Lance E. Gibbons has rejoined Littler as a shareholder in the Washington, D.C., office. Previously a partner at NT Lakis, LLP, Gibbons’ return to Littler marks the eighth shareholder to join the firm since January.

“Lance is a strong addition to the talented group of shareholders we’ve added this year, as he offers clients experienced counsel on labor and employment regulatory matters at all levels of government,” said Alison N. Davis, Littler’s office managing shareholder in Washington, D.C. “His extensive experience before the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will deepen Littler’s position as the foremost advisor of management on anti-discrimination laws and affirmative action regulations.”

In a release, the firm said Gibbons advises companies on compliance with the array of employment-related requirements associated with government contracts, as well as in preparing for and resolving OFCCP audits. He also has experience on matters before other workplace regulatory and enforcement agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Littler has continued to increase its profile and influence around the globe and here in Washington, and I’m excited to return to the firm,” Gibbons said. “In addition to drawing on Littler’s robust platform and resources to serve clients, I look forward to supporting the firm’s efforts to engage with the government on behalf of employers on labor and employment related developments.”

Gibbons will work closely with members of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, a resource for employers to ensure that they have a voice in legislative and regulatory developments that impact their workplaces and business strategies.

During his time at NT Lakis, Gibbons also served as assistant general counsel to the Center for Workplace Compliance. Earlier in his career, he served as senior counsel to National Labor Relations Board Member Peter C. Schaumber.

Gibbons received his J.D., with distinction, from Ohio Northern University College of Law and his B.S. from Miami University.

Attorneys general in 10 states and the District of Columbia have recently launched an investigation into the employment practices of eight fast-food franchises, according to the Fisher & Phillips Non-Compete and Trade Secrets Blog.

Associate Liane Dublinski Kozik writes that the group sent a joint letter to the companies requesting information on the companies’ use of restrictive covenants including “‘employee non-competition,’ ‘no solicitation,’ ‘no poach,’ ‘no hire,’ or ‘no switching’ agreements (collectively referred to as ‘No Poach Agreements’).”

“No-poach agreements should be limited in scope and duration, and if no-hire provisions are included, they should be limited to upper-level management,” she advises. “State-level scrutiny from legislators and attorneys general is not going away and likely to only increase.”

Read the article.

A common attraction at major U.S. waterfronts and tourist destinations, the amphibious WWII-era vehicles known as Duck Boats have a long record of design flaws that make them unstable in rough water with often tragic results, according to a post on the web site of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

When a sightseeing boat in Branson, Missouri, sank last week in a sudden storm, killing 17, the tour company’s president acknowledged that the boat should not have been on the water during the storm. Safety experts renewed criticism of the boat’s unstable design, including a canopy that can prevent occupants from escaping. More than 40 people have died in Duck Boat accidents since 1999.

“The problems with these boats are well-known. This latest tragedy should spur operators everywhere to take a close look at safety procedures and design issues and ensure that personnel are properly trained to respond to emergencies,” said Steve Fernelius of Houston-based Fernelius Simon, who represents plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury and product liability litigation. “This tragedy must prompt operators to re-examine procedures to ensure there is no chance passengers will be caught in rough water. As these tragic deaths continue to be associated with Duck Boats, the potential liability for operators continues to grow.”

Colin Stretch, Facebook’s top lawyer and the man who led Facebook’s investigation into Russian election interference efforts following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, is leaving the company at the end of the year, according to a Recode report.

Stretch posted on Tuesday that he’s planning to leave the company but will stay on until the end of the year to help find his replacement, writes reporter Kurt Wagner.

Wagner adds:

Stretch’s departure comes during a stressful time for Facebook’s legal team. Not only is the company still grappling with the controversial role it played in the 2016 U.S. election — Russia used to platform to try and divide U.S. voters with inflammatory and inaccurate posts — but it’s also gearing up for the 2018 midterms. Company executives have been open in saying that they expect foreign governments might try again to sway voters.

Read the Record article.

Victims of a mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music festival said they were outraged when they learned they were being sued by the company that owns the hotel where the gunman opened fire, reports the Associated Press.

At a press conference, one of the victims, Jason McMillan, a 36-year-old Riverside County sheriff’s deputy who was shot and paralyzed, said he can’t believe MGM officials would try to foist blame onto anyone but themselves. Other survivors, victims’ relatives and attorneys railed against the decision to file lawsuits against hundreds of victims.

“MGM Resorts International sued victims in at least seven states last week in a bid to get federal courts to declare the company has no liability for the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history,” writes Amy Taxin.

Read the AP article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that a virtual currency operator accused of running off with investor funds after a 2013 hack and lying to investigators has accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors in New York.

Reporter Lydia Beyoud writes that Jon E. Montroll of Saginaw, Texas, faces up to 40 years in prison.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a July 23 statement accompanying the plea agreement that Montroll “repeatedly lied during sworn testimony and misled SEC staff to avoid taking responsibility for the loss of thousands of his customers’ bitcoins,” in 2013, Berman said.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

In a new video, lawyers from Tyler, Texas-based Martin Walker PC discuss a recent medical malpractice case that yielded their client a $43.32 million verdict, including $25 million in exemplary damages.

Jurors found the hospital grossly negligent in its retention and supervision of a doctor on probation whose abandonment and improper care led to a patient’s complete loss of his quality of life and ability to provide for his family, plaintiff’s lawyers said.

A statement from the firm continued: “In reaching the gross negligence verdict, jurors agreed that the hospital had put its patients in extreme risk by allowing Dr. Gary Boyd to treat them even though the Texas Medical Board had placed him on probation which automatically suspended his hospital privileges pursuant to the hospital’s bylaws and policies.”

After the jury’s verdict, the case settled for $9 million, with the defendants agreeing not to appeal, according to the firm’s video.

Watch the video.

AZA is ranked among the nation’s top mid-sized law firms and among the top 10 for quality of work and top 15 for hiring selectivity by Vault rankings.

Vault, which recently released its 20th law firm ranking guide to help law students and lawyers, included AZA in its “Top 150 Under 150.” This is a listing that uses employee surveys to identify the best law firms to work for across the country.

AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., was one of only 26 Texas firms included on the list. The only other mid-sized Texas-based firm on the list with AZA for top quality of work and selectivity in hiring is Susman Godfrey LLP.

AZA’s  top quality of work ranking can be seen here.

“It’s no surprise that AZA would rank at the very top among law boutiques. We are trial lawyers, and we get our newest attorneys into court immediately so that they are comfortable before a judge and jury. Plus, we represent Fortune 500 companies in complex commercial cases so the work is always interesting,” said firm founding partner John Zavitsanos.

AZA’s Fortune 500 clients include: Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:APC), Apache Corp. (NYSE:APA), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE:EPD), Group 1 Automotive (NYSE: GPI), Halliburton Corp. (NYSE:HAL), Huntsman (NYSE: HUN), Liberty Mutual, National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE:NOV), Noble Energy (NYSE: NBL) and NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG).

AZA’s top hiring selectivity rankings can be seen here.

“We also pick our new lawyers carefully from the best law schools and take laterals from some of the best firms in the country,” Zavitsanos said.

Hanzo, a pioneer of contextual collection and dynamic web content software, and ediscovery software provider Zapproved announced a partnership to increase the connectivity and simplicity of the ediscovery lifecycle, the companies said in a release.

The release continues:

Hanzo and Zapproved offer complementary products that together provide a cost-effective, secure, and efficient means of managing ediscovery. When paired, Zapproved’s Z-Discovery platform, an intuitive ediscovery software solution set for corporate legal and compliance teams, and the contextual collection and preservation capabilities of Hanzo, simplify and streamline ediscovery processes for corporate legal professionals.

“The Hanzo team is delighted to collaborate with Zapproved to simplify users’ daily workflow,” said Mark Williamson, CTO and Cofounder, Hanzo. “Our two companies share a common dedication to problem-solving through engineering and we look forward to working together for the benefit of our customers.”

This partnership signals a shared appetite to work towards a more connected legal ecosystem. Customers will use Z-Discovery’s Legal Hold Pro component to place a legal hold — notifying the organization not to delete electronically stored information (ESI) because of impending litigation. Customers will then use Hanzo to collect and preserve that data in a legally defensible manner. Clients can then utilize Z-Discovery’s Digital Discovery Pro system to rapidly process, review, and produce data for litigation, regulatory, and compliance matters with ease.

“With the use of social media and collaboration platforms growing rapidly, enterprises are faced with the challenge of defensibly collecting and preserving these new data sources in an efficient, repeatable way,” said Aaron Laliberte, VP of Product, Zapproved. “We’re delighted to partner with Hanzo to offer in-house legal departments the best possible set of solutions for their ediscovery needs.”

One of the first joint efforts of the partnership will be an educational webinar entitled “Best Practices for Collecting and Preserving Slack Data” on August 21st at 1:30pm ET.

Ediscovery experts will walk through the collection and preservation of Slack data to show how Hanzo and Zapproved streamline and modernize ediscovery together.

The International Association of Defense Counsel announced that Craig A. Thompson, a partner at Venable LLP, has been elected president of the IADC for the 2018-2019 term.

Thompson was officially installed at the IADC’s Annual Meeting in July in Lisbon, Portugal.

A member of the Products Liability and Mass Torts practice at Venable, Thompson has more than two decades of experience handling civil cases in federal and state courts, the firm said in a release. He represents clients in the areas of commercial litigation, product liability, premises liability, and personal injury. Thompson also is active in leading law firm inclusion and diversity initiatives, and served for five years as chair of Venable’s Diversity Committee.

In 2013, Thompson was a faculty member for the IADC’s Annual Trial Academy, which is one of the oldest and most respected programs for developing defense trial advocacy skills. In addition, he has lectured or taught at numerous law schools and currently is a featured columnist for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association publication.

Thomson has been recommended or highly ranked by top legal industry and attorney referral guides including Martindale Hubbell, Chambers USA, Best Lawyers and Legal 500. He received his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland.

Also at its Annual Meeting, the Chicago-based IADC elected Amy Sherry Fischer, a shareholder at Foliart Huff Ottaway & Bottom in Oklahoma City, Okla., as president-elect. The IADC’s immediate past president is Andrew Kopon Jr., a founding member of Kopon Airdo, LLC in Chicago.

The IADC’s other newly elected board members for the current term are:

– Frank A. Lattal, senior vice president, Claims, for Chubb Group in Hamilton, Bermuda, as the IADC’s vice president of insurance.

– Mark R. Beebe, partner at Adams and Reese LLP in New Orleans.

– Stephanie M. Rippee, member at Watkins & Eager PLLC in Jackson, Miss.

– Thomas Rouhette, partner at Hogan Lovells LLP in Paris, France.

Hogan Lovells has elected a new partner to its board. Karen Hughes has been elected as an at-large representative, and will start her role effective immediately, the firm said in a release.

The Hogan Lovells Board comprises 12 members and has supervisory responsibility for overseeing the affairs of the firm, but without executive responsibility for strategy, management, and operating decisions. It provides input to the CEO and Hogan Lovells’ International Management Committee. Members of the board make up the Compensation Committee, Finance Committee and are part of the Equity Elevation and Partner Admission Committees which they chair. Membership of the board is designed to reflect the broad scope of the business, with members representing a combination of geographic and other backgrounds. Karen will also be a member of the Finance Committee.

Hughes is a London-based corporate tax partner and Global Co-head of Tax who focuses on corporate tax advice for highly complex international structuring, including cross-border M&A transactions. She is also a member of the Hogan Lovells’ Corporate Leadership Committee, a global management team focused on the business strategy of the worldwide Corporate Group.

The board will now comprise:

Chair (and “At Large”): Leopold Gerlach
CEO: Steve Immelt
Asia Pacific Middle East: Andrew McGinty
Continental Europe: Joaquín Ruiz Echauri
Washington, D.C. area: Cate Stetson
London: Adrian Walker
The Americas: Bruce Oakley
U.S. (except D.C.): Richard Lorenzo
45 and under: Ben Higson
“At Large” representatives: Karen Hughes, Clay James, and Phoebe Wilkinson

“I am honored to welcome Karen to the board,” said Hogan Lovells Chair Leopold von Gerlach. “The board plays an important role in the governance of Hogan Lovells. Board members are expected to engage with, and to be accessible to, all partners as part of their duties and, in particular, to engage constructively with firm management in exercising the Board’s supervisory responsibility.”

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that Jeffrey Davis, Mary Elizondo Frazier and Peter Scaff have joined the firm’s Houston office as partners. Davis and Scaff will co-chair Bradley’s Oil and Gas team, and Frazier will serve on the firm’s Texas Growth and Expansion Task Force.

All three attorneys were long-term partners and practice leaders at Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, which recently merged with Foley & Lardner, LLP. At Foley, Davis served as vice chair of the Energy Litigation Practice Group and, before the merger, was a member of Gardere’s Board of Directors. At Gardere, Scaff most recently served as the firm-wide chair of Gardere’s Compensation Committee, and Frazier served as co-chair of the Associates Committee.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jeff, Mary and Peter to Bradley,” said Houston Office Managing Partner Ian P. Faria. “Their added depth and experience in the energy sector for handling complex litigation disputes as well as business needs are a great benefit to our clients.”

Davis added, “Mary, Peter and I are very excited about joining Bradley to help boost its already thriving energy litigation practice. We believe that Bradley provides us with the best platform to take our practices to the next level and enhances our ability to effectively serve our clients.”

In a release, the firm said Davis represents energy companies in litigation involving catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, surface and downhole tool incidents, and royalty and mineral interest disputes. He has served as lead counsel in more than 100 oilfield incident cases in state and federal courts across Texas and Oklahoma. He also represents clients in a variety of commercial and construction litigation matters, including contractual disputes, business torts, products liability, warranty, real estate and trade secrets litigation. Davis is an elected member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Davis received his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center, where he was member of the Houston Law Review, and received his B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.

Frazier represents clients in personal injury, premises liability, wrongful death and product liability litigation, as well as business tort disputes. The firm said she has experience with multi-plaintiff and multi-defendant oil and gas litigation cases in Texas.

Frazier received her J.D. (magna cum laude) from South Texas College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.

Over his 18-year career, Scaff has litigated a variety of energy industry disputes, including cases concerning joint operations, areas of mutual interest, lease acquisition, trade secrets, seismic licensing, supply chain, construction, and manufacturing. He also has experience handling cases related to oilfield operations, downhole failures and well control events. In addition to his energy industry matters, Scaff has a commercial litigation practice, handling matters involving real estate, construction, franchising, partnership litigation, misappropriation, and fiduciary litigation. He also has prosecuted a number of civil fraud and investment scheme cases, many of which involved parallel criminal proceedings.

Scaff received his J.D. (magna cum laude) from the University of Houston Law Center and his Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of Texas at Austin.

Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Randall L. Oyler has joined the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group as a partner in its Chicago office.

In a release, the firm said Oyler represents motor vehicle manufacturers and distributors on various dealer network matters, vehicle distribution matters, market representation strategies, dealership litigation, and corporate transactions in the automobile, motorcycle and power sports industries. Spanning more than 25 states, he has litigated dealership matters before federal and state courts and state administrative agencies.

“New business and legal challenges are emerging in the motor vehicle industry, which can impact a company’s operations, compliance and, ultimately, its go-to-market strategy,” said Paul Langer, Office Managing Partner and Chair of the Chicago Office Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice. “Randy’s deep background and experience working with prominent manufacturers and distributors will be an invaluable asset to clients who are active in these areas.”

Oyler co-founded an alternative investment management company that has raised over $100 million to fight global poverty through direct investments in micro-finance institutions in developing economies all over the world. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Franchising and has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America® for Franchise Law.

Oyler earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as developments editor for the University’s Legal Forum, and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Wheaton College of Illinois.

Flexera will present a webinar titled “Risk Management & IP Value Protection for Software Suppliers” on Tuesday, July 31, at 10 a.m. Central time.

In this webinar, Christian Bartsch, partner at international law firm Bird & Bird, will give an overview of legal issues software suppliers must be aware of and the ramifications of leaving them unmanaged.

Martin Callinan, founder of Open Source Software consultancy, Source Code Control, will explain the simple and effective management principles your organization needs to adopt to manage these open source software risks appropriately.

“Whether your organization supplies software alone or embedded in devices or machinery, you need it to be robust, secure and legally compliant,” Flexera says on its website. “Security vulnerabilities or licensing loopholes stemming from open source software can result in product recalls, the loss of valuable IP and terrible damage to your reputation and bottom line.

“These risks can be successfully mitigated by understanding how they arise and the key management principles you need to put in place to manage them.”

Register for the webinar.

The former general counsel of Lionsgate Entertainment left the company amid allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse, reports Variety, citing a story in The Wall Street Journal.

“Wayne Levin resigned from the company in November of last year,” writes Gene Maddaus. “A former subordinate, Wendy Jaffe, told the Journal that Levin mistreated her for more than a decade, including non-consensual sexual conduct in 2002 and 2003. Jaffe left the company in 2016, and received a $2.5 million settlement.”

Jaffe said Lionsgate had violated a non-disclosure agreement, giving her the opportunity to speak about her experiences.

Jaffe was executive vice president of legal affairs and reported to Levin during her tenure.

Read the Variety article.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Texas Instruments chief executive and president Brian Crutcher has been removed from his position after violations of the company’s code of conduct.

Reporter Melissa Repko writes: “The Dallas-based semiconductor company said in a news release Tuesday that the violations were related to personal conduct and did not affect the company’s operations or its finances. It did not give details about the violation. But it appears the board acted after receiving a claim that it investigated, according to a video shared with employees.”

The company’s chairman and former CEO, Rich Templeton, has reassumed the role vacated with Crutcher’s sudden departure.

The Morning News also published a commentary titled “Why won’t Texas Instruments say more about CEO’s exit? It could be legal, cultural or worse.”

Read the Dallas News article.

According to a report released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, employers are at an increased risk of age-discrimination litigation due to changing workforce demographics, according to a Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone post.

“The State of Age Discrimination and Older Workers in the U.S. 50 Years After the Age Discrimination in Employment Act” highlights a number of important considerations for employers with regard to older workers.

“The report notes that older workers, specifically those in the 65+ category, are expected to remain in the workforce for longer, at greater numbers, and are the segment of the workforce expected to grow the fastest through 2024,” the post reports. “As a result of the increased presence of older workers in the workforce, the EEOC report warns against employment discrimination based on age, representing that ‘[u]nfounded assumptions about age and ability continue to drive age discrimination in the workplace.'”

Read the article.

Reuters reports that the former chief executive of Energy XXI Ltd agreed to settle civil charges that he failed to disclose to investors more than $10 million in personal loans obtained from company vendors and a candidate for the company’s board, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.

John D. Schiller Jr. didn’t admit or deny the charges, but he settled with the SEC by paying a $180,000 penalty and agreeing not to serve as an officer or director of a public company for five years, the SEC said.

The Reuters article explains: “The SEC alleged Schiller maintained an extravagant lifestyle using a leveraged margin account secured by his shares in the oil and gas producer. When oil prices tumbled in 2014 and he was faced with margin calls, Schiller accepted more than $7.5 million in personal loans from companies that did business with Energy XXI, the SEC claimed.”

Read the article.

Image by Yoel Ben-Avraham

The Tech & Sourcing blog of Morgan Lewis takes a look at Software as a Service (SaaS) agreements — starting with the perspective of a solution that uses a dedicated service.

The authors of the article describe this scenario: “The application is provided and hosted as a dedicated instance, with common base software (sometimes with customization or variation) but running as a separate instance in a dedicated environment.”

The discuss:

Read the article.

A post on the website of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips discusses a case in which an Ohio federal court found that, where a contract required written revocation of consent to be contacted, a consumer’s attempt to orally revoke consent failed.

As part of the cardholder agreement between Carlton Barton and Credit One Bank, Barton provided his explicit consent to be contacted on his cellphone number in any way (such as prerecorded message, autodialer or text message), explain Diana L. Eisner and Christine M. Reilly. Barton later claimed that he revoked his consent by telling a representative of Credit One not to call him anymore.

Barton sued under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, but the court found that the plaintiff provided his cellphone number to the defendant when he filled out his application form and “‘a party who gives an invitation or permission to be called at [a certain] number’ has given ‘prior express consent’ to be contacted.”

Read the article.