 years after 7,000 people died from a toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide Corp. pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, and many more were injured, a court has convicted seven surviving senior executives there of causing death by negligence. The convictions carry maximum two-year jail terms. The…

Jun 7, 2010 4:52 PM CDT

NY Times: Akin Gump Warned Wal-Mart of Risky Gender-Related Pay & Promotion Practices

More than six years before a record-breaking gender-based employment discrimination suit was filed against Wal-Mart Stores in 2001, a law firm warned in a confidential report that the goliath retailer “would find it difficult to fashion a persuasive explanation for disproportionate employment patterns” in its Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores.…

Jun 3, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

No Permission, No Problem: Gary, Ind., Plans Michael Jackson Museum

You might think Indiana officials would have learned a lawsuit lesson from the Dillinger Museum. After a seven-year litigation saga, tourism officials in Hammond reached an undisclosed settlement with the great-nephew of notorious gangster John Dillinger that permitted the facility to reopen to the public. But now their Gary counterparts…

Jun 3, 2010 10:57 PM CDT

Chinese Law Firm Opens Silicon Valley Office With 2 Perkins Coie Partners

A leading Chinese law firm has opened a Silicon Valley office staffed by the former managing partners of the Perkins Coie law offices in Beijing and Shanghai. In addition to James Zhu and Zhaohui “Zoe” Wang, the Beijing-based Jun He Law Offices has also hired former Jones Day counsel Steven…

Jun 3, 2010 1:55 PM CDT

What Would Superman Do? Judge Gives Heroic Examples in Ruling Against Lawyer

A judge blasted a Staten Island, N.Y., lawyer in a small claims court ruling ordering him to pay a client an arbitration award that was more than a year overdue. Client Nanette Spina paid Michael J. DeFilippo $6,500 to complete estate planning, asset protection and a living will on behalf…

Jun 1, 2010 5:07 PM CDT

Ex-Kirkland Partner Buys 4,500 Patents, Forms New Firm to Sue Infringers

A former patent litigation partner of Kirkland & Ellis has purchased 4,500 patents and is establishing a new law firm that will sue to enforce both his own patents and those of other clients. John Desmarais, 46, is opening his new firm, Desmarais, today in New York City, Bloomberg reports.…

Jun 1, 2010 1:20 PM CDT

FTC Postpones Red Flags Rule After Lawmakers Seek Delay

At the request of several members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission has agreed to postpone until the end of the year enforcement of the controversial new Red Flags Rule that had been scheduled to take effect today. The rule implements a new federal law that the FTC had interpreted…

Jun 1, 2010 10:00 AM CDT

After Firestorm of Criticism, New Facebook Privacy Policy Is Unveiled

After a firestorm of criticism by individuals and regulators, the CEO of Facebook today announced new privacy settings that will make it easier for users of the social networking website to restrict access to personal information, if they wish, to those they know well. In a Facebook blog post, Mark…

May 26, 2010 8:39 PM CDT

Exec’s ‘Passion’ for NeuTec Pharma Led 2 Lawyers to Buy Stock, Jury Is Told

An executive of NeuTec Pharma had such a “passion” for his company that he told friends and family members “I work for the most amazing company that will save many lives and make me very wealthy one day.” But, although his enthusiasm for the biotech company “rubbed off” on about…

May 26, 2010 6:06 PM CDT

Frustration Over Uncontained Gulf Oil Spill—and Tort Claim Contingency Fees of Up to 50 Percent

As crude oil continues gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a record-breaking rate from an undersea BP well, frustration with the situation is building. A little over a month after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and burned, killing 11 workers, it appears that a combination of factors ranging…

May 25, 2010 1:44 AM CDT

NY Lawyer Now Plays With Legos for a Living

Updated: An after-work relaxation has turned into a New York lawyer’s main gig. Playing with Legos that he forms into sculptures evocative of human angst earns Nathan Sawaya as much as $14,000 or more per piece, reports a recent Daily Mail article featuring photos of his work. The New York…

May 24, 2010 11:37 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Steps In, Stays Turnover Order for 600 Feet of ‘Crude’ Raw Footage

A federal judge’s unusual order requiring the filmmaker who created the Crude documentary to turn over some 600 feet of raw footage to Chevron has been temporarily suspended. In a brief order Friday, Judge Denny Chin of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the subpoena until June 8,…

May 24, 2010 8:22 PM CDT

AMA Takes Page from ABA Playbook, Sues FTC Over Red Flags Rule

Physician groups, including the American Medical Association, have taken a leaf out of the American Bar Association’s playbook. They filed a lawsuit today contending that health care organizations should not be included among businesses such as banks, credit card issuers and mortgage lenders required by the Federal Trade Commission’s so-called…

May 21, 2010 10:06 PM CDT

Co.‘s Effort to ID Web Critic Is Quashed; Posts Were ‘Hyperbolic Opinion,’ Says Fed’l Judge

A federal judge in San Francisco has quashed a subpoena seeking to force Yahoo to provide the Web address for an anonymous online critic of USA Technologies, saying that “Stokklerk” has a constitutional right to post “hyperbolic opinion” about the company anonymously on the Internet. Although the Pennsylvania-based company contends…

May 20, 2010 4:58 PM CDT