Gordon M. Berger has joined FisherBroyles, LLP as a partner in the firm’s Atlanta office and Labor & Employment and Litigation practice groups.

In a release, the firm said Berger has more than 25 years of experience representing corporations in litigation and preventive measures involving employment matters, contracts and commercial disputes. He has experience in HR outsourcing, as well as professional employer organizations (PEOs) and alternative staffing organizations or administrative services organizations (ASOs).

Prior to joining FisherBroyles, Berger was a partner at Ford & Harrison LLP. He also previously practiced at Wagner, Johnston & Rosenthal, P.C.

Berger received his J.D. from Emory School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Rochester.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., announced that Beata Krakus and Leonard D. Vines, officers in the firm’s Chicago and St. Louis offices, respectively, have been named to Franchise Times magazine’s 2019 Legal Eagles list of the “best and brightest attorneys in franchising.”

According to Franchise Times, “These attorneys live and breathe franchising and truly understand the nuances of this unique business model.”

Franchise Times determines its Legal Eagles honorees through nominations and recommendations from clients, peers and other legal professionals.

In a release, the firm said Krakus 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. Chambers & Partners has repeatedly recognized Krakus as among the top franchise lawyers globally and in the United States.

Vines has experience representing national, regional and local franchisors and distributors. He has assisted start-up and established franchisors, as well as franchisees and franchisee associations. Also a frequent lecturer and writer on franchise topics, Vines has been ranked nationally in franchise law by Chambers USA for eight consecutive years.

Larry Waks has joined Foley Gardere as a partner in its Business Law Department and Transactions Practice Group. Waks will split his time between the firm’s Dallas, Austin and New York City offices.

The firm said Waks is a corporate transactional and intellectual property lawyer and advisor to domestic and international clients, including many in the food and beverage, energy, manufacturing, private equity, technology, and media and entertainment industries. He also represents publishing and distribution entities, computer game, software and hardware companies, and oil and gas interests. His practice experience has an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, consumer products, fashion, entertainment and intellectual property, the firm said in a release.

Waks’ transactional experience includes leading a six-attorney team that represented actor George Clooney, along with Clooney’s business partners Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman, in the $1 billion sale of the premium Casamigos tequila brand to global spirits giant Diageo Plc. He also handled the $1.7 billion sale of an international chemical company, the $1 billion going-private sale of a medical products company to Blackstone, and the $400 million sale of a high-tech defense company to Carlyle Group. In addition, Waks has led the acquisition and sale of more than $2 billion in businesses in the energy industry and has represented clients in a variety of lawsuits involving intellectual property issues, as well as libel and privacy matters.

Waks joins Foley from Wilson Elser, where he was head of the M&A practice. Before that, he was a partner at Jackson Walker, and previously, at Milgrim, Thomajan & Lee. He also once served as assistant general counsel of Tesoro Petroleum Corp.

Waks is a fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation, the Austin Bar Foundation, and the Texas Bar Foundation. He is also a member of the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Section’s Governing Committee and past chairman chair of its Copyright and Texas Entertainment & Sports Sections, and he is a former chair of the American Bar Association’s Entertainment & Sports Practice Forum’s Litigation Division. In addition, Waks is a voting member of the Grammy’s and Latin Grammy’s.

Anthony D. Kuchulis has joined Littler in its Portland, Ore., office. Kuchulis joins the firm from Barran Liebman LLP.

The firm said Kuchulis has experience defending employers in jury trials, class actions, mediations and arbitrations. He has achieved favorable outcomes in matters involving discriminations claims, leaves of absences, retaliation and other employment issues for clients in a range of industries, including higher education, transportation and logistics. Kuchulis also counsels clients on compliance with federal, state and local employment laws and with issues related to pay equity, termination of employees, and unfair competition and trade secrets.

Kuchulis received his J.D., with honors, from Lewis & Clark Law School and his B.A. from the University of Oregon. Earlier in his career, Kuchulis served as law clerk for the Oregon Department of Justice and tried cases with the Clackamas County and Deschutes County District Attorneys’ offices.

The bar pass rate for 2016 law grads who sat for the exam within two years of graduating is 88.57%, according to ABA data released Friday.

The ABA Journal reports that the data is for graduates of ABA-accredited law schools, according to a press release. The percentage is substantially the same as for 2015 law grads, who had an 88.49% bar pass rate within two years.

Debra Cassens Weiss writes:

Four law schools had a 100% bar pass rate. They are the University of Chicago Law School, Yale Law School, the Concordia University School of Law and the University of Wisconsin Law School.

In Wisconsin, graduates of ABA-accredited law schools in the state are allowed to skip the bar exam. Concordia had only 25 graduates, and all 24 grads who took the exam passed.

The Journal article includes links to spreadsheets showing how students from law schools fared on the exams.

Read the ABA Journal article.

A prosecutor in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, finds himself embroiled in a legal scorched earth conflict against his county commissioners — a fight that started when he used $21,000 in asset forfeiture funds to lease a car.

Above the Law traces the conflict between the commissioners and Lancaster District Attorney Craig Stedman.

Along the way, Stedman doubled down after commissioners said they would have leased him a vehicle through proper channels if he’d asked for one, but that using the forfeited funds to get a car on his own violated protocol, writes Above the Law senior editor Joe Patrice.

Stedman sued the commissioners, and they responded by blocking the use of county funds for the lawsuit. Stedman turned over documents, but the records didn’t include receipts documenting what specific seized items were sold and what items were bought with the proceeds.

Read the Above the Law article.

A Texas Supreme Court ruling in Texas Outfitters Limited v. Nicholson explains why there is no bright-line rule delineating the duty of the executive right holder in resolving disputes among the mineral interest family, according to Gray Reed & McGraw.

The article in the firm’s Energy & the Law blog explains that the case presented an opportunity for the court to apply the guidelines outlined in an earlier ruling to a different scenario: whether the executive breached the duty by refusing to lease.

The ruling in “Outfitters reinforces the message that surface protection is not the only goal an executive is allowed to pursue – especially if a co-owner has leased.”

Read the article.

The Supreme Court of Texas in its recent IBM v. Lufkin Indus. decision provided further clarity to what contracting parties must say in their contracts to disclaim fraudulent inducement claims, according to a post on the website of King & Spalding.

Craig Stanfield and Chad Stewart write that the court endorsed provisions that disclaim reliance on any representations other than those explicitly made in the agreement, further clarifying its previous holdings on this issue.

They explain that the court “held that the contractual language at issue must ‘clearly and unequivocally express[] the party’s intent to disclaim reliance on the specific misrepresentations at issue.’ The Court further noted that it must look to the contract language and the totality of circumstances surrounding the contract.”

Read the article.

The importance of the terms in a state of work is sometimes overlooked by both business and legal teams because an SOW is commonly considered a business document rather than a legal document, writes Stephen F. Pinson in a Scott & Scott blog post.

He writes that it’s important for an SOW to address who will be providing the services, the scope of work being provided, the start date and timeline for the work, where the services will take place, the scope of work and the exact deliverables, and how the service ultimately be performed/delivered and paid.

Read the article.

Bloomberg Law reports that an importer-exporter who says two former partners and their attorneys at McGuireWoods LLP used dirty tricks to strip their joint venture of its assets has accused the law firm of sitting on the records he needs to prove it.

The complaint claims McGuireWoods won’t give Andrew J.C. Kunian any of the legal work it did setting up a deal to export natural gas from Texas to Chile on behalf of two companies he co-owned with Francis Smollon and Colin Williams.

Bloomberg’s Mike Leonard writes: “According to the Delaware complaint, Smollon and Williams ‘orchestrated Kunian’s freeze-out with the full knowledge, cooperation, substantial aid, and assistance of’ McGuireWoods.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that a Tennessee man was charged for allegedly creating a fake website for a six-lawyer New York City law firm, so he could dupe people into paying him for legal services.

John Lambert, 23, was charged with wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy. Lambert allegedly held himself out as a lawyer using a website that cut and pasted lawyer biographies from Cravath, Swaine & Moore, according to a report by the ABA Journal.

The criminal complaint says that Lambert and a co-conspirator, non-lawyers who allegedly created a fake law firm, collected more than $50,000 in payments through a PayPal account.

Read the ABA Journal article.

Attorney Joel Brodsky, best known for representing convicted wife killer Drew Peterson, has been suspended from practicing in federal court in Chicago for one year stemming from his scorched-earth tactics in a mundane lawsuit, reports the Chicago Tribune.

A panel of federal judges found that Brodsky violated the rules of professional conduct in the civil case involving a used vehicle.

“Brodsky’s bizarre antics in the case — all but accusing a witness of inventing a son and saying his rival attorney was running a ‘criminal enterprise’ — had already garnered him a stiff $50,000 fine and an order to undergo anger management training,” writes Jason Meisner.

Read the article.

The 5th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a 2016 jury verdict and 2017 trial court judgment that ultimately awarded $9.5 million to a Dallas-based health care company, according to a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

In a majority opinion, the appellate court found that BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana failed to properly reimburse Encompass Office Solutions for in-office medical procedures, and distributed a defamatory letter to physicians with false information regarding the company and its services. That letter threatened to terminate the network contracts of doctors who continued to work with Encompass.

Subsequent to the opinion in the case, the court has denied a motion for rehearing.

A trial team from Thompson & Knight LLP represented Encompass throughout the district court hearings and before the 5th Circuit.

“This case has a lengthy history spanning several years, and we’re pleased that finally Encompass will be properly compensated for the services it provided and the damages the company has incurred,” said Jennifer Rudenick Ecklund, a trial partner at Thompson & Knight who argued the case before the trial court and 5th Circuit. The judgment remains subject to the awarding of interest and legal fees to Encompass.

Other members of the Thompson & Knight trial team included William L. Banowsky, Andrew C. Cookingham, Greg W. Curry, Richard B. Phillips, Jr. and Reed Randel.

Encompass provides mobile ambulatory surgery services that allow doctors to safely perform surgeries in their offices. Encompass’s business is primarily focused on women’s health, allowing patients to have sensitive gynecological procedures done in the comfort and safety of the doctor’s offices while providing the necessary anesthesia care. This method reduces the infection risks associated with hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers, and provides both doctors and patients with a more efficient and cost-effective means of delivering medically necessary surgical care.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Ensuring Copyright Protection in a Changing Legal Landscape,” featuring Fitch Even attorneys Alisa C. Simmons and Kerianne A. Strachan.

The event will be on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / 11 am CDT / 12 noon EDT. It also will be available as an on-demand webinar after presentation.

The recent Supreme Court decision in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, established that a copyright owner may not file an infringement suit until the U.S. Copyright Office has acted on the copyright owner’s application to register its copyright in the work. Moving quickly to register copyrights is now an important step in safeguarding your rights.

During this webinar, presenters will share insights on the following:
• The practical effects of the Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com decision and other benefits of early registration
• Strategies for protecting copyright rights in work product produced by employees
• Strategies for obtaining and maintaining necessary permissions to use third-party materials in advertisements and promotions
• Recent updates enacted by Congress to benefit music publishers through the Music Modernization Act

Register for the webinar.

A “severability” or a “partial invalidity” clause can prevent a court from declaring an entire contract invalid or unenforceable just because a single provision in the contract is declared invalid or unenforceable, advises Julie Brook in a post for California’s Continuing Education of the Bar.

“Whether a contract is severable or entire depends on the parties’ intention, as revealed in the language of the contract itself and the surrounding circumstances,” she explains.

Read the article.

Trial attorney Majed Nachawati has been selected to the 2019 list of the Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine based on his work in mass tort litigation. This is the fourth year the co-founding partner of Fears Nachawati Law Firm has made the list.

In a release, the firm said Nachawati has represented individuals, businesses and public entities in high-stakes litigation that includes defective drugs and medical devices. Most recently, he won a $3 million verdict for a woman who suffered complications from an intravenous blood filter in a case that marked the first time a jury reached a finding that the filters were defective. He also handles matters involving environmental and antitrust matters, as well as serious personal injury and wrongful death cases.

“Recognition on a list of the best lawyers in Dallas is a tremendous honor given the deep talent pool here,” said Mr. Nachawati. “Having a nationally focused practice, I have worked with and against the best and am fully aware that North Texas has some of the top lawyers in the country.”

Nachawati also has been recognized regularly by Super Lawyers magazine, first as a young lawyer on the Texas Rising Stars list and later among the Texas Super Lawyers ranks.

Nachawati  serves on the Dallas Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service Committee. He also is a member of the DBA’s Legal Ethics Committee and serves as District Chairman for District 6 of the State Bar of Texas Grievance Committee.

In addition, he serves on the Public Justice Board of Directors and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association Board of Directors. He is a member of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice’s Leaders Forum. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

Trial attorney Alex Brauer, co-founder of the litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC, has been named for a fourth time among the top lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine.

“Alex continues to provide aggressive, creative legal solutions to clients who expect sophisticated representation,” said firm co-founder Clayton Bailey.

“As a boutique law firm, Bailey Brauer provides the flexibility to build relationships that allow you to understand what will best help a business achieve success,” adds Mr. Brauer.

Selected to the 2019 Best Lawyers in Dallas list for his work in commercial litigation, Bauer’s practice spans a wide range of industries, the firm said in a release. He works on disputes involving claims of fraud, tortious interference, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy, deceptive trade practices, trade secret theft, RICO, and antitrust violations. He has successfully defended clients facing class and collective actions and represented plaintiffs and defendants in complex tort and negligence cases, the firm said.

He also has been recognized in the Texas edition of Super Lawyers magazine by Thomson Reuters and in The Best Lawyers in America guide.

A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Brauer has served on several Dallas Bar Association committees and is a community advocate. He is a board member for literacy program Readers 2 Leaders and is on the Host Committee for the Great Investors’ Best Ideas Foundation, benefiting The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation.

The Best Lawyers in Dallas list is determined through peer voting and extensive review by an independent panel of distinguished attorneys along with the magazine’s editors. The complete Best Lawyers in Dallas list is featured in the May 2019 edition of D Magazine.

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has launched an online resource center dedicated to helping businesses navigate their new data privacy responsibilities in accordance with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA).

The CCPA, with a compliance deadline in 2020, will affect most businesses that handle the personal data of California residents. The resource center aims to assist businesses by providing a general understanding and information about how the CCPA will impact their information practices. It features a compliance checklist, insights and analysis on the law’s requirements, and other helpful CCPA resources.

“Due to the CCPA’s likely effect on the privacy programs of businesses that manage personal data about California residents, it is imperative that companies develop a CCPA compliance strategy to determine the extent to which the law applies to them, assess their current CCPA compliance posture, and conduct necessary remediation activities,” said Lisa Sotto, head of the firm’s global privacy and cybersecurity practice.

The CCPA already has triggered the introduction of a flurry of additional state bills with similar requirements, and federal privacy legislation is likely as well. For state and federal legislative updates, visit the Privacy & Information Security Law Blog.

Barnes & Thornburg has added Pat Cornelius as a partner in the firm’s Corporate and Healthcare Departments in Columbus.

Cornelius focuses his practice on advising clients, who span the healthcare, financial services, life sciences and biotechnology, insurance, energy, and aviation industries, on mergers and acquisitions, as well as matters concerning joint venture and affiliation, capital raising and investments, contracting and licensing, technology development and commercialization, compliance and corporate governance.

In a release, the firm said Cornelius provides counsel on health system mergers and acquisitions, health system-insurer joint ventures, shared savings agreements and payor-provider contracting, hospital-physician alignment strategies, and capital raising and investment transactions. He also advises on in-bound and out-bound licensing software and intellectual property for research, development and commercialization.

Cornelius joins from Squire Patton Boggs, where he was a member of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. He also previously served as assistant general counsel for America Online, Inc. and as primary counsel for CompuServe and MapQuest.

Cornelius earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was a member of the Virginia Tax Review, and his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Robert C. Juelke has joined Hogan Lovells’ Philadelphia office as a partner in the firm’s corporate practice.

In a release, the firm said Juelke has experience advising on transactional matters for clients in the financial services industry, including insurers, investment advisers and real estate investment trusts. He represents both buyers and sellers in a broad range of M&A transactions and has handled numerous insurance portfolio transfers through complex reinsurance transactions. Juelke also regularly advises clients on capital markets transactions, SEC reporting requirements and corporate governance matters.

Juelke joins the firm from Drinker Biddle, where he served in several senior leadership positions over the past ten years, including chair of the Corporate & Securities Practice Group, chair of the Partner Compensation Committee and executive partner for the firm, where he managed more than 300 lawyers in the firm’s business and transactional practices. Juelke had been at the firm since starting practice in 1993.

Juelke graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia in 1990 and earned his J.D. in 1993 from the William and Mary Law School.