Daniel J. Fortune has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Birmingham office as a partner in the Government Enforcement and Investigations Practice Group and as part of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Privacy team.

The firm said Fortune represents clients in matters involving cybersecurity, white collar defense, government enforcement actions and regulatory compliance. He has litigated more than 75 jury trials in federal and state courts involving complex matters and computer forensics.

Prior to joining Bradley, Fortune served as the lead cybersecurity attorney at a litigation boutique, and as a state prosecutor and federal prosecutor litigating matters involving computer forensics, white collar crime, and government investigations. As the deputy chief assistant U.S. attorney in the Criminal Division, he supervised major cybercrime, white collar fraud, public corruption, asset forfeiture and national security matters. He also served as the computer hacking and intellectual property coordinator with top secret security clearance, working on matters involving cleared defense contractors. In addition, he supervised national and international investigations related to internet crime, child exploitation, and immigration.

During his time at the Department of Justice, Fortune was recognized by the FBI director for successes working with the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force on major crime control efforts and for contributions to complex and sensitive operations.

Fortune also serves as an adjunct professor at the Birmingham School of Law and Miles School of Law.

Fortune received his J.D. from William & Mary Law School and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

For the ninth consecutive year, Freeborn & Peters LLP has been named by Midwest Real Estate News as among the top regional real estate law firms. Included in the top 15 for 2019, Freeborn this year earned its highest ranking ever.

The Midwest Real Estate News “Best of the Best” edition also ranks the industry’s top regional owners, financial intermediaries, brokers, direct lenders, property managers, and construction companies.

The National Association of Corporate Directors has published the 2019 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission Report―Fit for the Future: An Urgent Imperative for Board Leadership—an invaluable resource for board rooms across America.

The report can be downloaded from the NACD website at no charge.

NACD members receive the added advantage of a comprehensive toolkit that helps boards transform information into meaningful action. The toolkit includes case studies, sample documents, questions to inform boardroom discussions, and other resources. NACD members benefit from this additional level of support that ensures that knowledge yields results.

Download the report.

The Supreme Court could issue a number of blockbuster decisions on gay and transgender rights, immigration, abortion, guns and religion in its next term, which will begin on Monday.

New York Times reporter Adam Liptak writes that the rulings will arrive by June, in the midst of an already divisive presidential campaign.

“On Tuesday, the court will hear two hours of argument on the momentous question of whether a landmark federal civil rights law protects gay men, lesbians and transgender people from employment discrimination,” Liptak explains.

Later in the term, the court will consider the fate of nearly 800,000 “Dreamers,” hear an abortion case challenging a Louisiana law, possibly hear a case on the Second Amendment, and decide whether a state can exclude religious schools from a state scholarship program.

Read the  NY Times article.

Above the Law takes a look at the law schools whose recent graduates did the worst on the 2018 exam — 21 law schools where less than 50 percent of first-time takers were able to pass the test.

“For the past few years, bar exam pass rates across the country have plummeted, but there’s hope on the horizon with the news that the average national score on the July 2019 administration of the Multistate Bar Exam climbed to a 141.1, fresh off a 34-year low set in 2018,” writes Above the Law senior editor Staci Zaretsky.

Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, has the dubious distinction of leading the bottom-up list, with the lowest first-try pass rate: 21.84 percent.

Read the Above the Law article.

Forbes has partnered with market research company Statista to create a list of top U.S. corporate law firms, selecting 243 firms and identifying the most recommended ones in 17 practice areas, based on survey responses from 2,500 lawyers.

“The results include not only names well-known in the corporate and legal worlds—white-shoe law firms and members of London’s so-called “magic circle” of top law firms—but also boutique firms that focus on very specific branches of the law,” explains the article.

Of the 243 firms on the list, Kirkland & Ellis is the top revenue-producing firm in the world, with more than $3 billion in annual revenue. Also on that $3 billion list is Latham & Watkins.

Read the Forbes article.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Protection is seeking the dismissal of a township’s challenge to a permit to a shale gas wastewater injection well to operate in the community, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“The long-running legal battle, which is being watched statewide for its potentially precedent-setting outcome, pits [Grant Township], which wants to protect water wells from contamination, against the DEP, which approved a permit for the injection well in 2014 and again in 2017,” explains the Post-Gazette‘s Don Hopey.

The town passed a community bill of rights ordinance in 2014 in an attempt to block Pennsylvania General Energy Co. from converting one of its former shale gas production wells to a 7,500-foot deep injection well for disposal of fracking waste.

Read the Post-Gazette article.

Hanzo, a developer of contextual collection and dynamic web content software, and Zapproved, an ediscovery software provider for managing corporate litigation readiness, announced the lineup of industry experts for an upcoming live webinar, “Emojis and the Law: The Real-world eDiscovery Challenges Posed by Enterprise Collaboration.”

The event will be on Oct. 31, 2019, at 2 pm ET. This free web event will include a discussion surrounding modern enterprise collaboration platforms, the increasing trend in casual and emoji-filled communications, the challenges that these communications pose from a legal perspective, and how corporate legal teams can mitigate risk.

The panel of industry experts will discuss the challenges of managing data risk with modern communications within corporate collaboration applications.

The speakers will:

– Explore communication trends and tools affecting the enterprise
– Delve into the phenomenon of emojis, case law, and share some surprising facts that legal teams need to know to conduct eDiscovery better
– Share best practices for enterprise collaboration data management and governance policies
– Discuss the importance of applying best practices in preserving and collecting enterprise collaboration data

Speakers
– Eric Goldman, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University
– Ashley Fischer, Managing Counsel, H-E-B
– Ryan Zilm, Information Lifecycle Management Advisor, USAA
– Brad Harris, Distinguished Fellow, eDiscovery, Zapproved
– Evan Gumz, Senior Account Executive, eDiscovery, Hanzo

Register
– Emojis and the Law: The Real-world eDiscovery Challenges Posed by Enterprise Collaboration
– Date: Thursday, October 31, 2019
– Time: 2:00 pm ET
– Cost: Free

Register for the webinar.

Even if an errors and omissions policy contains a breach of contract exclusion, coverage may be available in a breach claim, depending on the circumstances and applicable law, writes Charles P. Edwards for Barnes & Thornburg.

Writing in the firm’s Policyholder Protection blog, Edwards discusses a recent court ruling involving coverage for a breach of contract claim brought against a corporate policyholder by one of its customers.

The article also covers two other similar cases.

Read the article.

A distribution agreement is a legally binding contract between a seller of goods and a distributor that outlines the details involved in the sale and transfer of goods, explains Regina Campbell of The Campbell Law Group.

“By having a distribution agreement, businesses save time and money by avoiding misunderstandings that affects the profitability of each party and preventing future litigation over disputes,” she writes in a post on Lawyers.com.

In the post, she discusses the mistakes, which involve not using a distribution agreement, attempting to distribute too much, too fast, failing to specify whether the agreement is exclusive, lack of termination clauses, and lack of renewal language.

Read the article.

Trial lawyer Laura Benitez Geisler of Dallas-based Sommerman, McCaffity, Quesada & Geisler has been designated a Texas Trailblazer by Texas Lawyer magazine for her significant impact on the legal profession.

A personal injury lawyer and the first Hispanic president of the Dallas Bar Association, Geisler made the 2019 list of the Texas attorneys deemed “agents of change” based on her commitment to ensuring legal representation for low-income citizens, the firm said in a release.

As DBA president, Geisler initiated the Entrepreneurs in Community Lawyering Program, an intensive year-long program that gives beginning solo practitioners the tools to succeed as business owners and lawyers, serving a low-income and modest means clientele. In exchange, participants commit at least 200 hours of pro bono service to lower-income residents during the program. Geisler also raised over $1 million for the DBA’s Dallas Volunteer Program while serving as 2014-15 co-chair of the Equal Access to Justice Campaign.

Geisler has held several leadership positions in the legal community, including serving on the Dallas Bar Association Board of Directors since 2006, and as a past president of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and the Dallas Women Lawyers Association.

For more than 21 years, Geisler has represented clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases, with a trial history that includes multimillion-dollar jury verdicts and settlements. She has earned a place on the Texas Super Lawyers list for her personal injury work and she is recognized in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Ms. Geisler was also named to the 2019 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

The 2019 Texas Trailblazers list is featured in the October/November issue of Texas Lawyer.

Elizabeth Holmes

Photo by Max Morse for TechCrunch

The Mercury News reports that lawyers representing disgraced Theranos founder and accused fraudster Elizabeth Holmes said in a civil case claim she hasn’t paid them for more than a year and probably never will, according to court records, and they don’t want to be her lawyers anymore.

“Ms. Holmes has not paid Cooley [LLP] for any of its work as her counsel of record in this action for more than a year,” lawyers Stephen Neal, John Dwyer and Jeffrey Lombard said in the filing. They are asking the court for approval to stop representing Holmes.

Holmes faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $2.75 million fine, plus possible restitution, according to Ethan Baron of the News.

Read the Mercury News article.

Gordon Caplan, who left his job as co-chairman of the prestigious New York law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP this year amid the U.S. college-admissions scandal, was sentenced Thursday to one month in prison, reports Bloomberg Law.

“I disregarded the values I’ve had throughout my life,” the once-highflying New York M&A lawyer told the U.S. district judge just before she sentenced him.

The sentence also includes a $50,000 fine and 250 hours of community service.

In his guilty plea, Caplan admitted he paid $75,000 to fix his daughter’s test scores. He asked for 14 days in jail, if he had to be incarcerated at all.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The former general counsel of Mithril Capital Management, Crystal McKellar, has staged a multi-pronged campaign to disparage the company, according to a new legal petition filed in Texas, where Mithril has its headquarters.

McKellar was the company’s only general counsel, reports TechCrunch.

Fox Business reports that the lawsuit claims: “After leaving the business, she immediately ‘began a concerted whisper campaign to undermine Mithril, in which she would make false, anonymous complaints to Mithril’s limited partners.'”

McKellar is a Harvard-trained lawyer and former child TV star. Mithril is owned by Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who toppled Gawker Media.

Read the TechCrunch article.

A Los Angeles jury returned a complete defense verdict for Hyundai Motor America and Hyundai Motor Company on Sept. 26, following a three-week trial presided over by Judge John A. Torribio.

The action was in the Norwalk Courthouse of the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles. Plaintiff Jorge Romo brought suit against the Hyundai defendants in January 2015, claiming that the subject 2003 Hyundai Tiburon was defectively designed and seeking an award of $40 million in economic and non-economic damages.

According to a release from Hyundai’s defense law firm: The action arose out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred in 2013, around midnight in South Gate, California. Defendant Alfred Schaer was driving his 2003 Hyundai Tiburon with another individual in the front passenger seat and plaintiff in the right rear seat. Schaer lost control of the vehicle causing it to leave the roadway, travel off the right side of the road, impact a curb and a chain-link fence, and finally collide with a steel shipping container at over 20 miles per hour. During the accident sequence, the shipping container deformed the passenger side of the Hyundai Tiburon and fractured the windshield, passenger side windows, and backlite. When the vehicle came to rest, plaintiff discovered that he had suffered a traumatic amputation of his right upper arm, according to the release.

Plaintiff filed suit against the Hyundai defendants, alleging that the Hyundai Tiburon was defectively designed because tempered safety glass — rather than laminated glass — was used in the side windows. Plaintiff also asserted a claim against Schaer for negligently operating the vehicle. At trial, plaintiff sought $40 million in economic and non-economic damages.

Plaintiff offered the testimony of numerous retained experts, including an automotive engineering and glazing expert, Stephen Batzer, Ph.D., P.E., biomechanics expert, Peter Francis, Ph.D., and accident reconstruction expert, Joseph Yates. These experts offered opinions in support of plaintiff’s theory that, if the Tiburon had been equipped with laminated glass instead of tempered safety glass in the side windows, the passenger-side, rear quarter window would have remained in place and prevented plaintiff’s injuries. Plaintiff’s automotive and mechanical engineering expert, Donald Phillips, P.E., presented a series of different litigation tests purportedly demonstrating that the properties of laminated glass were such that the use of laminated glass would have prevented plaintiff’s injuries during the accident.

In response, the Hyundai defendants offered the testimony of biomechanics and glazing expert Michael Carhart, Ph.D., as well as accident reconstruction expert Jeffrey Croteau. Carhart explained that the use of tempered safety glass is a safe and appropriate design choice for automotive side windows that complied with all applicable federal and industry standards, and accordingly that the Hyundai Tiburon was not defective or unreasonably dangerous. Moreover, Croteau prepared an extensive accident reconstruction based on 3D laser scanning and modelling and Carhart prepared a surrogate study and other 3D modeling establishing that the rear quarter glass window fractured when the vehicle impacted the edge of the 40-foot, multi-ton steel shipping container, and that the use of laminated glass in the quarter window would not have prevented plaintiff’s injuries. The Hyundai defendants also presented a complex sled crash test using an exemplar Hyundai Tiburon with laminated glass installed in the rear quarter window. This crash testing, which matched the relevant interactions in the underlying crash sequence, demonstrated that the use of laminated glass would not have prevented plaintiff’s injury, according to the release.

After deliberating over the course of three days, the jury found in favor of the Hyundai defendants on both the Strict Product Liability Consumer Expectation Test and Strict Product Liability Risk-Benefit Test. As to the claim for negligent operation of the vehicle, the jury returned a verdict against Schaer and awarded plaintiff a total of $17,270,000 in economic and non-economic damages.

Plaintiff presented the following experts at trial: automotive engineering and glazing expert Stephen Batzer, Ph.D.; automotive and mechanical engineering expert Donald Phillips, P.E.; biomechanics expert Peter Francis, Ph.D.; accident reconstruction expert Joseph Yates; economist expert Catherine M. Graves, MBA, CFA; orthopedic surgery expert Frederic Nicola, M.D.; psychology expert, Anthony Reading, Ph.D.; prosthetic expert Richard Riley, B.S.Ed., C.P., FAAOP; and psychical medical and rehabilitation expert, Khyber Zaffarkhan, D.O., FAAPMR. The Hyundai Defendants presented accident reconstruction expert, Jeffrey Croteau, and biomechanics and glazing expert, Michael Carhart, Ph.D.

Plaintiff was represented by Daniel Sheldon of Scolinos, Sheldon & Nevell, and Patrick Ardis and Kip Whittemore of Wolff Ardis, P.C., based in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Hyundai defendants were represented by Gary Wolensky, Paul Alarcon, and Taylor Brown of Buchalter, as well as Hyundai Motor America’s in-house counsel, Jamison Power.

Defendant Alfred Schaer was represented by David Gomes of Gomes Hirshik & Hummel.

A post on the website of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner discusses a key component of contract obligation management – increasing obligation tracking and traceability.

“Conducting that evaluation of your existing contracts will allow you to identify risks and opportunities for negotiation of new contracts and allow you to better marry any potential technical obligation management tools to your contract environment, potentially turning in-house teams from SG&A on the income statement into their own profit center,” according to the post.

The article discusses reporting and recordkeeping, along with information, auditing, in detail.

Read the article.

Kathryn J. Carlisle-Kesling has joined Holland & Hart’s Real Estate Development group as of counsel in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In a release, the firm said Carlisle-Kesling has experience guiding clients in project development – from planning to due diligence and title to acquisition and through lease out, management, and operation. She has led transactions involving a wide range of development projects and draws on experience with dispute resolution, bringing persuasive communication and negotiation skills to help clients navigate issues that may arise in transactions.

Prior to joining Holland & Hart, Carlisle-Kesling was a partner shareholder with Buckley King in Ohio. She served as a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, Real Property Section Council, from 2015-2019 and was one of the first lawyers in Ohio to become a Certified Specialist in Residential Real Property Law. Kate also Chaired the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Real Property Section, and Co-Authored the Revised Ohio Title Examination Standards.

Kate frequently writes and presents on real property matters. She received her J.D. from the University of Toledo and earned her B.A. from the University of Cincinnati. She is admitted to practice in Utah and Ohio.

Barnes & Thornburg announced that it has joined forces with sports industry veterans E.T. “Skip” Prince and Steve Pederson to launch a new University and Professional Athletics practice.

In a release, the firm said intercollegiate athletics will be a point of focus for the new group. Prince and Pederson will collaborate with the firm’s Higher Education and Entertainment, Media and Sports practice groups while assisting colleges and universities of all sizes in the monitoring, maintenance and protection of their athletic programs and educational missions.

The firm said Prince and Pederson have managed teams, leagues and major athletic programs across North America. Additionally, they have negotiated media, licensing, sponsorship, advertising and development agreements nationally and internationally across virtually all levels of sport.

Operating out of Barnes & Thornburg’s Washington, D.C., office, the duo will work with the office’s managing partner, Roscoe Howard, a former U.S. attorney and former member of the NCAA Committee on Infractions; William (Billy) Martin, sports attorney and compliance litigator; Christopher Bayh, in the firm’s Higher Education Practice Group and former Big Ten linebacker; Meena Sinfelt, complex litigation and compliance attorney; and David Frazee, litigator who handled athletics compliance while working at a Big 12 institution.

Atheria Law launched as a new firm of 35 attorneys with experience in insurance and reinsurance law, including in the areas of professional liability and technology, privacy and cyber.

In a release, the firm said Atheria Law was formed by attorneys and staff from global law firm Clyde & Co. The new firm is led by eight partners, half of whom are women, among its staff of professionals, which includes attorneys practicing in San Francisco, where the firm is headquartered, Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York. The founding partners are Bill Casey, Joan D’Ambrosio, Eric Moon, Christina Terplan, Julie Hawkinson, David Jordan, Christina Marshall and Jamison Narbaitz. Terplan will serve as Atheria Law’s president.

Following are Atheria Law’s founding partners:

Bill Casey – Casey concentrates on professional liability insurance coverage and litigation. He received his J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University.

Joan D’Ambrosio – D’Ambrosio represents insurers with respect to technology, media, intellectual property and privacy claims, including involving data security and privacy breaches. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from the University of California San Diego.

Julie Choi Hawkinson – Hawkinson represents insurers in respect of technology, media, intellectual property, privacy and D&O claims. Hawkinson received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and her Bachelor of Science (cum laude) from the University of Southern California.

David Jordan – Jordan concentrates on counseling professional liability insurers and their insureds in matters involving up to billions of U.S. dollars in claimed damages.He received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law and his Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) from the University of Alabama.

Christina (Tina) Marshall – Marshall advises insurers with respect to complex claims reported under policies issued to design professionals doing business globally.She received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from Santa Clara University.

Eric Moon – Moon represents insurers in connection with errors and omissions policies issued to professionals, including attorneys, architects, engineers, accountants, real estate agents, insurance brokers, business managers, and mortgage professionals.He received his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from Georgetown University.

Jamison Narbaitz – Narbaitz represents London and U.S. insurers in claims involving cyber and privacy, technology errors and omissions, media liability, data breach, consumer class actions and IPHe received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Christina Terplan – Terplan focuses her practice on technology, IP and privacy law. She represents insurers on a broad range of issues and in claims brought against technology and media companies. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Davis.

Sara Chelette has joined Dallas-based civil litigation firm Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst as a partner.

Chelette has more than 14 years with a focus on cybersecurity and data privacy.

In a release, the firm said Chelette handles business disputes and commercial litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants in fiduciary duty, trade secret, breach of contract, construction defect, and zoning lawsuits. In addition, she has experience representing shareholders in derivative litigation and advises clients on cybersecurity and data privacy issues, including compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. She has assisted clients with nationwide data breaches.

Chelette has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Texas Rising Star” from 2013-2018 and as a “Texas Super Lawyer” in 2019. She is involved in the Dallas Bar Association’s inaugural class of WE LEAD, which is a program empowering female leaders in the legal profession. She also spends time as a volunteer attorney for the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP) and the Human Rights Initiative of Texas.