“The Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated a lawyer Tuesday who had been suspended for a year and a day for chest bumping a prosecutor in a judge’s chambers,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Latest News.

“The state supreme court reinstated Baton Rouge lawyer Felix Anthony DeJean IV in a per curiam opinion. The opinion said DeJean had complied with reinstatement criteria.”

“Concurring Justice Scott Crichton said DeJean had attended counseling, acknowledged his wrongdoing, and recognized the seriousness of his actions. He presented character witnesses who told of his good character and self-improvement.”

“DeJean had been convicted of simple battery for the March 2015 incident. District Attorney Bradley Burget of Concordia Parish had claimed that DeJean exchanged words with him, physically confronted him and chest bumped him. DeJean received a suspended jail sentence in the criminal case along with 18 months of supervised probation that required him to complete an anger management program.”

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“The new norm of social distancing, and a recent decision out of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, are changing the way arbitrations are conducted. Now is the time to update the arbitration provisions in your contracts to take advantage of these changes the next time you have to arbitrate a dispute,” writes Henry R. Chalmers in Arnall Golden Gregory’s News & Insights.

“The standard arbitration hearing has always involved the parties, attorneys, witnesses, and arbitrators together in the same room, similar to an informal trial setting. The COVID-19 pandemic may change that for the foreseeable future. Just as businesses are transitioning away from in-person conferences and towards Zoom meetings, so too are arbitration hearings.”

“The Rules for many arbitration tribunals—like the American Arbitration Association and JAMS—allow arbitrators to decide whether to hold hearings in person or via video conference, unless the parties have agreed otherwise. So, the next time you negotiate a contract with an arbitration provision, think about whether it would be to your advantage to require that disputes be arbitrated in person or remotely, then draft that into the contract.”

Chalmers provides a few things to consider in making this decision.

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“Sprague Resources LP has agreed to reduce air pollution from heated petroleum storage tanks at its facilities in South Portland, Searsport and five other New England cities, according to a federal lawsuit and proposed consent decree filed,” reports Kelley Bouchard in Press Herald’s Local & State.

“Under the proposed settlement, Sprague must properly license and take steps to reduce odors and emissions of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, from heated tanks storing No. 6 heavy residual fuel oil and asphalt.”

“In addition to Sprague’s facilities in Maine, the settlement applies to tank farms in Everett, Quincy and New Bedford, Massachusetts; Newington, New Hampshire; and Providence, Rhode Island.”

“The federal Environmental Protection Agency had filed violation notices against Sprague’s facilities in recent years because they were unlicensed to store No. 6 oil or asphalt in heated tanks, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.”

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“Attorney General Maura Healey has reached a $380,000 settlement with a Canton-based building contractor accused of falsely claiming they had hired minority- and women-owned subcontractors as required on a $15 million dollar state project,” reports Paul Singer and Chris Burrell in WGBH’s local news.

“The company, ENE Systems, Inc. — a systems engineering firm that has worked on major building projects across the region — denies any wrongdoing, and said it tried to meet the hiring goals, but it agreed to pay $300,000, give up another $81,000 remaining on the contract and conduct an annual review of its own compliance with state requirements for hiring minorities and women. The settlement is the seventh “false claims” case brought by the AG’s office over the past decade against companies accused of failing to meet minority hiring commitments, and is the second largest. Six of these cases have been brought by a new false claims division created by Healey in 2015.”

“Earlier this year, an investigation by WGBH’s New England Center for Investigative Reporting showed that minority-owned businesses — black owned businesses in particular — receive only a tiny fraction of the billions of dollars state agencies spend each year on contractors, and their share of state contracts and discretionary agency spending has declined over the past 20 years.”

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“FBI General Counsel Dana Boente announced his retirement from the bureau,” reports Brooke Singman in Fox Wilmington’s Politics.

“Dana J. Boente, a longtime federal prosecutor, announced he will retire from his post as FBI general counsel by the end of June.”

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“Sony/ATV Music Publishing has promoted Peter Brodsky to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business Affairs, the company announced Wednesday (May 27). Brodsky is based in the company’s New York office and reports directly to Sony/ATV Chairman and CEO, Jon Platt,” reported by Variety’s Music news.

“According to the announcement, as General Counsel and EVP, Business Affairs, Brodsky leads the company’s legal and business affairs department worldwide. He is responsible for building and implementing its global business strategy as well as providing guidance and counsel on all Sony/ATV legal matters. Brodsky also oversees Sony/ATV’s major catalog acquisitions, North American digital initiatives and strategies for licensing its catalog to digital music services and other platforms.”

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“Racing and casino company Churchill Downs, organizer of the world-famous Kentucky Derby race, has agreed to pay $124 million to settle two class action lawsuits, according to news reports. Australian computerized gambling system and spinning reel slot machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. will pay the rest of the $155 million settlement, or $31 million,” reports Rhian Hunt in The Motley Fool’s Investing News.

“The lawsuits, Thimmegowda v. Big Fish Games and Kater v. Churchill Downs, relate to the Big Fish Games online gambling brand, which Churchill Downs sold to Aristocrat in 2018. That year, a 9th Circuit court ruling said the Big Fish’s virtual chips indeed constitute online gambling, making them illegal in Washington state, where groups of online bettors launched civil lawsuits over their Big Fish losses, which in one instance stacked up to more than $300,000.”

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“J.P. Morgan Chase agreed to pay $9 million to settle allegations by current and former participants in the company’s 401(k) plan that fiduciaries violated their ERISA duties by retaining expensive investment options and failing to look for cheaper and better-performing replacements,” reports Robert Steyer in Pensions & Investments Courts.

“Terms of the preliminary settlement, which still requires court approval, were filed May 22 in U.S. District Court in New York. The parties had announced in early April that they had reached a tentative agreement in the case of Beach et al. vs. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank et al.”

“J.P. Morgan and its affiliated defendants declared there was no wrongdoing, according to the settlement document.”

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“Investors suffering losses from Bayer’s Roundup legal woes are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, as the German conglomerate is said to be nearing a final settlement that could put tens of thousands of lawsuits behind it,” reports Angus Liu in FiercePharma’s Pharma.

“Bayer has reached verbal agreements with a large proportion of about 125,000 U.S. plaintiffs who allege Roundup causes cancer as part of a $10 billion plan to end all legal claims around the weedkiller, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.”

“Wrapping up the legal battle at $10 billion would be a win for Bayer, as it has lost $30 billion in market value since the Monsanto buyout, through which it inherited Roundup.”

“So far, Bayer has lost all three trials that ended with combined $191 million in damages, though the company is still fighting them in appeals court.”

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DALLAS (May 29, 2020) – Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Jill Louis has joined the firm’s Corporate & Securities practice as a partner in the Dallas office. Louis’ addition to the Dallas office follows the opening of the firm’s Austin office in February and the recent addition of John Treviño in Dallas, a privacy law attorney, as Perkins Coie continues to grow and expand its Texas operations.

Louis advises public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, franchise transactions, corporate governance matters, and commercial contracts across a wide range of industries, including industrial, retail, technology, healthcare, and business services. She also advises on road transportation issues, project infrastructure matters, and the creation and implementation of contract management processes for public and private companies. Louis has worked with companies of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 50 corporations. Louis served in the corporate legal departments of major Dallas-based corporations for more than 15 years before returning to private practice in 2016.

Louis received her J.D. from Harvard University and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Howard University. She is well known in Dallas civic and philanthropic circles and serves on several boards, including as a director at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, an executive board member of KERA, and as a member of the board of trustees for Howard University.

Sidley Welcomes Life Sciences Corporate Partner Frank Rahmani in Palo Alto

Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Frank Rahmani has joined the firm in Palo Alto as a partner in the Corporate practice, with a focus on emerging companies and capital markets. Rahmani will also be a member of Sidley’s award-winning Global Life Sciences practice. He was previously a partner at Cooley LLP.

Rahmani advises emerging growth and public companies in the life sciences and technology industries. Working closely with founders, CEOs, boards of directors and investors, Rahmani counsels clients in a broad range of matters, from formation and spin-off transactions, to financings and public offerings, governance, mergers and acquisitions, strategic collaborations, and technology acquisition and licensing matters.

Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, announces the launch of the Littler Restructuring Assessment Solution, a resource for employers forced to make critical decisions about reductions in force (RIFs), furloughs, layoffs and other workforce restructuring measures.

The holistic solution provides businesses with a proactive, strategic and defensible approach to workforce restructurings by leveraging Littler’s deep bench of attorneys with extensive experience in this area – and enhancing their work with cutting-edge technology. The approach can also give employers the opportunity to plan ahead for bringing select employees back into their workforces.

With Littler’s solution, employers receive timely and practical guidance to help formulate and execute a strategy for workforce restructurings. Here’s how it works:

• Consultation. The process starts with a consultation to understand the company’s business objectives. Littler’s experienced attorneys provide counsel on potential approaches to achieve those goals that align with their specific business needs and comply with the myriad of federal, state and local regulations.
• Analysis. Next, an adverse impact analysis is conducted in a privileged context using Littler’s proprietary technology. The tool provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of selection criteria, both in various strata of the company and regarding the company as a whole. The analysis helps clients see in real-time how modifying selection criteria affects statistical results and assists in achieving fair and effective workforce adjustments.
• Execution. With the statistical analysis complete, the team analyzes the results to help clients establish a strategy, as well as preserve an evidentiary record of the analysis conducted. While this analysis is privileged, the privilege can be waived in any future litigation if desired.

In addition to Notestine, Littler’s core team of attorneys with decades of experience helping employers plan, devise and execute complex workforce restructurings includes shareholders Robert Long, Bruce Millman, Marko Mrkonich, Terri Solomon, Daniel Thieme and Jennifer Youpa, among others.

Littler’s Restructuring Assessment Solution is the latest in a long line of innovative and practical resources the firm provides to employers. Littler’s Service Solutions – including the Littler Pay Equity Assessment (a technology tool for conducting audits and guiding legal strategy), Littler onDemand (a data-driven solution for employment law advice and counsel) and Littler CaseSmart® (the firm’s approach to efficiently managing employment litigation) – are designed to provide clients with efficient legal counsel, help shape legal and compliance strategies, and spot trends that can inform critical business decisions.

“Spearheading growth in the fintech sector, payments innovator Contis is delighted to announce the appointment of Lara Oyesanya FRSA as its first General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer. Lara joins the Executive Team with responsibility for legal, risk, compliance & fraud, and human resources,” as reported in Yahoo Finance’s News.

“This important strategic appointment delivers for Contis’ ambitious growth plans. By bringing legal functions in-house, Contis can react to the market with agility and speed, improve client acquisition and reduce onboarding times. Lara’s appointment also brings experience in leadership and corporate culture from across the fintech space.”

“Lara joins from Klarna Bank AB, the successful Swedish ‘buy now pay later’ fintech where, as UK Counsel and Legal Director, she led the acquisition of Close Brothers Retail Finance.”

Read the article.

“Plaintiffs lawyers shouldn’t have been awarded $280,000 for negotiating a $15,000 settlement, a Los Angeles appeals court has ruled,” reports John O’Brien in Legal Newsline Stories.

“The California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District issued its ruling on May 21 in a blow to lawyers who claimed to spend more than 800 hours on the lawsuit and initially requested close to $600,000 in fees and expenses.”

“The decision comes in a former server’s lawsuit against Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar’s. She alleged she was deprived her 10-minute breaks, but her lawyers claimed the settlement included wage and hour claims that entitled them to recover fees.”

“Afterwards, attorneys at Felahy Employment Lawyers and Yash Law Group sought $580,794 in fees and more than $16,000 in costs, claiming they spent 869.6 hours were incurred. They said the wage and hour claims were ‘closely intertwined’ with retaliation and wrongful termination claims.”

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“A well-known Waco, Texas defense lawyer, who once ran for county district attorney, sat behind bars on Saturday after a local police sting allegedly caught him plotting to kill a colleague’s ex-husband using a hitman,” reports Blake Montgomery and Olivia Messer in MSN News’ Crime.

“Seth Andrew Sutton has long held an upstanding reputation in Waco as a criminal defense lawyer, successfully defending clients in high-profile cases.”

“The would-be killer … was actually an undercover policeman all along, and police arrested Sutton and Tijerina on Friday under felony charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder.”

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Police arrested a Staten Island lawyer in the middle of international drug-smuggling investigation, reports Jeff Bachner in New York Daily News’ NYC Crime.

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Please join a NYC Bar webinar on June 1st from 6:30 to 8:30PM EST to hear Jennifer Brown moderate a panel with Diane Brayton, General COunsel of The New York Times, Kimberly Chainey, General Counsel of Panasonic Avionics, Jung-Kyu McCann, General Counsel of Druva and Beth Levine, SVP & Chief Compliance Officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Description:
From trade wars to #fakenews to global pandemics to cybersecurity breaches—economic, political and social changes have upended business as usual. A general counsel’s ability to navigate and manage in these turbulent times is critical to the viability of her organization. This panel discussion with leading women GCs and Chief Compliance Officers will explore the GC and CCO roles in managing risk while adapting to the pace of change. We will hear how successful women lawyers at the forefront of their organizations navigate the winds of change.

Registration in advance is required.

Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Alison Watkins has joined the firm’s Litigation and Privacy & Security practices as a partner in the Palo Alto office.

Watkins is a veteran privacy litigator and counselor and her experience includes guiding clients on compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Watkins has also counseled clients under government investigation and served as a lead advisor on matters before federal and state courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

In addition to her extensive privacy and security practice, Watkins has deep experience with intellectual property litigation, including patent infringement, unfair competition, trade secret, and breach of contract matters. She represents companies in the virtual reality, mobile communication, technology startup, biotechnology, software, and semiconductor industries.

Watkins earned her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her practice, Watkins serves as pro bono counsel on matters related to human trafficking, sanctuary policies, and police reform.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Jacob Hanson has joined the firm’s Tampa office as an associate in the Litigation Practice Group.

“We are pleased to welcome Jacob to our growing team of attorneys in Tampa,” said Bradley Tampa Office Managing Partner Craig Mayfield. “Jacob brings valuable litigation experience that will benefit our clients throughout Florida. We are excited to continue building with lawyers of Jacob’s quality at any time, but particularly proud to be successfully adding his strength during the current environment.”

Mr. Hanson defends clients in first-party property, coverage, and bad faith actions throughout Florida. His experience includes advocating at motion hearings, drafting pleadings and motions, propounding and responding to discovery, negotiating settlements, and advising clients on their legal options while also considering the business ramifications of those options.

Before joining Bradley, Mr. Hanson served as a law clerk to the Hon. James S. Moody, Jr., on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He earned his J.D. (magna cum laude) from Stetson University College of Law and his Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida.

The Litigation Practice Group is Bradley’s largest practice and includes nearly half of the firm’s more than 500 attorneys who represent clients in litigation and arbitration in every U.S. state and federal district court across the country, as well as internationally. Attorneys handle matters in nearly every substantive area of business law and in a wide range of industries, including high-stakes and complex cases.

About Bradley
Bradley combines skilled legal counsel with exceptional client service and unwavering integrity to assist a diverse range of corporate and individual clients in achieving their business goals. With offices in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia, the firm’s nearly 550 lawyers represent regional, national and international clients in various industries, including banking and financial services, construction, energy, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, real estate, and technology, among many others.

“Lucid Motors, which seeks to set new standards for sustainable transportation with its advanced luxury EVs, today announced that Jonathan Butler has joined the company as Vice President, General Counsel, leading all aspects of Lucid’s legal, compliance, and public policy functions,” was reported in Cision PR Newswire.

“With 17 years of legal experience in the automotive, technology, and global resourcing industries, Mr. Butler has vast expertise with commercial transactions, corporate governance, litigation, compliance, risk management, and issues related to intellectual property. He most recently spent eight years with Tesla as Deputy General Counsel. Prior to that, he spent over eight years with international law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in its litigation practice and its global sourcing & technology transactions practice.”

“Butler joins Lucid at an exceptionally exciting time as the company prepares to unveil the Lucid Air. In addition to the vehicle’s final interior and exterior designs, new details on production specifications, available configurations, and pricing information will also be shared in the near future.”

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