Jessica M. Mendez has joined Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C.’s St. Louis office as of counsel in the Intellectual Property (IP) practice group.

“We are excited to welcome Jessica to Greensfelder and to our growing team of intellectual property attorneys,” said Greensfelder Intellectual Property practice group leader and Officer Mark E. Stallion. “Jessica’s particular focus on trademark issues will greatly benefit our clients in helping them to protect their brands.”

In a release, the firm said Mendez helps businesses maintain, enforce and defend their trademarks and other intellectual property including copyrights, domain names, and other associated rights. She assists clients in numerous industries including manufacturing, health care, technology, and food and beverage. In addition, she has litigation experience handling intellectual property disputes in courts across the country, as well as in proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Part of Mendez’ practice involves helping start-up and small businesses protect their intellectual property through agreements, appropriate registrations, and practical policies and procedures. She is a member of Greensfelder’s team that operates an office in the Cortex Innovation Community, a thriving innovation hub and technology district in St. Louis.

Mendez is the current deputy vice president of programs for the Hispanic National Bar Association and formerly served as president of the Hispanic Bar Association of St. Louis. She also serves as general counsel for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Prior to joining the firm, Mendez most recently practiced intellectual property law at Tucker Ellis LLP. Previously, she also practiced at Armstrong Teasdale LLP.

Mendez received her J.D. and her Master of Laws both from Washington University School of Law. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Boston University.

Zapproved’s latest ediscovery case law summary volume shows how courts are interpreting the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as they relate to the scope of discovery and the limits of proportionality. The new volume can be downloaded from Zapproved’s website.

The publication covers a range of cases from the last year, encompassing plaintiffs who might regret putting their lives under the microscope as well as a few overreaching litigants who seem to want to continue endless discovery rather than ever getting to trial. As usual, there are a few cases involving woefully unsupported arguments, illustrating what the courts wish they’d heard about. And forensic examinations came up several times, with courts ruling both for and against them.

This volume includes 17 cases analyzing the boundaries of the scope of discovery and proportionality under the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Download the new volume.

Update: Pavone & Fonner have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to invalidate B&P 6068(b) as in violation of fundamental First Amendment principles.

A California attorney is in professional trouble for calling the ruling of the female judge in his case “succubustic,” among a host of other insults, according to Bloomberg Law.

A state appellate court announced it would report Benjamin Pavone of Pavone & Fonner LLP to the state bar, writes Bloomberg’s Brian Flood.

The trial court had denied Pavone’s request for an award of $146,634 in attorneys’ fees in an employment law suit. In his notice of appeal, he said the  ruling was “disgraceful,” “succubustic,” validated the defense’s “pseudohermaphroditic misconduct,” and “prompt[s] one to entertain reverse peristalsis unto its four corners.”

The use of a form of the word “succubus” drew a rebuke from the appellate court: “We publish this portion of the opinion to make the point that gender bias by an attorney appearing before us will not be tolerated, period.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that Comcast has hired Thomas J. Reid, chair and managing partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell, as its newest general counsel.

Reid will succeed Arthur Block, who is retiring after 30 years at Comcast and two decades as its general counsel.

Reid began his career at Davis Polk in 1987 and has served as the law firm’s lead partner with Comcast for nearly four years, representing the company through numerous high profile transactions including its acquisition of the British satellite company Sky last year, according to Bloomberg’s Stephanie Russell-Kraft.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The Energy & the Law blog of Gray Reed & McGraw discusses a case that sums up what is required for an instrument to be a conveyance and what is required for a stipulation to be effective.

Ellison v. Three Rivers Acquisition involves land title issues that arose when a mineral development company discovered an apparent discrepancy in a land swap from almost 100 years ago. The developer asked the owner of a mineral lease on the land in question to sign a letter confirming acceptance of a boundary stipulation designed to resolve the discrepancy.

The article discusses the question of whether the boundary stipulation was a legal conveyance.

Read the article.

A website post by Jesse P. Elison of Fox Rothschild attempts to place in context negotiation processes by highlighting the significance of parties’ intentions to contracts.

“[H]ow often do parties, even sophisticated parties represented by counsel, intend all the terms of a contract? The answer partially depends upon whether intention and agreement are equivalents. If they are, the answer is most of the time, but if they are not, the task becomes one chiefly of interpretation—a topic for another day.”

His article explains that developing skills that get the best representation of your intentions into an agreement can yield long-term benefits.

Read the article.

In a post on the Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo website, Gilbert A. Samberg discusses the question: What if a contracting party fails to appear to seek enforcement of an enforcement clause?

“At least two New York State trial courts tell us that your unexcused default in responding to a summons and complaint can be deemed a waiver of a contractual right to arbitrate,” he writes.

Courts in those cases granted default judgments on contract claims in such circumstances notwithstanding that the contracts in question contained arbitration clauses.

Read the article.

Image by Mike Mozart

The San Francisco judge overseeing a string of federal jury trials over whether Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer causes cancer on Tuesday sanctioned a lead trial attorney for discussing prohibited evidence in opening statements to the jury, reports Courthouse News Service.

CNS reporter Helen Christophi explains:

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria imposed $500 in sanctions on plaintiff attorney Aimee Wagstaff, of Colorado-based Andrus Wagstaff, ruling she intentionally violated court orders not to reference evidence blocked from the first part of the trial while delivering her opening statement Monday. He said he might also sanction the rest of the lawyers representing California man Edward Hardeman, but will defer ruling until after the four-week trial has wrapped.

Read the Courthouse News Service article.

Special counsel Robert Mueller could have an enormous payday waiting for him at his pick of prestigious law firms whenever he finishes the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according the Washingtonian.

Reporter Marisa M. Kashino quotes Jeffrey Lowe, the Washington managing partner of legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa: “Firms that can pay $5 million will offer $5 million [annually]. If they can pay between $5 million and $10 million, that can be the number, too.”

Before becoming special counsel, Mueller was a partner in the DC office of WilmerHale, where he earned nearly $3.5 million, well above the firm’s average partner compensation.

Read the Washingtonian article.

The ABA Journal reports that the Florida Bar has obtained the emergency suspension of a lawyer who attacked opposing counsel on social media, leading one of the targeted lawyers to obtain an injunction against stalking and the other to file a libel suit.

In its petition to the Florida Supreme Court, the Bar claimed Ashley Ann Krapacs “has launched an attack of massive and continuous proportions” on social media, the Florida Bar said in its emergency petition.

The petition alleges that Krapacs “began a social media blitz” on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube after she moved to Florida from Texas and filed a petition for a domestic violence injunction against a former boyfriend.

She called an opposing lawyer  “a moron and a sexist and a bully” and said another lawyer was “a backstabbing traitor” for representing “misogynist pigs, misogynist bullies.”

Read the ABA Journal article.

A client alert from Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg offers some advice on negotiating a demolition contract. Such contracts can arise when a big box retailer or a shopping center needs to be demolished to make room for a building more suited to a new use.

The article’s advice covers 12 topics, including the selection of the demolition contractor, dates of commencement and completion of the work, contract documents, the contract sum, payments, dispute resolution, insurance and bonds, indemnification, termination rights, the contractor’s warranty, safety compliance, and disposal of debris.

Read the article.

When drafting executive agreements, it is easy to focus almost exclusively on benefits and wages, the popular areas, without properly addressing some of the legal concerns that have grown over the last several years, warns Jo Ellen Whitney in a post on the Davis Brown Employment and Labor Blog.

In the article, she cautions against using outdated templates for contracts. She points out that “a template for C Suite positions is not the same as the template or agreements that you might use for front line employees.”

She also discusses determining benefits, termination, disability, bonuses, renewal, and restrictive covenants.

Read the article.

A jury in Denton, Texas, has found two former high school football players liable in the aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, a ninth-grader at the time of the 2012 attack, and awarded a total of $32 million.

The jury’s Feb. 28 verdict, in District Judge Lee Ann Breading’s 462nd Judicial District Court, was unanimous.

Testimony indicated the attack took place at a student’s home, where the girl reported that she was drugged and then raped by two athletes from Hebron High School in nearby Carrollton.

Jurors heard testimony in the case that the two boys had sex with the girl at the same time. One of the defendants testified that were he to encounter a girl as intoxicated as the victim again, he would behave the same way, according to plaintiff’s lawyers.

The victim, who is not identified because she was a minor at the time of the sexual assault, was awarded $7 million in actual damages and another $25 million in punitive damages.

“I cannot begin to tell you what this verdict means to my client,” said attorney Charla Aldous of Aldous\Walker in Dallas, who represents the victim. “She is a brave young woman who stood for what was right against all odds. My hope is that she will be a voice for sexual assault victims who are afraid to come forward and hold rapists responsible for their actions.”

Also on the legal team for the young woman are Aldous\Walker trial lawyers Brent Walker and Caleb Miller.

At trial, one of the two defendants in the case testified that what happened between him and the victim was not a sexual assault, but consensual. His only regret, he told the jury, was that he “lost his virginity in that way.” The other defendant testified by video deposition and asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Neither defendant has ever been arrested or charged with a crime in the case.

This was the second civil trial resulting from the attack. In 2014, the young woman and her family sued the Lewisville Independent School District over the harassment and bullying she experienced at school following the attack. But the jury in that case, in federal court in Sherman, declined to find the school district liable. Even so, that judge subsequently declared that the victim had been sexually assaulted.

The Denton case is Paul Fletcher et al. v. A.V. and I.G., No. 14-10284-16, in the 462nd Judicial District Court in Denton County, Texas.

Dallas attorney Talmage Boston has received the 2019 Terry Lee Grantham Memorial Award from the Texas Bar Foundation. The Terry Lee Grantham Memorial Award was endowed through the Texas Bar Foundation in 2014 in honor and memory of Terry Lee Grantham by his family and friends.

The award is made annually to an outstanding Texas lawyer. The recipient of this award exemplifies the qualities of an accomplished, talented and dedicated practitioner, a servant of the profession and an advocate for those we serve, demonstrating dedication and service with the same passion that defined Grantham’s life and work.

Talmage Boston is a partner with Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP in Dallas. He’s board certified in Civil Trial Law (since 1988) and Civil Appellate Law (since 1990) by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has 27 published opinions. He’s been selected to the Texas Super Lawyers listing since 2003, and the Best Lawyers in America list since 2013.

For the State Bar, he’s past Chair of the Litigation Section, Council of Chairs, and Annual Meeting Committee; served on the Board of Directors and Texas Bar Journal’s Board of Editors; and received eight Presidential Citations for outstanding service.

For the Dallas Bar, he’s past Chair of the Business Litigation Section. He now serves as a Dallas Bar Foundation officer, for which he’s orchestrated the “Evening With …” dinners since 2011, generating $533,000 for Sarah T. Hughes Scholarships benefitting minority law students.

His books: 1939: Baseball’s Tipping Point (2004, foreword by John Grisham); Baseball and the Baby Boomer (2009, foreword by Frank Deford); Raising the Bar (2012, foreword by former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh); and Cross-Examining History (2016, foreword by Ken Burns).

He’s a graduate of the University of Texas (B.A. 1975, Phi Beta Kappa) and the University of Texas School of Law (J.D. 1978).

Boston will be publicly recognized and be presented the Terry Lee Grantham Memorial Award at the Texas Bar Foundation Annual Dinner held on June 14, 2019, at the JW Marriott in Austin. Texas Tech University School of Law will receive $5,000 in honor of Boston’s receipt of the Terry Lee Grantham Memorial Award.

Founded in 1965 by attorneys determined to assist the public and improve the profession, the Texas Bar Foundation has become the largest charitably-funded bar foundation in the country. The Texas Bar Foundation relies on the contributions of its Fellows to improve the lives of Texans. To date, through the generosity of the Fellows, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $19 million in grants to numerous organizations across the state.

Election to the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation is one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a member of the State Bar of Texas, representing the top one-third of one percent of Texas attorneys. Selection is based on an outstanding record in the legal profession as well as proven commitment to support the community at large.

Foley & Lardner LLP announced former U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano has joined the firm’s Government Solutions Practice as a public affairs director, splitting his time between the firm’s Boston and Washington D.C. offices.

He joins Foley’s team of former congressmen, which includes public affairs directors Dennis Cardoza and Scott Klug, both previously members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Capuano served as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District from 1999 to 2019. He was a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Financial Services Committee, and chair of the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement.

Prior to his congressional career, Capuano was the mayor of Somerville, MA from 1990 to 1999.

More than 250 active and recently retired federal judges responded to a recent Exterro survey on how they would like legal teams to manage litigation/e-discovery processes in their courtrooms.

Exterro has made the report available from its website.

An example of the type of information revealed is that that 47 percent of the judges have taken an action to remedy e-discovery problems three or more times in the past year.

The report covers such topics as:

• What judges expect of the attorneys appearing before them
• How often and why judges issue discovery warnings and sanctions
• What judges consider the most important e-discovery/litigation practices

Download the report.

The Supreme Court of Texas recently ruled in favor of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) regarding attorney-client privilege in a decision that can benefit insurance companies involved in litigation, reports Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

The justices determined that attorney-client privilege extended to communications between a TWIA employee and counsel when the employee was serving as an expert witness for the company. The case involved a dispute between the city of Dickinson and TWIA.

Dallas insurance litigator Meloney Perry of Perry Law P.C. says the ruling is significant to Texas because it aligns the state with the federal rules on expert disclosure and production. She notes it also may be of particular benefit to insurance companies.

“This ruling means that underwriters, auto damage personnel and claims handlers may serve as experts without exposing attorney-client communications, even though they are employed by an insurance company involved in litigation,” said Perry. “One side benefit is this could cut costs from having to hire an outside expert.”

Perry says an insurance carrier employee designated with expert knowledge or who signs an affidavit attesting to certain expertise will not have to produce communications with counsel when Texas law applies. However, certain work product documents may not be protected.

“Work product is still subject to being produced, so parties will need to make the determination on a document-by-document basis. If the witness is provided an investigative report which is work product that may not be protected, but the email between the witness and counsel will be.”

Perry adds that if a federal question is being litigated in federal court, the attorney-client privilege is a question of federal common law. In state court and diversity cases filed in federal court, the attorney-client privilege is controlled by that forum’s state law.

Brown Rudnick LLP announced that William R. Baldiga will become chief executive officer and chairman of the firm’s Management Committee, effective upon the retirement of current Chief Executive Officer Joseph F. Ryan on March 15, 2019.

In a release, the firm said Baldiga takes the reins during a period of significant growth of such market-leading practices as white-collar defense, international arbitration and intellectual property litigation across its platform both in the United States and in its rapidly expanding offices in London and Paris.

“I am honored to be selected by our partners for this critical role,” said Baldiga. “I am looking forward to building upon the tremendous success that we have achieved under Joe’s leadership with a strong emphasis on delivering the partner-driven service, focused expertise and highly collaborative approach that we are known for – and that our clients expect.”

In addition to his new role, Baldiga will continue to represent public and private companies and committees of creditors and shareholders in major restructuring cases. “I plan to remain very close to our clients, soliciting feedback and identifying how we can refine what we do to provide greater value,” said Baldiga.

Most recently, Baldiga represented The Boston Herald in its chapter 11 case, and is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking interpretation of “cause” in restrictions on credit bidding in the Fisker Automotive case. He began his career at Brown Rudnick as a summer associate in 1982, and has taken on several leadership roles, including: head of the firm’s Litigation and Restructuring Department; and Hiring, Pro Bono and Diversity Committee Member.

Joe Ryan joined the Brown Rudnick in 1978 after a judicial clerkship. During his legal career he has represented debtors, creditors and creditor syndicates in complex public and private company restructurings. As Brown Rudnick’s CEO since 2003 he has led the firm through a period of significant growth, including the opening of offices in Paris, Washington, D.C. and Orange County, significant expansion of the firm’s offices in London and New York, and the development of leading practices in white collar, IP litigation and European finance and special situations. Under Ryan, the firm has prospered through turbulent economic times, including the global financial crisis, and through many changes in the legal industry, the firm said in the release.

“It has been a privilege to lead Brown Rudnick as Chairman and CEO,” said Ryan,” and I am so pleased Bill will succeed me. He is a bright, able, deeply experienced firm leader. He will be nimble and flexible in the face of change, and he understands that to deliver the highest value services to our clients requires that we foster an inclusive and collaborative work environment where every one of our lawyers can realize his or her full potential. I am sure the firm will continue to achieve great things under Bill’s leadership.”

John Olivieri and Patrick Sullivan have joined Barnes & Thornburg as partners in the firm’s Indianapolis office, practicing complex wealth management and corporate finance.

“We are very excited to welcome John and Patrick, two very experienced and successful lawyers, back home to Indiana to practice,” said Brian L. Burdick, managing partner of the firm’s Indianapolis office. “John brings a unique sophistication to wealth management that is unrivaled and Patrick brings a depth and breadth of sophisticated deal experience to this market that traditionally only resides in money center cities. We are proud to have a reputation of excellence that attracts these talented lawyers.”

A Wabash College graduate, Olivieri previously was a partner in the New York office of international law firm White & Case LLP. A Purdue University graduate, Sullivan previously was a partner in the Chicago office of international law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

In a release, the firm said Olivieri advises high net worth individuals and families on complex estate and wealth management planning. Prior to joining the firm, he spent more than 20 years with law firms in New York, helping clients create and manage wealth management vehicles in many other states, such as Delaware and South Dakota.

The firm Olivieri works closely with clients to develop plans for securing and protecting their assets in various jurisdictions throughout the country and around the world. These plans involve the use of appropriate structures, such as limited partnerships, limited liability companies and so-called “asset protection” and “spendthrift” trusts. He regularly counsels foreign individuals making investments in the United States. A frequent commentator on estate and tax planning, Olivieri is active in various professional associations and is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School.

The firm said Sullivan brings nearly a decade of corporate and finance-focused experience advising borrowers, financial sponsors, agents and lenders on crafting financing agreements designed to account for the company- and industry-specific needs of clients over the life of the financing facility. He has experience at two major international law firms headquartered in Chicago.

As part of his national practice, he has negotiated and closed transactions and advised clients from a diverse group of industries, including oil and natural gas, restaurant, energy, industrials, pharmaceutical, retail, technology/software, defense and healthcare, including issues related to the corporate practice of medicine.

The firm Sullivan represents financial institutions, private equity sponsors, debt funds and other non-traditional lenders and public and private companies in connection with leveraged financings, syndicated loans, second lien financings, unitranche financings, mezzanine financings, secured and unsecured credit facilities, asset based financing, working capital facilities, acquisition financing, bridge facilities, debt recapitalizations, workouts, debt restructurings, and other financing related matters. He earned his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law.

Trial law firm Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, announced that firm attorney Andrea L. Fair has been promoted to partner.

Fair, whose promotion became effective Feb. 1, handles intellectual property and business litigation. She serves on the firm’s trial team, participating in several phases, including picking the jury, directing and cross-examining fact and expert witnesses, and closing arguments. Fair routinely appears and argues at pretrial hearings while also helping teams prepare their cases and witnesses for trial, the firm said in a release.

“Andrea is an excellent trial lawyer,” said Johnny Ward, founding partner of Ward, Smith & Hill, a Longview, Texas-based firm. “She is truly an expert at her craft, and that talent is evident in the courtroom. I’m proud of her accomplishments.”

Fair joined the firm in 2016 after five years of handling complex commercial litigation in Houston, where she focused on patent infringement cases, construction disputes, insurance coverage and defense work. She was recognized in 2017 and 2018 on the Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for her work in intellectual property and business litigation.

“I’ve enjoyed working with and learning from the talented team of litigators at Ward, Smith & Hill, and I’m excited about this new position and the responsibility that comes with it,” said Fair. “This is a firm that thrives on teamwork, always for the benefit of our clients.”

Fair is licensed to practice in all state and federal courts in Texas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She is a member of the Gregg County Bar Association.

Fair is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and earned her undergraduate degree from the College of Liberal Arts at the same university.