Wayne P. Bunch, Jr. has joined FisherBroyles, LLP as a partner in the Franchising practice group, based in the firm’s Houston office.

“Wayne brings to FisherBroyles a deep background in franchise law both in private practice and as general counsel and CEO of a franchise company,” said Julie Innmon, FisherBroyles Texas area managing partner. “Wayne’s multi-layered experience in diverse business and franchise issues is a great asset to our clients. We are thrilled to welcome him to the firm.”

Bunch said, “I am excited to bring my franchising practice to FisherBroyles, which provides clients with exceptional service and Big Law-caliber legal representation along with efficiencies that are intrinsic to the firm’s distributed partnership platform. I look forward to continuing to grow the firm’s franchising practice in representing clients in a broad spectrum of industries on the complex transactional and regulatory issues that are so crucial to business success.”

In a release, the firm said Bunch has structured, documented and helped launch a multitude of franchise programs for companies across a variety of industries, including restaurants, video game stores, furniture stores, optometry clinics, haircut salons, billiard halls, recruitment firms, and companies involved in real estate, insurance, pet care service, durable medical equipment sales, automobile repairs, tax services and educational art.

Bunch most recently was a partner in the Franchise and Distribution Practice Group at DLA Piper in Houston. He also is former member of the Franchise and Corporate practice groups at Jackson Walker LLP, also in Houston. Previously, he served as general counsel and CEO for Crescent City Beignets, Inc., where he was instrumental in establishing Crescent City as a national franchise company with locations from Georgia to California. For Crescent City Beignets, he was responsible for establishing the legal and business infrastructures necessary for aggressive franchise growth as well as managing the franchisor/franchisee relationship. Utilizing the franchise model, he expanded Crescent City to a system that included nearly 40 franchisees with more than 100 units in development.

Bunch received his J.D. from Louisiana State University Law Center, his Master of Laws from McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific, and his Bachelor of Science from Louisiana State University.

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has added Gray Mateo-Harris as a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department. Joining from Ogletree Deakins, Mateo-Harris will reside in the firm’s Chicago office, which has added five partners this year.

Mateo-Harris, a native Spanish speaker from the Dominican Republic, has clients including employers in the manufacturing, retail, technology and real estate industries.

In a release, the firm said Mateo-Harris has experience defending employers in litigation at both the state and federal court level through trial and appeal, including in restrictive covenant and contract- and tort-based actions, as well as with respect to alleged violations of wage payment and equal employment opportunity laws. She represents clients in arbitrations, mediations and administrative proceedings, including before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the Illinois Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board. Her traditional labor practice includes assisting clients with union-avoidance issues, election proceedings, collective bargaining, grievance and contract arbitrations, and unfair labor practice charges.

“We’re off to an incredibly strong start with recruiting this year and the pipeline remains full of exceptional and diverse talent who are attracted to an ascendant practice in a full-service firm,” said Ken Yerkes, chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Law Department, which has added partners Amy Zdravecky, Dawn Collins and Tae Kim in recent weeks. “Gray’s sophisticated experience in employment litigation and traditional labor law and commitment to excellent client service make her a true asset for our practice.”

Mateo-Harris provides pro bono representation to several nonprofit organizations on employment matters, and has represented indigent clients as part of the Circuit Court of Cook County Domestic Violence Clinic and the Northern District of Illinois Judicial Settlement Assistance Program. She is actively involved with the National Bar Association, the Black Women Lawyers Association, the Women’s Coalition, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois and the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She routinely mentors underrepresented students and attorneys through the Chicago Committee and the University of Illinois. Mateo-Harris also serves as a hearing officer and board member of the Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board.

“Gray is the ‘complete package’ when it comes to tackling the most complex employment issues and offering proactive counseling to clients,” said Mark Rust, managing partner of Barnes & Thornburg’s Chicago office. “We’re thrilled to have her aboard.”

Mateo-Harris received her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and a B.S from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, both cum laude.

Zapproved and Hobson & Company recently partnered to research the average return on investment (ROI) that businesses gained by implementing Digital Discovery Pro for in-house ediscovery. A report on the research is available for downloading at no charge.

Zapproved reports that its research shows a 4X return on investment with an automated, cloud-based software solution.

“Companies in this study reported that for many of their investigations and legal matters, in-house ediscovery is more cost-effective than outsourcing,”  Zapproved reports. “Our experience with clients backs that up: for organizations that are ready, automating data processing and review in house is well worth the investment. But how quickly does that investment pay for itself?”

Download the report.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that a little-noticed lawsuit filed in New York federal court accuses a former federal prosecutor of unethically preventing a whistleblower from telling the FTC that he hacked an embattled company’s files using “FBI surveillance software” that the prosecutor gave him.

The allegations are in a suit against former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, the global megafirm where she is now a partner, according to reporter Samson Habte.

Plaintiff LabMD Inc., a cancer-screening firm, says it went out of business after falling victim to a “shakedown scheme” by a cybersecurity firm that hacked the lab’s files—and then reported it to the FTC when it refused to pay for “remediation” services.

LabMD’s complaint alleges Buchanan gave FBI surveillance tools to Tiversa Inc., which then allegedly used the tool to hack LabMD. It also alleges Buchanan unethically represented the whistleblower in FTC proceedings to keep him from divulging how Tiversa received the hacking tool.

Read the Bloomberg article.

Latham & Watkins has posted the second of a two-part webcast series on joint ventures in the oil and gas industry — this one on upstream joint ventures.

Both this video and the first part — on midstream joint ventures — are available on-demand.

This series explores market trends driving recent joint ventures, as well as structural options, potential challenges, and other considerations related to joint ventures, within both the midstream and upstream spaces.

Part II of the series addresses joint ventures in the upstream space, including “DrillCo” transactions.

Topics include:

• DrillCos and Other JV Structures
• Typical Transaction Documents
• Issues and Pitfalls

Watch the on-demand video.

Attempting to advance a novel theory of law, several banks filed a class action in Illinois federal court against a grocery store chain arising out of a data breach that resulted in the theft of 2.4 million credit and debit cards, reports Jackson Lewis PC.

After the breach, the banks were required to issue new cards and reimburse its customers as required by federal law for financial losses due to unauthorized purchases, estimated by the plaintiffs to be in the tens of millions of dollars. With the litigation, the financial institutions sought to recover some of their costs from the grocery store chain that was allegedly responsible for the loss of the data.

Jeffrey M. Schlossberg explains the outcome: “Despite seemingly compelling arguments, the Seventh Circuit ultimately upheld the lower court’s dismissal of the banks’ claims finding that they were bound by the contractual provisions of their agreements. Essentially, the court ruled, by joining the credit card system, the banks accepted some risk of not being fully reimbursed for the costs of another party’s mistakes.”

Read the article.

D Magazine has selected Frank L. Branson, Debbie Branson and Chip Brooker of The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson to the 2018 Best Lawyers in Dallas list. All three attorneys have been singled out for their work in tort cases involving personal injury plaintiffs.

In a release, the firm said Branson has earned numerous record verdicts and settlements, along with some of the legal profession’s highest honors. He has been honored by D Magazine every year since the inception of its Best Lawyers edition in 2001. In addition, Branson has been honored by Texas Lawbook as one of its “Lions of the Texas Bar;” included on Super Lawyers’ list of the Top 10 lawyers in Texas for 11 straight years and The Best Lawyers in America guide since 1987.

Debbie Branson has earned placement on D Magazine’s Best Lawyers list for seven years. She is also continuously honored in The Best Lawyers in America and Texas Super Lawyers listings for her accomplishments in the courtroom. For her work with the community, she received the Linz Award in 2016.

For the second time, Chip Brooker has joined his colleagues on the D Magazine list. His work representing the firm’s clients in wrongful death and personal injury cases involving defective products, workplace and oilfield accidents, and trucking/transportation accidents has led to his recognition by The Best Lawyers in America, as well as Texas Super Lawyers and Texas Rising Stars.

DLA Piper announced that Boston-based partner Larissa Park has been named co-head of the firm’s Patent Prosecution practice, partners Matthew Satchwell and Keith Medansky have been named co-heads of the Chicago Intellectual Property and Technology practice, and partner Nicholas Papastavros has been named head of IPT in Boston.

Park will serve as the co-head of Patent Prosecution alongside Daniel Christenbury, who has been serving as the sole head of the practice since 2005. She concentrates on patent and other intellectual property strategy, counseling, prosecution, diligence and litigation in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and federal courts, with a focus on the tech sector.

Satchwell and Medansky succeed Christina Martini in Chicago. Satchwell focuses his patent litigation practice on representing clients in the automotive device, semiconductor, integrated circuit, navigation, mobile communications device, power electronics and communications technology industries. Medansky’s practice focuses on a range of transactional and litigation matters pertaining to trademarks, copyrights, software, anti-counterfeiting and technology. He has particular experience in counseling clients in matters involving the protection of website content and domain names and in developing cyberspace and copyright policies.

Papastavros succeeds Mike McGurk as head of the Boston IPT practice and focuses his practice on technology-related litigation and licensing matters, with a particular emphasis on patent, trade secret, trademark and copyright disputes. He also has significant experience handling intellectual property transactions and related due diligence, and negotiating content, distribution, services and data reseller agreements.

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has added Amy Zdravecky as a partner in the Labor & Employment Department. Joining from Miller Canfield, Zdravecky will spend time in the firm’s Chicago and Grand Rapids offices. Her arrival follows a recent expansion of the labor and employment department with the addition of partners Dawn Collins and Tae Kim in Los Angeles.

In a release, the firm said Zdravecky is an employment and labor law attorney who counsels employers in a number of industries. Her labor practice focuses on proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). She also has experience with state and federal employment laws, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

“We’re thrilled to welcome Amy to the firm,” said Ken Yerkes, chair of Barnes & Thornburg’s Labor & Employment Department. “She brings significant new breadth and depth to our nationally recognized traditional labor expertise and, following recent additions in Los Angeles, is the latest example of our commitment to adding talent, not just numbers.”

The firm said Zdravecky also assists clients involved in contract negotiations, discrimination matters, union-organizing campaigns, arbitrations, collective bargaining and NLRB elections. In addition, she provides training on union avoidance, general employee relations and sexual harassment. Her clients include employers in the retail, hospitality, warehouse, distribution, manufacturing, food production, transportation and healthcare industries.

“Amy is a fantastic asset to our local, regional and national labor and employment law practice,” said Bob Sikkel, managing partner of the firm’s Grand Rapids office. “Grounded in years of experience, her counsel will be extremely valuable to management who are continually facing a variety of labor and employment challenges.”

Zdravecky earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and her B.A from the University of Michigan.

Chambers USA, a guide to leading lawyers, has once again honored Dallas law firm Sayles Werbner and its commercial litigation work in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

Firm co-founders Richard A. “Dick” Sayles and Mark S. Werbner are also included among the top litigators in Texas for 2018, marking the sixth time the two trial lawyers have been listed by Chambers and Partners.

“It’s an honor to be continuously included in this listing,” said Sayles. “We certainly appreciate the recognition from our peers and clients.”

In a release, the firm said London’s Chambers and Partners publishes the exclusive listing annually. Law firms and lawyers who demonstrate the top technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, diligence, commitment and other qualities most valued by clients are identified through thousands of attorney and client interviews.

Chamber’s researchers noted that Werbner is known for having built a “very successful” practice representing plaintiffs and defendants and has “a fine Dallas reputation” in commercial litigation, according to the release.

Both attorneys are often recognized for their work, including placement in the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America and listings as Lawyers of the Year in their practice areas, selection to the 2018 edition of Benchmark Litigation and placement in the 2017 Texas Super Lawyers list.

Since 2010, the firm has made the US News & World Report list of Best Law Firms. The firm’s successes include the top patent infringement award ever issued by a U.S. jury; the nation’s first civil liability verdict against a foreign bank for providing material financial support to terrorists; and one of the top business fraud verdicts ever awarded in Dallas County.

It is easy to skim over contracts’ insurance provisions or simply defer to risk experts, but there are a few questions that should be considered during the next review of the insurance section of a contract, advises Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The article by Michael L. Pillion and Jessica M. Pelliciotta discusses four such questions:

How do your indemnification and other risk allocation provisions interact with your insurance provisions?

What types of insurances and how much coverage should you require?

Will you know if there are changes to the insurance coverages?

Does your contract require the other side’s insurer to provide a waiver of subrogation?

Read the article.

President Trump’s former physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, recently revealed that the president’s bodyguard and two others came to his office in February 2017 and demanded Trump’s medical records. Was there any violation of laws protecting patient privacy? Is Trump’s crew in trouble here?

A post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing addressed the issue.

“If the doctor had good reason to believe that this group was authorized by Trump and that the president wanted the records, the doctor is permitted to provide them. He could have refused and demanded an authorization that would meet standards under HIPAA, the law that protects patients’ records. He also could have contacted Trump by phone for further confirmation,” says Jeff Drummond, a Dallas lawyer with Jackson Walker LLP who specializes in medical records privacy and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

A thornier lapse may have been committed by the doctor when he revealed to the New York Times that Trump was taking a drug that promotes hair growth.

“That would almost certainly be a violation of Trump’s medical privacy rights, and a violation of HIPAA,” Drummond said. “With that background, I think it would be fairly easy for Trump to sue the doctor to give up all copies of his records.

“HIPAA rules allow disclosures of medical records to the patient, the patient’s personal representative and those who are ‘involved in the care’ of the patient. It seems unlikely a law was violated by Trump’s emissaries taking his records with his permission.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has emphatically reaffirmed the requirement that collective bargaining agreements must be interpreted according to “ordinary principles of contract law” when deciding whether retired employees are entitled to health care benefits, according to a post by Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC.

Richard C. Kraus and Mindi M. Johnson discuss CNH Industrial N.V. v. Reese. 

“The case involved a dispute over union retiree health benefits. In 1998, CNH entered into a CBA which provided group health care benefits to certain employees set to retire under the company’s pension plan. After the CBA expired, a class of CNH retirees and surviving spouses initiated a lawsuit in federal court asking for declaratory judgment that they were entitled to health care benefits for life and seeking to enjoin CNH from modifying those benefits.”

Read the article.

Image by Gage Skidmore

The Washington Post is reporting that legal analysts are saying Rudolph W. Giuliani’s media blitz to convince the public that neither Donald Trump nor his lawyer had violated the law by paying a porn star to keep quiet about an alleged affair might have backfired, giving investigators new leads to chase and new evidence of potential crimes.

“His comments to media outlets underscore a growing tension for the White House: The FBI investigation of [lawyer Michael] Cohen presents a legal problem for the president that his own lawyer might have exacerbated,” the report says.

As an example, Giuliani contradicted Trump’s earlier assertion that he was unaware of a payment to an adult-film actress. “He might have been trying to get ahead of investigators in making public facts they already know, though legal analysts said his statements could reinforce any case they might bring.”

Read the Post article.

Above the Law got its hands on an email sent out by Paul Hastings that on the surface promotes diversity, but does so by praising male partners.

Editor Kathryn Rubino comments: “Paul Hastings seems to think men at the firm need a pat on the back for ‘including [women] in client work’ and other basic stuff they should be doing anyway. Pro tip: If you’re trying to promote diversity, giving (mostly) white men center stage is doing the very, very least you can do.”

The firm-wide email, reproduced on Above the Law’s website, features photos of each of the nine male “champions” and promotes their practice areas. The promotion is followed by praise from unnamed women, such as “[He] is a true champion to women and men at the firm and is also just a nice guy!”

Read the Above the Law article.

The restaurant company that owns Seasons 52, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, the Capital Grille and other well-known brands, agreed to pay almost $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by job applicants who claimed they were denied employment because of their age, the EEOC said Wednesday.

The Miami Herald reports” “A complaint filed in Miami federal court in 2015 said it was ‘standard operating procedure’ for Darden [Restaurants] to disproportionately deny jobs to Seasons 52 applicants aged 40 and older, Reuters reported. That’s a violation of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.”

Reporter Crystal Hill writes that the EEOC said applicants who were turned away were told they were “too experienced,” as well as, “we are not looking for old white guys.”

Read the Miami Herald article.

The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced a settlement of criminal charges against Knorr-Bremse AG and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp. for having maintained agreements not to compete for each other’s employees, according to Locke Lord.

Authors Stephen P. Murphy and Joseph A. Farside Jr. write that one executive went so far as to state in an email that no-soliciting was a “prudent cause for both companies” and that the companies would “compete in the market.”

In announcing the settlement, an assistant AG noted that the criminal complaint was part of a broader Antitrust Division investigation into agreements not to compete for employees, typically known as no-solicit or no-poach agreements.

Read the article.

Mark L. Johansen has joined Perkins Coie’s Commercial Litigation practice as a partner in Dallas.

Johansen is a trial lawyer who focuses on complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts in Texas. He regularly represents clients in litigation involving contract disputes, mergers and acquisitions, business torts, labor and employment, trade secret violations, securities and shareholder litigation.

“Mark is a highly regarded litigator in Texas whose practice will benefit greatly from joining our national platform,” said Katie O’Sullivan, Chair of Perkins Coie’s Commercial Litigation practice. “His addition to our firm will deepen our litigation bench in Texas and across the region.”

In a release, the firm said Johansen has achieved victories for clients in a wide range of industries including energy, financial services, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, private equity, real estate and technology. He also represents clients in arbitration proceedings before the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He has been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer, by Best Lawyers in America for commercial litigation and as one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” by D Magazine.

“Bringing Mark onboard is in line with our strategy in Dallas to add talented attorneys in key practice areas,” said Bobby Majumder, Managing Partner of Perkins Coie’s Dallas office. “With a rapidly expanding regional economy, the demand for our services is growing and Perkins Coie is well positioned in many key areas, including healthcare, real estate, litigation, corporate and securities, intellectual property, technology transactions and labor/employment.”

“I am extremely happy to be joining Perkins Coie where I will be able to offer my litigation clients the expanded services that Perkins Coie offers,” said Johansen. “I talked with a number of firms, but it became clear to me early on that Perkins Coie was the best fit. They had a need for a seasoned litigation partner in Dallas and their full-service platform was exactly what I was looking for so it was an easy choice.”

Born and raised in Dallas, Johansen was most recently a name partner at litigation trial boutique Gruber Hail Johansen Shank, which he helped found in 2006. He earned his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma and received his B.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Audry X. Casusol has joined Sidley Austin LLP as a partner in its Tax and Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice in the New York office. Formerly a partner with Greenberg Traurig LLP, Casusol represents public and private companies and private equity clients based in the United States and around the world in their executive compensation and governance matters.

In a release, the firm said Casusol concentrates her practice on executive compensation and employee benefits, primarily related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, IPOs, restructurings and spin-offs. She advises boards of directors, compensation committees and management on compensation arrangements, administrative and regulatory compliance with tax, employment and securities laws, corporate governance and disclosure obligations regarding employee benefits, executive compensation and related matters. In her practice on employee benefits and executive compensation matters, she also has experience with convertible securities, debt/equity exchanges, effect of tax treaties and other uniquely structured entities.

“Audry has repeatedly been lauded for her work, notably when it comes to M&A matters, and she’ll be a welcome addition to our firm,” said Sam Gandhi, managing partner of Sidley’s New York office. “Additionally, her deep understanding of corporate governance and executive compensation and employment benefits will make her a sought-after resource for clients navigating a complicated and quickly evolving landscape.”

Foley Gardere announced that Orrin Harrison III has joined the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice as of counsel in the Dallas office. He joins from Dallas-based Gruber Hail Johansen Shank.

Harrison has more than 40 years of experience in complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution, largely involving accounting, antitrust, board counseling, corporate investigation, director-and-officer defense, mergers and acquisitions, and securities. He primarily represents clients in the energy and financial services sectors. In his career, Harrison has served as chief outside litigation counsel to three national companies – two energy companies and one financial services company – and has been involved in more than 150 complex mediations.

“Orrin’s extensive litigation and trial experience adds significant depth to our growing practice both in Texas and nationally,” said Michael Gay, chair of Foley’s Litigation Department and Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. “As corporations continue to relocate their headquarters into Texas’ largest metropolitan areas, and as commercial issues on the national level continue to evolve, Orrin will be instrumental in helping to navigate these issues for our clients.”

Harrison has appeared pro hac vice in the trial courts of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming and has argued appeals before the Supreme Courts of Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, as well as in the 5th and 11th U.S. Courts of Appeals.

Harrison is a board member of Dallas-based MapleMark Bank and Maple Financial Holdings, Inc., and a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Dallas Bar Foundation, Southwestern Legal Foundation and Texas Bar Association. He is also a member and former president of both the Dallas Bar Association and Dallas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and well as a member of the American Bar Association, International Society of Barristers and Texas Access to Justice.

“Orrin has built an exemplary commercial-litigation practice and brings complementary expertise in the energy and financial services sectors,” said Michael Newman, office managing partner of Foley Gardere’s Dallas office. “That paired with his prominent standing and exemplary reputation in the Dallas legal community makes him a strong fit for our expanding office. We look forward to having him join our team.”

In addition, Chelsea Hilliard has joined Foley’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice as an associate in the firm’s Dallas office from Gruber Hail. Her practice focuses on commercial, securities and other types of litigation.

On April 1, 2018, Foley combined with Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP. The combined firm operates as Foley Gardere in Austin, Dallas, Denver and Houston. In Mexico City, the firm operates as Foley Gardere Arena. All other offices operate as Foley & Lardner LLP.