Managing a defensible legal hold process is a demanding job, reports Zapproved. A lawyer must know his or her duty to preserve evidence — and issue legal holds quickly, clearly and securely as soon as litigation is reasonably anticipated.

Success requires clear strategy and the right technology to make it possible. For helpful insights,Zapproved has published an updated legal hold how-to guide. It walks through the six steps to a smooth and defensible process.

Implementing these best practices can ensure the legal hold process meets its duty:
– Use legal hold templates to reduce risk
– Uncover critical insights through custodian interviews
– Improve custodian response rates to litigation holds
– Handle terminated employees on legal hold
– Release a litigation hold
– Create a defensible preservation audit trail

Download the free guide.

Bloomberg reports that MetLife Inc. General Counsel Ricardo Anzaldua is stepping down after he helped win a court battle that reversed the government’s designation of the insurer as too big to fail.

Anzaldua will be on the job until the end of June, and he’ll continue to advise Chief Executive Officer Steve Kandarian through the end of the year, the CEO said Thursday in a memo to staff.

“Under Anzaldua, MetLife was the only company to go to court to fight the designation by a government panel as a non-bank systemically important financial institution,” reports Katherine Chiglinsky.”General Electric Co. sold assets to shed its finance unit’s SIFI status. And American International Group Inc. said that the label, which can bring increased regulation and tighter capital rules, wasn’t a big deal.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration lowered its crude-oil price forecast and raised its production outlook for 2018 in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, reports Oil & Gas Journal.

“EIA expects that supply growth from the US, Brazil, and members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2018 will contribute to world oil inventories increasing by 100,000 b/d in 2018, with the largest builds expected in that year’s second quarter. EIA also forecasts that implied global petroleum and liquid fuels inventories will decline by 200,000 b/d in 2017 and then increase by an average of 100,000 b/d in 2018,” according to the journal.

The agency’s forecast assumes OPEC extends its cuts beyond March 2018, “but that noncompliance, which begins to grow in late-2017, increases somewhat in second-half 2018. Without a further extension of the OPEC agreement, EIA would expect larger inventory builds in 2018 than are included in this forecast.”

Read the article.

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Practical Law will present a 75-minute webinar addressing common issues and structures for partnership and LLC equity compensation.

The event will be Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 1-2:15 p.m. EDT.

Partnership and LLC equity compensation programs raise many of the same issues that arise with corporate equity compensation. However, because of the“flow-through” nature of partnership taxation, there are some unique planning opportunities and pitfalls that can arise in the realm of partnership equity compensation.

Topics will include:

• The difference between a “capital interest” and a “profits interest”;
• Profits interests subject to vesting restrictions;
• Tax Treatment of partnership and LLC equity awards upon various liquidity events; and
• Collateral tax and employee benefit consequences of partnership and LLC equity awards.

Presenters:

• Michael P. Spiro, Partner, Finn Dixon & Herling LLP
• Adam S. Mendelowitz, Associate, Finn Dixon & Herling LLP

A short Q&A session will follow.

Register for the webinar.

While both relatively simple concepts, allowances and contingencies are often confused with one another. Conflating the two can lead to pitfalls, warn Randolph E. Ruff and Jonathan M. Mraunac of Ogletree Deakins.

“An easy way to remind oneself of the difference is: allowances are for known unknowns, and contingencies are for unknown unknowns,” they write.

In their article, they explain the differences between allowances and contingencies, how they are used, and how they can be drafted.

Read the article.

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There are a few things every lawyer is expected to be able to do — but every lawyer should be able to review a contract, writes Gary J. Ross for Above the Law.

The first tip Ross offers is “make sure your client can get out. This is most important.”

Other topics include renewal terms, termination, indemnification, collections expenses, amendments, governing law and jurisdiction, and notification.

Read the article.

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Advertising and public relations are great ways to get your name out, but not every law firm has that kind of budget, writes Amy Boardman Hunt on the website of Muse Communications. And with newsrooms shrinking, it’s become increasingly hard for lawyers – especially those with niche, non-media-friendly practice areas – to successfully pitch their expertise to the media.

That dynamic has helped create the rise of the legal blog.

She writes about blog post subjects, imposing deadlines and accountability, writing your legal blog, formatting and search engine optimization, and playing the long game.

Read the article.

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By Natalie Lynch
Lynch Service Company

Employee handbooks contain pivotal information about the business and expectations of employees. Handbooks that contain outdated information may contain illegal provisions or lack best practices. This can expose the business to unnecessary civil liability or a backlash by the public for perceived slights or biases. By reviewing employee handbooks on a regular basis, employers can proactively safeguard their company’s interests.

Importance of Employee Handbooks
Employee handbooks contain important information about the business, including general rules, expectations, and protocol. Employee handbooks establish acceptable behavior and defines unacceptable behavior. These important documents often explain the fundamental policies that the business employs. With clear policies in place, it is more likely that they will be followed. If rules are broken, there is a set plan in place to deal with these issues. If the company is sued, the written contents of the employee handbook may protect the business.

Employee handbooks must be carefully constructed, taking into consideration the company’s industry and other factors specific to the business. While setting out the expectations of the business, an employee handbook can often be most effective as a defensive tool against potential lawsuits from employees or others because it establishes that a particular rule or policy was in effect at the time of some specified event that led to the filing of a complaint. If the company followed its own policies and the employee was aware of these policies, there will be less of an argument in favor of the employee.

Importance of Updating Employee Handbooks
Laws are constantly changing and evolving. It is important that employee handbooks are updated periodically to account for these changes in the law. Additionally, employees must be updated about new policies and changes. In addition to providing employees with a copy of the handbook, employees should also sign an acknowledgement indicating that they received the handbook. It is often recommended that employee handbooks be updated at least on an annual basis. Having a professional periodically review relevant laws and regulations can ensure that only the most current information is included in the handbook. Additionally, reviewing the handbook for clarity can help remove ambiguous language. Like with the original receipt of the handbook, employees should be required to sign an acknowledgment indicating that they are aware of the changes and have received a copy of them.

Provisions Included in Employee Handbooks
Handbooks may contain a variety of different provisions based on the particular needs and considerations of the business. However, some common provisions that are incorporated into these handbooks include:

At-Will Statement
By having an employee handbook, the employer will not want to infer in any way that the handbook takes the employment relationship outside of the at-will framework. This provision may state very simply that an employee can be terminated at any point and for any reason. This statement can help shield the business from claims that the employee can only be terminated for cause.

Disciplinary Procedure
The employee handbook should specify a disciplinary policy. This policy may be progressive in nature, such as increasing the severity of discipline as repeated conduct occurs. By following these procedures closely, the business may be able to shield itself from claims of discrimination. Any disciplinary policy should also make it clear that egregious activity will result in immediate termination.

Attendance Policy
The handbook should also specify the attendance policy. The handbook may state that excessive absences may result in termination. At the same time, the handbook should take care to differentiate between regular absences and absences due to medical purposes to avoid violating any federal or state laws.

Overtime Policy
A policy regarding overtime may also be included in the employee handbook. Any policy should take care to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act. There may be a requirement for managers to approve before overtime work is performed. To avoid legal liability, the time may be paid, but the employee may be disciplined.

Anti-Discrimination Policy
An anti-discrimination policy is an important component to an employee handbook. The employer may state that it has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. This policy should outline the process that an employee should follow to report complaints of harassment. The policy may provide examples of harassment and outline the potential disciplinary measures that will be followed in the event of non-compliance.

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San Antonio business attorneys William McDonough, Peter Broderick and James McDonough have joined Jackson Walker LLP as partners in the San Antonio office, as well as associate Art Cavazos.

“We continue to attract an outstanding next generation of lawyers and are delighted to have Jimmy, Pete and Billy join our team,” said Stephanie Chandler, leader of the firm’s San Antonio Corporate and Securities group. “We expect to see substantial opportunities in the San Antonio market in the coming years, and their extraordinary experience in a wide range of sophisticated matters will be vital in meeting the needs of the business community here. Their addition further expands our already strong San Antonio footprint.”

In a news release, the firm said:

Pete Broderick counsels both private and municipal clients with real estate development, economic development, and land use planning projects. He also has an extensive commercial real estate practice representing landlords and tenants of commercial properties of all kinds, with particular emphasis on retail and office leasing.

Jimmy McDonough counsels public and private companies and financial institutions in a broad array of corporate finance transactions. He also regularly represents clients in all types of commercial real estate transactions, including both developed and undeveloped site acquisitions and dispositions, portfolio convenience store (with fuel) acquisitions and dispositions, mortgage lending transactions and commercial office and retail leasing transactions.

Billy McDonough advises a diverse range of businesses engaged in mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and joint ventures. He represents sellers, purchasers and targets in a number of industries, including the medical device, downstream energy, multi-unit fuel retail, and financial institution industries. He also advises private and public clients in general corporate matters.

Art Cavazos, Jr., a senior level associate, focuses on businesses transactions in various industries including oil and gas, finance, construction, healthcare, agriculture, insurance services and telecommunications.

San Antonio office managing partner Scott Rose stated that “the addition of such outstanding professionals as Billy, Pete and Jimmy, all with deep roots in our community, adds to the vibrant fabric of the office and further evidences Jackson Walker’s strong commitment to San Antonio.”

These four additions bring the growth of the San Antonio office to seven new lawyers since the beginning of 2017. Steve Jacobs, Steve Seidel, and Noah Speck joined the firm in San Antonio earlier this year. The firm also landed six IP litigators in Houston in March and added three lawyers in Austin in April.

“We are proud of our success in attracting so many talented individuals to our firm,” said firm-wide managing partner Wade Cooper. “They are making our great Texas firm even better.”

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Intellectual property attorney Seth Horwitz and estate planning and probate attorney Catherine Bright Haws have joined the Dallas office of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP, as of counsel.

“Seth and Catherine are talented lawyers who embrace the high standards that clients expect from our firm,” said Carrington Coleman Managing Partner Bruce Collins. “Each brings an impressive understanding of the needs of their clients in their individual practice areas.”

In a news release, the firm said Horwitz’s experience in patent preparation and prosecution bolsters the firm’s formidable intellectual property and technology law practice. His work includes patent portfolio management; inter partes review (IPR); trademark registration and opposition; copyright licensing and enforcement; domain name arbitration; and identity theft, privacy and publicity rights matters. A registered patent attorney, his work encompasses a variety of technologies including:

· Network architectures
· Software as a service (SaaS)
· Semiconductor lithography and device architectures
· Optics
· Security Systems
· Image compression and processing
· Industrial machines
· Firearms

A 1998 graduate of Rice University with degrees in electrical engineering and math, and a 2001 graduate of Columbia University School of Law, Horwitz joins Carrington Coleman from the Dallas office of Glast, Phillips & Murray, PC.

Board certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Haws is an advisor to clients on estate planning and probate matters, including:

· Will and trust agreement preparation
· Planning for a potential mental incapacity
· Probate and estate administration
· Family business formation and succession
· Fiduciary litigation
· Estate, gift and generation-skipping tax planning

A 2001 graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, Haws joins the firm from Key Harrington Barnes, PC.

Carrington Coleman is a 47-year-old Dallas-based law firm focused on litigation and transactional services in the real estate, oil and gas, securities, construction, information technology, professional services, health care industries, and family law, among others. The firm also represents public entities and provides counsel in the areas of corporate transactions, corporate governance, banking, bankruptcy/restructuring, intellectual property, employment, and estate planning. Learn more about the firm at www.carringtoncoleman.com.

In a new effort to compete with Amazon’s delivery system, Walmart says it plans to have store employees on their way home from work deliver online orders to customers. While it may make business sense, it also raises a host of legal questions, says Justin Markel, a Houston labor and employment lawyer with Roberts Markel Weinberg Butler Hailey PC.

Markel’s comments on the matter were posted on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing:

First is determining how much to pay the employees for this extra work. The deliveries will be considered non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so the employees will be entitled to overtime if this extra drive time puts them over 40 hours in a workweek. But how can Walmart be sure as to how long the deliveries actually take? If employees are required to electronically check in when deliveries are made, that may create an incentive to take the scenic route to the customer’s home. If, on the other hand, Walmart requires them to have GPS trackers, state law privacy concerns might arise. What about the extra gas and maintenance costs? Walmart should consider paying employees extra to ensure that these out-of-pocket expenses don’t cause them to fall below minimum wage.

Then there are public safety issues. Walmart should look into the employees’ driving histories before asking them to make deliveries. According to news reports, Walmart will conduct background checks. That should be a comprehensive review. Criminal histories that might have been less relevant for certain non-interpersonal store jobs might be more relevant if an employee is sent to customers’ homes.

Even with safe drivers on the road, accidents will be all but inevitable. If an employee is in an accident on the way to a customer’s house, the employee will likely be considered acting in the scope of employment. That will likely lead to vicarious liability on Walmart’s part. To protect against risk of claims from injured victims, it would be advisable for Walmart to discuss its non-owned auto insurance coverages with its insurance brokers.

As Walmart tests this program, it will have to carefully navigate many legal issues. Time will tell whether the cost savings and efficiencies will outweigh the legal risks.

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Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “The Difficulties of Being Obvious: Practical Advice for Overcoming Obviousness Rejections,” featuring Fitch Even partner Stephen Favakeh and Fitch Even patent agent, Thomas James.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, June 22, 2017, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12:00 noon EDT.

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2784708194098019841

In the predictable arts, an obviousness rejection is typically based on a combination of multiple references, the firm says on its website. Attempting to overcome such a rejection can be a perplexing and frustrating experience. This is particularly true when the patent examiner is combining references to arrive at the claimed invention in what can be a highly subjective manner. Nevertheless, when it comes time to respond, there will usually be more than one way to get the job done.

The webinar will address best practices for responding to obviousness rejections, covering these topics and more:
• How to take the prevailing and latest Federal Circuit case law into account in your responses
• Making effective claim amendments specifically tailored to overcome the obviousness rejection
• Developing persuasive arguments in support of patentability over a combination of references

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Foley & Lardner LLP announced that Karen Mangasarian has joined the firm’s Chemical, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice as a partner in the New York office.

Mangasarian regularly counsels a diverse group of life sciences clients across a wide range of technology areas, including small molecule pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical formulations, biologics, diagnostic and therapeutic methods in molecular and cellular biology, immunology, microbiology, biochemistry, genomics and computational biology, the firm said in a news release.

The release continues:

“Karen’s extensive experience handling a variety of intellectual property matters for clients in the life sciences space, paired with her deep background in pharmacology and biochemistry, aligns well with our focus on helping clients maximize the value of, and protect, their technology,” said Kristel Schorr, Chair of the firm’s Chemical, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice.

Mangasarian works closely with her clients to provide patent counseling services, including obtaining international and domestic patent rights, creating competitive patent strategies, strategic planning, licensing and product life cycle management. She also has experience with post-grant procedures, such as interferences, re-examinations, oppositions and litigation.

“Karen brings an exceptional depth of patent counseling knowledge to Foley,” said Peter Wang, Managing Partner of the firm’s New York City office. “Her experience complements our office’s strong Patent Litigation and Trademark, Copyright & Advertising Litigation practices, as well as our robust national patent counseling work. We are delighted to have her join us as an integral part of our team.”

Prior to joining Foley, Mangasarian was a partner at Ropes & Gray LLP.

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Image by Mark Moz

A small trading exchange on Thursday filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and nine other banks of conspiring to shut it out of the $9.9 trillion credit default swap market, reports Reuters.

The plaintiff, Tera Group, alleges the banks organized a boycott of its seven-year-old TeraExchange platform by refusing both to send it any CDS transactions, and to clear and settle any CDS trades that customers wanted to handle there, according to reporter Jonathan Stempel. The complaint said the banks used their 95 percent market share to require that trading follow a protocol known as “request for quote,” which Tera described as opaque and inefficient.

“Tera said this enabled banks to boost profit by keeping traders in the dark about prices, defeating a goal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms, while instilling a “great fear of retaliation” against traders who defected to rival platforms,” Stempel writes.

Read the Reuters article.

Documents released this week reveal that lawyers, lobbyists and industry executives who can now shape policies benefiting their former clients and companies have been allowed to work in the Trump administration, even with the president’s vow to “drain the swamp” of influence peddling, reports The New York Times.

The report by Eric Lipton and Danielle Ivory begins with an example:

Lance Leggitt helped collect $400,000 in fees last year while working as a lobbyist to try to influence Medicare policy at the Department of Health and Human Services — an agency where he now serves as chief of staff.

Under an executive order signed by President Trump in January, lobbyists were banned from that kind of government work. But Mr. Leggitt is among a half dozen officials across the federal government who have been granted special waivers to disregard ethics rules, according to a new set of documents released Wednesday.

Read the NYT article.

Politico reports that the Russia investigations are bad news for President Donald Trump, but they’re a blessing for white-collar lawyers and crisis consultants whose careers are primed to take off as the criminal probes unfold.

“More than a dozen attorneys and crisis communications specialists have already started working for Trump associates touched by the unfolding Russia scandal, according to a POLITICO tally. People close to the probes say that number is expected only to grow as more than 20 other senior campaign aides and White House officials begin receiving subpoenas, grand jury summonses and other requests from special counsel Robert Mueller as well as congressional committees,” write Darren Samuelsohn and Andrew Restuccia.

The authors quote Harlan Loeb, a crisis management expert who worked for Enron and other corporate clients and now chairs Edelman’s crisis and risk practice: “If you’re doing it right, it’s a career maker. This is the material that great books are made of.”

Read the Politico article.

While a primary goal of any well-crafted commercial agreement is durability — terms that work for the life of the agreement—the only certainty in the course of a long-term commercial relationship is the inevitability of change, write Peter M. Watt-Morse and Glen W. Rectenwald for Morgan Lewis.\

“Once a customer has become dependent on a third party for essential goods or services to operate its business, an unforeseen shift in its business requirements or a change to applicable laws can create holdup problems for customers, leading to costly renegotiations of the original agreement,” they explain. “The right change management mechanisms can manage these risks by allocating the responsibility and costs for changes and creating clear and effective procedures for managing and implementing changes to the agreement.”

They discuss the issues of mandatory changes and allocating the costs of changes.

Read the article.

ValueWalk has posted an audio recording featuring Wharton’s Kevin Werbach and Nicolas Cornell discussing their research on smart contracts.

They recently spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about their paper on smart contracts, “Contracts Ex Machina,” which literally means ‘contracts from the machine’ — a nod to Greek tragedy’s deus ex machina plot device. The question they tackled was this: Could smart contracts one day replace contract law?

On its website, ValueWalk explains: “‘Smart’ contracts on the blockchain are generating a lot of interest because of their innovative nature and potential to substantially boost efficiency in many areas of law and business. But these contracts — digital agreements that automatically fulfill themselves — come with serious limitations as well.”

Listen to the recording.

Zapproved has published a free guide called “Get In-House Processing and Review Howtos” that can be downloaded from the company’s website.

The guide’s subtitle is “5 Ways to Slash Spending with Cloud E-Discovery,”

“Keeping in-house e-discovery costs in check is a constant balancing act,” the company says on its website. “Complex litigation and regulatory matters — along with pressure to streamline operational spending — create an often expensive e-discovery reality.”

The guide discusses:

• Use modern, cloud-based e-discovery software tools to bring routine e-discovery processes in-house.
• Modernize legacy systems to limit dependence on IT.
• Empower legal teams to slash expenses, improve data security and speed time to resolution.

• Get insights faster by plugging in data processing tools
• Save money by reviewing routine, high-velocity matters in-house
• Improve response to internal investigations and FOIA information requests

Download the guide.

Bloomberg Law offers a backgrounder on Walt Disney Co.’s ABC News upcoming trial in South Dakota, where the network faces as much as $5.7 billion in potential damages over allegations that it made false and misleading statements about the food additive “pink slime” in a 2012 series of reports.

South Dakota’s Beef Products Inc. claimed the coverage caused sales to plummet, costing the company $1.9 billion and forcing layoffs.

The question-and-answer article covers such issues as What’s pink slime? What is the lawsuit about? What does this do to the industry? and What does this mean for Disney and ABC?

Read the Bloomberg article.