The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Jennifer A. Cormier, a partner at MG+M The Law Firm (MG+M) in San Francisco, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Cormier focuses her practice on complex litigation with an emphasis on representing defendants in the toxic tort arena. She recently expanded her practice to defend businesses sued under California’s Child Victims Act. She also has experience in asbestos litigation, premises liability, and products liability.

Cormier has extensive experience overseeing and managing nationally recognized companies as national coordinating counsel and settlement counsel, as well as local counsel. She recently completed the rigorous mediation training program “Mediating the Litigated Case” offered by the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law. Cormier also is a member of the MG+M Women’s Forum, which provides a platform for the women of MG+M to share innovative ideas on empowerment in the workplace as well as opportunities to work within local communities to help other women through volunteer efforts.

Cormier received her J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University and her Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from the University of Delaware.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that J.Y. Miller, managing partner of Husch Blackwell LLP’s The Link virtual office, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Miller is based in St. Louis.

A member of his firm’s executive board, Miller focuses his practice on serving as national coordinating counsel for toxic tort litigation. Previously, he worked as a prosecutor and criminal defense counsel while serving on active duty in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

Miller also is a member of the Defense Research Institute.

Miller received his J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law and his Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

About the International Association of Defense Counsel
The IADC is the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests. Founded in 1920, the IADC has members who hail from six continents, 51 countries and territories, and all 50 U.S. states. The core purposes of the IADC are to enhance the development of skills, promote professionalism, and facilitate camaraderie among its members and their clients, as well as the broader civil justice community. For more information, visit www.iadclaw.org.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP announced today it has added former Assistant United States Attorney Alexander F. Porter as a partner in the firm’s white-collar, investigations, and government controversies group. With extensive trial experience, including more than eight years as a federal prosecutor, he brings significant depth to the firm’s financial services and healthcare groups, particularly in connection with healthcare fraud investigations. He is the firm’s fifth California addition with extensive healthcare experience in the past year.

Porter most recently served as a senior prosecutor in the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. During his tenure as an AUSA, he prosecuted a broad range of white-collar criminal cases and developed extensive experience leading parallel criminal and civil government investigations involving healthcare and securities fraud matters. Porter was appointed the health care fraud coordinator for the Central District of California in 2017. In that capacity, he coordinated healthcare fraud law enforcement activities with federal and state agencies, including the FBI and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within the country’s most populous federal judicial district, covering most of Southern California, including Los Angeles and Orange counties. Porter also served as acting deputy chief for the Major Frauds Section. Previously, he worked as a trial attorney within the U.S. Department of Justice’s Fraud Section, where he served as a member of the Health Care Fraud Strike Force and prosecuted violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and other healthcare offenses.

During his time in government, Porter tried seven white-collar federal jury trials and handled multiple appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Previously, he practiced as a litigation associate at Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles, focusing on white-collar criminal defense and securities litigation. There he represented corporations and executives in complex civil litigation and government investigations, including the former CEO of a Fortune 100 company in defense of multiple shareholder class action securities lawsuits and an SEC enforcement action. He joined Irell & Manella following a federal clerkship in the Central District of California. Porter received his undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco, summa cum laude, and his law degree from the University of Southern California.

Sidley is pleased to welcome Casey Khan as counsel in the global Energy and Infrastructure practice in the firm’s Houston office. Khan has over 15 years of experience working directly on commodity and financial trading floors in risk management, legal, and compliance functions. His advisory experience includes trading and hedging operations, risk management controls, and the creation and implementation of robust compliance programs.

Khan’s addition will expand the firm’s commodity trading practice, offering a unique perspective to organizations facing increasing quantitative risks and qualitative uncertainties.

Additionally, Khan represents institutions in regulatory proceedings, inquiries, and investigations before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and various Commodity & Derivative Exchanges (CME, ICE). He regularly advises and coaches commodity traders, marketers, and operators on physical and financial transactions, exchange rules, regional energy market rules and tariff requirements, and issues related to the design and operation of commodity derivatives, wholesale energy, and capacity markets. Khan also advises commodity, energy, and financial institutions on regulatory requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and relevant commodity provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act.

Khan received his J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and his B.A. in Economics from the University of Arizona. He is admitted to practice law in Texas and the District of Columbia.

Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm, is pleased to announce the expansion of its national Real Estate Practice Group with the addition of Bruce Wiener and Bedford Wilder in Tallahassee. Together they bring with them a broad range of experience in transactional real estate law, including commercial lending, documenting loan transactions, and closing and title services.

Wiener is a Florida Bar Certified Real Estate Lawyer and focuses his practice on transactional real estate law, commercial lending, and land use. He represents buyers and sellers in the purchase and sale of commercial, office, multifamily, student housing, acreage, and timberland property. His lender representation includes: the preparation of loan documentation for commercial mortgage loan transactions including construction and development projects; and performing due diligence investigations with respect to collateral, including the review of title, survey, land use entitlement, leasing, and related matters.

Wilder represents developers, property owners, and lenders in commercial real estate transactions, including the acquisition, sale, leasing, and development of real property. He represents financial institutions in negotiating and documenting loan transactions, including real estate and asset-based lending, construction financing, and loan workouts and lenders rely on his diverse skillset to navigate title insurance and secured transaction matters. With extensive experience in closing corporate asset transactions, Wilder also helps companies grow and transform their businesses through acquisitions and divestitures.

April 22, 2021 – Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP today announced that Gary Ogden has joined the firm as a partner in the Los Angeles office. Ogden was most recently the principal of The Ogden Law Group, a full-service real estate transactions legal advisory firm. He represents buyers, sellers, developers, small businesses, start-ups, and investors in the full range of large and small commercial real estate transactions.

Ogden assists clients in selling, leasing, developing, and financing commercial real estate in California and throughout the United States. On behalf of a major retail client, Ogden has handled development agreements, purchase and sale agreements, leases, reciprocal easement agreements (REAs), license agreements, finance documents, and architectural/construction contracts. Since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, he has been involved in renegotiating office leases and sub-leasing contracts.

Prior to managing his own law firm, Ogden served as In-House real estate counsel at Broadway Stores, Inc. Ogden received his B.A. from Brigham Young University, cum laude and with University Honors, and his J.D. from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bilingual in Spanish and English, Ogden regularly chairs and lectures in a number of professional continuing education programs on various aspects of real estate development, leasing, and management. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Valley Family Center, a counseling services and educational support foundation serving low-income families and individuals in San Fernando, California. He has been involved with Valley Family Center for 20 years and has handled real estate matters for the not-for-profit on a pro bono basis.

Barry O’Melia brings 20+ years of legal tech expertise

NEW YORK — April 21, 2021 — Brightflag, the AI-powered enterprise legal management platform, today announced the appointment of legal technology veteran Barry O’Melia as the company’s new Vice President of Product. O’Melia will align Brightflag’s product vision, customers’ emerging requirements, and his own industry perspective to deliver easy-to-use innovations that offer practical value to corporate legal departments.

O’Melia was formerly the leader of multiple product groups at Relativity, the e-discovery and compliance software leader recently valued at $3.6 billion. Prior to Relativity, O’Melia spent more than a decade specializing in big data analysis with e-discovery provider Digital WarRoom.

Following the company’s $28 million funding round in November and its year-over-year doubling of annual recurring revenue in 2020, this announcement marks the third new executive hire made by Brightflag this year.

Grand Rapids – April 21, 2021 – Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that Elisa Lintemuth, a member in the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group, has been appointed to serve as Managing Member of the firm’s Grand Rapids office.

In her practice, Lintemuth regularly advises employers regarding their obligations under state and federal employment laws and is experienced in resolving disputes in both state and federal courts. She focuses on employment counseling and litigation, commercial litigation, and ERISA litigation. Lintemuth also drafts employment policies and handbooks and negotiates employment and severance agreements. She also counsels employers concerning pre-litigation investigations, strategy, and negotiation and has experience representing employers in labor strikes and defending unfair labor practice proceedings.

In 2020, Lintemuth was at the forefront of helping employers address challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including return to work, mandatory vaccines, FFCRA leave, and compliance with OSHA guidance and state rules regarding workplace safety protocols. She has been frequently quoted in media coverage and has presented on these topics to many employers.

Throughout her career, Lintemuth has earned recognition for her legal work. She was selected as an “Up & Coming Lawyer” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly in 2020 and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America (2021) and as a “Rising Star” by Michigan Super Lawyers each year since 2014.

Outside of her law practice, Lintemuth sits on the Board of Directors for the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, where she also serves as Chair of the Great Gardens Party Committee and member of the Executive Committee.

Lintemuth earned a J.D., summa cum laude, from Michigan State University College of Law and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Denison University.

Provenir, a global leader in risk decisioning and data analytics software, welcomes Linda M. Lovett, Esq. as their in-house Legal Counsel. In her new role, Linda will be responsible for overseeing all Provenir’s commercial legal matters and supporting all Provenir’s new and existing product offerings, which include the Provenir Cloud Suite delivering data, decisioning, insight and solutions capabilities.

As a Columbia Law School Stone scholar, Linda brings a wealth of commercial legal experience as well as deep expertise in international and Fintech law. Prior to joining Provenir, Linda led significant engagements across debt restructuring, securities, and mergers and acquisitions, and negotiated more than 5,000 complex commercial agreements for large Fintech corporations, small start-up companies major New York law firms and non-profit foundations.

“Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. is billing at $2,295 as a partner at Covington & Burling, according to a contract that the firm signed with a public university,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in Above the Law’s Law Firms.

“Holder revealed his hourly rate in a March 30 letter to the Oregon Health & Science University, report the Oregonian, the National Law Journal and Oregon Public Broadcasting.”

“The letter confirms that Holder and his firm have been hired by the university to investigate harassment, discrimination, bullying and intimidation. Covington & Burling will discount its hourly rates by 10%.”

Read the article.

“Lawyers for former MiMedx Group Inc executives convicted of fraud in November allege the biotech company has not paid millions of dollars in attorney fees it owes for their legal defense,” reports in Westlaw Today.

“Three law firms – Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Kobre & Kim – sued MiMedx in New York County Supreme Court on Thursday, claiming the company ‘repeatedly violated its promise’ to pay them in connection with their defense of former CEO Parker ‘Pete’ Petit and former chief operating officer William Taylor.”

“Petit and Taylor were found guilty of securities fraud and conspiracy in the first white-collar criminal trial to take place in Manhattan’s federal courthouse since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The jury found Petit and Taylor schemed to inflate MiMedx’s reported revenue by $9.5 million, making it look as if the company hit its public revenue targets.”

Read the article.

“Littler Mendelson appears to have parted ways with a shareholder who allegedly misrepresented to a federal court that human resources software company ADP LLC wasn’t complying with a subpoena when in fact it had,” reports David Thomas in Westlaw Today.

“ADP was nearly sanctioned by an Alabama federal judge last month when subpoenaed documents it submitted in a class action lawsuit never made it to the plaintiffs. That’s because the defendants’ attorneys at Littler never produced those documents, telling the court that ADP was refusing to comply.”

“As a result, Littler has been forced to pay more than $63,000 of ADP’s legal fees, with another fee payment coming thanks to a Wednesday ruling from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock. And there may have already been other repercussions as well: A Littler shareholder who allegedly misled the court, Gavin Appleby, was no longer listed on the firm’s website as of Friday.”

Read the article.

“Mastercard … announced the appointment of Tim Murphy, the company’s general counsel, to the newly created position of chief administrative officer. In this role, he will have oversight of the company’s Law, Franchise and Integrity activities, as well as the added management of its People and Capabilities function,” released MasterCard in their Investor News.

“Michael Fraccaro will continue as chief people officer and a member of the company’s management committee, reporting to Murphy. Together, they will further shape and drive Mastercard’s world-class culture with decency at its core.”

“A 21-year veteran of the company, Murphy has helped to shape Mastercard throughout his tenure, beginning with his role as one of the lead lawyers for the company’s initial public offering. Since then, he has blended business and legal insights and evolution, serving at different times as president of the company’s U.S. region and chief product officer.”

Read the article.

Buchalter is pleased to announce David Elkanich joins the Firm as Chair of the newly launched Professional Responsibility Practice Group. He is a welcome addition to the Firm’s expanding Portland office, and also a member of the Litigation Practice Group.

Elkanich focuses his practice primarily on legal ethics, risk management, and discipline defense. He advises lawyers, law firms, in-house legal departments, as well as students and other professionals, on a variety of ethics issues, including conflicts of interest, confidentiality and privilege, fee disputes, internal investigations, law firm dissolutions and partnership disputes, unauthorized practice of law and admissions issues, malpractice and professional liability cases, and litigation issues, such as withdrawal and disqualification motions.

Among his achievements, he was Chair of the Anti-Bias Rule Drafting Committee in Oregon, which drafted an anti-bias ethics rule that was ultimately adopted as Oregon Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(a)(7), making it professional misconduct for a lawyer to, “in the course of representing a client, knowingly intimidate or harass a person because of that person’s race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status or disability.” He also spent three terms on the Oregon Legal Ethics Committee and is an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, where he has taught ethics since 2012.

Among his many accolades, Elkanich was named as one of The Best Lawyers in America, Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law from 2016-2021, and was selected as the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law Lawyer of the Year in 2021. He was featured in Oregon Super Lawyers magazine from 2017-2020, and as a “Rising Star” in 2012 and 2013.

New York – Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that David Mollo-Christensen and Eric Wolf are joining the firm’s New York office as partners in its Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice. Mr. Mollo-Christensen joins Sidley from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, and Mr. Wolf will join from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

Mollo-Christensen counsels on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits matters, with a particular focus on private equity and public mergers and acquisitions. He has represented public, strategic, and private equity clients in connection with transactions ranging from targeted investments valued in the tens of millions of dollars to global public mergers valued in the tens of billions dollars. He also advises companies in connection with IPOs, SPACs, spin-offs, and joint ventures. His extensive experience includes negotiating employment and separation agreements, designing equity-based and other incentive arrangements, and advising companies regarding SEC and federal securities law compliance and disclosure.

Wolf’s practice focuses on executive compensation and benefits-related matters that arise in connection with corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and joint ventures. He represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies with respect to compensation structures and employment arrangements. He has advised on multi-billion dollar transactions for private equity clients across a variety of sectors including technology and financial services. He also regularly advises public companies and their executives in connection with employment, severance, and equity-based arrangements.

Simon Greenstone Panatier secures first civil jury verdict since reopening of Los Angeles courts

LOS ANGELES – In the first civil jury verdict in Los Angeles County since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Simon Greenstone Panatier trial lawyers secured a $4.8 million verdict on behalf of a 78-year-old mesothelioma victim.

A Vietnam War veteran, Willie McNeal Jr. suffers from pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure. Lead attorney Stuart Purdy presented evidence establishing that talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels (WCD) was aware of asbestos contamination in its talc supply and linking McNeal’s 22-year daily use of Old Spice Talcum Powder to his cancer diagnosis.

For decades, WCD was one of the largest suppliers of cosmetic talc in the United States for products, including Old Spice. Talc and asbestos minerals are frequently found together in mining operations. According to trial testimony, talc extracted from WCD’s North Carolina talc mine is known to have asbestos contamination.

McNeal was represented at trial by Purdy and Tyson Gamble of the Los Angeles office of Simon Greenstone Panatier.

The case is Willie McNeal Jr. vs. Whittaker, Clark & Daniels, Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC698965.

The Rebecca L. Palmer Law Group is proud to announce the appointment of attorney Cathleen M. Winter to the Greater Orlando Asian American Bar Association (GOAABA) 2020-2021 Board of Directors. Winter’s current role with GOAABA will last until July, 2021 and she has been an involved member of GOAABA prior to her appointment.

GOAABA, incorporated in 2009, is a voluntary organization that represents the interests of Asian American attorneys, law students, and other legal professionals in the Greater Orlando area.

At the Rebecca L. Palmer Law Group, Winter focuses her practice on family law, including areas concerning divorce, alimony and spousal support, child support, custody and visitation, modification proceedings, paternity, prenuptial agreements, and postnuptial agreements.

In addition to being appointed to the GOAABA Board of Directors, Winter is also member of the Florida Bar, the Orange County Bar Association, the Central Florida Family Law Inn of Court, and is a Founding Member of the American Academy for Certified Financial Litigators Orlando Chapter.

Winter has also been recognized by the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys for exceptional and outstanding client service and was listed as the 10 Best Attorneys in Florida in 2018. Winter was also selected to the 2020 Florida Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor.

Winter also received a 2021 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch recognition for her work in Family Law. The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch is a recognition for attorneys for outstanding professional excellence in private practice in the United States. Winter was further recently listed as one of Orlando Family Magazine’s Awesome Attorneys in Family Law for 2021.

Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Brian Morrissey, who previously served in senior roles at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice, has rejoined the firm’s White Collar: Government Litigation and Investigations practice as a partner in Washington, D.C. He will represent clients in high-stakes enforcement actions, regulatory disputes, and other complex litigation.

As Treasury’s Principal Deputy General Counsel — the second-highest ranking attorney in the Department — Morrissey led multiple initiatives to implement the CARES Act and other COVID-19 relief measures, including the Paycheck Protection Program. He advised the Treasury Secretary and senior officials on a wide range of legal issues, managed significant litigation and congressional oversight matters, and supervised teams of attorneys in areas including financial regulation, tax, international trade, economic sanctions, anti-money laundering, and cybersecurity.

Prior to that, Morrissey served in leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Justice, as Counselor to the Attorney General, and Deputy Associate Attorney General where he provided strategic oversight and advice on high-profile civil, antitrust, environmental, and tax matters. He is also a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Michael Best Strategies LLC (Strategies) announced today that Steven Rowe has joined its Government Relations team as Senior Advisor. Based in the Salt Lake City office, Rowe brings more than 35 years of experience as an attorney and corporate executive in the environmental, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors.

Before joining Strategies, Rowe held a number of high-level positions. He launched his own consultancy, SPR Consulting, which provided counsel to companies in the agriculture and natural resources sectors. He served as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Newtrient LLC, a national dairy industry consortium focusing on reducing the environmental footprint and economic well-being of dairy farming. He also spent 10 years as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Northwest Dairy Association and its subsidiary Darigold, Inc.

A member of the State bars of Washington, Michigan, and Utah, Rowe also advised businesses on environmental law and compliance in the mining, construction, real estate, and manufacturing industries.

Rowe’s addition comes on the heels of two other recent Strategies members – Robert (Bob) Harward and Steve Israel – to its Board of Advisors, which further solidifies the firm’s commitment to strategic growth in key markets.

Rowe received his B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan, and his J.D. from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.