The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP has announced two newly created section chair roles, as well as new leaders for several practice groups, as the firm begins its new fiscal year. All of the new appointees practice out of the firm’s Milwaukee office.

Jeff Peelen and Daniel G. Radler have assumed the newly created positions of section chair. In this role, they will serve as an extension of the managing partner, working directly with national practice group chairs and industry team leaders to help strengthen planning, execution, and operational practices of these strategic areas of the firm.

Jeff Peelen is a member of the firm’s Public Finance Practice Group. In his public finance practice, he represents multiple regional and national underwriters in tax-exempt debt and revenue financings across the country. His governmental affairs and political law compliance program has a national reputation, serving multiple Fortune 50 clients and other corporations who regularly interact with state and federal officials.

Daniel G. Radler is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, and advises clients on all aspects of intellectual property. He has particular practice strength in patent procurement, patent re-examinations, infringement and validity opinions, and licensing in a variety of disciplines, including materials handling equipment, heavy machinery, manufacturing and molding processes, fluid dynamics, and general mechanical and electro-mechanical devices.

In addition, three partners were named as national chairs of several high-profile practice groups.

Jack M. Cook has been named the national chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. He focuses his practice on assisting businesses with a broad range of intellectual property issues, with an emphasis on patent prosecution, IP licensing, and IP litigation, and data security. He works with large national and international corporations, research institutions, and other IP owners to build IP strategies that align with business objectives.

Elizabeth A. Orelup has been named the national chair of the Business Law Practice Group. She represents lenders, borrowers, buyers, sellers, and other parties in commercial lending and leasing transactions, other commercial transactions, and distressed credit matters and bankruptcy. Orelup has comprehensive experience in representing private equity and strategic buyers in acquisition financing transactions and a variety of other commercial loan transactions. She also serves as chair of the firm’s Legal Opinions Committee.

Rebecca A. Speckhard has been named the national chair of the Public Finance Practice Group. She dedicates her practice to municipal and governmental finance, and serves as bond counsel to municipal and governmental issuers throughout Wisconsin, with particular experience in general obligation financings, public utility revenue bond financings, community development authority and redevelopment authority financings, and related tax incremental financing and development matters.

“Quarles & Brady is delighted that Jeff, Dan, Jack, Liz, and Rebecca have accepted these leadership positions,” said Fredrick G. Lautz, firm managing partner. “We are confident that they will continue to strongly lead these groups, and work together to continue providing the client focus for which the firm is known.”

About Quarles & Brady LLP

Quarles & Brady is a full-service AmLaw 200 firm with more than 475 attorneys offering an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients that range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies, with practice focuses in health care and life sciences, business law, labor and employment, real estate, data privacy and security, and complex litigation. The firm has offices in Chicago; Indianapolis; Madison; Milwaukee; Naples, Florida; Phoenix; Scottsdale; Tampa; Tucson; and Washington, D.C. Additional information can be found online at quarles.com, as well as on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Blockchain technology has the potential to drastically change the way business is done, mainly in accounting and contracts, reports Inside Bitcoins.

“Large businesses make contracts on a daily basis. Contract law is a wide field of study and essential to understanding how to run a successful business. What happens if the other party breaches a contract? Does a contract need to be in writing to be legally binding? These are things business owners and decision makers need to know. Smart assets are not widely used in modern business, but the benefits of integrating them greatly exceed the low cost of implementing them,” according to the article.

Businesses can create and complete contracts that are stored on the public ledger permanently, it says.

Read the article.

eTERA Consulting, an internationally recognized and award-winning leader in data and technology management, announces the launch of its new website at www.eteraconsulting.com.

The user-friendly website offers information about the company’s unmatched data and technology management services, as well as educational information on topics encompassing information governance, forensic preservation and collection, transparent processing and hosting, managed review and staffing, and eDiscovery managed services, eTERA said in a release.

“As we continue to deepen our footprint in the U.S. and Europe, the new website will be an important part of our expansion, allowing us to effectively communicate eTERA’s data and technology management expertise, while supporting the company’s continued commitment to train and educate clients, business partners and employees,” said Scott Holec, eTERA’s President. “The new website will be an important component of eTERA’s external communication efforts with all key stakeholders.”

“In redesigning our website, we wanted to create a responsive site that told the eTERA story, and offered visitors the ability to locate content of particular interest to them,” said eTERA’s Director of Marketing, Shelley Haley. “We also sought to create a unique branding area to highlight important company information including recent blog posts, upcoming webinars, industry events, and employment opportunities. This site is sure to act as a valuable resource to those in the legal profession, encouraging visitors to return time and time again.”

“eTERA’s new website features several new content rich areas that will be beneficial to our site visitors,” said Cassey Elder, eTERA’s Manager of Public Relations.

The new site features:

• An interactive and unique Case Map covering recent eDiscovery cases around the U.S.
• Industry articles and media placements
• Information about eTERA’s Speakers Bureau
• A detailed agenda of eTERA’s one-day complimentary eDiscovery Training Program
• Blog content and webinars indexed by topic and date
• E-newsletter sign-up page
• Mobile friendly interface

Gritstone Oncology, a cancer immunotherapy company developing next-generation, personalized cancer therapeutics, has announced a Series A financing of $102 million. The financing will support discovery and development of novel tumor-specific neo-antigen (TSNA) based immunotherapies, with an initial focus on lung cancer, the company said in a release.

Latham & Watkins LLP advised Gritstone Oncology in its formation and the Series A financing with a corporate team led from the firm’s Silicon Valley office by partners Alan Mendelson and Brian Cuneo, with associates Alexander White and Kevin Tsai.

The financing was co-led by biotechnology investors Versant Ventures and The Column Group, with Clarus Ventures alongside. Other investors include Frazier Healthcare Partners, Redmile Group, Casdin Capital, and Transformational Healthcare Opportunity, a special-purpose vehicle for private investors.

“We are honored that this discerning group of investors recognized the tremendous potential that exists both in our approach and our team,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., Gritstone Oncology co-founder, president and CEO. “We believe that this substantial funding, along with our best-in-class expertise, a systematic discovery and development approach, and our commitment to do the scientific heavy-lifting required, will enable us to solve the core challenge of identifying personalized, therapeutic neo-antigens for individual patients.

“Cancer immunotherapy is an exciting area of discovery, and an ability to predict the antigens recognized by T cells that drive tumor elimination is likely fundamental to continuing advances in the field,” said Allen. Gritstone will focus initially on discovering and developing TSNA-based therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Good attorneys constantly evolve their contract provisions, but contract evolution hates to discard pieces that were once useful, writes J. Benjamin Patrick of Gordon & Rees LLP in an article published on Lexology.com. The tendency to keep these pieces can result in a contract having the equivalent of the human appendix: a piece no longer of any positive use and that harbors the potential for harm.

For example, outdated contract provisions linger in the “standard form” contracts used by many contractors and owners, he writes. “The presence of such a provision in your standard contract is a sign that some additional evolution is necessary in order to bring your contract up to current laws, standards, and industry practices.”

Read the article.

Current contract management processes are lacking proper rules and controls, says ContractRoom in an article posted on its website. Serious consequences typically arise from lack of oversight during the negotiation phase or mismanagement of contract commitments after execution.

The company says poor time management or a simple manual error, either pre-or post-signature, could lead a business to miss a key deliverable and even risk being sued. This in turn could lead to significant legal expenses or even the loss of future business from a counterparty.

The article lists efforts a good contract manager (whether legal counsel or a business professional) can do to add control — even with a manual contracting process.

Read the article.

Compliancy Group will present a complimentary webinar Thursday, Oct. 22, 2-3:30 p.m. EDT, to discuss how a medical practice can measure, control and protect the practice’s reputation.

“Can you name the one thing in your practice that can dictate everything from new patient referrals to insurance contract negotiations and recruiting of staff and providers?” the firm asks.

“Your practice’s online reputation is your most important asset, yet it is often ignored, unmanaged or neglected.”

David Brooks, VP, Marketing, Doctor.com, will discuss:

• How patients, insurance carriers, and potential employees evaluate the reputation of your practice
• Five things you can do right now to improve the way search engines view your practice’s reputation
• The best practices that define high-performance practices

The webinar is limited to medical practice owners and senior practice management executives.

Register for the webinar.

Farrell Fritz announced that John P. McEntee, Kathryn (Katy) Carney Cole and Jaclene (Jackie) D’Agostino have been selected to receive Long Island Business News’ “Leadership in Law” Awards. They will be honored at a dinner Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015 at Crest Hollow Country Club (Woodbury, NY).

John McEntee will receive the Partner Award. He earned his J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from SUNY Brockport.

Katy Carney Cole, a Garden City, NY resident, will receive the Counsel Award. She earned her J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law and her B.A. degree from Colgate University.

Jackie D’Agostino, also from Garden City, will receive the Associate Award. She earned her J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law and her B.A. degree from Barnard College.

Long Island Business News created the “Leadership in Law” Awards to recognize individuals whose leadership, both in the legal profession and in the community, has had a positive impact on Long Island.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is exploring a rulemaking to eliminate the use of certain arbitration agreements in consumer contracts that block consumers from participating in class-action lawsuits, report Bill Mayberry and Jodie Herrmann Lawson of McGuireWoods. They write that, if the new rule is enacted, it will impact companies that fall within the CFPB’s broad interpretation of businesses that provide financial products and services for consumer purposes.

“The announcement comes on the heels of the CFPB’s publication of a three-year study on arbitration that concluded that consumers generally are better served through litigation. According to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, arbitration clauses amount to ‘a free pass to sidestep the court and avoid accountability for wrongdoing,” they write.

The article is on the firm’s Subject to Inquiry blog.

Read the article.

A 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Northbound Group, Inc. v. Norvax, Inc. indicates that courts will not add parties to a contract after the contract has been negotiated, writes Stephen M. Proctor, a principal in Masuda Funai Eifert & Mitchell Ltd.

The article, published on Lexology.com, describes the case: “Norvax agreed to acquire the assets of Northbound and, for this purpose, formed an acquisition vehicle called Leadbot LLC. The result was an asset purchase agreement executed in February 2009 by and between Northbound and Leadbot LLC. Norvax was not a party to the asset purchase agreement. Northbound was to be paid through an “earn-out” calculated as a percentage of the monthly net revenue of Leadbot LLC.”

Northbound later sued Norvax and Leadbot, claiming a breach of contract.

“Once a contract is negotiated, a party will likely be unsuccessful in persuading a court to rewrite the contract or to add provisions that may not have been considered, are erroneous or, in hindsight, seem unfair,” Proctor writes.

Read the article.

BakerHostetler’s International Disputes practice team will present the first program in a series of in-depth presentations and discussions that explore key legal and commercial issues unique to international contracts. It will include an in-person event and a webinar.

The program will be Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, from 7:30 – 9 a.m. CDT for the in-person event (WEBINAR will start at 8 a.m. CDT).

Each presentation will be taught by experts from the legal and commercial sectors.

The event will cover:

• Choice of law – avoiding unintended consequences
• Choice of forum – choosing between arbitration or litigation in a foreign land
• Comparison of international arbitration forums – the difference between various international arbitration tribunals
• How to limit the length, scope, and cost of proceedings
• Currency repatriation – how do you make sure you can get paid or return the money home?
• Enforceability or avoidance of an award or judgment

Register to attend in person.

Register for the webinar.

iCONECT, developers of XERA e-discovery software, announced that all XERA licenses now will include XERA’s full suite of analytic tools, including: predictive coding, workflow, iCONECT’s XMPLAR, near-duplication, conceptual search, email threading and iVIEW cluster visualization.

“Allowing clients to use analytics on an unlimited amount of data, across all users and on all projects – without the additional per-gigabyte charges of other review products – provides much needed predictability to project budgets,” the company said in a release.

“The ability to include analytics, specifically predictive review with every project will mean real savings for our clients,” says Gavin W. Manes, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Avansic, an iCONECT hosting partner. “iCONECT continues to add value to the XERA platform, and now with near-dupe, threading and predictive review included in licensing, our clients will benefit immensely.”

Read more information.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will hold a complimentary webinar, “Current and Emerging Trends in Patent Law: Cases to Know and Cases to Watch,” presented by Joseph F. Marinelli and Eric L. Broxterman. The webinar will take place on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, at 9 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12:00 noon EDT.

In a release, the firm said the patent landscape is constantly changing. This webinar will help you stay informed on recent significant judicial developments in patent law, in both litigation and prosecution, and will provide a preview of Federal Circuit decisions on the horizon for the last quarter of 2015 and into 2016.

The webinar will cover these topics and more:
• Patent-eligible subject matter under Alice—DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com
• The Supreme Court’s new claim indefiniteness standard in Nautilus—Dow Chemical Co. v. NOVA Chemicals Corp.
• Expert apportionment method for proving damages by reasonable royalty—Summit 6 v. Samsung
• Standards for injunctive relief—Apple v. Samsung
• Good-faith belief of invalidity as a defense to inducement—Commil USA v. Cisco Systems
• Appellate standard for claim construction—TEVA Pharmaceuticals v. Sandoz
• Patent exhaustion based on foreign sales—Lexmark v. Impression
• Approval of biosimilars—Amgen v. Sandoz

Speakers will be Fitch Even partners Joseph F. Marinelli and Eric L. Broxterman. Marinelli has a diverse intellectual property law practice covering all aspects of IP creation, management, enforcement, and licensing, with a particular emphasis on complex litigation. Broxterman is a litigator with extensive trial experience in patent cases and a registered patent attorney who also counsels clients on patent prosecution, infringement/invalidity opinions, and IP transactional issues.

CLE credit has been approved for California and Illinois and is pending in Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required.

Register for the webinar.

Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP announces that administrative law attorney Marisol Saenz has joined the firm’s Government Affairs Practice in Austin, Texas.

Saenz joins Gardere from the Texas Department of Insurance, where she provided counsel to the commissioner of insurance and staff on compliance and regulatory matters, legislative and policy issues, and litigation. Her legal advice covered all phases of insurance regulation, including formation and licensing of regulated entities, major holding company transactions, examinations, financial solvency concerns and receiverships. Saenz also oversaw high-profile, complex federal civil and criminal litigation matters involving receivership estates as counsel to the insurance commissioner in his role as receiver.

Focusing her practice on counseling clients in insurance and other regulatory matters, Saenz provides representation before various state agencies and the Texas Legislature. In a release, the firm said she is proficient in analyzing matters under the Texas Insurance Code, Public Information Act, Open Meetings Act and Administrative Procedures Act, and is experienced in rulemaking and the legislative process.

“We are very excited to add Marisol’s insurance and overall administrative law expertise to the Firm’s Government Affairs team,” says Kimberly A. Yelkin, executive partner in Gardere’s Austin office. “Marisol’s proven track record of success will be an asset to our clients and will further advance our team’s influence in the Texas public policy process.”

Prior to working at the Texas Department of Insurance, Saenz served as a staff attorney for the Texas Water Development Board. She provided counsel regarding the financing of water projects across the state and planning for Texas’ future water needs, which required significant collaboration with federal, state, and local governmental entities and officials, in addition to members of the public and various parties of interest. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in 1999 and her juris doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2004. 

“I am thrilled to join the Gardere team,” says Saenz. “It is an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to expand upon my administrative law experience as part of the Firm’s highly recognized Government Affairs Practice.”

A recent article published by Business Insider (here) is the latest in a run of recent media attention (more here) that Oracle has received regarding the software audit practices of its License Management Services (LMS) compliance arm, writes Christopher Barnett in Scott & Scott’s Oracle Audit Blog. In particular, the article details how Oracle’s sales teams may use the weight of oppressive LMS audit findings to drive customers toward the recurring-revenue business model embodied by Oracle’s expanding cloud services.

“The ‘enthusiasm’ with which LMS pursues undeserved windfalls from previously loyal customers is nearly legendary,” the blog post says. “The Business Insider article describes the LMS tactic of determining that all hosts in a VMware cluster must be licensed to capacity for an Oracle technology product – even if there is only one VM running the product on a single host in the cluster – simply because Oracle does not recognize VMware as an approved ‘hard partitioning technology.’ ”

Read the blog post.

National law firm Maron Marvel Bradley & Anderson LLC announced a major expansion that nearly doubles the size of its legal and support staff and expands its presence in several major metropolitan markets across the United States.

Thirty-two attorneys have joined Maron Marvel, all of whom focus their practices on toxic tort litigation, products liability, environmental litigation, and related practice areas, along with more than 60 paralegals and support staff. In addition to nearly doubling the firm’s headcount, the additions will expand the Delaware-based law firm into three states: Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

In a release, the firm said the strategic expansion gives Maron Marvel Bradley & Anderson a significant presence along the Gulf Coast, with new offices in Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Jackson, Mississippi, as well as a new office in Red Bank, New Jersey. That expands Maron Marvel to a total of 67 attorneys and more than 110 support staff in 10 locations: the five new offices and the five existing offices in Wilmington, Delaware, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Jersey City, New Jersey, and Charleston, South Carolina.

“Our goal, from the very founding of our firm, has been to become the premier mass toxic tort firm in the country. This move helps get us there,” said James J. Maron, founding partner of Maron Marvel Bradley & Anderson. “This is a significant milestone in the evolution of our firm, and we look forward to combining the skills of our two legal teams to continue to meet our clients’ objectives, together.”

The new attorneys and staff formerly were with the national law firm of Forman Watkins Krutz & Tardy LLP. Thomas Tardy will be joining Maron Marvel, a move that he said is the result of more than a decade-long working relationship.

“For more than 10 years, our group has worked closely with Jim Maron and his team and have gained a healthy respect for them as attorneys and an appreciation for their business plan,” said Tardy. “Their vision and use of technology is aligned with ours, and we look forward to giving Maron Marvel a much larger presence in the Gulf and taking advantage of their multiple offices in the East.”

Most of the attorneys and staff joining Maron Marvel will continue to work from their existing offices and locations. The new arrangement went into effect on Oct. 1, 2015.

Tardy said the move was an amicable one.

“W.G. Watkins and Fred Krutz are two of my oldest friends,” Tardy said, of his former law partners. “We still have many long-standing relationships, and we value that history. It has been a pleasure to practice law with them.”

Maron said the expanded footprint and larger legal team offers great growth possibilities for the firm’s attorneys and staff and enhanced service for the firm’s clients.

“This is a historic day for our firm,” said Maron. “Our team is excited and energized by this growth, and we look forward to putting that energy to work on behalf of our clients nationwide.”

The new Maron Marvel Bradley & Anderson attorneys are:

Name Location
Thomas Tardy Jackson MS
Brannon Berry Jackson MS
Stefan Bourn Jackson MS
Sara Budslick Jackson MS
Julie Chaffin Jackson MS
Rebekah Clayton Jackson MS
Beau Cole Jackson MS
Marcy Croft Jackson MS
Richard Crump Jackson MS
Kay Dodge Jackson MS
Mary Margaret Gay Jackson MS
Laura Goodson Jackson MS
Samuel Habeeb Jackson MS
James House Jackson MS
Christi Jones Jackson MS
Sarah Beth Jones Jackson MS
Joanna Kuhn Jackson MS
Alexander Martin Jackson MS
John McCants Jackson MS
Chan McLeod Jackson MS
Donald Partridge Jackson MS
Clare Rush Jackson MS
Amanda Summerlin Jackson MS
Elizabeth Turley Jackson MS
Todd Ogden Dallas TX
John Parsons Dallas TX
John Robinson Dallas TX
Roger Nebel Houston TX
Ebony Morris New Orleans LA
Joseph Morton New Orleans LA
Michael Connery Philadelphia PA
Timothy Coughlan Red Bank NJ

About Maron Marvel Bradley & Anderson

Maron Marvel Bradley & Anderson LLC is a national law firm based in Wilmington, Delaware, with offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas. The firm focuses its practice on mass toxic tort, products liability, and pharmaceutical, medical device, environmental and complex commercial disputes and represents public and private entities of all sizes. To learn more, visit the firm’s website.

A West Texas jury has awarded more than $43 million to a group of oil and gas investors after finding that their business partners had breached fiduciary duties by crediting themselves for financial contributions they never made and by excluding the investors from a lease acquisition project after it became apparent that the project would be tremendously successful.

Dallas attorneys Frank L. Branson, Eric T. Stahl and Debbie Branson of The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson represented one of the investor groups, consisting of Dallas-based Tiburon Land and Cattle LP and Trek Resources Inc. on behalf of the Three Finger/Black Shale Prospect Partnership. The Fisher County trial was heard in 32nd District Court in Roby.

“In Fisher County a deal is a deal,” said Branson in a report on the firm’s website. “It was very clear to the jurors that the defendants did not honor their word and took opportunities that did not belong to them, and that’s a very serious matter in West Texas.”

Read the article.

Insurers in the United States will face competing priorities for resources and time over the next 12 months, with cyber security preparedness challenging overall regulatory compliance readiness, argues Wolters Kluwer Financial Services and reported by Canadian Underwriter.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services surveyed more than 300 insurance professionals in 2014 and 2015, tracking 10 factors across two consecutive 12-month periods to illustrate the overall level of regulatory and risk management pressures facing U.S. insurers.

“Overall, 60% of polled insurance professionals report that cyber security will receive escalated priority at their organization, followed by regulatory risk at 42%, notes a statement from the company, which offers risk management, compliance, finance and audit solutions and maintains operations in more than 170 countries,” reports Canadian Underwriter.

Read the report.

Dire predictions that the Affordable Care Act would lead to job losses and cuts in employee hours have so far proved to be unfounded, according to a new research paper from Federal Reserve Bank of New York economist Maxim Pinkovskiy and reported on the website of CBS Moneywatch.

According to the CBS report, “The fear was that employers who were newly required to provide health insurance to their workers would opt instead to cut hours or fire employees. But early numbers show that locations with a high percentage of uninsured Americans, such as Texas, ended up experiencing a rise in employment, salaries and output in comparison to areas with less exposure to the health care law, Pinkovskiy noted.”

Part-time work in states where Obamacare had major impact saw “a statistically insignificant decline in their part-time to full-time ratio,” Pinkovskiy wrote.

Read the report.

Frank Vogl, former senior World Bank official and international reporter for The Times of London, offers 10 specific recommendations to cure the banks of what he calls “their evil ways.” Bankers won’t like most of his proposals, he warns, but the time has come for radical reform.

“The immediate danger is that a continuation of current behavior by many large banks threatens to undermine our global financial system,” Vogl writes in an article for the Huffington Post.

Recommendation number 4 is: “Boards should establish precise guidelines for employee conduct and behavior and at least 50% of all pay to bank managers, including the chief executive officer, should be based on culture performance standards.”

And recommendation number 6 states: “Whistleblowers should be encouraged and protected so that managers can be swiftly alerted to wrongdoing.”

Frank Vogl is the co-founder of two nongovernmental anti-corruption organizations: Transparency International (TI) and the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF). He is president of Vogl Communications, Inc., Washington, DC — an international economics and finance consulting firm.

Read the article.