When indemnity is mentioned, most owners, designers and contractors think of protection from third party claims asserted by parties with whom they have no contractual privity, points out a post by Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr.

But Garry R. Boehlert and Trevor Ashbarry explain that, depending on the language used, indemnity provisions also can cover first party claims asserted by parties in privity of contract. To the surprise of many, such clauses may cover actions for breach of contract in addition to claims for negligence.

They add, “regardless of how carefully you may have considered the pros and cons of including a prevailing party clause in your contract, the indemnity clause you have negotiated may unwittingly permit recovery of attorneys’ fees for first and third party claims — even if the clause makes no mention whatsoever of attorneys’ fees.”

Read the article.

In the era of online content marketing, the press release seems as quaint and outdated as the fax machine. But a well-written, concise, timely press release remains one of the most potent vehicles for getting your law firm’s story in front of important audiences, writes Amy Boardman Hunt for Muse Communications.

“The reason press releases are more important today is that we’re no longer solely, or even primarily, interested in winning over increasingly hard-to-win-over reporters,” she explains. “Lawyers and law firms who use content marketing are essentially their own publishers now. As long as you have a website, social media or email (ideally, all three), you can tell your own story directly to your clients and potential clients.”

She discusses four reasons why an old-fashioned press release is still a great way to get your story out there, and offers advice on how to get attention for the news.

Read the article.

Exterro has published a complimentary new visual guide, “What AI Is-and Isn’t-In E-Discovery,” that explains where artificial intelligence was, where it is today, and where it’s heading in relation to e-discovery activities.

Artificial intelligence is back in the news as one of the hottest tech topics across multiple industries, and e-discovery is no different, the company says on its website. But with confusion between terms like AI, machine learning, predictive coding, and technology-assisted review all too common, how can e-discovery professionals understand the differences between competing technologies and how to best use them in their day-to-day professional lives?

The guide provides:

• Expert analysis from e-discovery and artificial intelligence thought leaders
• Clear explanations of concepts like AI, TAR, machine learning, and predictive coding
• Practical tips you can use to get the most out of your investment in AI technology

Download the guide.

DLA Piper announced that Tamany Bentz has joined the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice as a partner in Los Angeles.

Bentz, who will be in the Trademark, Copyright and Media subgroup of the firm’s IPT practice, focuses on intellectual property litigation, including patent, trade secrets, trademark and copyright litigation.

“Tamany brings a diverse practice that aligns well with our strengths and will allow us to continue expanding our core intellectual property offerings,” said Ann Ford, co-chair of the firm’s US IPT practice.

Bentz, who joins DLA Piper from Venable LLP, will be reunited with her longtime colleague Douglas Emhoff, who joined the firm’s Media, Sports and Entertainment practice in October 2017.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Tamany again,” Emhoff said. “We collaborated on many cases over the years, and I’m looking forward to continuing to build out our growing IP litigation practice in Los Angeles with her and the rest of our team.”

“The reverberation that the recent expansion of DLA Piper in Los Angeles has caused in the LA legal market presents a unique and timely opportunity to grow my intellectual property practice and share my clients with some of the best IP lawyers in the country and the world,” Bentz said. “It was an opportunity I did not want to pass up.”

She earned her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her M.B.E. from the University of Pennsylvania and her B.S. from Arizona State University.

Bentz is the latest addition to DLA Piper’s IPT practice, which has also recently added partners Michael Garfinkel, Miles Cooley and Benjamin Mulcahy in Los Angeles, Clayton Thompson and Jake Zolotorev in Silicon Valley, John Beahn and Margo Tank in Washington, DC, David Whitaker in Chicago, and Gina Reif Ilardi in New York.

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has added Dawn Collins and Tae Kim as partners in the Labor & Employment Department in Southern California.

Collins and Kim, previously shareholders at Ogletree Deakins, are employment litigators with extensive experience in California and federal law. In a release, the firm said they work with corporations and management in connection with a variety of employment law matters, including high-stakes wage and hour disputes and discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. They also assist with workplace investigations and advise clients on compliance best practices.

“Dawn and Tae are excellent additions to the firm and enhance our already strong capabilities in California, where companies are challenged to navigate the state’s nuanced employment laws,” said Kenneth Yerkes, chair of Barnes & Thornburg’s Labor & Employment Department. “Our clients need to be more vigilant than ever regarding their employment practices, and having such accomplished and reputable attorneys on the ground is a great benefit to them.”

Collins and Kim are the latest arrivals to the firm’s Los Angeles office, which has added partners Gary Caris and Sal LaViña in recent months. Barnes & Thornburg also recently launched a new office in San Diego, where Troy Zander is the partner in charge.

“The additions we’ve made in Southern California are not only integral to the growth of our firm, but they are also prospering on our platform and, most importantly, are finding new ways to efficiently solve client problems,” said David Allen, managing partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office.

The release continues:

About the Attorneys

Dawn Collins has 20 years of experience as a civil litigator, but she places an emphasis on litigation prevention measures for her corporate clients, including conducting workplace investigations, ensuring best practices related to discharge, discipline, leaves and reductions, drafting employment agreements, and complying with wage and hour laws. She is often called upon to defend clients in high-stakes wage and hour class actions alleging violations of federal and California wage and hour laws.

Collins earned her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law and her B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tae Kim represents corporate clients in high-stakes wage and hour class and representative actions, and single plaintiff discrimination harassment claims. Her wage and hour work includes the defense of disputes involving misclassification, commissions, meal and rest breaks, off-the-clock work and piece rate compensation as well as advising clients on wage and hour compliance and conducting audits. She also regularly advises clients on best practices related to terminations, leaves of absence and accommodations, as well as conducting workplace investigations.

Kim earned her J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, and her B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Robert M. Harper, counsel in Farrell Fritz’s estate litigation practice group, was honored as a Public Interest/Pro Bono Attorney of the Year at Touro Law Center’s Annual Goods and Services Auction on Wednesday, March 21, 2018.

Harper, a Garden City, NY resident, earned his J.D., cum laude, from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and his B.S. from Boston College Carroll School of Management. He is a frequent contributor to the firm’s New York Trusts and Estates Litigation blog.

Harper has worked for the rights and well-being of minors and the developmentally disabled as a Surrogate’s Court guardian ad litem, the firm said in a release. He takes on some of these guardian ad litem assignments as pro bono matters.

In 2017,  Harper devoted nearly 200 hours to his pro bono work, including many hours that involved protecting a half dozen individuals assigned to him by the Surrogate’s Court. These situations typically involve him writing reports concerning petitions for the appointment of guardians for minors and persons who have developmental disabilities. Harper spends many hours conducting research and interviews to ensure that the individuals in question will be well served through the guardianship appointment, the firm said.

Each year, Touro Law Center hosts the Goods and Services Auction to raise money to benefit the Touro Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program, which funds summer stipends for students to work in public interest law firms or non-profit organizations. The auction program also recognizes an Attorney of the Year from Long Island law firms.

Four attorneys with Texas family law firm Orsinger, Nelson, Downing & Anderson, LLP, have been named to the Texas Rising Stars list of top lawyers in the state for 2018.

Recognized for their family law expertise are partner Paula Bennett and associates Ryan Kirkham, Holly Rampy Baird and R. Porter Corrigan II, the firm said in a release. Each of the lawyers assists clients with navigating matters such as property division, child custody, pre- and post-marital agreements, parental rights, and other challenges common to family legal disputes.

Baird, Kirkham, and Corrigan have all been recognized by Texas Rising Stars in previous years. This is Bennett’s first time being named. Corrigan is based in San Antonio; the other honorees work from the firm’s Dallas and Frisco offices.

“In putting together any list of the best and brightest attorneys in Texas, you’d have to include these four,” said firm partner Brad LaMorgese. “Their knowledge of the law and their dedication to their clients are nothing short of stellar. We’re very proud of the work they do.”

Once a year, the Super Lawyers rating service recognizes the top attorneys in the state 40 or younger, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less. The list is made up of lawyers who are nominated by their peers and then assessed in a rigorous editorial review process. Ultimately, only 2.5 percent of eligible attorneys are chosen.

The honorees will be featured in the April 2018 edition of Texas Monthly and the Texas Rising Stars issue of Super Lawyers magazine.

In addition to this year’s four Rising Stars recipients, the firm has more Top 100 Super Lawyers in Texas than any other family law firm in the state. LaMorgese and firm co-founders Richard Orsinger, Keith Nelson, Scott Downing and Jeff Anderson all made the 2017 Top 100 list.

Two trial lawyers with Texas-based Provost Umphrey Law Firm, L.L.P., earned selection to the 2018 Texas Rising Stars list for their representation of plaintiffs in personal injury litigation.

Colin David Moore and Ronnie Turner Jr. have made the annual list multiple times.

In a release, the firm said Moore has earned Rising Stars recognition each year since 2007 for his work in product liability cases resulting in personal injury. His practice also involves premises liability work and toxic tort claims involving exposure to cancer-causing asbestos materials. Recently recognized on the prestigious Best Lawyers in America list, Moore serves on the Jefferson County Bar Association’s Board of Directors.

Turner is making his fourth appearance on the list for his plaintiffs’ personal injury representation. His practice also includes premises liability and products liability cases. Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Turner also earned recognition in this year’s edition of The Best Lawyers in America. He is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and serves on the Jefferson County Young Lawyers Association’s Board of Directors.

The Texas Rising Stars list recognizes the outstanding work of the state’s top attorneys age 40 and younger or who have practiced law for no more than 10 years. Only 2.5 percent of eligible Texas lawyers are selected to the list each year based on nominations from other lawyers, independent research and a review by separate advisory boards.

Langley & Banack, Inc. announced that Charles H. Jackson III joined the firm as of counsel in its San Antonio office. Jackson’s practice concentrates on estate planning, probate, general and commercial business, and rural real estate.

Jackson holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas Law School. He also served in the Army Reserves from 1964-1970.

“I joined Langley & Banack because of its depth of practice areas, the extensive experience of team members, the firm being client driven, and providing a high level of service,” said Jackson.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that Bill Voge, the managing partner and chair of Latham & Watkins, has stepped down and resigned from the firm after admitting to inappropriate personal conduct of a “sexual nature,” the firm announced on Tuesday.

The firm said Voge made a series of voluntary disclosures to the firm’s executive committee and then resigned. The conduct he described “involved the exchange of communications of a sexual nature with a woman whom he has never met in person and who had no connection to the Firm.”

“Latham was ranked as the top grossing law firm in the world in 2017, with $2.8 billion in revenue, more than 2,200 lawyers and offices flung all over the world,” writes reporter Casey Sullivan.

Read the Bloomberg article.

A magistrate judge in the U.S. Western District of Texas has disqualified a former counsel to Rolls-Royce from representing a client in litigation against his former employer, reports Bloomberg Law.

“Donald Little represented Rolls-Royce as in-house counsel from 1997-2008 and as outside counsel in a 2010 case where Rolls-Royce was alleged to have made false statements about ‘suspect’ airplane parts,” explains reporter Mindy L. Rattan. “Rolls-Royce hired George Gage as an expert in that case.”

Then, when Gage sued Rolls-Royce North America Inc. in a qui tam case that involved the explosion of a U.S. Air Force plane, Little represented him.

The magistrate judge who heard the defendant’s motion to disqualify Little said it was “stunning” that Little took that position.

Read the Bloomberg article.

The Trump administration has nominated Sharon Fast Gustafson to fill the vacant position of general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Above the Law reports that Gustafson spent four years at Jones Day before becoming a solo practitioner in 1995.

The GC’s position at the EEOC has been vacant since December of 2016.

“The top litigator position has broad discretion in deciding what Title VII cases to pursue, and, as such, will take the lead in determining the Trump administration’s stance on such hot button issues as sexual harassment and the gender pay gap,” writes Above the Law editor Kathryn Rubino.

Read the Above the Law article.

East Texas trial lawyer Clyde M. Siebman of Siebman, Burg, Phillips & Smith, LLP, recently was honored by Chief Judge Ron Clark of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas based on his years of work benefitting the district.

In a surprise ceremony attended by U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, U.S. Magistrate Judge Christine Nowak and local dignitaries, Judge Clark announced that Siebman’s portrait will now hang in the attorney conference rooms at the Paul Brown Federal Courthouse in Sherman.

Siebman is a former law clerk to the late Judge Brown and the founding president of the Eastern District of Texas Bar Association. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has been attorney of record in hundreds of Eastern District cases.

Chairman of the Eastern District of Texas Bench Bar Conference since 2009, he also has served on the Eastern District’s Local Rules Advisory Committee, Non-Appropriated Fund Committee, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Committees.

In another honor, Siebman was selected as the Dallas/Fort Worth Lawyer of the Year for patent trials in the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Image by Annette Bernhardt

Bloomberg is reporting that the National Labor Relations Board is ignoring its own guidelines and rushing to settle a major workplace action involving McDonald’s Corp., lawyers for employees involved in the litigation alleged.

Reporter Josh Eidelson writes that, if the workers win at trial, the case could have a profound effect on how major corporations are held liable for workplace wrongdoing.

A trial on the matter was set to resume this week.

“Faced with a potential landmark decision in favor of franchise employees, NLRB lawyers have secured a deal with McDonald’s Corp. and are now racing to settle employee claims by Monday, attorneys for the workers contend,” Eidelson writes. “In doing so, the lawyers claim NLRB officials are wrongfully circumventing them and going straight to the workers with take-it-or-leave-it offers.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

Companies are increasingly tapping into new technology designed to keep a close eye on employees. This monitoring goes beyond traditional security cameras to include portable devices worn by workers, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Reporter Robert Reed writes that some employers are getting really high-tech with following their workers, such as using time clocks that can an employee’s fingerprint, retina or iris.

“Some workers are ticked off about it and fighting back. Up to 30 class-action lawsuits were filed by late 2017 accusing companies of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which governs how such sensitive information is collected and used,” according to Reed.

Reed also raises the possibility that employers could even provide Fitbits or another portable health monitor as part of a corporate wellness program. “Can the personal data gleaned be used to alter, or deny, access to employer-provided insurance plans?,” he asks.

Read the Tribune article.

Businesses are increasingly using biometric data (i.e., measurements of a person’s physical being) for a variety of identification purposes, such as to provide security for the financial transactions of their customers and for the tracking of work hours of their employees, points out the Fisher Phillips Employment Privacy Blog.

Partner Jeffrey Dretler discusses the privacy concerns for employees and the compliance issues for employers related to collection of biometric data.

He suggests that employers should establish safe practices and be on the lookout for new developments. And he concludes with five suggested steps employers should take to be in compliance.

Read the article.

A post on the website of Haynes and Boone calls attention to the apparent failure to acknowledge how the economic realities of oil and gas leasing and operating in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in increasingly deepwater environments at a time of low oil and gas prices impacts the Interior Department’s stated goal of achieving “American Energy Dominance.”

“Once a serious concern only to small and mid-sized operators, the existence of mounting decommissioning liabilities to new lessees and predecessors-in-interest has stunned the offshore industry where some companies are discovering that their decommissioning liabilities are greater than existing assets,” according to Robert (Bob) P. Thibault and Christopher J. Reagen.

“This new reality in the OCS has created barriers to entry for all but the super-majors as new, small, and mid-sized independents face impossible-to-satisfy demands for many operators and leases,” they write.

Read the article.

Technology is revolutionizing nearly every aspect of contracts, from how they are generated to how they are terminated. In some cases, contract tech is beneficial – but in other cases, as with the Internet of Things (IoT), tech is making contracts more and more difficult to analyze,  according to IoT Business News.

“Many experts believe that contract law isn’t prepared for the IoT revolution, which is dangerous considering the abundance of IoT devices already in operation,” the article says. “Businesses and consumers alike should be aware of concerns regarding contracts and the IoT, so everyone can stay protected in the years to come.”

The article defines a contract in the age of IoT and discusses how the IoT has changed contracts.

Read the article.

Poorly drafted waivers include lawyerly language that may appear concrete on the surface but crumbles during a lawsuit, warns Hellmuth & Johnson in a blog post.

Authors Micheal D. Howard and Jason S. Raether describe a recent case involving a fitness studio  that demonstrates how a poorly drafted waiver can be as effective as having no waiver at all.

In the case, involving an injury to the customer of a fitness studio, a trial court found in favor of the studio, based on the language of an indemnity agreement. But the appellate court reversed, finding the language to be inadequate.

Read the article.

A well-designed arbitration clause can give the parties substantial control over procedures and costs, as well as over who decides which issues and when, writes Daniel Pascucci in the blog ADR: Advice from the Trenches.

But, the Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo lawyer warns, all too often parties make agreements that leave the decisions on most of their options to others or to chance.

In his article, he dissects the generic arbitration clause, and describes what an arbitration clause should do and what it can do.

“Arbitration’s promise of being faster, more efficient, and more predictable than judicial litigation should be viewed as conditional – if the parties are willing to put in the effort to design a suitable process, arbitration can deliver on its promise,” Pascucci concludes.

Read the article.