Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce the further expansion of the firm’s Chicago office with the arrival of three attorneys in the Real Estate Practice Group. Ruth A. Schoenmeyer has joined the firm as partner, and Kathleen Dempsey Boyle and Stephanie J. Kim have joined the firm as counsel.

Schoenmeyer is the fifth partner to join the firm in Chicago, and the third real estate partner added there since the office opened in May 2019. The Real Estate Practice Group has added ten new attorneys in New York and Chicago since the beginning of 2019 – five partners, three counsel and two associates.

Schoenmeyer, who joins from White & Case, has more than 25 years of experience in commercial real estate, both in-house and in private practice. She advises clients on a variety of transactions, including leasing, redevelopment, disposition and acquisition matters. Her clients include retailers, developers, quick-service restaurant chains, and logistics companies. She frequently speaks and writes about commercial real estate leasing topics and is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Boyle, who joins from Meltzer, Purtill & Stelle, has more than 35 years of experience counseling clients on all aspects of commercial real estate leasing, development and redevelopment. She represents developers, landlords and tenants regarding retail, mixed-use, office, warehouse and industrial projects. Prior to private practice, she spent several years as associate general counsel at one of the largest shopping mall operators in the US, and as of counsel at the world’s largest tire sales and auto service retailer. Boyle is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Kim, who also joins from White & Case, has more than 20 years of experience in commercial real estate. Her experience includes commercial real estate leasing on behalf of property owners and tenants of retail, shopping centers, office, industrial and other commercial properties. She also has experience representing developers, property owners and purchasers in the development, acquisition, disposition and management of office, commercial, industrial, condominium, vacant and residential properties.

CHICAGO – Barnes & Thornburg has added labor and employment attorney Terese M. Connolly as partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment Department. Ms. Connolly, who joins in Chicago, advises multinational corporations on a full spectrum of employment-related issues that arise when managing a global workforce.

Connolly works with clients throughout all aspects of the employment life cycle. Over the years, she has built a global network of contacts to provide multinational organizations with both domestic and international employment law counseling, training, and advice on domestic and cross-border employment law issues related to mergers, acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and other transactions. She joins the firm from Culhane Meadows, where she was Chair of the Labor and Employment practice group.

In addition to supporting multinational corporations’ daily workforce-related operations, Connolly represents clients in a number of matters, including those that emerge under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the WARN Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and various state wage and hour laws among others.

Connolly earned her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, with honors, earning C.A.L.I. awards in both Disability and Privacy Rights in Employment Law.

“E-commerce and tech behemoth, Amazon, has filed a lawsuit against the former vice president of marketing for its Amazon Web Services division, Brian Hall, alleging that his new role at Google Cloud violates the terms of his non-compete agreement,” report Peter S. Lubin and Patrick Austermuehle in Lubin Austermuehle’s Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog.

“In its complaint, Amazon alleges that Hall’s employment with Google threatens to cause irreparable harm and risks exposing valuable competitive information to one of its biggest rivals. Amazon seeks both money damages and injunctive relief, requesting that the court enjoin Hall from working for Google for the remainder of the 18-month non-compete period set forth in the agreement.”

“This lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by Amazon to enforce non-compete clauses in employment contracts. In 2017, Amazon sued another former vice president who left Amazon Web Services to take a job with a Seattle-area software company but dropped the suit shortly after filing it. In 2019, Amazon filed a similar suit against a former Amazon Web Services sales executive after he too left the company to take a job with Google Cloud. A judge ultimately agreed to partially limit certain aspects of that employee’s role at Google but did strike down certain portions of the restrictive covenant as ‘unreasonable’ and took Amazon to task for taking a one-size-fits-all approach to its non-compete agreement. This latest lawsuit comes after Washington state enacted a new law last year that severely restricted the use of non-compete agreements within the state.”

Read the article.

“In Lun v. Lun 2020 BCSC 871 the court considered whether the sale of the family insurance business, as ordered by the court, provided the court with jurisdiction to order the husband to sign a Non-Compete Agreement, as part of the sales contract, in circumstances where the husband resisted signing,” reports Georgialee Lang in Lawdiva’s Blog.

“The parties owned a business that sold commercial insurance products and motor vehicle insurance. The wife brought an application to court for the sale of the business, which was contested. The court granted the order sought, with joint conduct of sale to the parties.”

“A condition of the sale was that Mr. Lun sign a non-competition agreement that would prevent him from being involved in the insurance industry for a period of two years.”

“Mrs. Lun brought an application asking the court to order Mr. Lun to agree to the non-compete term in the contract. Mr. Lun opposed the application as he had been in the insurance industry for 20 years and wished to continue in the industry.”

Read the article.

“In recent months, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a record number of Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) under Section 564 of the Federal, Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). With a large number also pending, this review pathway is becoming almost common for a wide range of products, predominantly devices, although drugs and biologics are also eligible,” reports Jeffrey K. Shapiro in Hyman, Phelps & McNamara’s FDA Law Blog.

“In this light, some questions of law and policy already settled regarding 510(k) submissions or premarket approval (PMA) applications may need to be re‑analyzed to determine if the answer is the same in the EUA context. With the COVID emergency likely to continue for some time, these questions will not soon disappear.”

“The question of whether a company may lawfully advertise a device with an EUA pending (prior to issuance of the EUA)? For more than 40 years, FDA’s policy has been that a device with a 510(k) pending may be advertised (promoted) prior to clearance.”

Read the article.

“A woman whose step-son, an attorney, stole $558,371.13 from her was not entitled to a directed verdict in a case in which she blames her ex-husband for the loss based on his failure to alert her that his son by a previous marriage was addicted to gambling, Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday,” reports a MetNews Staff Writer in Metropolitan News-Enterprise.

“Plaintiff Wendy Sawyer contended that her former spouse, retired lawyer Stephen D. Sawyer, had a fiduciary duty to her in mid-2015—when he allegedly learned of the gambling and stealing—because he was a partner in the law firm of Sawyer & Sawyer to which she was paying a monthly retainer of $25,000. Had she been told of the thievery at that time, she argued, she could have blocked the losses, most of which occurred in 2015.”

“She did not find out about the stepson’s filching until the following year.”

“Joining her as plaintiffs were five of her companies, which had been represented by the step-son, Jason R. Sawyer.”

Read the article.

“The court opined that a $1.1 million judgment for Vernon and Donyell Walters was too high and that the trial court will have to try to find a more appropriate figure,” reports John O’Brien in Legal Newsline.

“The $1.1 million figure, itself, was a reduction from the jury’s original $2.8 million verdict, which the trial judge noted was more than what the Waters had asked for.”

“Vernon Walters hired Tadd Parsons to represent him and his wife in a lawsuit against Kansas City Southern Railway Company, but it was dismissed with prejudice in 2010 for failure to prosecute, failure to comply with discovery obligations and fraud upon the court.”

“Parsons did not relate what had happened with the case to his clients. Three years after its dismissal, with the Walterses believing the case was still pending, Parsons fabricated a settlement offer of $104,000 from KCSR and advised them to take it.”

Read the article.

“A federal prosecutor was wrongfully arrested when cops slapped the cuffs on her for advising her boyfriend of his legal rights during a drunk-driving stop, a new lawsuit alleges,” reports Priscilla DeGregory in the New York Post’s Metro.

“Assistant US Attorney Bianca Forde was arrested on Nov. 30 when her boyfriend Joseph Paul got pulled over for suspected drunk driving in Midtown Manhattan and was asked to take a Breathalyzer test, according to a Manhattan civil suit filed against officers Fidel Hernandez, Christophe Williams and Weigand, whose first name was not included in the suit.”

“Forde, the passenger, allegedly said at the time ‘I’m a US attorney. I’m his attorney — he doesn’t have to blow.'”

“Paul did anyhow and passed the breath test and wasn’t arrested.”

Read the article.

The Davies Group, a professional services and technology firm, has hired a new lead for all legal matters as it looks to further its global expansion,  reports Paul Lucas in Insurance Business America’s Breaking News.

“The company has appointed Jeff Chang  in a ewly created role as general counsel. The partner at Osborne Clarke LLP has made a name for himself as a specialist in M&A transactional services and is now set to join Davies on July 01 reporting to Tony Debiase, the group chief financial officer.”

“The move comes shortly after Davies announced the appointment of James Heath as group chief risk officer and now the firm is looking to further its global ambitions.”

Read the article.

“A finalized settlement agreement between the State of Nevada and the Department of Energy regarding their shipment of weapons-grade plutonium was agreed to … by Gov. Steve Sisolak, Attorney General Aaron Ford and Nevada’s federal delegation,” reported by News 4 and FOX 11 Digital Team on KRNV.

“According to the AG’s office, the settlement marks a significant victory in Nevada’s fight to prevent the DOE from making Nevada its plutonium destination of choice.”

“In August 2018, the DOE announced its plan to ship up to one metric ton of plutonium to Nevada for indefinite storage.”

Read the article.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that Tony Westbrooks and Nina L. Windsor have joined the firm’s St. Louis office as attorneys in the Trusts & Estates practice group.

“We are pleased to welcome Tony and Nina to our experienced team of trusts and estates attorneys offering the full range of sophisticated estate and tax planning services to our individual, family and business clients,” said Greensfelder President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin T. McLaughlin.

Serving as counsel, Westbrooks helps families and businesses with sophisticated estate planning matters, advising individuals and families on protecting assets and prudently transferring wealth to younger generations and charities. He drafts and implements personalized estate plans including wills, trusts, and powers of attorney, as well as tax and charitable planning.

Prior to joining Greensfelder, Westbrooks served as compliance counsel at Edward Jones, where he provided legal and compliance advice and guidance to business areas including high-net-worth client consultation.

Westbrooks received his J.D. from Washington University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts in economics from Grinnell College.

Windsor is an associate who helps develop estate plans to protect the financial futures of families and individuals. Her experience includes drafting wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other vital planning documents. She also assists with tax-related matters.

Before joining Greensfelder, Windsor was an attorney at Maune Raichle Hartley French & Mudd, LLC, where she assisted clients with trust, probate and tax-related matters.

Windsor received her J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from Hillsdale College.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., founded in 1895, is a full-service law firm with offices in St. Louis, Chicago and Southern Illinois. Greensfelder offers comprehensive legal solutions for clients locally, nationally and internationally. Areas of practice include business services; communications and media; construction; educational, religious and tax-exempt organizations; employee benefits; employment and labor; energy; franchising and distribution; health care; intellectual property; litigation; real estate; securities and financial services; and trusts and estates. Find out more at www.greensfelder.com.

“A lawyer will stay on the hook for a $300,000 malpractice verdict after walking out on a client who was unhappy with the way settlement talks in a divorce were going,” reports John O’Brien in Legal Newsline’s Attorneys & Judges.

“The California Fifth Appellate District affirmed a Stanislaus County judgment against the Law Office of Leslie F. Jensen, who told her client ‘I’m done’ shortly before the divorce trial was to begin.”

“Jensen wanted Krista Masellis to accept an $800,000 offer, even though valuations placed Krista’s share at $1.5 million or more. Krista had urged Jensen to depose her soon-to-be-ex-husband because she thought he might be hiding assets, but Jensen never did.”

“When Jensen told Masellis she wouldn’t ask for more than $800,000, even though Masellis wanted much more, Masellis told her she didn’t have the client’s best interest in mind.”

Read the article.

“The unexpected deaths of two lawyers and a series of tornadoes don’t excuse the late filing of an expert report on damages, a federal judge in Dallas has ruled,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“Ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown said the prejudice to defendant ADT Inc., a security company, outweighed the risk of harm to the plaintiff seeking to admit the late report.”

“The expert initially estimated damages for interference with current and prospective contracts at about $673,000 but later contended that ADT’s wrongdoing caused total damages of about $4.2 million. The later report will not be admitted, Brown ruled.”

“The plaintiff, Premier Electronics, claims that ADT conspired to take over its contract to provide security alarm monitoring services to a new housing development and interfered with prospective contracts in other developments, according to Brown’s opinion.”

Read the article.

“The ONE Group Hospitality announced appointment of Maria Woods as General Counsel. She will also be assuming the role of Corporate Secretary from Chief Administrative Officer Linda Siluk, who has resigned and is pursuing other career opportunities,” was announced in FSR Magazine’s Industry News.

“Woods brings over 25 years of legal experience to The ONE Group, including nearly two decades as in-house counsel to both public and private companies. Most recently, she served as General Counsel for Lucky’s Market, where she provided strategic legal counsel for all aspects of the company’s natural and organic grocery operations. Prior to that, Woods served as Executive Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs and General Counsel at National CineMedia. Earlier in her career, she was the Associate General Counsel at Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, General Counsel at Latis Networks, and Assistant General Counsel at Sun MicroSystems.”

Read the article.

“For years, Johnson & Johnson has vowed to appeal each talc verdict it lost, and the company cited a ‘fundamentally unfair process’ and ‘multiple errors’ when jurors in St. Louis ordered the company to pay $4.69 billion to 22 women with ovarian cancer,” reports Eric Sagonowsky in Fierce Pharma’s Pharma.

“Now, an appeals court has reduced that award—but only to $2.11 billion, thanks to J&J’s ‘outrageous’ and ‘reprehensible’ defense of the product.”

“J&J brought 10 arguments in appeals, but the court found that plaintiffs ‘proved with convincing clarity that defendants engaged in outrageous conduct because of an evil motive or reckless indifference.'”

“After reviewing the arguments, the judges found that J&J ‘discussed the presence of asbestos in their talc in internal memoranda for several decades; avoided adopting more accurate measures for detecting asbestos and influenced the industry to do the same; attempted to discredit those scientists publishing studies unfavorable to their products; and did not eliminate talc from the products and use cornstarch instead because it would be more costly to do so.'”

Read the article.

San Francisco, CA (June 26, 2020) – Venable LLP is pleased to announce the addition of three leading complex commercial litigators to its growing national Commercial Litigation Practice in the San Francisco office. John S. Worden and Jean-Paul Cart, formerly of Schiff Hardin LLP, are joining the firm as partners. In addition, Steven E. Swaney is joining the firm as counsel.

Worden is a trial lawyer. He has tried more than 50 cases for plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts and in front of judges, juries, and binding arbitration panels across the country. Although most of his trials have been on the defense, he has also won four seven- and eight-figure plaintiff verdicts. He practices throughout the U.S., and in addition to being admitted in California, is admitted in Nevada (where he has tried—and won—seven cases to verdict). Worden received his J.D, magna cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law in 1989, and his B.A., with honors, from Seattle University in 1986.

Cart represents clients in complex business litigation matters in all varieties of business torts and commercial disputes, including consumer class actions,trademark infringement, securities and derivative class actions, licensing and contract actions, insurance disputes, privacy litigation, ADA website accessibility and Proposition 65 claims, and other related commercial litigation. He also provides pre-litigation risk analysis and counseling to clients involved in complicated transactions. His experience also covers all aspects of litigation, from declaratory relief actions to nine-figure demands. Cart received his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law in 2009, andhis B.S., summa cum laude, in Business Administration from the California Polytechnic State University in 2006.

Swaney is a seasoned trial attorney with experience in all aspects of litigation. His practice focuses on the defense against consumer class actions involving allegations of product defect, fraud, false advertising, breach of warranty,and other claims across a wide variety of industries, including automotive,electronics, and children’s products. As a former assistant United States attorney in the District of Columbia and Maryland, he has tried more than 20 cases to juries and coordinated in excess of 100 grand jury investigations.  Swaney received his J.D., cum laude, from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2002, and his B.A., cum laude, in English from Santa Clara University in 1997.

As we celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month, join us for an important discussion on the significance and implications of the landmark 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ employees from discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

We will be joined by special guest, James Esseks, Director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project as a follow up to his talk at DWT’s LGBTQ event in NYC last November. James was counsel in one of the three LGBTQ cases ruled on by the Supreme Court last week and in other landmark LGBTQ cases: Obergefell v. Hodges, which won the freedom to marry nationwide; United States v. Windsor, striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act; Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, whether a Virginia school board can bar a boy from the common restrooms because he is transgender; and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, addressing whether a business open to the public can turn away LGBT customers based on its religious or artistic objections. James will share his views on the recent LGBTQ victory in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia and implications moving forward in extending rights to LGBTQ individuals.

Join the webinar.

Veteran Technology Transactions Lawyer David Daggett Joins Perkins Coie in Seattle

SEATTLE (June 25, 2020) – Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that David Daggett has joined the firm’s Technology Transactions & Privacy practice as a partner in the Seattle office.

Dave is a veteran technology lawyer who focuses his practice on complex technology and related commercial transactions, with a focus on cloud-based products and services, intellectual property, commercial issues in mergers and acquisitions, and technical standard setting.

Dave is also a member of the patent bar and is admitted to practice before the USPTO and uses his patent experience in a variety of transactional contexts.

Dave joins Perkins Coie from Davis Wright Tremaine, where he was a partner. He received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Gonzaga University School of Law and his B.S. from University of California, Los Angeles.

The attorneys in Perkins Coie’s Technology Transactions & Privacy practice represent leading and emerging technology companies, hospitals and health systems, financial services firms, retailers, manufacturers, and other businesses in connection with transactions spanning virtually every segment of the technology industry. The team has extensive experience in practically all forms of traditional and leading-edge technologies, including internet/e-commerce, online and cloud services, computing hardware, mobile, telecommunications, blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, software, privacy and data security, virtual reality and augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, cleantech, gaming, fintech, emerging payments, virtual currencies, social media, health information and medical technology, medical devices, biomedical engineering, wearable technology, and medical and personal biotechnology.

Minimize risk, while saving time and headaches.
Start with a defensible preservation plan.

Preservation of evidence is a critical element of litigation and is the precursor to ediscovery and all ensuing negotiations and court proceedings. A structured preservation plan helps you implement a defensible legal hold process and meet your litigation obligations.

Fortunately, it doesn’t require perfection. It merely demands that litigants take reasonable steps to ensure that relevant information is not lost or modified.

This ebook is a practical guide to creating a preservation plan, including tips, checklists, and actionable steps including:

• Recognizing the Trigger Event
• Defining the Scope of Preservation
• Taking Action to Preserve
• Monitoring & Releasing the Hold

Get the Guide.

“Wirecard AG’s former chief executive officer was detained by Munich prosecutors after 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) went missing from the digital-payment company, in a scandal that has rattled Germany’s financial industry,” report Karin Matussek, Sarah Syed and Bloomberg in Fortune’s International.

“Markus Braun, who resigned last week, turned himself in Monday evening in Munich as part of a probe into the company’s accounting practices, prosecutors said in an e-mailed statement. A judge will review whether he can be kept in custody Tuesday afternoon.”

“The company is fighting for survival after acknowledging the missing funds probably don’t exist. The payment processor said it’s in discussions with creditors and is considering a full-scale restructuring after pulling its financial results for fiscal 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.”

“In less than a week, the fintech company once hyped as the future of German finance has lost most of its market value.”

Read the article.