Thomas E. Tether has joined Morrison & Foerster in New York in its Global Real Estate Group.

He previously was with Lendlease Group, an international property development, construction, and infrastructure company. Tether served in various leadership roles during his more than 16 years with Lendlease, most recently as general counsel for Lendlease Americas.

At Morrison & Foerster, Tether will work on real property acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures and partnerships, and the financing and development of all real estate asset classes.

During his last nine years as GC for the Americas region at Lendlease, Tether was a member of the regional executive leadership team and oversaw all legal services throughout the Americas, including in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. He led a team of 18 in-house lawyers that provided legal services relating to the company’s real estate operations, including oversight of region-wide compliance and litigation. He negotiated and closed corporate real estate transactions, and secured project financing through various governmental and private-sector debt and equity sources. Tether also served on the company’s regional investment and risk and compliance committees.

Attorney Peter Idziak, who practices in residential mortgage lending, has joined the Dallas office of Texas-based Polunsky Beitel Green, LLP.

Idziak is an honors graduate from both Harvard University and the University of Texas School of Law.

He works in residential lending law, regulatory matters, and compliance issues.

Idziak is licensed to practice in both Texas and New York. He works with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

He also provides guidance concerning Veterans Administration (VA), Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Government-Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) requirements.

Rudy Giuliani has tapped Miami-based veteran attorney Jon A. Sale, of counsel with Nelson Mullins, to represent him before the congressional inquiry into whether President Donald Trump improperly pressured Ukraine’s president for a political favor.

The Miami Herald reports that “Sale is also no stranger to navigating the ways of Washington, having served as an assistant special Watergate prosecutor looking into the secret White House tapes of President Richard M. Nixon. Sale worked under two special prosecutors — Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski.”

Giuliani and Sale are former classmates at New York University law school.

Read the Miami Herald article.

Goldman Sachs and Dell Technologies will pay a combination of almost $17 million to settle separate Labor Department allegations of pay bias based on gender and race, reports Bloomberg Law.

“Both Goldman Sachs and Dell-EMC agreed to nationwide ‘early resolution’ agreements, whereby their compliance will be routinely monitored in exchange for five years free of random OFCCP audits,” explains Bloomberg’s Paige Smith. “These are at least the fourth and fifth ‘early resolution’ agreements with the agency, joining those with Bank of America, Performance Food Group, Cintas Corp., and US Foods Inc. ”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law reports that the 10th Circuit Judicial Council publicly reprimanded District Court Judge Carlos Murguia for sexual harassment, the judiciary’s most severe available sanction.

The council found that the judge — appointed by Bill Clinton to the court in Kansas — “gave preferential treatment and unwanted attention to female employees of the Judiciary in the form of sexually suggestive comments, inappropriate text messages, and excessive, non-work-related contact, much of which occurred after work hours and often late at night.”

Murguia apologized for his conduct, but the council found his apologies “more tied to his regret that his actions were brought to light than an awareness of, and regret for, the harm he caused ….”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

PactSafe has published a new guide that outlines different ways a legal department can foster effective cross-departmental relationships. It offers ideas that can be implemented this week, and tips that can plant the seed for more strategic, long-term change.

“Whether your goals are focused on increasing sales velocity, more efficient employee on-boarding, or mitigating risk of a new product, the legal department is often seen as an operational bottleneck and inhibitor of innovation,” PactSafe says on its website. “With 2020 on the horizon, legal needs to refresh its reputation—and understand its unique position to enable innovation—and it starts with better interdepartmental relationships.”

The guide covers:

• How legal and sales can maintain a united front when closing a deal
• Why legal and finance need to collaborate better on budget
• Ways legal and HR can limit risk of employee charges
• How legal and dev can find common ground in risk management and UX design

Download the free guide.

A California woman suffering from mesothelioma has prevailed in the latest talc trial against Johnson & Johnson, following six days of jury deliberation that ended Friday when the jury awarded her $40 million in damages.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers said Nancy Cabibi, 71, of Hasuer, Idaho, and her husband Phil sued Johnson & Johnson, makers of Johnson’s Baby Powder, following her pleural mesothelioma diagnosis in 2017. Since then, Cabibi has undergone a variety of medical procedures including radical surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy.

Testing of her body tissue showed the presence of tremolite and anthophyllite asbestos, known contaminants of Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower, both of which were manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and both of which Cabibi used.

The jury in the case found Johnson’s Baby Powder defective because it contained asbestos. It also found the powder caused Cabibi’s mesothelioma, which is an invariably fatal form of cancer, her lawyers said.

Johnson & Johnson argued Cabibi was exposed to asbestos through living in an area of Los Angeles home to industry, though she never worked in or even entered any facilities where she would have been exposed to asbestos.

“Nancy Cabibi is fighting to survive every single day because of asbestos in Johnson’s Baby Powder. While we are very pleased with this verdict, we know that we must continue to fight on behalf of the Cabibis and so many others who have been harmed,” said attorney David Greenstone of Simon Greenstone Panatier in Dallas, who along with firm attorneys Stuart Purdy and Marissa Langhoff represented the plaintiffs.

This is just the latest win for the law firm against Johnson & Johnson. Earlier this month, name partner Chris Panatier was one of several lawyers representing four people with mesothelioma who sued J&J in its home state of New Jersey. That jury found the four were exposed to asbestos from using the company’s baby powder and awarded $37.3 million.

And in May 2018, attorneys David Greenstone and Chris Panatier represented Joanne Anderson of Williams, Oregon who was on the receiving end of a $25.75 million verdict when another California jury found manufacturing and design defects in Johnson’s Baby Powder due to the presence of asbestos.

Simon Greenstone Panatier, P.C., is a nationally recognized trial law firm with a reputation for creative and aggressive representation of clients in a wide variety of catastrophic personal injury matters nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.sgptrial.com/.

Duane Morris LLP and the Bar Association of San Francisco will present the 7th Annual Citywide Diversity and Inclusion Networking Event and Panel Discussion on “Standing Up for Justice: Challenging the Erosion of Civil Rights, Diversity and Inclusion.”

The event will be in the Duane Morris office at One Market Plaza, Suite 2200, in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, 5-8 p.m.

The panel will explain and share examples of how they became bias interrupters by making small tweaks to basic business systems (hiring, performance evaluations, assignments, promotions and compensation) that interrupt and correct explicit and implicit bias in the workplace. Instead of approaching diversity initiatives as large-scale culture changes, bias interrupters identify and change the constant flow of bias in basic business systems. Bias interrupters work because they change systems, instead of people.

Opening Remarks :

Doris Cheng, President, Bar Association of San Francisco
Christopher Punongbayan, Executive Director, California ChangeLawyers

Panelists:

Doris Cheng, President, Bar Association of San Francisco
Charles Jung, President, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area
Catherine Ongiri, President, Charles Houston Bar Association
Jeff Kosbie, Co-Chair, Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom
Christopher Punongbayan, Executive Director, California ChangeLawyers

Moderator:

Terrance J. Evans, Partner and Co-Chair of the Duane Morris LLP SF Diversity and
Inclusion Committee

Register for the event.

Three recent court decisions raise a few issues to keep in mind for employers to keep in mind when drafting arbitration agreements for employees, according to a post on Bradley Arant Boult Cummings’ Labor & Employment Insights blog.

The authors, Bridget Warren and Anne R. Yuengert, discuss the common characteristics that an agreement should include.

They also advise drafters to include class and collective action waivers and how to update existing agreements to include such a waiver while a lawsuit is pending.

Finally, they advise paying attention to state laws that affect what can be included in the arbitration agreement.

Read the article.

Deans & Lyons LLP co-founder Michael Lyons has been selected among the Top 100 Dallas-Fort Worth attorneys in the 2019 edition of the Texas Super Lawyers legal guide.

The Top 100 list recognizes the DFW region’s leading attorneys regardless of practice focus. He earned additional recognition among the state’s leading trial lawyers for his work handling catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases, and complex business disputes.

Super Lawyers is the most recent accolade for Lyons, who earlier this year was selected to The Best Lawyers in America and D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas lists. A member of both the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums, he also is a Lifetime Achievement member of America’s Top 100 Attorneys for Texas.

Also earning 2019 Texas Super Lawyers honors were firm co-founder Greg Deans for his business litigation work and partner Katie Stepp for her general litigation practice.

“This firm’s focus is all about winning results for clients, and our attorneys demonstrate that through innovative and aggressive representation,” said Mr. Lyons. “Honors such as Super Lawyers demonstrate a respect for that approach from our peers in the legal world.”

In 2019, all six of the firm’s eligible attorneys earned recognition from either Texas Super Lawyers or the companion Rising Stars listing of the state’s top young attorneys.

Partners Courtney Bowline and Chris Simmons were named to the Risings Stars list earlier this year for their work on personal injury and wrongful death cases and Stephen Higdon was selected for his general business litigation practice. Mr. Simmons earned additional recognition among Rising Stars’ Up-and-Coming 100.

Kevin F. O’Malley, of counsel in Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C.’s St. Louis office, has been appointed ambassador in residence and professor of practice affiliated with the Center for International and Comparative Law at Saint Louis University School of Law (SLU LAW).

A graduate of SLU LAW, O’Malley previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 2014 to 2017 under the administration of President Barack Obama.

In his new role, O’Malley will counsel students and serve as a resource for the Center for International and Comparative Law, which builds networks and alliances locally and internationally and provides high-quality legal talent that is conversant and comfortable with other cultures and legal environments.

O’Malley also practiced at Greensfelder prior to his ambassadorship, previously leading the firm’s medical negligence and white-collar crime practice areas. A former federal prosecutor, O’Malley has tried numerous cases to conclusion in federal and state courts. As U.S. ambassador to Ireland, he partnered with the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and other entities to promote the work of the 700 American businesses based in Ireland and flourishing there and throughout the European Union.

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP partner Lisa J. Sotto was the featured speaker at a recent AmCham China U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program event, outlining key privacy and data security issues in the United States and European Union to representatives of more than 50 Chinese companies.

Sotto, head of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s global privacy and cybersecurity practice, also presented to several other groups in China earlier this month, including a group of more than 50 in-house counsel organized by Data Protection Officer, an organization of legal counsel from leading Chinese and global technology, media and telecommunications companies.

She also was invited to present to a group of legal counsel and cybersecurity scholars and researchers at the Law School of Beihang University. Sotto separately addressed a group of 100 employees (including legal counsel, engineers and business personnel) of 360 Corporation, China’s top provider of internet and mobile security products and services.

“Given the ubiquity of data, there is an urgent need for international alignment on guiding principles related to data privacy and cybersecurity standards,” Sotto said. “I am pleased to have had the opportunity to promote this awareness and to provide guidance and assistance toward that end.”

Earlier this year, Sotto was invited by U.S. government officials and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to travel to Brazil as a member of a delegation that met with Brazilian government agencies and industry representatives in the process of developing the country’s cybersecurity strategy. Her visit followed the release of a report proposing a framework for effective data breach notification legislation across the globe.

Jessica N. Adkins and Ron I. Erlichman have joined Sidley Austin LLP as partners to its global Energy and Infrastructure practice.

Adkins will be based in Sidley’s Houston office and Erlichman will be based in the New York office. They join from Bracewell LLP, where Adkins was chair of the Power Projects practice and Erlichman served as co-chair of the Project Finance practice.

In a release, the firm said Adkins represents power, renewable and other energy industry stakeholders to develop, finance and invest in energy projects and businesses. In addition to her project finance and M&A practice, she advises financial institutions, private equity funds, sponsors, and trading and marketing companies on hedges and other complex commodity transactions.

The firm said Erlichman advises and represents clients in developing and financing energy and infrastructure projects, including renewable energy, thermal power generation facilities, chemical and petrochemical facilities, midstream assets, transmission facilities and terminals. He devotes a portion of his practice to non-energy infrastructure projects, such as hospitality, transportation, and sports and entertainment venues. Erlichman also provides counsel on tax equity investment matters in renewable energy projects. His clients include lenders, sponsors, developers, private investment funds, utilities, contractors and governmental authorities.

Adkins’ and Erlichman’s arrival follows that of partners Tara Higgins and Noreen Phelan, who joined the renewable energy practice in New York and Washington, D.C. in March.

Jeffrey N. Ostrager has joined Venable LLP as a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in New York.

In a release, the firm said Ostrager focuses on corporate, securities, and transactional matters.

Ostrager represents public and private companies in a range of transactions, including equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, and debt restructurings. He has experience providing counsel to public companies on corporate governance, securities law disclosure and compliance, and executive compensation matters. In addition, he represents private equity and investment funds in growth equity and venture capital investments.

Ostrager received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his B.A. in History from Stony Brook University.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that Judea S. Davis and Kya M. Henley have joined the firm as associates.

Davis is a member of the Litigation Practice Group in the firm’s Nashville, Tenn., office. Based in Bradley’s Washington, D.C., office, Henley is a member of the Government Enforcement and Investigations Practice Group.

Prior to joining Bradley, Davis clerked for Judge Michelle Childs of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina and Judge Garrison Hill of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. In addition, she served as a law fellow and law clerk for the Equal Justice Initiative, researching constitutional and criminal law issues and representing clients before the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Davis received her J.D. from Duke University School of Law. She also holds a Master of Arts from Duke University Graduate School and a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from Clemson University.

Henley represents companies and individuals in a range of government and internal investigations, regulatory inquiries, white collar criminal defense matters, compliance issues, civil litigation, and enforcement actions.

Prior to joining Bradley, Henley was an associate at McGuireWoods in Baltimore. Previously, she also served as a public defender representing indigent clients in Maryland state courts.

Henley received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland. During law school, she served as vice chair of the Black Law Students Association, as a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice and Human Trafficking Clinics, and as a graduate student instructor in the College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts. She also was a summer law clerk in the trial division at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.

Otavio Carneiro has joined Akerman LLP’s Corporate Practice Group as a partner in the Miami office.

Dual-licensed in Brazil and the United States, he joins Akerman from Veirano Advogados in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In a release, the firm said he has experience in the areas of cross-border and domestic transactions, particularly mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and banking and finance in a diverse set of sectors, including oil and gas, infrastructure, insurance, payment processing services, shipping, IT, etc.

The firm said Carneiro has spearheaded a number of significant, high-profile transactions. He played an integral role in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, having represented the United States Olympic Committee in a five-year project leading up to the event. Carneiro served as counsel for many companies that wanted to start operations or acquire businesses in Brazil. He represented a major European airport operator in the privatization process in Brazil. On the transactional front, he served as counsel to many companies that provide services and large equipment to the oil and gas industry in Brazil, having also assisted companies in the acquisition of Oil blocks in the country. On another front, he advised on the financing for the construction of the biggest shipyard in the Southern Hemisphere worth over $1 billion. His work stretches Latin America, having represented U.S. and European companies, as well Asian groups in transactions in Brazil. Carneiro advised a major Japanese corporation in the structuring of a joint venture with a Chinese company for the manufacturing and sale in Brazil of electronic equipment and another major Japanese group in a joint venture with a US conglomerate to build a factory of excavator machines in Sao Paulo.

Carneiro will focus his work on outbound investment in Brazil and Latin America and inbound investment from Brazil into the United States. Carneiro has assisted a number of clients in transactional and regulatory work in a variety of sectors, such as oil and gas, infrastructure, IT, banking, mining, construction, shipping, real estate, and agriculture, among others. He concentrates his practice on cross border and domestic mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions, including joint ventures, divestitures, corporate reorganizations, and loan transactions involving foreign banks and multilateral agencies and Brazilian banks.

Prior to joining Akerman, Carneiro was a partner at Veirano Advogados in Brazil. He is a former member of Veirano’s Management Committee and Board of Directors and he played a pivotal role in the success and expansion of the firm’s Corporate M&A and Infrastructure Practices.

Neeraj Rajpal has joined Stroock as chief information officer, overseeing a national team of more than 25 across the firm’s offices.

Neeraj has served as CIO at three Am Law 100 firms, including Morrison & Foerster and K&L Gates, and has over 25 years of strategic IT experience.

In a release, the firm said Neeraj has overseen IT strategic road maps, security and information management, cybersecurity and privacy programs, disaster recovery and infrastructure management, among other areas. He is also fluent in cutting-edge aspects of legal tech trends such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.

The firm recently realigned its talent management and professional development functions, including the creation of new assistant director of talent acquisition and director of talent and inclusion positions.

Steptoe & Johnson LLP announced that Eric Solomon, who has more than 40 years of tax experience in private practice and government service, has joined the firm’s Tax Group as a partner in the Washington office. He joins the firm from Ernst & Young LLP, where he was co-director of the national tax department.

Solomon served as assistant secretary for tax policy at the US Treasury Department from 2006–2009. In this role, he headed the Office of Tax Policy, which serves as the primary advisor to the Treasury secretary on legal and economic matters relating to domestic and international taxation.

Solomon joined the Treasury Department in 1999 and served in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. He was senior advisor for policy, deputy assistant secretary (tax policy) and deputy assistant secretary (regulatory affairs) before his 2006 confirmation as assistant secretary.

Prior to his service with the Treasury Department, Solomon was a principal in Ernst & Young’s national tax mergers and acquisitions group. Previously, he was assistant chief counsel (corporate) at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), heading the IRS legal division responsible for all corporate tax issues. He began his career in private practice with law firms in New York and Philadelphia.

At Steptoe, Solomon will focus his practice on transactional work, including structuring, opinions, and ruling requests. He will also advise clients on tax policy issues, including regulatory issues arising from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as well as on IRS controversy matters.

In a release, the firm said Solomon has garnered numerous awards for his legal achievements and government service. In recognition of his contributions at the Treasury Department, Solomon was presented with the Alexander Hamilton Award, which is the highest award for Treasury service, and the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award. Solomon also received distinguished service awards from the Tax Foundation, Tax Council Policy Institute, Tax Executives Institute, and the taxation sections of the State Bar of California, the State Bar of Texas, and the Federal Bar Association.

This past year Solomon served as chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. He is also a member of the executive committee of the tax section of the New York State Bar Association. In addition, Solomon is co-chair of the Practising Law Institute conference on tax strategies for corporate acquisitions and dispositions.

Solomon is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches a course in corporate taxation. He received the Charles Fahy Distinguished Adjunct Professor Award for Georgetown University’s graduate law programs.

Solomon received his A.B. from Princeton University, Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia. He earned his LL.M. in taxation from New York University.

Over the past few decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have increasingly leaned on deferred prosecution agreements in corporate criminal cases and non-prosecution agreements to settle allegations against corporations, according to a Washington Post report.

For example, JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, has repeatedly resolved federal investigations over the last eight years by striking a deal: It wouldn’t be prosecuted as long as it stayed out of trouble, writes the Post‘s Renae Merle.

“This comes at a time when the Trump administration is prosecuting fewer white-collar crimes,” she explains. “The number of cases brought against corporations fell to 99 last year, compared with 181 in 2015, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Most were against small companies, 62.9 percent employed fewer than 50 workers, the commission reported.”

Read the Post article.

The  Chicago Tribune reports that a Chicago law firm says it has settled lawsuits against Boeing on behalf of the families of 11 passengers killed in the crash of a Lion Air jet off the coast of Indonesia.

Boeing is facing dozens of lawsuits after the October 2018 accident and another crash, also involving a Boeing 737 Max jet, in March in Ethiopia.

Attorney Alexandra Wisner declined to discuss financial terms. She said her firm has six other lawsuits still pending.

Read the Tribune article.