“Some 1,700 employees of a bankrupt coal mining company would get up to $17.3 million in back pay under a proposed class-action settlement,” was reported in The Cheyenne Post.
“The former employees of Milton, West Virginia-based Blackjewel in Wyoming and Appalachia could get checks early next year depending on the outcome of bankruptcy court hearings this fall, said Ned Pillersdorf, an attorney for the employees.”
“Daimler AG will pay $2.2 billion to resolve a U.S. government diesel emissions cheating investigation and claims from 250,000 U.S. vehicle owners, court documents show,” reporting by David Shepardson in U.S. News via Reuters, Wire Service Content.
“The German automaker and its Mercedes-Benz USA LLC unit disclosed on Aug. 13 it had reached a settlement in principle resolving civil and environmental claims tied to 250,000 U.S. diesel cars and vans after the automaker used software to evade emissions rules.”
“Daimler said in August expected costs of settlements with U.S. authorities would total $1.5 billion, settling with owners will cost another $700 million and also disclosed “further expenses of a mid three-digit-million EUR (euro) amount to fulfill requirements of the settlements.”
Nine named to list, three others named to inaugural Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
HOUSTON – Affirming a culture of high-end legal work, coupled with a commitment to client responsiveness and service, Hicks Thomas LLP is pleased to announce that 12 of its attorneys have earned recognition in the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America, one of the nation’s most respected peer-review attorney guides.
Firm partners named to Best Lawyers in America for 2021 include:
John B. Thomas – Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation
Robin Harrison – Commercial Litigation and Oil & Gas Practice
Paul Mitchell – Commercial Litigation
Jay Old – Commercial Litigation
Allen Rustay – Commercial Litigation
J. Stephen Barrick – Appellate
John Deis – Construction Litigation
Courtney Ervin – Energy Law practice
Stephen Loftin – Commercial Litigation
This is the first year Mr. Deis, Ms. Ervin and Mr. Loftin have earned an appearance on the Best Lawyers list.
New this year, Best Lawyers has named three Hicks Thomas attorneys to its “Ones to Watch” list, which recognizes professional excellence in attorneys who are rising in their careers. Those honorees include:
Kasi Chadwick – Labor and Employment Litigation
Joshua Bauer – Commercial Litigation
Liz Larson – Commercial Litigation
Buchalter is pleased to announce the welcome additions of Joseph K. Fletcher III and Laura Lamb Nichols to its Tax & Estate Planning and Corporate Law Practice Groups.
Based in Buchalter’s Los Angeles office, Fletcher has over 25 years of tax law experience. His international practice includes matters involving the taxation of mergers and acquisitions, resolution of tax controversies, and international taxation. He is also a member of the Firm’s Corporate Practice Group.
Fletcher has achieved the highest rating of “AV-Preeminent” awarded by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory for both tax law and corporate law, from 2013-present. He has also been named to the Best Lawyers in America list in from 2019 – 2021 and has been included in The Legal 500. He earned his LL.M in Taxation from Georgetown University, Law Center, and earned his J.D. at the University Of San Diego School Of Law, where he served as Senior Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues. Fletcher earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lamb Nichols, who will practice out of the Firm’s San Diego office, is one of the approximately 5% of California’s attorneys who are Certified Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She is also certified as an Accredited Estate Planner® by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.
Lamb Nichols has considerable experience in the areas of estate planning, trust and probate administration. She advises clients on sophisticated estate planning issues including multigenerational family business succession planning; estate, gift, generation skipping taxation planning, and property tax planning.
Lamb Nichols has been named to The Daily Transcript’s “Top 40 under 40 Award”, and recently completed her term as President of the Estate Planning Counsel of San Diego. She was also an Adjunct Professor at California Western School of Law where she taught “The California Pre-Bar Program” and “Advanced Legal Analysis.”
Sargent recognized by national peer-review guide for defending clients in personal injury cases
DALLAS – Sargent Law founder David Sargent has earned placement in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, the oldest peer-review guide in the country.
Sargent is honored for his work on behalf of defendants in personal injury litigation, recognition he has received since 2012.
The Best Lawyers selection process involves a rigorous method that begins with peer evaluations from lawyers across the nation who nominate attorneys, followed by a thorough vetting from Best Lawyers researchers. The complete 2021 Best Lawyers in America edition is available online at http://bestlawyers.com.
Sargent is a skilled trial attorney who has tried more than 100 cases to verdict in Texas federal and state courts in a range of high-stakes litigation. His expertise in personal injury defense includes representing clients involved in transportation accidents, on-the-job injury, premises and general liability cases.
In addition to receiving recognition from Best Lawyers, Sargent was honored in the 2020 Texas Super Lawyers listing as a top-rated transportation and maritime attorney.
As a guest lecturer, Sargent often presents at conferences on defending personal injury lawsuits. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Texas Association of Defense Counsel and the Trucking Insurance Defense Association, to name a few.
Sargent Law, P.C. is a trial litigation firm with more than 100 years of combined experience defending companies and individuals in transportation, personal injury, general and premises liability, workplace injury and commercial litigation. Visit our website: http://sargentlawtx.
Media Contact:
Sophia Reza
800-559-4534
sophia@androvett.com
Duane Morris LLP has appointed Christopher M. Winter managing partner of the firm’s Wilmington office. Winter succeeds Business Reorganization and Financial Restructuring Practice Group partner Michael R. Lastowski, who led the office since 2010. Lastowski will be moving into an of counsel role with the firm.
Winter is co-chair of the Finance and Restructuring Transactions division of Duane Morris’ Business Reorganization and Financial Restructuring Practice Group and serves as a team lead for the Duane Morris Banking and Finance Industry Group.
Winter focuses his practice on commercial finance and Chapter 11 bankruptcy law and proceedings. He represents agents, lenders, borrowers and other parties in secured lending transactions, including debtor-in-possession and exit facility loans, and in workouts, restructurings and enforcement actions. He regularly advises clients on federal bankruptcy matters and represents their interests in proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, including in the District of Delaware.
Winter is a graduate of Rutgers School of Law (J.D., with honors, 2001), where he was articles editor of the Rutgers Law Journal, and Rutgers University (B.A., 1995).
About the Duane Morris Wilmington Office
Established in 1985, the Wilmington, Delaware, office is an integral part of Duane Morris’ national and international practice and is fully equipped to meet the needs of our clients in all significant areas of the law. Duane Morris Delaware attorneys are established trial and transactional attorneys experienced in handling matters in the key areas for which Delaware is nationally and internationally renowned: Delaware corporate law and governance and corporate litigation matters in Delaware’s Court of Chancery; alternative entity law and commercial law; intellectual property disputes in Delaware’s United States District Court; and bankruptcy and financial reorganizations in Delaware’s United States Bankruptcy Court.
About Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 800 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries.
As industries become increasingly specialized, you need the relevant knowledge to stay competitive in the job market. Drexel University’s online LLM programs from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law help you gain the expertise you need to establish yourself as a specialist in either cybersecurity and data privacy or health care and pharmaceutical compliance. With the ability to complete the program online on either a full- or part-time basis, Drexel makes earning your degree convenient for you.
LLM in Cyber Law and Data Privacy
With a focus on topics like EU data privacy and internet law, this specialized program will help you fill a knowledge gap that’s needed in the cyber law and data privacy field. You can also tailor elective courses to specific fields such as health care, finance or higher education.
LLM in Health Care and Pharmaceutical Compliance
The health care and pharmaceutical industry is increasingly complicated and ever-changing, and this program prepares you with the insider knowledge you need to successfully navigate the system. You can focus on either Health Care Compliance or Pharmaceutical Compliance or take classes in both areas.
“State and local governments taking Big Oil to court over climate change have a new target: the American Petroleum Institute—an approach that could pay off for plaintiffs and create headaches for the industry’s biggest trade group, lawyers say,” reports Ellen M. Gilmer in Bloomberg Law’s Environment & Energy Report.
“Recent lawsuits from Delaware, Minnesota, and Hoboken, N.J., name API as a defendant, saying the group should be on the hook alongside oil companies for allegedly misleading the public about fossil fuels’ climate impacts.”
“The EPA’s top lawyer, Matthew Z. Leopold, is leaving the agency after a nearly three-year stint and a mixed record in the courtroom,” report Ellen M. Gilmer and Stephen Lee in Bloomberg Law’s Environment & Energy Report.
“Leopold will leave the EPA in the next two weeks to work in private practice in the Washington, D.C., area, though he didn’t specify where. Principal deputy general counsel David Fotouhi will serve as acting general counsel.”
“As the EPA’s top lawyer since 2018, Leopold provided the legal justification for many of the administration’s regulatory rollbacks. His tenure was marked by efforts to push authority down from the federal government to the states.”
“Vortic Watch Company announces victory in a trademark case filed against the company by Hamilton Watch International, a Swatch Group brand. In a decision made by the U.S. Federal Court on September 11, 2020, the judge ruled in favor of Vortic on all counts. After a five-year battle, Federal Judge Alison Nathan determined Vortic has the right to salvage and restore antique pocket watches and turn them into wristwatches, including those that bear the Hamilton trademark,” released by Vortic Watch Company in Cision PR Newswire.
“The Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate which oversees the once-American Hamilton brand, accused Vortic of trademark infringement and counterfeiting in 2015. The case finally culminated in February 2020 with a bench trial in the Southern District of New York.”
“Seyfarth Synopsis: The courts have stated that their review of fiduciary decisions is both exacting and deferential. A recent decision from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit offers help to ERISA benefit professionals who prefer to maximize judicial deference in favor of the fiduciaries,” write Mark Casciari and Ronald Kramer in Seyfarth’s Fiduciary Governance.
“One of the enduring paradoxes of ERISA litigation is the judicial standard of review of fiduciary decisions. The standard of review is important because an easier standard will uphold more fiduciary decisions in court and encourage more individuals to serve as fiduciaries. No one who acts in good faith – as the vast majority of ERISA fiduciaries do – likes to make tough decisions and be sued or reversed.”
“… a recent Delaware decision suggests that we cannot be reminded too often of the importance of carefully modifying the standard no-third-party-beneficiary clause so that it … does not do more harm than good,” warns Glenn D. West in Global Private Equity Watch’s Features.
“Most acquisition agreements contain provisions intended to benefit affiliates (and officers, directors and employees, whether or not technically affiliates) of the contracting parties, who may be impacted by the sale in some manner (indemnification and the non-recourse clause are just two examples). An unexamined, boilerplate “no-third-party-beneficiary clause” can wreak havoc on those provisions if not carefully modified to make clear that the benefits of certain provisions of the agreement are indeed intended to benefit non-party affiliates (and perhaps others).”
“Even if the title is click-bait, this is not a trick question. There is one type of online privacy policy that is objectively worse than all of the others. It does not relate to when it was created, whether it was crafted internally or by an outside expert, or even how much (if anything) you paid to prepare the privacy statement used on your startup’s website or mobile app,” warns Christopher Avery in Davis Wright Tremaine’s Privacy & Security Law Blog.
“The number one worst type of online privacy policy is one that a startup copies and pastes from another online service. Does this really happen? Yes – all the time. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but some copiers are so egregious that they do not carefully check and remove the references to the other company before posting it to their website.”
“Davis Polk & Wardwell is changing to a more flexible compensation system, allowing it to pay more money to retain and attract rainmaking partners,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Daily News.
“Davis Polk has paid partners based on seniority under a lockstep compensation model. The law firm is changing to a modified lockstep system.”
“Only a few elite New York firms retain a strict lockstep pay structure, according to Bloomberg Law. Other firms that have used a lockstep system include Cravath Swaine & Moore, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and Debevoise & Plimpton. Those firms typically were most profitable, enabling high partner compensation.”
“A mayor’s son and lawyer who has been arrested five times for alcohol-related incidents has been suspended from the Indiana bar for at least one year,” reports the IL Staff in The Indiana Lawyer.
“The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission last year filed a formal complaint against Evan B. Broderick, son of Anderson Democratic Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr., who also is an attorney and former Madison County prosecutor.”
“Broderick in 2018 pleaded guilty to charges of Class A misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person and Class B misdemeanor leaving the scene of an accident after he struck a utility pole following an afternoon of drinking.”
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Phil Wells has joined Bradley’s Charlotte office as a senior attorney in the Real Estate Practice Group.
Wells has more than 15 years of experience serving clients in multiple industries. He brings analytical and problem-solving skills to complex commercial transactions, contracts, and compliance. His experience includes providing legal support to one of the nation’s largest financial institutions in all phases of retail and office lease preparation, from drafting letters of intent to final lease execution, as well as other commercial real estate matters.
Wells previously served as corporate counsel for The Mitchell Gold Co., where he provided legal counsel to ensure maximum protection of the company’s legal rights, mitigate legal risks, and maintain legal compliance for company operations. He spearheaded the negotiation, preparation, and drafting of all major tenant leases and ancillary documents, and successfully negotiated the purchase, sale, and management of company real estate.
Wells earned his J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
About Bradley
Bradley combines skilled legal counsel with exceptional client service and unwavering integrity to assist a diverse range of corporate and individual clients in achieving their business goals. With offices in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia, the firm’s nearly 550 lawyers represent regional, national and international clients in various industries, including banking and financial services, construction, energy, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, real estate, and technology, among many others.
Global law firm Hogan Lovells is pleased to announce that Richard Aftanas has joined the firm as a partner in the Corporate practice in New York and as a member of the Firm’s global Capital Markets leadership team with a focus on expanding the New York and US capital markets practice. Aftanas joins from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a partner in the Capital Markets group for six years.
Aftanas has worked on numerous initial public offerings and other public and private equity securities offerings, as well as high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings for companies in a wide range of industries. He also advises U.S. and international clients with respect to corporate and securities law matters, as well as spin-offs, debt tender offers, exchange offers and other refinancing transactions. In addition, Aftanas regularly advises publicly-traded corporations and their executive officers and directors on corporate governance, SEC compliance and disclosure matters. Before joining Kirkland, Aftanas was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Over the past year, the firm has made several high-profile additions to the New York office, including former Bristol Myers Squibb vice president Jonathan Wasserman, Latin America finance partner Ben Garcia, leading sports transactions lawyer Michael Kuh, and Peter Marta, former global head of the legal cybersecurity team at JPMorgan Chase.
Aftanas earned his B.A. from the University of Manitoba and his LL.B. from McGill University Faculty of Law. He also is a member of McGill University Leaders’ Advisory Board and was the Secretary of the Securities Regulation Committee for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York from 2003–2006.
Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that its Chicago Officers Kara Cenar, Beata Krakus, and Susan Meyer have been selected for the 2020 edition of Crain’s Chicago Business’ “Notable Women in Law.”
Published annually, the “Notable Women in Law” recognizes “women who have a track record of setting legal precedents, winning big cases for their clients and mentoring the next wave of women in law – all while finding ways to give back to their communities,” according to Crain’s. The honorees serve in senior-level roles at a law firm and have practiced for at least 10 years.
According to Crain’s, the “Notable Women in Law” also must have shown the ability to effect change in their roles or practice areas … “expanding the role of the women’s resource group to make sure that young associates get the skills and confidence they need to succeed. … They are pushing their firms to do more to promote racial justice and equality.”
A member of Greensfelder’s Intellectual Property practice group, Cenar leads the firm’s IP Litigation team, handling important and complex intellectual property (IP) matters for domestic and international companies of all sizes, as well as individuals. Her practice also involves the enforcement of IP rights and the defense of alleged violations of the IP rights of others.
Krakus is a member of the firm’s Franchising & Distribution and Business Services groups. She works with clients across the United States and around the globe preparing franchise programs for concepts including real estate brokerages, hotels, restaurants, and fitness and personal health systems, among others. Her practice also encompasses other distribution models, and she assists clients in managing their distribution networks.
Also a member of Greensfelder’s Franchising & Distribution and Intellectual Property groups, Meyer advises businesses in the areas of IP, franchising and distribution, and corporate law. She represents companies in the United States and internationally in every stage of development. She also serves as Norway’s Honorary Consul for Illinois.
The complete 2020 list of Crain’s “Notable Women in Law” honorees can be viewed at https://www.chicagobusiness.com/awards/crains-2020-notable-women-law.
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 32-year-old woman suspected since July of running an unlawful law practice in Uptown Dallas has been arrested in Boston, and police are asking anyone who may have been victimized to speak up,” reports Marc Ramirez in The Dallas Morning News’ Crime.
“Massachusetts state police detained Camilia Shene Johnson at Logan International Airport on Sept. 5 as she tried to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. Johnson, a convicted felon, also goes by the name Camilia Johnson Ibrahim.”
“Authorities had been looking into Johnson’s conduct since mid-July, when a skeptical DeSoto resident alerted police to say that a number of legal actions being proposed to them by the suspect were in fact not the law.”
“Hope Mehlman has started work as general counsel and corporate secretary at Bank of the West,” reports Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.
“San Francisco-based Bank of the West is a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas. Mehlman is now also corporate secretary at BNP Paribas USA.”
“Mehlman succeeds Vanessa Washington, who will retire from the bank at the end of the month after 14 years with the company.”