Columbia, S.C. – Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP is pleased to announce that Lawrence Hershon was named to South Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s inaugural class of “Go To Lawyers.” The publication started the program to identify the top lawyers across the state for certain practice areas, and Hershon was honored for the category of business law.

Hershon and the other Go To Lawyers are “recognized by peers as being well-versed in the nuances of the case law, statutes and regulations clients will encounter,” can “think creatively and identify all options for a client,” and are the kinds of resources that other lawyers would call if they needed help in that area, according to S.C. Lawyers Weekly.

Hershon provides guidance to clients large and small across a full spectrum of business law issues, including business disputes, construction contracts and litigation, and commercial litigation. He also works with clients on business transactions, including business formation, commercial contract matters, and commercial leases and other real estate matters. In his general business and commercial litigation practice, Hershon works with manufacturers, banks, and others on disputes involving a range of subject matters. He works to resolve complicated business disputes for his clients, through negotiated resolutions when feasible, but also through trial and arbitration when necessary.

Hershon is also a leader at Parker Poe. He serves as the firm’s Columbia Office Development Partner.

Duane Morris LLP is pleased to announce that it has promoted to the firm partnership eight associates and special counsel in six of the firm’s offices.

These newly named partners are:

Business Reorganization and Financial Restructuring Practice Group: Jarret P. Hitchings, Wilmington
Corporate Practice Group: Joseph J. Machi, San Diego

Employment, Labor, Benefits & Immigration Practice Group: Maxine D. Bayley, San Francisco; Meagan E. Garland, San Diego

Intellectual Property Practice Group: James A. Cooke III, Washington, D.C.

Trial Practice Group: Lynne E. Evans, Philadelphia; Elinor H. Murárová, Chicago; Owen Newman, Chicago

Maxine D. Bayley practices in the area of immigration law, representing clients in matters involving the employment of foreign nationals in a variety of industries, as well as individual matters including family-based permanent residence and naturalization. She has in-depth experience representing individual and corporate clients with regard to H, L, O, E-3 and TN nonimmigrant matters, as well as EB-1 immigrant visas. Bayley also represents clients in complex immigration cases, including immigrant and nonimmigrant waivers of inadmissibility, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions, consular processing and immigration ramifications of criminal charges. She also has experience with asylum and federal court litigation pertaining to immigration matters. Bayley is a frequently featured speaker at national, state and local conferences.

Bayley is a graduate of the American University, Washington College of Law (J.D., 2004) and Gonzaga University (B.A., 2001). She serves as chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Northern California Chapter and is on AILA’s board of governors.

James A. (“Jamie”) Cooke III, Ph.D., focuses his practice on patent prosecution management, strategic client counseling, opinion preparation on issues relating to infringement and validity, and post-grant review proceedings, with an emphasis on software, business methods, graphical user interfaces and related technologies developed and implemented by the financial services industry. As a member of Duane Morris’ Fintech Industry Group, Cooke counsels financial institutions, technology companies and emerging startups on the development, implementation and protection of distributed-ledger and blockchain technologies, smart contracts, machine learning and artificial intelligence models, post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, payment systems and innovative cryptocurrency and token technologies. He has extensive experience counseling clients in patent, trademark and copyright matters related to software, mobile applications, electronic trading platforms, graphical user interfaces, content management and delivery systems, Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies and video compression and image processing technologies. Cooke also regularly counsels clients in the life-sciences industry on the patent eligibility of computer-implemented diagnostic tools and computer-implemented gene-editing tools before the U.S. and foreign patent offices.

Cooke is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 2011), Yale University (Ph.D., mechanical engineering, 2006) and the University of Maryland (B.S., cum laude, 1999). He also served as a visiting researcher at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, concentrating on the development and implementation of solutions to complex fluid-dynamic and chemical-kinetic problems across massively parallel, distributed-memory computing systems.

Lynne E. Evans is a trial lawyer and counselor with significant experience representing financial institutions, corporate and government entities and individual clients in matters in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Her areas of practice include complex commercial litigation, matters involving breach of contract, negligence, fraud, RICO, breach of fiduciary duties, consumer class actions, and internal and government investigations. Evans also handles a wide variety of banking-related matters, including claims involving bank regulations, the Uniform Commercial Code, NACHA rules, numerous consumer protection status and bank secrecy laws. She represents clients at all phases of litigation, including pre-litigation counseling and investigation, motion practice, requests for injunctive relief, discovery, trial and appeal, and at mediation and arbitration. Evans also frequently advises clients in assessing business transactions and strategies designed to avoid litigation and manage risk.

Evans is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2012) and Duke University (A.B., magna cum laude, 2008), where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She chairs the firm’s Philadelphia office Inclusion Committee and serves on the Philadelphia office Recruitment and Retention Committee.

Meagan E. Garland is a litigator and trusted advisor to employers of varying industries. Her clients are burgeoning start-ups, multijurisdictional and multinational employers. Garland’s particular industry focus is fashion and beauty, though she has a wealth of experience representing employers across dozens of industries, including hospitality, food services, energy and solar, janitorial services, construction, education, health and wellness, healthcare, financial services, real estate, emergency services, transportation, retail and technology. Garland represents employers in wage-and-hour, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation disputes before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. She provides day-to-day advice and counseling to employers on employee-related issues as they arise, including leave administration and disability accommodation, wage-and-hour compliance, classification determinations, discipline and termination procedures and employee disputes. Garland regularly conducts training for employers on sexual harassment prevention, ADA compliance, management best practices, sensitivity respect and professionalism, and customized trainings. Additionally, she is a business partner with her clients and regularly assists them in developing and executing strategic goals to improve their workplaces, as well as crafting policies and agreements to minimize risk. Often, Garland lends her employment-related knowledge to corporations engaged in complex transactions, including mergers and acquisitions. She is also a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) consultant. Garland develops customized programming to aid employers in setting and achieving proper DEIB objectives. She provides training to workforces, executives, and directors on implicit bias, pay equity, microaggression and related topics.

Garland is a graduate of Boston College Law School (J.D., 2006), where she was staff editor for the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review and top-ranking oralist in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, and Spelman College (B.A., summa cum laude, 2003), where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She is a steering committee member of the Duane Morris Women’s Impact Network for Success (WINS), chair of the Duane Morris San Diego Diversity and Inclusion Committee, WINS programming chair for the San Diego office and co-chair of the Duane Morris Recruiting Committee in San Diego.

Jarret P. Hitchings practices in the area of commercial finance and corporate restructuring. He regularly represents business debtors, committees, lenders, trustees and creditors, particularly with respect to bankruptcy litigation. Hitchings also represents agents, lenders and borrowers in financial transactions, and lenders, servicers, corporations and management in connection with governance issues and commercial disputes.

Hitchings is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2010), where he was elected to the Order of the Coif, and the Pennsylvania State University (B.A., 2007).

Joseph Machi represents clients across the country in mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and other complex transactions and general corporate matters. He advises public and private companies, private equity funds and their portfolio companies, family business owners and founders in buy-side and sell-side transactions. Machi has substantial experience in mergers and acquisitions in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, technology, hospitality and leisure and, in particular, the education/education technology sector. In addition to mergers and acquisitions, he represents investors and venture capital firms in securities offerings and other sophisticated transactions. Machi also represents growth companies and established private companies in securities offerings and other intricate transactions and general corporate and regulatory issues in numerous industries, including education, cannabis, life sciences and technology. He advises directors, management and founders on exit strategies, corporate governance matters and day-to-day operational needs.

Machi is a graduate of the University of San Diego Law School (J.D., cum laude, Order of the Coif, 2011) and the University of Southern California (B.S., cum laude, 2006). Prior to entering the practice of law, he worked as an auditor for Ernst & Young LLP, where he obtained his CPA license (now inactive).

Elinor H. Murárová is an experienced business counselor, advocate and trial attorney who maintains a national practice representing clients in complex commercial disputes. Among other things, her work includes representing creditors, CMBS servicers and other CMBS industry participants defending against lender liability claims and pursuing commercial loan workouts and other loan enforcement activities. Murárová also represents clients across many highly regulated industries, including travel and healthcare, and in a wide variety of matters, including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, business tort, class action, noncompete and claims for injunctive or other immediate relief. Her work in these and other areas encompasses all aspects of civil litigation from pre-litigation alternative resolutions through trial and appeal.

Murárová is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2011), where she served as executive editor, student articles, for the Loyola Law Journal. She is also a graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Business (M.B.A., 2011) and Northwestern University (B.A., 2007).

Owen Newman is a litigation attorney focusing on complex, multijurisdictional disputes and international arbitration. He advises clients in high-value disputes with particular focus on large-scale engineering and construction projects in the power generation and oil-and-gas sectors. Newman has represented clients in disputes around the world, including in Africa, Asia, North America and the Middle East, and has acted as counsel under the rules of the ICC, LCIA, SIAC, UNCITRAL, AAA, SCC as well as ad hoc arbitrations in India and Saudi Arabia. Prior to joining Duane Morris, he was a project manager and regional director for a global engineering and construction contractor.

Newman is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law (J.D., 2003) and Luther College (B.A., 1995).

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has expanded its international corporate practice with the addition of Maythawee Sarathai as a partner in the firm’s Bangkok office. Sarathai brings more than two decades of experience advising clients on a range of mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate restructuring matters.

Sarathai has extensive experience in negotiating and documenting multinational cross-border investments for M&A transactions in Thailand, and has advised both local and international clients on distressed-asset sales and purchases.

He advises creditors, liquidators, planners, plan administrators, special managers and debtors on all aspects of corporate lending, restructuring and insolvency. His practice also includes advising clients on distressed debt situations including settlement, recovery and enforcement strategies, and business and asset reorganization.

Sarathai most recently was the partner in charge of Mayer Brown’s Bangkok office. He received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Chulalongkorn University.

Hunton Andrews Kurth’s corporate team advises virtually every form of corporate entity, from high-tech startups and mid-sized, privately held companies to publicly traded, multinational corporations, REITs, private equity entities of all sizes, and multinational, national and regional banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. The firm’s clients come from the myriad industries of today’s global economy, including financial services, energy, real estate, retail and consumer products, manufacturing and health care.

Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that Krystal Studavent Ramsey has joined the Firm as Director of Diversity and Inclusion, further supporting the Firm’s longstanding commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”). Ramsey brings 11 years of DEI experience in the legal industry and is based in Blank Rome’s Houston office.

In her role at Blank Rome, Ramsey will work closely with the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, affinity groups, Firm management, and others to create, lead, and implement the Firm’s strategic long-term and short-term DEI plans and to assess and refine plans as needed over time; to further foster an inclusive climate where everyone at Blank Rome experiences a sense of belonging and connectivity; to establish fair and equitable processes and policies that advance DEI; to coach on DEI; to serve as a DEI brand ambassador, internally and externally; to partner with and consult clients on DEI plans, initiatives, and programs; and to advocate for Blank Rome’s diverse population.

Throughout her career, Ramsey has notably focused on DEI talent development and management, business development, and advancement initiatives, in addition to cultivating strong project management, corporate legal practice, and management consulting experience. Most recently, Ramsey served as a senior legal consultant at Axiom—the world’s largest and leading contingent legal talent company with 2,000+ lawyers and 17 offices across three continents—where she advised general counsel across the country on workforce transformation and augmentation, talent management, diversity and inclusion, and cost containment. At Axiom, Ramsey co-founded and co-chaired Blaxiom, a group of Black Axiom employees, leading the charge in creating a charter and structuring the group to develop the first Black Employee Resource Group in Axiom’s history, working closely with the executive leadership team. She also served as director of strategy and operations for the Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program (“DAPP”), a national nonprofit committed to the development and placement of first-year, women of color law students. Prior to her roles at Axiom and DAPP, Ramsey served in senior-level DEI and business development roles for Norton Rose Fulbright, Bliss Lawyers, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow. She also served as general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs at Music World Entertainment.

Ramsey has been active in several professional organizations, including The Downtown Group, the Houston Association of Women Attorneys, the National Bar Association – Women Lawyers Section, and the State Bar of Texas African American Lawyers Section. She is also active in the community, working with organizations such as the American Heart Association and Habitat for Humanity. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Ramsey received a B.S. in Social Justice, with a minor in English, from Texas Southern University, and a J.D. from Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, ranked as one of the most diverse law schools in the country. She also recently received a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University.

Michael Best is pleased to announce the addition of two Partners, Ed Roney and Joseph Dickinson, and one Senior Counsel, Holly Benton, to the Raleigh office. All three join from North Carolina-based law firm Smith Anderson. Roney will join the Intellectual Property Practice with Dickinson and Benton joining the Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice Group.

In addition to joining the firm, Roney will also serve as the Office Managing Partner in Raleigh. Roney’s practice spans across diverse technologies and industries including information technology, eCommerce, manufacturing, and medical devices, 4G/5G telecommunications, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Roney earned his B.S from Purdue University, his M.S. in electrical engineering from National Technological University, and his J.D. from DePaul University.

With more than 25 years of experience, Dickinson has advised technology companies as well as healthcare and government entities across a broad range of issues related to cybersecurity, data privacy, data breaches and investigations. In a recent, prior role, he served as chief privacy officer and chief information security officer for a large academic medical system and focused on creating and managing data privacy and security programs with real world applications. Dickinson earned his B.A. from Malone University, and his J.D., cum laude, from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Benton’s practice focuses on commercial, technology, higher education, retail, residential management, healthcare, and startup companies, for whom she advised on privacy and data protection laws and information lifecycle management. Before practicing law, she served as the University Privacy Officer at Duke University, where she transformed their privacy program from an incident response team into a strategic group positioned to approach risk management broadly. Benton earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Wellesley College, and her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law.

“After what felt like one of the longest election seasons in history, Washington is preparing to welcome the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, Capitol Hill adjusts to a dramatic shift in power as Democrats achieved an election night stunner by winning both Senate run-off elections in Georgia on January 5, sending Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to Washington and giving Democrats a 50-seat majority with the new incoming vice president casting any tie votes. In the House of Representatives, Republicans narrowed the Democrats’ majority in November but are still in the minority and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has been reelected to serve as Speaker of the House.”

“What does this all mean for energy and sustainability?” questions R. Neal Martin in Mintz’ Insights Center.

Read the article.

“The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fined the former general counsel of Wells Fargo $3.5 million in a settlement, the agency announced Friday,” reports Brendan Pedersen in American Banker’s Enforcement.

“James Strother, who served as general counsel to Wells Fargo from 2003 to 2017, will pay $3.5 million to the U.S. Treasury for his role in the bank’s infamous phony-accounts scandal dating to 2016.”

“The OCC hit Strother and other Wells executives with civil charges last January. His $3.5 million settlement fine is lower than the $5 million penalty first floated by regulators at the time.”

Read the article.

“The majority of Biglaw firms have rolled back their COVID-19 austerity measures the world over, but the coronavirus-related changes are far from over. With employees set to be working from home for the indefinite future, restructuring is now the name of the game, and at some firms, that means layoffs,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“That’s what’s happening at Norton Rose Fulbright, a firm that placed just outside the top 10 in the most recent Am Law 100 rankings. NRF is conducting a restructuring in its Europe, Middle East, and Asia (EMEA) offices, and more than 130 jobs will be lost in the process. Most of the cuts will be made in the firm’s London office.”

Read the article.

“A federal judge denied Apple Inc’s bid to set aside or reduce a $502.8 million patent infringement verdict favoring VirnetX Holding Corp, and awarded interest and royalties that could boost Apple’s total payout in two lawsuits above $1.1 billion,” reports Jonathan Stempel in Reuters’ U.S. Legal News.

“In a decision issued on Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder in Tyler, Texas rejected Apple’s request for a new trial and several other claims.”

“These included that VirnetX’s award should not exceed $113.7 million, and that jurors should have been told the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had deemed VirnetX’s claims ‘unpatentable.’”

Read the article.

“The current environment has triggered uncertainty and has accelerated change in law departments in struggling and thriving industries. To best manage an ever-changing environment and, at the same time, advance their evolution, law departments must embrace three critical characteristics: they must be agile, value-centric, and tech-enabled. The foundation for this future state is a mature and data-driven legal operations program,” writes Kevin Clem in CLOC’s blog.

“To respond to the ever-shifting environment and clients’ ever-changing needs, law departments must be agile and responsive, continually flexing to meet emerging areas of need. The ability to be responsive to emerging client needs requires effectively allocating and empowering resources in an organizational framework.”

Read the article.

“In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court held that the worker friendly ‘ABC’ test set forth by the Court in its 2018 landmark ruling, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, applies retroactively. The ABC test thus applies to all pending cases governed by the California Wage Orders in determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee,” write Eric Lloyd and Pamela L. Vartabedian in Seyfarth’s California Peculiarities Employment Law Blog.

Jan-Pro Franchising, a franchisor offering cleaning and janitorial services. A case was brought by independent contractor franchisees claiming “they should have been treated as Jan-Pro employees.”

“In Dynamex, the court held that, for purposes of claims arising from the Wage Orders, the ‘ABC’ test governs whether workers are properly classified as independent contractors rather than employees.”

Read the article to see what the hiring entity must prove through the ABC test.

“The … COVID relief bill passed by Congress at the end of last year … includes several COVID-related amendments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Some of these changes will have a significant direct impact, at least temporarily, on the rights of commercial landlords and tenants in chapter 11 cases,” writes Ben Feder in Kelley Drye’s Bankruptcy Law Insights.

Feder discusses these amendments.

Read the article.

In late December 2020, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 became law, discusses Michael R. Graif and William S. Dixon in Mintz’ Insights Center.

The act includes important amendments to the Lanham Act as follows:

1. Establishes two new ex parte proceedings to cancel unused marks;
2. Creates a uniform rule establishing a rebuttable presumption of irreparable harm for trademark infringement;
3. Formalizes the procedure for Letters of Protest; and
4. Permits the examiner to set shorter response times for office actions.

Mintz examines these new procedures.

Read the article.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Thomas W. Murrey, Jr., lead counsel with the FedEx Corp. Legal Department/Litigation in Memphis, Tennessee, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

As FedEx lead counsel, Murrey focuses his work on commercial litigation with an emphasis on cargo litigation, including domestic and international shipments, and commercial fraud.

Murrey’s professional affiliations and memberships include the Federal Bar Association (Veterans Military Law Section CLE chairman); Federalist Society; Memphis Bar Association; Millsaps College Alumni Association Board of Directors (Career Networking Committee Chairman, 2006-2016); and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation West Tennessee Chapter Board of Directors, 2008-2013. Murrey served in the U.S. Air Force active duty from 1986 to 1999 and in the Air Force Reserves from 2000 to 2014 as a judge advocate, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Murrey received his J.D. from the University of Memphis School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from Millsaps College.

Smith Currie, one of the nation’s most recognized construction and government contracts law firms, today announced the appointment of Eric L. Nelson to Managing Partner. The promotion, which became effective Jan. 1, 2021, will concentrate upon Nelson’s oversight of Smith Currie’s strategic operations for the firm’s eight offices located across the country. Nelson, who is based in the firm’s Atlanta office, will fill the role of former Managing Partner Robert C. Chambers who admirably held the position 2006-2020. Nelson is only the fifth managing partner since the law firm’s 1965 inception.

Nelson joined Smith Currie as an Associate in 1998, was promoted to Partner in two years, and has generated expansion and evolution for the firm during more than two decades. He practices in the areas of construction law and government contracts. His work focuses on project disputes related to federal government construction; healthcare, including hospitals and laboratories; and Engineering, Procurement and Construction project delivery, including energy and process facilities.

Nelson’s tenure has involved trying cases in federal and state courts throughout the country and before the various federal government boards of contract appeals. He has also arbitrated and mediated claims both nationally and internationally.

The ongoing pursuit of research, academia and professional experience has allowed Nelson accomplishments such as being named in the Chambers USA-America’s Leading Lawyers for Business Guide, for construction law, Georgia (2007-2020) and nationwide Band 1 inclusion (2020); Best Lawyers in America, for construction litigation (2010-2020); Expert Guide to World’s Leading Lawyers, for construction law (2013-2020); Who’s Who Legal Construction (2015-2020); Georgia Super Lawyers, for construction law (2014-2020); among others. He is also a Fellow in the American College of Construction Lawyers.

Nelson attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree at Washington and Lee University School of Law, J.D., in 1992.

Chambers remains a Partner and will continue as a leading attorney in the practice of construction and government contracts law with the firm.

ContractPodAi®, the award-winning provider of AI-powered contract lifecycle management (CLM) solutions, today announced the appointment of Jerry Levine as Chief Evangelist and General Counsel (Americas). As former global General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Amelia (IPsoft), Levine effectively implemented ContractPodAi to help his legal team increase efficiency, improve compliance, and achieve greater visibility across the function. In this new role, he will use his highly relevant experience to help guide global client success both as an advisor to customers and as an internal client voice, helping shape product vision.

Levine has been a ContractPodAi client for over two years, leading its implementation at IPsoft in partnership with the ContractPodAi team. He replaced his previous CLM solution with ContractPodAi, choosing ContractPodAi both for its strength as a contract management system and its comprehensive customer support model that ensured implementation success. Leveraging his experience as General Counsel and a client, Levine’s role as Chief Evangelist will include amplifying legal technology best practices, directly problem solving with clients on their own digital transformation journeys, and supporting ContractPodAi’s continued product innovation as a leading technology provider for in-house legal teams.

Prior to joining ContractPodAi, Levine held leadership and consulting positions at both public and privately held companies, including Axiom and LexisNexis. He also founded a start-up-focused law firm.

“AXA XL has appointed Pamela Rosado as General Counsel, effective 8, February 2021. Ms. Rosado will report to Scott Gunter, CEO, AXA XL, and will be based in New York, USA. She takes on the role from interim General Counsel, Anthony Recine who will return to the position of Global Head of Litigation for AXA Group,” reports AXA XL in their Press Releases.

“Ms. Rosado joins from MetLife, Inc., where she held the position of Senior Vice President, Chief Counsel Litigation & Special Investigations, responsible for all litigation and employment law matters in the U.S as well as the Corporate Special Investigations Unit.”

Read the article.

“The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released today a formal opinion addressing the ethical obligations for lawyers to consider when they contemplate responding to online criticism and posted negative reviews,” released The American Bar Association.

“Formal Opinion 496 notes that lawyers are regularly targets of internet postings, and stresses that ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.6(a) prohibits them from disclosing information relating to any client’s representation or information that could reasonably lead to the discovery of confidential information by another. The formal opinion adds that a negative online review, alone, does not meet the requirements of permissible disclosure under the ‘self-defense’ provision of ABA model rules.”

Read the article.

“Law firms learned lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic that could translate to permanent changes in the way that they manage their operations, deliver legal services and treat their employees, according to a report released Tuesday,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Daily News.

“There are signs that 2020 and 2021 may be regarded as a ‘tipping point’ for change—or at least a time for accelerated change, according to the 2021 Report on the State of the Legal Market.”

“The report was issued by the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Thomson Reuters Institute.”

Read the article.

“The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights reached a $200,000 civil monetary penalty and a corrective action plan with Banner Health, to resolve potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule Right of Access standard,” reports Jessica Davis in Health IT Security’s HIPAA and Compliance News.

“The Arizona-based healthcare system is one of the largest in the US, with more than 30 hospitals and a range of primary care, urgent care, and specialty facilities. The settlement covers more than 74 covered entities included under the Banner Health umbrella.”

“Announced as an enforcement priority in 2019, the OCR RIght of Access Initiative is designed to support the right of patients to access their medical records in a requested format and in a timely fashion, for a reasonable fee. While required under HIPAA, data shows many providers fail to meet the privacy rule requirements.”

Read the article.