Solution providers shouldn’t let long, tedious contracts get in the way of closing deals, advised lawyer Mark D. Grossman when he spoke at the Ingram Micro One conference.

His advise was aimed at users of SLAs, or service level agreements, for cloud-based processes.

CRN reports that Grossman said solution providers should design a “cookie-cutter” contract – one that can be used with multiple clients with little modification – to make the sales process much shorter.

Reporter Joseph F. Kovar writes that Grossman said the key to that is to keep as much of the contract as ambiguous as possible. “None of this is unethical or immoral,” he said. “Everything is agreed to … I want to help you close deals. Don’t get bogged down in legal terms.”

Read the article.

A federal court in Colorado recently upheld a franchisor’s non-competition provision despite that state’s strong public policy against non-competes, reports Alexander S. Radus on Fox Rothschild’s Franchise Law Update.

“The franchisor prevailed due to its thoughtful contract drafting and ability to effectively communicate the unique nature of franchising to the court,” Radus writes.

In the article, he describes the case and concludes that the decision illustrates why franchisors should ensure that their franchisees’ owners and key employees, especially those with access to confidential materials and training, sign non-competes in their individual capacities.

Read the article.

Exterro has published “FRCP & E-Discovery: The Layman’s Guide” to sort out the technical aspects of the FRCP as they relate to e-discovery, supported with relevant case law and expert opinions. The publication can be downloaded at no charge.

“Simply put, The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) prescribe how federal civil lawsuits are governed,” Exterro says on its website. “The FRCP is constantly evolving and many parts may change over the years. The FRCP is intentionally vague, with the idea that judges are not to be constrained by a rigid set of directives, and ultimately, judicial rulings will determine what the FRCP really mean and how they are to be applied.”

The guide includes:

• 30-pages on how the FRCP governs the e-discovery process
• Expert analysis from federal judges and legal scholars
• Practical e-discovery tips for taking advantage of the new FRCP e-discovery rules

Download the guide.

Business Intelligence Associates, Inc. (BIA), a national eDiscovery service provider celebrating its 15th anniversary, announced that it has acquired the eDiscovery and Computer Forensics Division of U.S. Legal Support, Inc., a national court reporting, record retrieval and litigation services company.

In a release, the company said:

In acquiring U.S. Legal Support’s eDiscovery Practice, BIA brings its state-of-the-art, comprehensive eDiscovery services and solutions to those clients, featuring innovative technologies, advanced workflows and outstanding customer service. BIA has also partnered with U.S. Legal Support to ensure that U.S. Legal Support’s clients continue to have access to the best eDiscovery services and solutions available.

“We are excited to welcome U.S. Legal Support’s eDiscovery and Computer Forensics professionals to the BIA team, and we look forward to introducing exciting new services and solutions to U.S. Legal Support eDiscovery Practice clients,” said Brian Schrader, BIA’s president and CEO. “From integrated legal hold and remote data collection solutions to our domestic attorney review services, U.S. Legal Support clients now have access to comprehensive solutions that cover every aspect of the eDiscovery process in one place.”

BIA has extensive experience working with both corporations and law firms, and this acquisition will position it to reach more law firms – helping them implement successful and efficient eDiscovery solutions that require less time and financial investment.

“This strategic partnership provides us the opportunity to focus our resources on court reporting, record retrieval and trial services, while ensuring our clients are afforded the most advanced eDiscovery tools available,” said Charles F. Schugart, president and CEO of U.S. Legal Support. “Working with BIA allows us to expand our eDiscovery service offering to existing customers, who have a growing need for these services in today’s digital society. We are looking forward to working with BIA in furtherance of our commitment to provide a complete solution to our client’s litigation needs.”

NAVEX Global has released its first ever role-based Ethics & Compliance Benchmark Report for Legal Professionals, designed to help legal professionals get unique insights into compliance challenges and solutions.

Download this report to learn:

• What general counsels value most in their ethics and compliance programs

• A proactive approach to resource constraints

• The most common methods legal professionals use to administer and manage attestations

The report provides insights and benchmarks for compliance programs, from the eyes of legal professionals. It includes best-practice recommendations and discusses how legal departments view compliance training, third-party due diligence and policy and procedure management.

Download the free report.

In the era of Harvey Weinstein, The Washington Post warns, you shouldn’t be surprised to arrive at your company holiday party to find someone from human resources “distributing drink tickets, two per head, as if it’s communist Russia and we’re rationing trash red wine now.”

Reporter Lavanya Ramanathan refers to a poll conducted this fall by placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that only 49 percent of companies said they planned to serve alcohol at their holiday events, compared with nearly 62 percent last year.

Ross J. Peters, an Illinois lawyer who specializes in sexual harassment cases, told the reporter: “Sometimes, men feel it’s an opportunity to make themselves more familiar in a party atmosphere. Harassers use it for intimate conversation.”

Read the Post‘s article.

As lawyers for the world’s highest-profile client, John M. Dowd and Ty Cobb have come under scrutiny for their every move and utterance — and the criticism has been harsh, according to a report The Washington Post published on President Trump’s legal team’s representation in the Russia probe.

The report says that, when the president “frets that Mueller may be getting too close to him, they assure him he has done nothing wrong, urge him to resist attacking the special counsel and insist that the investigation is wrapping up — first, they said, by Thanksgiving, then by Christmas and now by early next year.”

The team is derided by some as being indiscreet, error-prone and outmatched, write Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman.

They quote Alan Dershowitz, a criminal defense attorney and Harvard Law School professor: “These are not the kinds of things that one would expect from the most powerful man in America, who has a choice of anybody to be his defense counsel. Well — almost anybody.”

Read the Post‘s article.

A lawyer who spent six months on the run after pleading guilty in a $500 million Social Security fraud scheme is back in Kentucky after he was caught outside a Pizza Hut in Honduras, reports CBS News.

Eric Conn pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the federal government and bribing a judge to fix Social Security fraud cases, but a federal judge released Conn on $1.25 million bail. Conn then absconded.

Honduran authorities captured Conn and handed him over to the FBI for a private plane ride back to Lexington, Kentucky. The lawyer who billed himself as “Mr. Social Security” was sentenced in absentia last summer to a 12-year prison term — the maximum possible.

Read the CBS News article.

Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Linda Emery has joined the firm as a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm’s Milwaukee office.

In a release, the firm said Emery focuses her practice in the areas of information technology, data privacy and security, supply chain, the Internet of Things and trademarks. She has experience in data privacy and security at the international, federal and state levels both in regulatory compliance and establishing best practices. She focuses on the interrelationship between the laws and regulations and utilizes her knowledge and experience to assist clients in the consumer and industrial products, financial services, insurance, education and health care industries.

The release continues:

Emery has spent substantial time helping manufacturing, health care, and technology companies in the smart devices and Internet of Things (“IOT”) arena. She uses her background in technology, privacy and telecommunications to advise clients on the data privacy and security laws that impact this fast-paced environment. She has advised clients on areas ranging from cyber-attacks on interconnected devices to product liability claims to intellectual property risks to the Federal Trade Commission’s Guidance on the IOT. Prior to private practice, she served as in-house counsel at two large corporations, providing her with invaluable insight on legal business needs from the client’s perspective.

“We are thrilled to welcome Linda to the Quarles & Brady Intellectual Property Group. Clients will benefit from her diverse experience and broad range of technology and IP issues. From health care to manufactured and consumer products, Linda has deep expertise and knowledge that informs her business-focused counsel,” said Jack Cook, national chair of Quarles & Brady’s Intellectual Property Group.

Emery received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University.

Kathleen “Kitty” Ryan has joined Akerman LLP as a partner in the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Practice Group in the Los Angeles office. She previously was with Buckley Sandler and also previously served as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Regulations. Prior to joining the CFPB, she was Senior Regulatory Counsel at JP Morgan Chase.

“Kitty’s extensive experience as a regulator, combined with her work as in-house counsel, makes her an invaluable asset to our clients, particularly within the areas of CFPB rulemaking and compliance,” said William Heller, chair of the Consumer Financial Services Practice Group. “Her impressive financial services background builds upon our team’s national strengths in the home loan space and adds a deep understanding of laws governing bank and non-bank consumer debt originators and servicers.”

Ryan focuses her practice on fair lending and regulatory compliance matters, particularly on issues related to the Fair Housing Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Community Reinvestment Act, Truth in Lending Act, and UDAAP. She has worked with consumer financial services and products — including mortgages, auto loans, installment lending and prepaid cards.

In a release, the firm said:

During her time at CFPB Ryan oversaw the completion of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rulemaking — also known as Know Before You Owe — and the HMDA rulemaking that completely rewrote Regulation C. She also oversaw the development of CFPB’s debt collection rulemaking and extensive amendments to the CFPB’s mortgage servicing rules, and is well-versed in the CFPB’s 2017 small dollar lending rule. Ryan also advised on enforcement and supervisory matters — including matters involving fair lending, RESPA and UDAAP.

As in-house counsel at JPMorgan Chase, Ryan analyzed a range of consumer financial products and practices across multiple business lines and provided legal and regulatory guidance and support. She also spent more than 10 years in the Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, where she led several TILA, ECOA, HMDA and CRA rulemakings, including the 2002-2004 HMDA amendments and the 2008 Regulation Z Higher-Priced Mortgage Loan amendments, as well as the mortgage loan originator compensation rules.

Ryan is the latest former CFPB official to join Akerman’s Consumer Financial Services Practice Group. The team previously welcomed Washington, D.C., partners Mary “Molly” Calkins and Thomas J. Kearney. Calkins served under the CFPB’s Division of Supervision, Enforcement & Fair Lending, as well as the Professional Liability & Financial Crimes Section of the Federal Deposit Insurance Company. Kearney served within the CFPB’s Office of Regulations where he worked closely with Ryan.

Senate Republicans have declared war on the American Bar Association, according to a report from Politico.

For decades, the ABA has assessed judicial nominees and their fitness to serve on the bench. But now, reporters Seung Min Kim and John Bresnahan write, as the ABA has emerged as a major stumbling block in President Donald Trump’s effort to transform the courts, the GOP is accusing the nonpartisan group of holding a liberal slant and is seeking to sideline it.

“The ABA has deemed at least four of Trump’s judicial nominees ‘not qualified’ — a high number, although other administrations had the ABA evaluate candidates privately before they were nominated,” they write.

Republicans have responded by ratcheting up their attacks to try to discredit the century-old group.

Read the Politico article.

In an unexpected shake up in the oil pipeline industry, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently declined to approve an oil pipeline’s proposal to have its marketing affiliate obtain its pipeline capacity at full price and then resell the space at a discount, a practice that is currently widespread in the industry, according to a report published by Dorsey & Whitney LLP.

According to pleadings in Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P., Magellan filed a petition for declaratory order requesting the Commission declare its proposal to establish a marketing affiliate to buy, sell, and ship crude oil on Magellan’s pipeline system lawful under the Interstate Commerce Act.

“The proposed marketing affiliate would pay Magellan’s shipping rates filed with FERC, even if the affiliate resold the capacity at an economic loss—where the price differential between the origin and destination markets is less than the filed tariff rates. Magellan said that even though the affiliated company would lose money on the transaction, the integrated company would make money overall and would be able to attract more crude oil shippers. Magellan argued that due to the prevalence of these transactions in the oil pipeline industry, it was at a disadvantage in attracting oil pipeline shippers because it could only offer transportation services at its filed tariff rate,” according to the article.

FERC’s ruling declining to approved the proposal will likely cause oil pipelines to review their current marketing affiliate contracts and will impact how marketing affiliates do business in the future.

Read the article.

Reed Smith LLP will present a webinar offering a look back on celebrity data discovery law in 2017 and how it affects you and your organization.

The one-hour complimentary event will be Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Presenters will be U.S. Chief District Judge Joy Flowers Conti (W.D. Pa.), e-discovery authority and Reed Smith partner David Cohen, noted entertainment lawyer Michael Kump of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert, and join Relativity’s David Horrigan.

Objectives are:

• What you should—and should not—do if you or your client suddenly become a news or social media celebrity
• Understanding your legal obligations to preserve evidence for litigation
• Knowing the potential pitfalls with data sources, including audio files and text messages
• Learning ways to protect and avoid waiving the attorney-client privilege

Register for the webinar.

HousingWire will present a complimentary webinar on digital mortgages on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, at 11 a.m. Pacific time / 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Anyone who cannot watch the presentation in real-time can register to receive a recording of the webinar afterwards.

eSignLive by Vasco will sponsor the event.

“With emerging alternative lenders aggressively entering the market, traditional banks and lenders are looking to the digital mortgage as a competitive advantage,” HousingWire reports. “While originators have successfully automated the initial stages of the mortgage application and disclosure delivery process with electronic signatures, they haven’t fully digitized the entire mortgage workflow. With the help of eClosing and eVaulting platforms however, the “holy grail” of the digitization of complex mortgage transactions is now at arm’s length.”

Topics will include:

• How and where the industry is adopting eMortgage technology
• Legal and regulatory requirements
• E-apps, e-disclosures, e-closings, e-vaulting… where you should start
• Implementation options for a phased transition
• A live demonstration

Register for the webinar.

Although an assignment and delegation provision is often placed in the “miscellaneous” or “general” sections of commercial contracts, it should not be thought of as standard “boilerplate” language that never changes, according to the Tech & Sourcing blog at Morgan Lewis.

Authors Peter M. Watt-Morse and Christopher C. Archer provide an overview of some of the key issues that should be considered when drafting an assignment provision for commercial and technology agreements.

Some of the specific topics include “yes or no to assignment,” “assignment of entire contract vs. individual rights and obligation,” “notice and consent,” and “impermissible transfers.”

Read the article.

Courts will generally enforce a non-compete agreement negotiated as part of a business sale as long as it is reasonable in geographic scope and duration, writes Michael P. Connolly in the Murtha Cullina Family Business Perspectives blog.

“What is reasonable will depend on factors such as the type of business being purchased, the pre-sale geographic reach of the business, and the consideration paid for the restriction on the seller’s future competition,” he explains. “Parties to a non-compete should therefore carefully consider these factors when drafting the agreement. The parties also should carefully define what type of ‘competitive’ conduct will be restricted.”

Connolly discusses the case of E.T. Products, LLC v. D.E. Miller Holdings, Inc., in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently addressed the enforceability of non-compete agreements that had been negotiated in connection with a sale of a business.

Read the article.

Contract drafters sometimes confuse governing law clauses and jurisdiction clauses, according to a post on the website of Wilk Auslander.

Karen A. Monroe and Olga Larionova explain those clauses are related but are not the same. There is a greater likelihood of confusion or overlap in the context of international contracts, versus domestic contracts.

Their article presents a sample governing law clause, as well as a sample juristiction/forum selection clause for dispute resolution by courts and not by arbitration.

Read the article.

Non-disclosure agreements are part of an arsenal of legal tools that employers have at their disposal to protect their reputation and their bottom line — but those tools often come at the expense of wronged employees, writes Michelle Chen in an article for The Nation.

She also discusses the use of forced arbitration that requires employees to channel their workplace disputes through an extralegal negotiation process, rather than through the courts.

She adds:

According to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), both forced arbitration and NDAs have in many workplaces become a standard tactic to preempt workers from taking legal action or disclosing sexual-harassment and -assault charges. These agreements force workers to sign away their rights in exchange for a job, by making them agree to settle future disputes outside the courts through an opaque negotiation process controlled by management and lawyers—effectively sentencing women to silence before they ever step into a courtroom.

Read the article.

Trial law firm Hamilton Wingo has added attorney Fabiola Segovia, a member of the inaugural graduating class of UNT Dallas College of Law, to the Dallas firm.

Born and raised in Arlington, Texas, Segovia joins the firm to practice civil litigation in wrongful death and personal injury cases.

“Fabiola has all the qualities to be a great advocate for clients,” said Managing Partner Chris Hamilton. “She is passionate about finding the right solutions for people involved in legal disputes. We take pride in finding homegrown talent that shares the same passion for justice as every other member of our firm.”

During law school, Segovia served as a judicial intern for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the 68th Judicial District Court in Dallas County and Probate Court No. 1 in Dallas County. She also worked with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys. Segovia, a native Spanish speaker, is a former board member of UNT Dallas Law Review’s multimedia journal Accessible Law where she produced articles for the Spanish speaking community. She was also a Teaching Fellow for the Legal Writing Department at UNT Dallas College of Law.

In a release, the firm said Segovia realized her passion for fighting for people’s rights while earning her undergraduate degree from the University of North Texas and working for law firms to pay her way through college. The desire to help others with their legal issues led to a career in the legal industry and eventually to Hamilton Wingo.

“Hamilton Wingo consists of attorneys with their own unique legal expertise,” said Segovia. “Each lawyer has a wealth of trial experience and each fights for what they believe in – from their daily activities for the firm to their pro bono work. I am honored to learn from them; I feel at home.”

Farrell Fritz announced that Charlotte A. Biblow will be honored by the American Heart Association at their 2018 Long Island Go Red for Women luncheon to be held Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at Crest Hollow in Woodbury, NY.

Biblow, a Bayside, NY resident, is an environmental law partner in the firm’s Uniondale office. She served as a board member of the Association’s Long Island chapter from 1993-2007. In 2005, she received the association’s James W. Dowling Award for outstanding service in advancing the heart program and stimulating public support to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Biblow earned her J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law; her M.S. from Hunter College and her B.S. from the State University of New York at Albany.