“Bonuses to the third power (i.e., bonuses on top of bonuses on top of bonuses), and that’s exactly what Orrick — a firm that brought in $1,158,537,000 in 2019 gross revenue, placing in at No. 31 in the most recent Am Law 100 rankings — is offering to its associates this year,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“First and foremost, the firm will be matching the year-end bonus scale offered by Cravath and the special bonus scale offered by Davis Polk. What’s needed for associates to get a full market bonus? At the beginning of the year, the firm lowered its billable hours threshold to 1,950, including 100 hours of time spent on areas like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), innovation, and business development (BD), plus unlimited pro bono hours.”

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Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, is pleased to announce that William Sentell has joined the firm’s Litigation Practice Group as a partner in the firm’s Houston office. Sentell focuses his practice on franchise dispute resolution and related corporate, regulatory, and compliance matters. He brings experience representing franchise clients, including franchisors, brand owners, distributors, licensors, manufacturers, and other industry stakeholders.

Sentell’s addition in Texas further strengthens the firm’s capabilities in the franchise space. He follows the arrival of a three-person lawyer team led by Kevin Hein, who serves as co-chair of the firm’s Franchise and Licensing Practice, a highly experienced team that handles U.S. and international franchise and distribution matters.

With more than a decade of complex commercial litigation experience, including first- and second-chair trial and arbitration experience, Sentell provides support and clear risk assessment in all phases of litigation and arbitration. Avoiding risk in the area of franchise sales, and managing relationships throughout the franchise lifecycle, are a practice focus for Sentell.

In addition to helping clients anticipate and avoid costly disputes, he also advises on a variety of corporate and regulatory matters, including franchise disclosures, sales and acquisitions. His combination of litigation and transactional experience allows him to provide practical advice to clients.

Dykema, a leading national law firm, today announced the addition of Basil A. Umari and Nicholas Zugaro as senior counsel to the firm’s Bankruptcy Practice Group in Texas. Both attorneys join Dykema from the boutique law firm they co-founded, Umari Zugaro, PLLC. Additionally, Dykema expects to expand its Bankruptcy Practice Group by adding more talent in the near future.

In their respective practices, both Umari and Zugaro have experience representing debtors, liquidating trustees, official creditors’ committees, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, equity holders, officers and directors, patent holders, landlords, tenants, and asset purchasers in numerous corporate bankruptcy cases in New York, Delaware, Texas and other venues. Each has a background working in a variety of industries, including oil & gas, healthcare, construction, food service, retail, and manufacturing.

Both Umari and Zugaro also have extensive bankruptcy litigation experience defending numerous companies in preference actions and claims objections brought by trustees. They’ve also tried numerous complex commercial cases to juries and the bench in state and federal court.

Umari earned a J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law and a B.A., cum laude, in Mathematics, Philosophy from Amherst College. Zugaro earned a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center and a B.S. in Economics from Texas A&M University.

Houston, December 14, 2020 – Two attorneys with national law firm Chamberlain Hrdlicka have been selected to the Texas Super Lawyers 2020 Top Women list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. The Up-and-Coming 50: 2020 Women Texas Rising Stars list is comprised of women who ranked in the top 50 of Texas Rising Stars nomination, research and blue-ribbon review process.

Named as one of Top Women in Texas by SuperLawyers, Diana Perez Gomez is a shareholder at Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s and Vice Chair of Houston’s labor and employment practice, where she focuses on complex labor and employment disputes in state and federal courts. She has more than 15 years of experience in a wide range civil litigation matters as well as managing EEOC and TWC matters and investigations for public and private employers. Gomez also serves on Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s management committee and is National Chair for the firm’s Pro Bono Committee.

Gomez holds bachelor’s degree in political science from the Texas A&M University and received her law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Very involved in the legal community, she currently serves as the Second Vice President for the Houston Bar Association (HBA) and serves on the Board of Directors for the Houston Zoo Development Corporation and the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston. Gomez is also a co-chair for District Four of the Texas Bar Foundation and Chair of the HBA’s Law and the Media Committee. Recipient of many accolades, Gomez was named to the Texas Super Lawyers list by Super Lawyers® consecutively since 2013; was selected as a Top Lawyer in 2017, 2019 and 2020 by Houstonia Magazine, received Latina Lawyer Under 40 Award from the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas Foundation in 2012; was the recipient of the Houston Bar Association’s President’s Award in 2016 and 2019; was a recipient of the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston’s President’s Award in 2007, 2009, and 2015; was awarded the Local Heroes Recognition by the Houston Lawyer Magazine in 2009 for her work as a Presidential Appointee in the U.S. Department of Education serving as Deputy Director for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans and then as Chief of Staff for the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development in 2008 and 2009, and the Woodrow B. Seals Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston Award from Houston Young Lawyers Association in 2008. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Texas Bar Foundation and the Houston Bar Foundation.

Named among the Up-and-Coming 50: 2020 Texas Women Rising Stars, Julie Offerman is an experienced litigation attorney in Chamberlain’s Houston labor & employment practice. She has substantial experience defending employers nationwide in wage and hour class and collective action lawsuits, including matters involving allegations of misclassification of employees and failure to pay overtime. Offerman graduated from University of Texas at Austin, with a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, and received her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law, summa cum laude as well. While there, she was an articles editor for the Texas Tech Law Review. Prior to joining Chamberlain Hrdlicka, she clerked for Justice Phil Johnson of the Texas Supreme Court. She has been named to Texas Super Lawyers in 2020 after being named Texas Rising Star in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019. She has also been named among Houstonia Magazine Top Lawyers in 2019 and 2020.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys.

Hanzo, a company known for its pioneering technology in dynamic web content preservation from enterprise collaboration applications and complex websites, today announced the appointment of Kathleen Roberge to the position of Chief Revenue Officer. Roberge’s appointment complements Hanzo’s expanding coverage of collaboration data sources in the market, including Google Workspace.

Roberge joins Hanzo with over 20 years of experience in sales leadership and go-to-market strategy development. She’s been instrumental in scaling multiple Enterprise SaaS companies from startup to more than $75m annual recurring revenue (ARR). Roberge will lead Hanzo’s Sales and Marketing teams to optimize the company’s commercial strategy and enterprise growth.

An accomplished enterprise software and technology executive, Roberge is known for leading and motivating high-performing sales and marketing teams. Previously, Roberge served in senior sales leadership roles at Rocketrip, Aventri, Compushare, and Perimeter, all of which she was responsible for exponentially growing revenue.

“Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: KPTI), a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company pioneering novel cancer therapies, today announced the appointment of Michael Mano as Senior Vice President, General Counsel. Mr. Mano brings over 15 years of legal experience and previously served as Counsel, Business Development at Biogen Inc.,” was posted on Karyopharm Therapeutics’ Press Releases.

“Prior to Biogen, Mr. Mano served as Senior Counsel at Proskauer Rose LLP. Mr. Mano holds a Bachelor’s degree from Saint Michael’s College and a Juris Doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.”

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“The Texas attorney general’s office has named The Lanier Law Firm and the law firm Keller Lenkner to the litigation team that would face off against Alphabet’s Google in an expected antitrust lawsuit, the office said on Tuesday,” reports Diane Bartz in Reuters’ Technology News.

“Texas, backed by other states, has long been expected to follow the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google but unrelated allegations against Attorney General Ken Paxton of bribery and abuse of office led to the departure of several lawyers who were key to the Google investigation.”

“With the new hires, the Texas lawsuit could come as early as this month, according to a source familiar with the office’s planning.”

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“An Ohio judge has been removed from two upcoming criminal trials after a lawyer for the defendants alleged that the judge was failing to implement COVID-19 precautions,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Daily News.

“Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor removed Judge Mark Fleegle of Muskingum County, Ohio, from the trials last week.”

“Columbus, Ohio, lawyer Harry Reinhart, 69, had alleged in a November affidavit that Fleegle conducts all hearings in person and does not require facial coverings. Reinhart said he is at higher risk if he contracts COVID-19, and his clients fear that he will be distracted at trial by his own health concerns, O’Connor said in her disqualification order.”

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“2021 will see a sharp rise in climate change litigation against companies and their executives around the world as cases begin to impact more individuals across a broader range of sectors,” writes Emma Ager in Clyde & Co’s Insights.

“Underpinning the rising concern around climate change are a range of cases – in the US more filings by cities and states seeking remediation from companies considered to be contributing to climate change impacts such as rising sea levels or increasing flood risks. In the UK, European, Canadian and Australian courts, by contrast, we are seeing more human rights cases typically brought by young people seeking to hold businesses and governments to account for failing to protect and preserve the environment for their and future generations.”

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Sidley Austin LLP has promoted three Texas lawyers to partner. The newly elected Texas lawyers are Tara Lancaster and Charles Persons in the firm’s Dallas office and Katy L. Lukaszewski in the Houston office. Lancaster is in the firm’s tax group, Persons is in Sidley’s restructuring practice group, and Lukaszewski is in the firm’s energy group. The three join 28 Sidley lawyers elected firmwide effective January 1, 2021.

“We could not be prouder of the talented lawyers that make up our 2021 partnership class,” said Mike Schmidtberger, chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee. “They are a diverse group that represent a broad mix of practices and offices across geographies. Their many accomplishments to date and dedication to client service have earned them this prestigious recognition. We wish them all the best as they embark on this exciting adventure.”

PHILADELPHIA – December 16, 2020) — Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC is pleased to announce that Anthony H. Chwastyk has joined the firm as senior counsel in the Philadelphia office. He is a member of the Business Transactions Group and chair of the firm’s new Trademark & Copyright Law Group.

Chwastyk serves as counsel to companies in highly regulated and growing industries such as healthcare and e-commerce. He previously served as corporate counsel for a large New Jersey-based nonprofit healthcare system, and as general counsel to a mid-sized New Jersey industrial supplier.

Chwastyk helps clients navigate compliance and regulatory challenges, drawing on his in-house experience to help clients avoid potential liabilities. He reviews, negotiates, and implements high-value software agreements, vendor contracts, real estate transactions, and financing arrangements. His practice also involves advising clients on the process of applying for and protecting their trademark and copyright rights.

Chwastyk interned for The Honorable Mark I. Bernstein of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from Drexel University and his B.A., summa cum laude, from La Salle University.

Washington, DC (December 16, 2020) – Venable LLP is pleased to announce that Nora E. Garrote, co-chair of the Intellectual Property Transactions Group, has been appointed to the newly created role of partner in charge of diversity and inclusion. Garrote will develop and implement programs, outreach, and mentoring opportunities that foster diversity, equity, and inclusion within the firm.

Venable knows that the key to understanding the full spectrum of business and legal options lies in approaching a situation from a diverse set of viewpoints. The firm recruits, develops, and promotes highly skilled lawyers, paraprofessionals, and support staff with varied perspectives, from a wide range of racial, ethnic, cultural, and social backgrounds. While the firm is proud of its progress, recent events have once again highlighted that there is still much work to be done to advance diversity and inclusion. The appointment of  Garrote reaffirms Venable’s ongoing commitment to this endeavor.

In this role, she will advise firm management on diversity and inclusion strategies and the firm’s progress for both attorneys and business professionals. Garrote will collaborate closely in the furtherance of diversity and inclusion with the firm’s division chairs, practice group leaders, attorneys, and professional staff responsible for recruiting and hiring, professional development and training, work assignments, and human resources. She will also continue to build external partnerships that support our goals and raise awareness within the firm of diversity and inclusion issues and best practices.

Garrote’s practice focuses on technology and intellectual property transactions and counseling, internet and new media law, technology transfers, and entertainment. With more than 30 years of experience and deep familiarity with the full range of established and evolving technologies, she assists companies with comprehensive technology, intellectual property, and contracting matters. She previously chaired Venable’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and has played an instrumental role in growing the firm’s partnership with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), the premier organization fostering equality in the legal profession.

NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 16, 2020)—Perkins Coie announced today the addition of 17 white collar and financial services litigation attorneys from the prominent firm of Richards Kibbe & Orbe (RKO), marking the largest such practice expansion in the country in recent years. The addition of the Chambers-ranked group, which serves a range of financial institutions, significantly expands Perkins Coie’s New York office and its national White Collar & Investigations and Securities Litigation practices.

The RKO group has decades of experience representing institutional and individual clients in significant government investigations and enforcement actions and in securities and business litigations. These cases involve allegations of financial fraud, antitrust, securities and commodities law violations, insider trading, bribery, money laundering, OFAC violations, and FCPA violations, among others. The RKO group also brings extensive prosecutorial and regulatory litigation experience; partners Lee Richards and David Massey are both former Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of New York.

In addition to Richards and Massey, other veteran partners joining Perkins Coie’s New York office from RKO include Shari Brandt, Paul Devlin, Rowan Gaither, Arthur Greenspan, Margaret Meyers, Matthew Riccardi, James Walker, and Daniel Zinman. Joining Perkins Coie’s Washington, D.C., office will be partners David Daniels and Jamie Schafer. The partners will be joined by counsels Rachel Mechanic and Andrew Podolin, and associates Rebecca Salk, Jacob Taber, and Hellen Park.

Perkins Coie launched its New York office just nine years ago in the aftermath of the 2008-2010 global financial crisis. Today, New York is a cornerstone of Perkins Coie’s growth initiatives. In 2019, the firm relocated to a 66,000-square-foot midtown office space at 1155 Avenue of the Americas.

Along with notable growth in both revenue and lawyer headcount over the past five years, Perkins Coie has one of the highest lateral retention rates in the legal industry. In addition to being named to Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For®” list for the past 18 years, the firm has been widely recognized for its diverse and inclusive culture, earning recognition from (among others) Microsoft and Intel for the diversity of its legal teams and from the Human Rights Campaign as a best place to work.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that Scott Cruz, an Officer in the firm’s Employment & Labor practice group, is listed in the 2020 edition of Crain’s Chicago’s Notable Minorities in Accounting, Consulting and Law.

The list recognizes Chicago-area professionals in accounting, consulting and law who have overcome challenges and bias to rise to the top of their professions. Crain’s says the honorees – many of whom have stepped up to more visible roles in diversity and inclusion initiatives – have “shown the ability or power to effect change in their role or area of practice, serve as a role model or mentor, and have assumed a leadership position outside their organization.” Crain’s also notes that the honorees have risen to challenges in an “extraordinary year” to help their clients, colleagues and communities.

Cruz represents public and private sector employers in Chicago, Southern Illinois, and throughout the Midwest in all aspects of labor and employment law, including civil litigation and preventative counseling. He represents employers in state and federal courts and administrative agencies involving claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, retaliatory discharge, breach of contract, labor arbitration, and class actions. He is particularly versed in all aspects of state and federal law relating to minimum wages, overtime, exemptions, and wage payment issues. His work also involves training management and employees on workplace legal issues and conducting workplace investigations and legal audits.

Cruz is a board member with Alivio Medical Center, a not-for-profit whose mission is to increase Hispanic access to comprehensive, affordable quality health care.

The complete list of the 2020 Crain’s Chicago Notable Minorities in Accounting, Consulting and Law can be viewed at: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/awards/crains-2020-notable-minority-executives-accounting-consulting-law.

HOUSTON – (December 15,, 2020) – Elizabeth A. Feeney recently joined the Houston office of the national law firm, Chamberlain Hrdlicka, as an associate in the Commercial Litigation practice, where she will focus primarily on labor and employment matters.

Feeney brings two years of experience in commercial litigation. Prior to relocating to Houston and joining Chamberlain Hrdlicka, she worked as a clerk for the Honorable Judge John Roach, Jr. of the 296th District Court in Collin County, Texas, and as an associate for a Fort Worth-based mid-size law firm.

Feeney graduated from the Texas Tech University summa cum laude, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in legal studies. She received her JD degree cum laude from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where she was the Associate Managing Editor of the SMU International Law Review and Chief Student Attorney of the VanSickle Family Law Clinic. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

“A state district judge in Austin has ordered the Texas Railroad Commission to stop granting exceptions to environmental rules requiring oil and gas companies to cap unplugged wells and clean up waste pits,” repors Scott DiSavino and Shreyansi Singh in Reuters.

“‘The Commission does not agree with the Court’s order, and has filed a notice of appeal with the Third Court of Appeals,’ Andrew Keese, spokesperson for the Railroad Commission of Texas, said in a statement to Reuters.”

“Public Citizen and two ranchers sued the Railroad Commission in July for unlawfully suspending the rules.”

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“This is the second entry in our series on enterprise telecommunications services agreements, providing a framework for addressing the customer’s interests and risks in enterprise telecommunications services agreements,” writes C. Douglas Jarrett of Keller and Heckman in The National Law Review.

“While each carrier’s standard agreement is different, these agreements have three core components:”

1. The carrier’s standard policies and rules applicable to its services
2. The legal terms and conditions or master agreement
3. The business deal

“Aspects of the business deal are distributed among these components.”

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“With 2020 quickly coming to an end after an unforgettable and unprecedented amount of events, we are ready to look at what changes we expect to take place in 2021. We are also ready to determine how any change can have a potential impact on employees and employers,” writes Villaume & Schiek in their Blog.

“Every year, businesses and organizations struggle to stay on top of the latest employer regulations and the current workplace issues. Unfortunately, 2020 has been no different. Local laws, state laws, and federal laws are not staying the same, and social issues continue to impact the workforce and the entire world.”

“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC)’s Strategic Enforcement Plan extends through the year 2021. This plan outlines all of its priorities for the upcoming year. In this plan, one of the key areas that was focused on is the emerging and trending workplace issues. Workplace issues continue to be a major topic of discussion, and this topic can be difficult to discuss.”

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“In a typical consignment transaction, a seller (you, the consignor) delivers goods to a reseller (your customer, the consignee) who holds the goods until they are sold to a buyer, and then a portion of the proceeds are transferred back to the seller. Article 9 of the UCC governs most typical consignment transactions and treats the consignee as having an ownership interest even though the consignee doesn’t really own the goods. As a result, if a consignee files a bankruptcy case, any consigned goods then in its possession may become property of the bankruptcy estate unless the consignor has properly protected its interests in those consigned goods,” writes Allen J. Guon, Robert M. Fishman and Danielle N. Garno in Cozen O’Connor’s Recent News & Publications.

“There are a number of steps a seller must take to protect its interests in consigned goods under the UCC.”

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Tractor Supply Company announced that Noni Ellison has been named Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. She “will join the Company’s Executive Committee, effective January 11, 2021. Ellison will report directly to Hal Lawton, President and CEO of Tractor Supply. In addition to managing the legal department, Ellison will also lead the Company’s risk management, government relations, licensing and quality assurance/customs compliance, as well as the Company’s environmental, social and governance efforts. Ellison succeeds Ben Parrish, who previously announced his plans to retire from the Company following the appointment of a successor and a transition period,” posted Tractor Supply Company in their Newsroom.

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