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Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, outlined proposed legislation to clear away many rules bankers say have hobbled investment and economic growth in a staff memo reported by Reuters.

Hensarling’s plan would roll back Wall Street rules and consumer protections conceived after the 2008 financial crisis, a step that will largely define the financial deregulation debate in the Trump era.

“Under Hensarling’s plan, the largest U.S. banks would face less oversight — though not as little as they had been hoping for – while startups would have easier access to investors,” writes reporter Patrick Rucker.

Read the Reuters article.

S. David Smith and Melissa Gutierrez have joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Banking and Financial Services Team in its Houston office.

“We are excited to welcome David and Melissa to the firm as part of our plan of continued strategic growth in Texas,” said Bradley’s Houston Office Managing Partner Ian P. Faria. “They are a great addition to our experienced team of attorneys assisting lenders, servicers and other financial institutions in litigation, enforcement and regulatory compliance matters across the country.”

Smith joins the firm as a partner who specializes in representing financial institutions engaged in the mortgage, auto finance, credit card, and payday lending areas. Smith is board certified in Consumer and Commercial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and he currently serves as chair of the Board of Trustees of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics. He earned his J.D. from the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University and his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Gutierrez is an associate focusing on commercial litigation matters, with an emphasis on financial services, consumer finance and real property litigation. She earned her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and her Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. While in law school, Gutierrez was senior articles editor of the Houston Journal of International Law and a member of Moot Court.

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It’s important for parties entering into any significant economic transaction to have written contracts. This is especially true for construction projects which are, by their nature, complicated, writes Jason T. Strickland for Ward and Smith, P.A.

A contract on a construction project sets forth the parties’ obligations to each other and determines how risks will be shared or divided on the project.

Strickland explains the value of having a written construction contract, rather than simply an oral agreement. Then he discusses risk shifting, parties to a construction contract, key elements of a construction contract, consistency, flow down and tiers, and industry forms.

Read the article.

Comprehensive due diligence review of any target company is imperative when determining whether to buy another company, writes Kimi Murakami for Piliero Mazza.

“Layer on the fact that the target company has government contracts then several unique issues must also be critically evaluated when performing due diligence. Failure to do so could result in a significant loss in value of the target – and its contracts – after the acquisition has closed. What follows is a list of certain key issues that should be analyzed when engaging in due diligence review of a government contractor,” she explains in an article in the firm’s PM Legal Minute blog.

The article covers subjects such as set-aside contracts, pending proposals, security clearance, import/export issues, oci issues, subcontracts, non-us buyer, and novation.

Read the article.

DLA Piper announced that Edward “Smitty” Smith, former legal advisor to past Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler, has joined the firm’s Telecommunication practice, part of the firm’s global Intellectual Property and Technology practice, as a partner in the Washington, DC office.

Smith recently was responsible for advising the chairman of the FCC on wireless telecommunications, engineering and technology, and consumer affairs. In this role, he led legal and policy teams on major issues involving the cutting edge of technological development. Smith oversaw FCC policymaking on such issues as 5G technology, satellites, spectrum sharing, autonomous vehicle communications, small-cell deployment, and unmanned aviation systems. Previously, Smith was Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, a multibillion-dollar radio spectrum allocation project.

Prior to joining the FCC, Smith was special advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. As special advisor, Smith launched the agency’s State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, a $350 million grant program to improve the quality of broadband data nationwide. Smith also helped lead the agency’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, a $4.7 billion effort to extend and develop services to reach rural and underserved areas, worked to improve wireless broadband access for public safety agencies, and helped provide financial assistance to low-income families transitioning from analog to digital television.

At DLA Piper, Smith will focus his practice on telecom matters and advise clients on the full range of issues in the wireless, broadband and satellite sectors.

“Smitty brings experience, expertise and leadership that will further strengthen the accomplished telecom team we’ve built,” said Michael Senkowski, co-chair of DLA Piper’s Telecommunication practice. “He has an excellent reputation for his government service and his strong knowledge of the telecommunications and technology sectors will be a great benefit to our clients.”

“Given the changes in Washington, there’s a great deal of uncertainty about the regulatory environment facing companies in the years ahead,” said Jeff Lehrer, managing partner of DLA Piper’s Washington, DC, office. “Adding Smitty bolsters a team that already had a firm understanding of the industry and the FCC, which today is unquestionably as important, if not more important, than it’s been at any point in recent years.”

Smith received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.A. from Brown University.

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Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP announced the launch of its Venture Capital and Emerging Business Practice Group. This specialty practice group is led by co-chairs and partners Adam C. Hull, Rick Jordan and Glenn T. Singleton, and includes participation from lawyers across all specialty areas, such as intellectual property, labor, tax and executive compensation.

In addition, the group added Majorie Mastin Winters to the firm’s Austin office in January. Winters counsels entrepreneurs in matters related to formation, structuring, intellectual property protection and financing. Her background also includes acting as director and of counsel for a program that serves the specific needs of early-stage, high-growth companies.

“Gardere has long been active in the early-stage market, but primarily has focused efforts on later-stage investments,” says firm chair Holland N. O’Neil. “With this initiative and the addition of Majorie, we are deploying increased resources to provide earlier-stage clients with increased access to sophisticated legal services and market connections. Simultaneously, our expanded activity in this space will, among other things, provide our venture fund and other investor clients with additional looks at early-stage companies.”

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A federal jury awarded the former general counsel of BioRad Laboratories $8 million in back pay and damages — which will increase to $11 million — for whistleblower retaliation involving potential bribery in China, according to a Courthouse News article.

Sanford “Sandy” Wadler won $2.96 million for economic losses and $5 million in punitive damages. Because the Dodd-Frank Act allows double back pay damages for whistleblower retaliation, the back pay award will increase to $5.92 million, bringing the total to nearly $11 million, explains reporter Nicholas Iovino.

Wadler sued Hercules, California-based BioRad Laboratories and its CEO Norman Schwartz in May 2015. He alleged he was fired in June 2013 for reporting potential bribery in China, a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

David A. Nenni and Jessica L. Sussman of Jackson Lewis also wrote about the verdict in the firm’s Corporate Compliance and White Collar Advisor blog:

This case implicates a number of key issues confronting companies and their in-house legal teams, including:  (1) protections and scope of the attorney-client privilege; (2) what constitutes protected activity from an in-house attorney or compliance officer; (3) the importance of consistent and timely performance critiques; and (4) preparing adverse employment decisions to be scrutinized by a judge, jury, or arbitrator.  The case also highlights the existing split among federal courts regarding what constitutes a “whistleblower” under the DFA.

Read the Courthouse News article.

Read the Jackson Lewis blog item.

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A federal judge plans to appoint a special master to investigate whether prominent law firms in Boston and other cities padded their legal bills by millions in a class-action lawsuit against State Street Bank, saying the lawyers may have to pay up to $2 million, in advance, to fund the investigation, reports The Boston Globe.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf said he wants a review legal bills submitted by Thornton Law Firm of Boston, Labaton Sucharow of New York, and seven other firms to justify the fees they received from the case last year, writes Andrea Estes.

A Boston Globe review of the records submitted to justify the legal bills showed that three law firms submitted bills for the same lawyers, and often with different hourly rates. And the hourly rates claimed in the firms’ filings, which ranged from $335 to $500 an hour, were often 10 times more than what the lawyers normally earned.

Read the Boston Globe article.

A Washington lawyer at a prominent firm was arrested in a disguise while trying to sell a copy of a secret lawsuit involving a company that was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

Jeffrey Wertkin immediately lost his job with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP after he was picked up Jan. 31 in the lobby of a hotel in Cupertino, California. The FBI said he believed he was about to collect $310,000 for selling the lawsuit.

Wertkin believed he would hand a copy of a complaint to an employee of the company, which was accused in the complaint by a whistle-blower of falsely billing the government, report Bloomberg’s Jef Feeley, David Voreacos and Joel Rosenblatt.

That employee turned out to be an FBI agent, according to arrest documents unsealed on Feb. 6.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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Brendan Delany has joined Blank Rome LLP as a partner in the Finance, Restructuring and Bankruptcy group. He is based in the Firm’s Washington, D.C., office and comes to Blank Rome from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP.

In a release, the firm said Delany focuses his practice on the financial services, energy and commodities, and real estate sectors, counseling clients in transactions related to energy finance, real estate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. He represents borrowers, energy trading companies, hedge funds, hedge providers, REITs, developers, and various types of financial institutions in connection with domestic and international financing and trading transactions pertaining to a wide variety of assets, including commercial real estate, metals, energy, and agricultural commodities, power plants, and other assets.

The release continues:

“We are excited to welcome Brendan to Blank Rome,” said Alan J. Hoffman, the Firm’s Chairman and Managing Partner. “Brendan is dedicated to client service and has become well-known as a trusted adviser who goes above and beyond for his clients. His wide breadth of transactional experience will be a great addition to our D.C. office and will add significant depth to our finance, energy, and real estate practices.”

Delany assists clients with cross-border repurchase agreement transactions, intermediation agreements, inventory financing, asset-based loans, secured power plant financings, and other commercial real estate financings. He represents clients in domestic and non-U.S. jurisdictions, including Asia, South and Central America, Europe, and Australia. Mr. Delany has represented privately held and publicly traded entities in a broad range of corporate matters and energy transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, and restructurings. He has represented renewable energy facility developers, REITs, energy companies, hospital owners and operators, hospital providers, shopping center developers, government agencies, and financial institutions involved in financing arrangements related to the acquisition, disposition, financing, development, management, and leasing of real property.

“In addition to bolstering our energy and finance practices, Brendan’s extensive real estate finance experience will further enhance our well-established real estate group,” said Lawrence F. Flick II, chair of Blank Rome’s financial services industry team. “Our real estate attorneys handle all facets of real estate law, including real estate financing and other related transactions that range from middle-market, single property secured loans to large-scale, multiple property/multi-state credit facilities, and Brendan will be an excellent asset to the team and our clients.”

“I’m thrilled to join Blank Rome, primarily for the vast platform the Firm has to offer,” said Delany. “Blank Rome has engaged in some very exciting growth and expansion in recent years in areas that will be of great benefit to my clients and my practice, including real estate, energy, and financial services. Additionally, I have known Jason Eig, James Kelly, and other members of Blank Rome for many years, and I look forward to working with them again.”

Aside from his legal work, Delany is a member of the board of trustees of the Connelly Foundation in Philadelphia, and currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Franklin Lyle Stroud, M.D. Foundation for Learning Disabilities and as an adviser to the board of directors of the Washington Jesuit Academy.

Delany received his J.D. from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law where he was a published member of the Catholic University Law Review. He received his B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Last month, the firm added two energy partners in Pittsburgh and last year welcomed Partner Sophia Lee in Philadelphia, as well as former U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and former Vice-Chairman of the International Energy Agency Joseph P. McMonigle in Washington, D.C., as principals in Blank Rome Government Relations LLC.

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Timothy A. Brinkley has joined the Chicago office of law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP in its Business Law Practice Group.

Brinkley focuses his practice on providing legal counsel to existing franchisor companies and companies that have an interest in franchising their business.

In a release, the firm said Brinkley drafts and updates franchise disclosure documents and handles other aspects of federal and state regulatory compliance with respect to franchising. He negotiates and prepares complex franchise transactional documents, including master franchise agreements, area development agreements, asset purchase agreements for the refranchising of company stores or buy-back of franchised locations, assistance and workout agreements with struggling franchisees, and inter-creditor agreements with national and regional banks.

Prior to joining the firm, Brinkley served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Burger King Corporation and Tim Hortons USA, Inc., both a part of Restaurant Brands International. He worked for both brands after a change of corporate ownership and helped implement aggressive changes to the U.S. franchising portfolio of each, including the refranchising and transfer of hundreds of restaurants to new franchisee owners. He provided day-to-day legal counsel to the U.S. executive teams at each brand and oversaw U.S. franchising regulatory compliance.

“I look forward to bringing my in-house perspective to the outstanding Franchise and Distribution team at Quarles & Brady to better serve our clients in the Chicago region and nationally,” says Brinkley. “The firm’s franchise expertise is well established, and I am excited to help grow this expertise and extend it to the Chicago office.”

He received his law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, his master’s degree from Southern Illinois University, and his bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University.

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American Banker asks the question of what will be the immediate impact of President Trump’s executive order  calling for a review of financial regulatory policy, especially the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

The magazine’s conclusion is that the impact likely will be small in the short term.

In the article, Joe Adler writes that the order was framed as “core principles” rather than any immediate policy change.

“The president has very little direct authority to change Dodd-Frank, repeal the fiduciary duty rule or revamp Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As a result, his orders will urge other parts of the government to make changes,” wrote Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen Group. “With the possible exception of the fiduciary duty rule, actual changes for the banks are unlikely to occur quickly.”

As for the long-term impact, Adler writes that a complete unwind of the 2010 law is unlikely in the current political environment in Washington.

Read the American Banker article.

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A family business’ significant commercial relationships are usually reflected in written agreements, writes Michael P. Connolly in Murtha Cullina LLP’s Family Business Perspectives blog. But who is authorized to sign those agreements and to bind the company to the terms?

“Typically, a company’s management will have actual authority to sign agreements,” Connolly explains. “However, the company may give the impression to third parties that other employees (for example, purchasing agents, account managers and IT personnel) that those employees have ‘apparent’ authority to sign contracts relating to their areas of responsibility and thus bind the company to agreements. It is therefore important for family business owners and management to clearly instruct their employees and agents – and to communicate to third parties – as to whether those employees or agents are authorized to sign contracts and other important documents on the company’s behalf.”

Connolly describes a recent court decision that highlights the confusion and potential for liability that can arise when an employee signs a document on a company’s behalf without express authority to do so.

Read the article.

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With international and domestic supply chain contracts, there is little or no room for error. according to an article posted by a team of lawyers at Foley & Lardner LLP.

“While some supply chain contracts incorporate negotiated provisions in the form of a letter agreement or long-term agreement, many supply chain contracts rely on standard purchase order terms and conditions. This can result in contracts of considerable value and corresponding high risk receiving  little attention from in-house or outside counsel,” they write.

They offer advice on how to manage supply chain contract risk, supply chain contracting in light of regulatory changes, and international contracting.

Read the article.

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Attorney Barbara Dunn O’Neal and Lance Ewing, executive vice president Global Risk Management & Client Services at Cotton Holdings Inc., recently discussed some of the basics of contract drafting when they spoke at a meeting of professional meeting planners.

MeetingsNet.com reported on their presentation, including a discussion of some of the basic terms used in contracts.

The speakers also discussed the importance of updating contracts and insurance related to meetings.

And they wrapped up with “the drone horror story.”

Read the article.

China employee non-compete agreements and provisions are an often-litigated area, writes Grace Yang in China Law Blog.

“Many employers (wrongly) assume that they cannot prevail in such a dispute because employees usually win,” she explains. “This belief is not only wrong, but also risky. It is wrong because Chinese courts do not automatically side with the employee; those rare employers that have done things the right way actually usually win. It is also risky because employers with this attitude and approach tend to do an even poorer job of making sure they have a well-crafted contract, complying with the law and preserving good evidence, which are keys to employer success in any employee dispute.”

She describes a case involving China employee non-competes and offers some key lessons to be learned.

Read the article.

Public-interest advocacy groups say the Trump administration appears to be deliberately structuring the president’s growing roster of business-focused advisory groups in order to avoid becoming subject to a federal transparency law that requires such meetings be formally announced in advance and open to the public, reports Politico.

“A 1972 law aimed at limiting back-room influence by special interests, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, regulates the operation of federal government advisory council,” writes Josh Gerstein. “Normally, the meetings of such groups are announced at least ten days in advance in the Federal Register and the sessions are open to the public.”

Although there have been no official notices of any meetings and no executive orders laying out the duties of the “Strategic and Policy Forum” or any other groups Trump is convening, a White House office insisted the meetings are in compliance with the law.

Read the Politico article.

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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick responded to an onslaught of criticism to his joining President Trump’s economic advisory council by resigning from the council on Thursday, reports The New York Times.

The criticism came both from people outside the company and from Uber employees, explains reporter Mike Issac.

First, the company took heat from the public after the company appeared to be profiting from business generated during New York protests of Trump’s immigration order. Then Kalanick had to face direct criticism from his employees, who wondered why he was willing to advise the president.

“Outside of the internal pressure, Uber faced other fallout from Mr. Kalanick’s stance. More than 200,000 customers had deleted their accounts,” Issac writes.

Read the Times article.

U.S. President Donald Trump was set on Friday to fire the opening salvo in his campaign to scale back major regulations that resulted from the financial crisis, directing a review of the Dodd-Frank Act and putting the brakes on a retirement advice rule, Reuters is reporting.

“The executive order Trump will sign on the 2010 Dodd-Frank law on Wall Street reform will be a first step towards rolling back the regulations that Trump sees as hurting the economy, but without rewriting the legislation, which can be done only through Congress,” write Ayesha Rascoe and Sarah N. Lynch. One prominent measure is the ‘Volcker rule’ that greatly restricts how banks can make bets with their own money.”

At a recent meeting with business owners, Trump described the law as “a disaster,” the reporters write.

Read the Reuters article.

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