An article posted on the ContractRoom website discusses the arguments for and against standardizing contractual language, covering such topics as cost, efficiency, lack of variation, legal issues, risk mitigation and productivity.

With many differing opinions about how to draft a contract how do people feel about contract standardization?

“When you talk about standardization of contact language,” the article continues, “you will usually encounter two types of people:

1. those who are for it and for whom standardization cannot come soon enough; and,
2. those who are more hesitant and concerned about the possible negative impact of such a change.”

“It will be interesting where contract standardization goes in the next decade and how the development of contract management software technologies influences this,” the article concludes.

Read the article.

The trial law firm Gardner Haas PLLC has added experienced commercial litigator Jeremy Camp as a partner.

Camp joins Gardner Haas from Dallas’ Brewer Attorneys & Counselors, formerly Bickel & Brewer, where Gardner Haas’ co-founders Michael Gardner and Eric Haas previously practiced. Camp’s litigation and arbitration practice focuses on a variety of complex commercial matters, including merger and acquisition-related disputes, business torts, hospitality law and environmental litigation.

“Jeremy has extensive litigation and arbitration experience and his forward-thinking philosophy aligns with ours,” says Gardner. “He’s an extremely talented lawyer and we are excited he is joining our team.”

Camp has tried several notable cases before judges and juries, including obtaining a take-nothing judgment in federal court for his client, 3M Co., in a dispute concerning the sale of an $854 million business.

“I have great respect for Michael and Eric and share their vision of solving clients’ problems through exceptional work at a value that the big firms can’t match,” says Camp. “I look forward to adding to the depth of Gardner Haas.”

Camp received his law degree, magna cum laude, from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in 2009. He received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006.

Quarles & Brady LLP partners David Funkhouser, Christopher Townsend, and Bradley Vynalek each have received the 2016 Client Choice award from Lexology and the International Law Office (ILO), the firm announced.

Established in 2005, the Client Choice awards recognize partners around the world that stand apart for their excellent client service. Uniquely, these awards survey in-house senior corporate counsel only, inquiring about quality of legal advice, value delivered, commercial awareness, and effective communication. Following one-on-one interviews with clients, this year’s winners were chosen from a pool of more than 2,500 nominations. Only one attorney in each market is recognized for any particular practice area.

From the firm’s news release:

Funkhouser practices in the firm’s Phoenix office and is a member of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. His litigation practice has an emphasis in real property disputes, construction disputes, consumer lending, contract disputes, probate, trust and estate litigation, and other commercial torts. He also routinely represents financial institutions in all aspects of litigation. Funkhouser received his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa. Client Choice recognized Funkhouser in the Litigation category.

Townsend practices in the firm’s Chicago office and is member of the Energy Practice Group. He leads a team of energy lawyers who help clients reduce costs, develop projects, and manage risks in the ever-changing energy markets, assisting with strategic counseling, regulatory, litigation, transactional, and government relations matters. On a local, state, national, and international level, he helps clients address risks and opportunities associated with the on-going restructuring of the electricity and natural gas industries. Townsend received his law degree, with honors, from the University of Iowa College of Law and his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Augustana College. This is the second consecutive year Client Choice has recognized Townsend in the Energy & Natural Resources category.

Vynalek practices in the firm’s Phoenix office and is a member of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He serves as a counselor and advisor on strategy, exposure, and enterprise opportunity for clients ranging from local startups to Fortune 500 companies. Vynalek works very closely with law departments to create and manage budgets and create optimal teams for a variety of legal services in the banking, high-tech, Internet, software, manufacturing, e-commerce, health care, higher education, and tech transfer industries. He also serves as a member of the firm’s executive committee. Vynalek received his law degree from The University of Arizona – James E. Rogers College of Law and his bachelor’s degree, with honors, from Stanford University. He was recognized by Client Choice in the General Corporate category.

More information about ILO and Lexology

The whistleblower, employment and civil rights law firm Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP has announced the release of its 2016 comprehensive practice guides for the whistleblower programs for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The firm has produced its SEC Whistleblower Practice Guide annually since the inception of the SEC Whistleblower Program in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). As a companion manual, the firm’s first-ever CFTC Whistleblower Practice Guide covers the whistleblower program for the CFTC, an independent agency with regulatory authority over futures trading.

The firm says in a release that both guides provide in-depth explanations of the rules and procedures concerning the respective programs, offer valuable practice trips for whistleblowers and their counsel, and outline the legal protections that whistleblowers have against retaliation for reporting violations to the SEC and CFTC.

“The Katz, Marshall & Banks SEC guide is an invaluable resource containing all of the ‘nuts and blots’ about reporting securities violations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,” said David J. Marshall, a founding partner of the firm and the SEC guide’s principal author. “The guide offers great detail on everything from preparing a winning ‘tip’ to cooperating in an SEC investigation to claiming a financial whistleblower award for helping to enforce the nation’s securities laws.”

SEC officials have continually praised the whistleblower program as a significant addition to the Commission’s ability to enforce the nation’s securities law – in some cases facilitating early intervention to minimize the harm to investors from unlawful conduct. To date, the SEC has paid over $55 million to 23 whistleblowers under the program.

The CFTC Whistleblower Program, which also was established through Dodd-Frank, began accepting whistleblower tips in September 2012, with the number of tips steadily rising since the program’s inception. The CFTC thus far has paid two awards to whistleblowers in connection with these tips, including a September 2015 payout totaling $290,000.

“We are pleased to introduce the Katz, Marshall & Banks CFTC Whistleblower Practice Guide to help whistleblowers earn the financial awards for helping to regulate commodity futures trading in the United States,” said Lisa J. Banks, a founding partner of the firm and the principal author of CFTC guide. “Following a couple of recent, significant awards under the CFTC Whistleblower Program, and with $300 million set aside in a special whistleblower fund, the Commission clearly is gearing up for a greater number and higher quality of whistleblower tips and payout of substantial awards.”

Available for free download from the Katz, Marshall & Banks website, the SEC Whistleblower Practice Guide can be found here, and the CFTC Whistleblower Practice Guide is available here.

About Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP

Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP is a boutique law firm representing plaintiffs in the areas of whistleblower, employment discrimination and sexual harassment law; Title IX of the Education Amendments; and other civil rights and civil liberties matters. The firm’s lawyers also represent whistleblowers in seeking monetary rewards by submitting tips to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Programs, and through the filing of “qui tam” actions under the False Claims Act.

The en banc Federal Circuit by a vote of 10-2 held that patent exhaustion can be avoided by otherwise lawful post-sale contractual restrictions and that foreign sales of a patented item are not presumed to exhaust patent owner’s rights in the United States, according to a report posted by Dentons.

The case is Lexmark Int’l, Inc. v. Impression Products, Inc., No. 14-1617, -1619 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 12, 2016) (en banc).

“The dissent would have found post-sale restrictions invalid and that foreign sales exhaust patent owner’s rights in the United States absent an express reservation. The Federal Circuit’s 99-page majority decision may not be the last word on these issues if the Supreme Court is asked to grant certiorari later this year,” wrote Joel N. Bock, Joshua D. Curry and Heather Khassian.

Read the article.

The Department of Justice plans to release a set of questions in the coming weeks that companies implicated in wrongdoing can expect to be asked by investigators concerning their compliance programs, reports Bloomberg BNA.

“Andrew Weissmann, chief of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, told a group of attorneys meeting in Washington Feb. 9 that the department plans to publicize the list of sample questions to give the public and companies an idea of what investigators and compliance experts are concerned with,” the article says. “The list will be continually updated based on experiences officials have with companies, he said.”

Read the article.

A ruling in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals illustrates that at bankruptcy plan confirmation, debtors need to create a record for potential appeals, including those that it may ultimately want to bring, writes Brenda Funk is an Associate at Weil Gotshal & Manges, LLP in Houston.

In her article, published on the firm’s Bankruptcy Blog, describes In re O&S Trucking as a straight-forward map on how to preserve objections as issues for appeal in the Eighth Circuit.

Read the article.

Many companies in the technology industry pay workers as “independent contractors” or “1099 workers,” write Mark J. Neuberger and Larry S. Perlman of Foley & Lardner in an article posted by The National Law Review. In theory, classifying individuals as independent contractors rather than employees can bestow significant economic benefits on a company. This option may be very attractive to a start-up who may be short on cash to pay salaries and fringe benefits.

“When independent contractors do the work, your company is not responsible for tax withholdings, is not responsible for workers’ compensation or unemployment insurance, and does not need to pay minimum wage or overtime,” they explain. “That’s the good news. However, when not done correctly, independent contractor classification is fraught with risk and lots of potential legal liability.”

Read the article.

A $22 million lawsuit against Beaumont, Texas attorney Wayne Reaud, along with several others, have been dismissed. The plaintiff was an electrician who claimed the defendants committed acts that cost him a business contract with the Beaumont Independent School District, reports SETexasRecord.com.

The plaintiff, Calvin Gary Walker, proprietor of Walker’s Electric, had alleged that the defendants worked to end his professional relationship with BISD, insinuating the respondents wrongfully made light of his 2011 federal indictment for fraud. Walker’s claims against the Beaumont attorney and his newspaper were based on two articles published in The Examiner.

Reaud argued that defamation claims based on the articles were frivolous.

Read the article.

The eligibility of Sen. Ted Cruz to run for president will have a hearing Friday in Chicago, according to multiple news outlets.

CNN is reporting that a judge in Illinois on Friday will hear a lawsuit challenging Ted Cruz’s eligibility to serve as president, putting questions about the Texas senator’s status back into the news the day before the South Carolina primary.

Cruz has never denied being born in Canada, arguing that longstanding U.S. statutory law validates his claim that he was automatically a U.S. citizen at birth because his mother was a U.S. citizen.

Read the story.

One the world’s largest telecommunications companies and its subsidiary agreed to fines and forfeitures with U.S. and Dutch authorities totaling more than $800 million to resolve a long-running bribery scheme involving a government official in Uzbekistan, USA Today reports.

The report says Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said VimpelCom, headquartered in Amsterdam, and its Uzbek-based subsidiary Unitel LLC, made “bribery a foundation of their business model” throughout Uzbekistan.

“More than $114 million in bribes, according to federal prosecutors, was funneled to the Uzbek official during a six-year period by the firm, which issues publicly-traded securities in the U.S. The companies concealed the bribes through various payments to a shell company that some VimpelCom and Unitel officials knew was owned by the recipient of the bribe payments,” the newspaper reports.

Read the article.

M&A deal volume in the U.S. reached a record high in 2015, reports the National Association of Corporate Directors. The NACD is offering a complimentary copy of the summary from a recent meeting of the NACD Advisory Council on Risk Oversight, which focused on the board’s oversight of M&A transactions including understanding the board’s role during a transaction, identifying questions to consider when evaluating potential deals, and establishing a process for determining transaction success.

Topics covered include:

• Engaging management about possible deals
• Determining if a proposed deal advances company strategy
• Identifying culture and talent risks
• Measuring the success of a transaction
• Establishing effective oversight processes

Download the summary.

The Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) has issued a memo mandating that all billing and invoicing from government contractors and federal agencies must be electronic. Approximately 12 million invoices still need to make the transition, report two partners in Alston & Bird.

They advise that government contractors and payment service providers should be prepared to implement clear, practical methods of e-payments.

“Pilot programs in the federal government – both pure payment-vendor relationships and added services to banking relationships – are available to facilitate the OMB-directed shift to e-invoicing,” says Jeff Belkin, partner and leader of Alston & Bird’s Government Contracts Group with expertise in complex government contract compliance issues. “While it is unclear if the shift to e-invoicing will ultimately end in a no-fee electronic payments program, or, a model that requires the government (or its partners) to pay others to facilitate the program, there surely will be many challenges before that final equilibrium is reached.”

“As of July 2015, a mere 40% of invoices were processed using e-invoicing,” says Tony Balloon, partner in Alston & Bird’s Financial Services & Products Group, who has deep knowledge of the payments industry. “Though the initial transition leading up to the 2018 deadline will be challenging, the adoption of e-invoicing will result in increased efficiency and timely payments for both federal agencies and government contractors.”

Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm, has  announced Eric Gordon has assumed the role of Labor & Employment Practice Group Chair.

“Eric is an excellent labor and employment lawyer with a tremendous capacity for leadership and client service,” said Akerman Chairman and CEO Andrew Smulian. “The very personal attention Eric devotes to his colleagues and client relationships reflect the values of our firm. We look forward to the continued growth and success of Akerman‘s Labor and Employment Practice Group under his able direction.”

In a release, the firm said Gordon will work to grow the national practice group while overseeing the delivery of labor and employment services to Akerman clients. He also will continue to practice law, representing employers in labor and employment matters and in many key sectors such as telecommunications, hospitality, healthcare, retail, and financial services. He is a past president of the Human Resource Association of Palm Beach County and will serve as president of the South Palm Beach County Bar Association in 2017-2018. Prior to leading Akerman’s Labor & Employment Practice Group, Gordon served as the office managing partner of Akerman’s Palm Beach County offices.

Gordon succeeds James Bramnick, who will continue representing management in labor and employment matters. He also will work in the labor and employment practice through his role as a chair of Lex Mundi’s Global Labor and Employment Practice Group, the world’s largest law firm network.

David A. Lurker has joined Buchalter Nemer in Orange County as a shareholder in its Real Estate Practice Group, the firm announced. Lurker, who joins from Voss Cook & Thel, LLP, has more than 30 years of experience guiding real estate clients in deal structuring through various economic and industry cycles in the real estate market.

“David’s knowledge of the recent history of the real estate sector will be an excellent asset for our clients as they navigate the transaction environment in 2016 and beyond,” said Adam J. Bass, President and Chief Executive Officer of Buchalter Nemer. “He’s a welcome addition to our strong real estate practice and our growing roster of seasoned experts in this industry.”

Lurker represents owners, developers, investors, contractors, landlords, tenants, property managers and lenders in transactions that involve purchases and sales, development, leasing, and construction of all types of projects. These projects include retail, office, industrial, residential, multifamily, senior housing, churches and nonprofit ventures.

Read the firm’s announcement.

Zenefits cofounder Parker Conrad resigned as CEO and as a director of the company, according to a Forbes report, as questions are being raised about the steps Conrad took to put Zenefits into hypergrowth – including flouting laws about who is allowed to sell insurance.

“COO David Sacks, formerly of PayPal, now steps into the CEO job at Zenefits,” the report says. “In an email sent to employees, he admitted the company has taken too many wrong steps. ‘We sell insurance in a highly regulated industry. In order to do that, we must be properly licensed. For us, compliance is like oxygen. Without it, we die,’ he wrote. ‘The fact is that many of our internal processes, controls, and actions around compliance have been inadequate, and some decisions have just been plain wrong. As a result, Parker has resigned.’”

Read the article.

The computers at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center have been down for more than a week as the Southern California hospital works to recover from a Ransomware attack, reports CSO.

Officials at HPMC said they’re cooperating fully with the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI in an effort to discover the identity of the attackers. But for now the network is offline and staff are struggling to deal with the loss of email and access to some patient data, the report says.

“The type of Ransomware responsible for shutting down the hospital remains unknown, but one local computer consultant said the ransom being demanded was about 9,000 BTC [Bitcoin], or just over $3.6 million dollars,” according to the report.

Read the article.

Three bankers have left Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after the U.S. firm determined they breached internal guidelines in connection with the bank’s advisory role on the planned acquisition of a consumer company in the Middle East, reports Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the matter.

“The bankers who departed in December were involved in advising a potential buyer on an investment in fast-food company Kuwait Food Co., which operates KFC restaurants in the Middle East, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private,” the report says. “Two employees were based in Dubai and another in London, the people said.”

The company is thought to have discovered that two of the bankers didn’t identify themselves as bank employees when they met with the target company attended by other financial services firms. “The third banker was aware that colleagues participated in the meeting, two of the people said, and all three were deemed to not have adhered to the firm’s internal guidelines. Other employees were also disciplined as a result of the incident, the people said.”

Read the article.

A survey report released today by public relations firm Greentarget demonstrates that while senior legal officers acknowledge the importance of communications with stakeholders during high-profile lawsuits, the majority have outdated strategies or no strategies at all to direct communications outside of court.

This lack of preparation leads to an overly conservative approach defined by decisions and actions that are often impulsive and governed by the fear of negative media attention. Ironically, these instincts can compound the likelihood of reputational damage.

This vicious cycle – an increasing number of high-profile lawsuits, deficient planning, conservative approaches, and the resulting potential negative attention – is exacerbated by the lack of accountability at most organizations, Greentarget writes in a release. The majority of respondents said that they are not ultimately responsible for communications strategy outside of court. They stated that other senior leaders in their organizations have final authority and that their CEOs were either actively involved throughout litigation or at least engaged major decisions.

The vast majority of the 73 survey respondents, about three-quarters of whom are in senior legal roles for organizations with at least $500 million in annual revenue, said they have contended with at least one high-profile lawsuit in the past year.

“Most lawyers and their clients can predict what lawsuits would be most damaging to their organizations, and they should take some level of control and prepare for what’s to come,” said Larry Larsen, senior vice president of Greentarget and head of the firm’s Crisis & Litigation Communications Group. “Companies that give forethought to potential legal situations will have more effective and timely responses. In today’s world of immediate and unending news coverage, premediated statements made at the onset of crises can save companies from substantial reputational harm and years of damage control.”

The Highlights

Relentless litigation: In the last 12 months, 82 percent of respondents have been involved in at least one high-profile litigation action.

Unprepared and unaccountable: 62 percent of respondents have no crisis team identified and no plans in place, or have plans in place that have not been updated since their creation. Furthermore, only 37 percent said they were ultimately responsible for litigation communications in high-profile situations.

The boss is watching: 86 percent of respondents felt the external communications surrounding a high-profile litigation were somewhat or very important to the organization. Sixty-one percent indicated that their CEO is either actively involved throughout the process, or at least actively involved in the major decisions during the case.

A fear of critical press: Respondents said concern about negative media coverage and media attention that might negatively affect cases were by far the greatest impediments to more aggressive communications.

The seemingly careful route: 58 percent of respondents agreed that their organizations tend to act more conservatively than necessary when communicating externally about litigation matters

“Through our work with the world’s leading law firms, we see every day how smart, deliberate communications can influence and support successful legal outcomes,” said Aaron Schoenherr, founding partner of Greentarget. “While an organization’s legal strategy should take the lead, much more can be done to get communications and legal working together more effectively. That’s an important conversation and one we’re uniquely positioned to lead.”

Read a summary of the report.

Most questions of arbitrability can be resolved on motion, using a summary judgment-like standard, writes Liz Kramer in Stinson Leonard Street’s ArbitrationNation.com. “However, just like summary judgment, if there are genuine disputes of material fact about whether a claim must be arbitrated — like competing evidence about whether the parties ever formed an arbitration agreement — those should be determined by a trial.  That is the lesson of three recent cases from the Third Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Alabama.”

She writes that the very existence of an arbitration agreement can be hotly disputed. “For contract negotiators, that means it is critical to obtain (and retain) a signed copy of the final agreement including the arbitration clause. For advocates trying to enforce agreements, that means it is critical to recognize when to give up on motion practice and ask for a trial on the issue, so that you don’t waste years on appeal, only to get sent back to square one.”

Read the article.