Akerman LLP announced the addition of partner Barbara Edwards in New York. She joins the Corporate Finance and Lending Practice from Shearman & Sterling.

“Barbara’s practice is a strong addition to our growing corporate group,” said Jonathan Awner, Corporate Practice Group Co-Chair. “Her experience in complex finance transactions advances our capabilities for borrowers, lenders and other corporate clients across the U.S. and internationally.”

In a release, the firm said Edwards works with clients on all aspects of complex finance transactions in the U.S. and international markets, including emerging markets. With more than 20 years of practice, she has represented private and public companies, including Fortune 500 companies, private equity sponsors, hedge funds and other financial institutions in their financing activities. She has represented borrowers and lenders in all aspects of financing transactions and represents clients in a wide array of industries including the automotive, coal, financial services, gaming, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, infrastructure, natural and renewable resources, media, power and energy, retail and telecommunications sectors. Edwards has experience in investment grade financings and maintains a particular focus on public company financings and power projects financings.

The firm’s Corporate Practice Group has expanded the team’s national footprint with 16 lawyers in Austin, Chicago, Miami, New York, Orlando and Washington, D.C. this year to date. In addition to Edwards, lateral partners include Michael O’Brien from Vedder Price, Ted Rosen from Fox Rothschild, Peter Eccles from Foley and Lardner, and Robert Stein from Kirkland & Ellis in New York, Robert Winner from Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago, Todd Reed and Bentley Harris from Reed & Scardino in Austin, and Karyn Koiffman from Baker McKenzie in Washington, D.C.

Six of the seven members of the Arkansas Supreme Court were formally charged Thursday with violating the state’s judicial canons, an unprecedented action that stemmed from a complaint filed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, reports the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission accused the justices of failing to provide sufficient chance for Griffen to defend himself as they weighed whether to remove him from all cases involving the death penalty. Griffen’s subsequent removal stemmed from his participation in a public protest against executions.

“Griffen attracted a whirlwind of attention in April 2017, when he issued an order that temporarily halted the state’s plans to carry out executions, and that same day he participated in a public protest against the death penalty,” writes reporter John Moritz. “The protest was held in front of the Governor’s Mansion.”

Read the Democrat-Gazette article.

In a case stemming from a fatal car accident a dozen years ago, the Florida Supreme Court has backed a jury’s conclusion that GEICO General Insurance Co. acted in “bad faith” in the way it handled a customer’s claim, reports The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The 4-3 ruling came in a multimillion-dollar case that has been watched by the insurance industry and trial attorneys,” writes reporter Jim Saunders. “The ruling reinstated a bad-faith verdict against GEICO after the 4th District Court of Appeal had overturned the jury’s decision.”

The court’s opinion disputed the appeals court’s conclusion that there was “insufficient” evidence that GEICO had acted in bad faith. It said that the appeals court had not properly applied legal precedents in its decision.

Read the News-Journal article.

OneSpan has published a white paper titled “User Authentication for E-Signature Transactions” and made it available for downloading at no charge. (See the download form below.)

The white paper provides guidance on how to select and implement user authentication techniques. It answers questions like:

• How do I select the right authentication for my requirements?
• How do I implement strong authentication, without making the process difficult for the customer?
• Can I leverage existing user authentication credentials?
• Can I adjust my user authentication criteria for different transactions and processes?

Franchisors need to review their franchise agreements and take immediate action in response to the recent onslaught of legal action over “naked no-poaching” provisions in franchise agreements, according to a post in Franchise Law Update on the website of Fox Rothschild.

“In a typical franchise agreement, a franchisor will prohibit a franchisee from poaching its or its other franchisees’ employees during the term of the franchise agreement and for a period of time after the franchise agreement ends,” the authors explain.

In April 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a criminal complaint against a number of companies respecting naked no-poaching agreements. While the case settled with only civil penalties imposed, the DOJ expressly stated that it was reserving the criminal question and planned to “zealously enforce” the law.

Read the article.

Ken Adams has brought his contract expertise to a Pittsburgh artificial intelligence startup, according to the ABA Journal.

The author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting has joined LegalSifter, a Pittsburgh artificial intelligence startup. Adams told ther Journal that LegalSifter has two main functions: reviewing the other side’s contract drafts, and creating contract templates without having to “endlessly reinvent the wheel.”

In a podcast, Adams discusses his work on contracts and on the new software.

Read the article and listen to the podcast.

Nearly every form of service agreement contains a provision restricting the ability of one or both parties to subcontract their obligations, points out a post in the Tech & Sourcing blog at Morgan Lewis.

But authors Doneld G. Shelkey and Valerie A. Gross offer a caution: “These limitations are often included as a standard part of the legal boilerplate without much thought, but can present significant problems, especially given the broad use and incorporation of third-party technologies and services.”

In their post, they discuss use of a subcontracting principle called a “material subcontractor” provision.

Read the article.

A federal grand jury has indicted three men for what officials describe as a $364 million Ponzi scheme to defraud investors, reports The Dallas Morning News.

Jay B. Ledford and Cameron R. Jezierski of Texas, along with Kevin B. Merrill of Maryland, raised money from investors who thought they were buying into cheap portfolios of consumer debt on credit cards and student and auto loans, investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Securities and Exchange Commission said.

“The defendants lured investors through an elaborate web of lies, duping them into paying millions of dollars into this Ponzi scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur in a statement.

The report by Lison Joseph says the trio spent more than $73 million of investors’ money at casinos and to buy diamond jewelry and luxury cars including Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and Bugattis.

Read the Dallas News article.

The ABA Journal reports that attorneys for former Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner Greg Craig say he did not circulate a report put together by the law firm and involving former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.

Reporter Stephanie Francis Ward explains: “The report was written by Skadden attorneys about the 2011 trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine who was found guilty of abusing her office. Working as a lobbyist, Manafort solicited the report on behalf of Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s pro-Russian president and a rival to Tymoshenko. The plan was to use the report to defend her trial.”

The Washington Post reports that Skadden was paid $4.6 million, a fact Manafort did not reveal, while Ukrainian officials said they paid $12,000 for the report.

And CNN reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is also looking into whether Craig failed to register as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Read the ABA Journal article.

A federal courtroom in Miami is now the intersection for a celebrity attorney, two major cybercrimes and a foreign tech firm with an ephemeral South Florida address and entanglement in the Trump-Russia probe, reports the Miami Herald.

The case involves a defamation lawsuit brought by Cyprus-based entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev against online news outlet Buzzfeed, which published the collection of research memos known as the Trump dossier.

Gubarev also sued former British spy Christopher Steele, a Russia expert who wrote the dossier, in London.

Colorful lawyer Roy Black is representing Buzzfeed in the Miami suit.

Read the Miami Herald article.

Five lawyers with with Houston-based Rusty Hardin & Associates have earned recognition in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, a U.S. peer-review guide to attorneys.

Firm founder Rusty Hardin, who has won some of the nation’s most high-profile trials and earned some of the legal profession’s most prestigious honors, is featured for both commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense work. He was also rated Lawyer of the Year for 2019 in the Houston area for white-collar criminal defense.

Firm partners Andy Drumheller and Derek Hollingsworth, both former prosecutors, are recognized for their white-collar criminal defense expertise. Of counsel Cathy Cochran and firm partner Joe Roden are listed for their appellate work. All of the five lawyers have been recognized in previous editions of the Best Lawyers list.

Read details about the honors.

Image by NY Photographic

Employers should review and revise their employee non-compete/non-solicitation agreements to decrease the risk that a court holds such agreements to be unenforceable, advises J. Lane Crowder in a web post on the website of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC.

“In 2018, there is a growing trend to invalidate non-compete and non-solicitation agreements. State and federal courts, as well as state legislatures, are pushing for enhanced scrutiny of the ‘reasonableness’ of these agreements,” she writes.

Companies should consider the reasonableness of the restrictions and consider whether the restrictions can be tied to legitimate protectable business interests.

Read the article.

The central question, “What should I blog about?,” is enough to keep many people from launching a blog, let alone embarking on a more comprehensive content marketing program, points out Amy Boardman Hunt of Muse Communications.

An hour or so of brainstorming probably can generate a dozen solid ideas that can populate your firm’s blog for months, she suggests. Add to that the occasional firm news, “best lawyer” listing, etc., and you’ve got a vibrant legal blog.

In her article, she discusses some legal blogger writing prompts to get the blogger thinking about good post content, and concludes with some common-sense advice.

Read the article.

Following the abrupt halftime retirement of Buffalo Bills defensive back Vontae Davis, his former agent has confirmed that the decision voids nearly all the guarantees in Davis’ contract. He will only be paid for two games because he was signed in the offseason and his contract only guaranteed the full amount if he played all 16 games.

But Dallas labor and employment attorney Rogge Dunn of Rogge Dunn Group, PC, says that the NFL veteran legally had the freedom to make the move.

“The law does not require a professional athlete or executive to continue working despite an employment contract,” says Dunn. “Surprising as it seems, an NFL football player, a CEO or a partner in a partnership can generally walk off the job at any time. It’s another example of one of the few big hammers that professional athletes have. As we’ve seen many times, players skip organized team activities or hold out during camp – even when they are under contract and facing the financial consequences.”

Alternative dispute resolution attorney and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Deborah Hankinson has earned recognition as one of the Top Three attorneys in the state by Texas Super Lawyers.

It is the fourth time since 2012 that she has been selected among the Top Three attorneys in the state by the peer-review rating service. She also has ranked consistently among Texas’ Top 10 lawyers over the past eight years and has been selected among the state’s Top 50 Women attorneys every year since the inaugural Texas Super Lawyers listing was released in 2003.

Earlier this year, Hankinson was named the Dallas Arbitration Lawyer of the Year by The Best Lawyers in America. In 2016, she was selected to The National Law Journal’s inaugural ADR Champions list recognizing alternative dispute resolution trailblazers from across the nation. She also has garnered wide-ranging recognition from legal guides and business publications, including Chambers USA, Benchmark Appellate, Texas Lawyer, Dallas Business Journal, D Magazine, the Dallas Bar Association and Lawdragon.

Texas Super Lawyers selections are based on peer nominations and evaluations, as well as independent editorial research. No more than 5 percent of eligible Texas attorneys are chosen each year for practice-specific recognition. The attorneys with the highest rankings regardless of practice focus are chosen for additional recognition. The full 2018 listing appears in the October edition of Texas Monthly and in the Texas edition of Super Lawyers magazine. The list also is available online at http://www.superlawyers.com.

Patrick R. Quigley has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Washington, D.C. office as counsel in the Government Contracts Practice Group.

“We are pleased to welcome Patrick to Bradley in our D.C. office,” said Bradley Washington, D.C., Office Managing Partner Douglas L. Patin. “Patrick brings deep experience in government contracts work, as well as past government service, which will be greatly beneficial to our clients.”

Quigley focuses his practice on litigating bid protests, contract claims, prime/subcontractor disputes, and small business size protests/appeals at the Government Accountability Office, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, boards of contract appeals, and U.S. Small Business Administration, as well as at other federal agencies and in state courts. He conducts internal investigations and defends clients in False Claims Act litigation, government investigations, and suspension and debarment actions.

Most recently, Quigley was an attorney with Arent Fox LLP in Washington, D.C.

Prior to his law career, Quigley served for 16 years with the U.S. Department of State, first as a special agent in the Diplomatic Security Service, and then as a foreign service officer. During his government service, he was assigned to Somalia, El Salvador, Colombia, Peru, India, and Washington, D.C.

Quigley received his J.D. (cum laude) from George Mason University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from Emory University.

Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP will present a webinar discussing new developments in California wage and hour laws that provoke class action litigation and will offer ways to avoid, manage and resolve these issues to help minimize the risk of a costly wage and hour class action lawsuit.

The complimentary event will be Sept. 26, 2018, at 10 a.m. PDT.

Employing people in California means dealing with California’s unique and complex wage and hour regulations, the firm points out on its website. California employers are increasingly finding themselves having to defend against costly wage and hour class actions and PAGA lawsuits. These lawsuits frequently cost large sums of money to resolve, either through litigation or settlement.

This webinar will review:

• New developments in California wage and hour laws that have been driving class action litigation
• What you should know about the class action process if you are facing a putative wage and hour class action and/or a PAGA claim
• How to avoid potential class action and PAGA claims and strategies to minimize potential damages
• Drafting arbitration agreements with class action waivers post Epic Systems, Inc.

Register for the webinar.

Joseph N. Sacca, a commercial and securities litigator , joined BakerHostetler’s Litigation Group as a partner in the firm’s New York office. Sacca joined BakerHostetler from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

In a release, the firm said Sacca represents clients around the world in complex corporate, commercial, and securities litigation in federal courts, state courts, and in arbitration proceedings. He also has extensive experience advising public companies and private equity firms in litigation involving mergers and acquisitions.

His arrival follows other additions to BakerHostetler’s litigation roster this year, including Howard Cotton and Michael Gordon, commercial litigators from Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York, and a technology-focused team with litigation experience from LeClairRyan in Atlanta.

In his nearly three decades as a litigator, Sacca has represented clients in numerous high-stakes matters, the firm said. These include defending investment banks against multibillion-dollar claims arising from the banks’ sale of mortgage-backed securities, a successful defense of an automobile manufacturer in a multibillion-dollar securities fraud action, and representation of a Big Four accounting firm in actions alleging accounting malpractice and disputes with former partners.

“Joe is a brilliant trial lawyer with significant litigation experience handling complex matters,” said W. Ray Whitman, chair of the firm’s national Litigation Group. “We have a deep bench of accomplished trial lawyers with bet-the-company experience, and are positioned to meet any client’s litigation needs, no matter how large or complex. Joe is a seamless addition to our group, and we are thrilled to have him join the firm.”

“BakerHostetler’s wave of recruiting top flight lateral litigators continues with the acquisition of Skadden powerhouse Joe Sacca, who is a very talented commercial and securities litigator,” said George Stamboulidis, BakerHostetler’s New York office managing partner. “We have strategically grown our litigation practice here in New York and in our other 13 offices around the nation over the past year, and are excited to continue this growth by bringing Joe onto our team.”

Sacca received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Temple University School of Law, where he was the managing editor of the Temple Law Review. He is also committed to pro bono work, particularly in his role as the chair of the board for Infinite Family, a global mentoring organization dedicated to using technology to allow adults around the world to serve as role models and mentors for children in Africa.

“BakerHostetler has so much to offer my clients, including the firm’s strong overall litigation focus and its remarkable attorneys from various legal backgrounds” Sacca said. “I am excited to join this firm as it continues to build upon its exceptionally strong litigation capabilities.”

The Litigation Group consists of more than 360 attorneys across all of BakerHostetler’s 14 offices nationwide. With a roster of litigators that include former prosecutors, veteran civil trial lawyers, and former government enforcement officials, the firm’s clients benefit from a team that can successfully represent them in nearly any type of case and proceeding.

Holland & Hart will host a panel discussion titled “Shifting Tides: What Will the 2018 Elections in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Alaska Mean for the Energy Industry?”

The event, which includes lunch, will be Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the firm’s Denver office.

Key governors’ races in the energy-producing states of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Alaska are in full swing, the firm says on its website. The panel will discuss how these races, along with potential shifts in the make-up of state legislatures, might affect energy policy and future development in these critical states.

Moderator: Sean Parnell
Attorney | Holland & Hart LLP
Former Alaska Governor

Speakers:

COLORADO
Eric Waeckerlin
Partner | Holland & Hart LLP

Tracee Bentley
Colorado Petroleum Council Executive Director

NEW MEXICO
Ryan Flynn
New Mexico Oil & Gas Association Executive Director

WYOMING
Susan Aldridge
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Director, Wyoming Regulatory and External Relations

Joe Milczewski
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Government Relations Manager

Location:
Holland & Hart LLP
555 17th Street,
Suite 3200
Denver, CO 80202

For more information contact Lauren Israel at 303.295.8201 or lmisrael@hollandhart.com.

Register for the event.

James T. Grogan has joined Blank Rome LLP as a partner in the Finance, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy group in the firm’s Houston office.

Grogan focuses his practice on Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, representing a client base of debtors, lenders, and committees of unsecured creditors across a wide range of industries. He joins Blank Rome from Paul Hastings LLP where he was a member of the Corporate Department and the Finance and Restructuring practice.

“James is an accomplished attorney with tremendous experience in counseling his clients on their most complex finance and restructuring matters,” said Alan J. Hoffman, Blank Rome’s Chairman and Managing Partner. “From his experience representing some of the largest Chapter 11 debtors in history, to his broad client mix, James fits in seamlessly with our practice and we are thrilled to welcome him to Blank Rome.”

In a release, the firm said Grogan most recently has had a particular focus on restructuring transactions in the energy sector, but over his almost 20-year career he has counseled companies in the automotive, telecom, manufacturing, entertainment, financial services, and retail industries. Grogan, who is licensed in both Texas and New York, has experience with complex cross-border restructurings.

“With the recent wave of restructuring activity in the Houston market, combined with the cyclical nature of bankruptcy within various industries, James could not be joining us at a better time,” said Regina Stango Kelbon, Co-Chair of the Finance, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy group. “James has built a solid reputation counseling clients through every stage of Chapter 11 filings, and we’re excited to welcome him to our team.”

Grogan serves as Master of the Bench for the Moller-Foltz Inn of Court, and is a member of the Houston Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association. Additionally, Grogan performs many hours of pro bono legal counsel each year.

“I’m truly excited to be joining a firm as accomplished as Blank Rome. The firm has an incredible practice mix that is well-suited for the Houston market, and I feel privileged to be joining so many outstanding practitioners.” Grogan adds, “I’m looking forward to collaborating with many of the firm’s highly regarded practice groups, including its market-leading maritime practice in Houston, and working to build a preeminent restructuring practice in the Texas market.”

Grogan earned his B.A. from Wheaton College and his J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law, where he was associate editor of the Kansas Law Review.