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A prominent New Jersey lawyer who specializes in elder care law was arrested on Tuesday and charged with stealing more than $1 million from some of his clients, reports NJ.com.

Charges against Robert Novy of Novy & Associates in Manchester involve his handling of funds of some of his clients, state Attorney General Christopher Porrino said.

According to Porrino, Novy, who had his own radio show on topics of interest to senior citizens, is accused of stealing $1.2 million between 2010 and 2015 from at least four people, some of whom suffered from Alzheimer’s or did not have or close relatives to keep track of their funds, repots MaryAnn Spoto.

Read the article.

Bloomberg News reports on a Wall Street club that’s virtually unknown on Wall Street.

“The attendees are top in-house lawyers for some of the world’s most powerful banks — people who sit at the table for decisions that can shape multibillion-dollar litigation tabs for the likes of Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co.,” write Greg Farrell and Keri Geiger.

They report that attendees at the recent gathering wanted to discuss a common foe: “class-action lawyers who seek billions of dollars from top banks for alleged market manipulations and related bad behavior. Eric Grossman, chief legal officer at Morgan Stanley, implored his confederates to hang together and resist the temptation to settle quickly.”

Read the article.

Starting next year, the federal government will require that all new or replaced gas lines for hundreds of thousands of apartments and small businesses across the U.S. must be equipped with special valves that can shut off gas automatically when a line is ruptured.

In a post on its website, Androvett Legal Media & Marketing reports that the government’s Oct. 11 announcement expands the mandatory installation of excess flow valves beyond new single-family homes. The valves, priced at around $30, don’t prevent gas lines from being ruptured, such as when a backhoe accidentally hits one. But by limiting the amount of gas that escapes, federal regulators say the valves can prevent a buildup of fuel that can contribute to explosions or fires.

“These simple and inexpensive devices can save dozens of lives and millions of dollars in property damage each year,” says Dallas attorney Tom Carse. “But gas companies, contractors and consumers need to understand how and where the valves should be located. Otherwise the devices will provide very little or no protection.”

In August, Carse filed suit against Atmos Energy on behalf of 20 people who suffered physical and emotional injuries and property damage after a 2015 gas explosion destroyed four homes and heavily damaged nine others in their Waxahachie, Texas, neighborhood.

The lawsuit claims that Dallas-based Atmos Energy was negligent in how it located and installed the excess flow valves during construction of the subdivision. Court documents claim that the explosion occurred when an Atmos gas line was cut by contractors who were working to install underground fiber-optic cable.

Practical Law will present a complimentary webinar on steps investors can take to gain a more comprehensive awareness of the challenges they face and to protect their investments and rights when investing in a foreign country.

The event will be Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. EDT. CLE credit available is available in multiple states. See the registration page for full details.

On its website, Practical Law says expropriation and resource nationalism, political and civil unrest, war, acts of terrorism, currency restrictions, endemic corruption and weaknesses in governance and the rule of law. These are only a few of the risks that investors must consider when investing abroad.

The failure to properly assess and account for these risks can result in:
A total loss of the investment.
Non-repayment of outstanding loans.
Reputational harm.
Civil and criminal penalties.

Practical Law, Baker & McKenzie LLP and Global Torchlight Ltd. will present the webinar, during which political risk and investment protection experts David J. Chmiel and Ed Poulton will examine the ways in which investors can mitigate these risks including:
Provisions in their loan and investment agreements.
Political and credit insurance.
Reliance on international agreements.
Comprehensive political risk due diligence.

Register for the webinar.

A short Q&A will follow.
Presenters:
David J. Chmiel, Managing Director, Global Torchlight Ltd.
David J. Chmiel advises companies on the effects of geopolitical risk on their business strategies and operations. He has a particular expertise in East and South Asia, Russia, and the CIS as well as the politicization of international commerce and the regulation of foreign direct investment for national security purposes. Before co-founding Global Torchlight, David practiced law for ten years as a cross-border M&A lawyer in the London and Chicago offices of a major global law firm.

Ed Poulton, Partner, Baker & McKenzie, LLP
Ed Poulton is a partner in Baker & McKenzie’s Dispute Resolution team, based in London. A key name in the arbitration community, Ed sits as an arbitrator in ICC and LCIA arbitrations, and is the consulting editor of a seminal text on the arbitration of M&A disputes. He advises clients on managing risk and resolving disputes relating to investment treaties, financial services and M&A.

Erlyne J. Nazaire, Senior Legal Editor, Practical Law Finance

Erlyne is a Senior Legal Editor with Practical Law’s Finance Service and is primarily responsible for writing, editing and curating Practical Law’s project finance and cross-border resources. These resources include practice notes on construction contracts, operation and maintenance agreements, loan documents and project risk assessment. In her capacity as Senior Legal Editor, Erlyne has moderated webinars on cross-border investment issues, financial covenants and public-private partnerships. Before joining Practical Law, Erlyne was an associate in Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s international practice group where she represented clients in a wide range of cross-border transactions including project finance, private M&A and joint ventures.

Register for the webinar.

Four members of Grant Thornton LLP‘s Risk, Regulatory and Legal Affairs team have received First Chair Awards for excellence in legal counsel.

This organization brings together private practice and in-house attorneys together with the common goal of networking and recognizing the accomplishments in the legal profession. The First Chair Awards annually selects in-house counsel members who have made significant contributions to the legal community and honors them for their accomplishments in the past year.

The winners are:

• Associate general counsel Chris Stathopoulos – Won the 2016 Top Assistant General Counsel award. Prior to joining the firm, he was an attorney at Winston & Strawn LLP. Stathopoulos received a juris doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
• Senior legal counsel Jason Anderson – Won the 2016 Top Litigation Counsel award. Anderson served as a special trial attorney for the Internal Revenue Service prior to joining Grant Thornton. He received a juris doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law.
• Senior counsel Elizabeth Epstein – Won the 2016 Top Corporate Counsel award. Prior to joining the firm, Epstein was an associate attorney at Stein, Ray & Harris LLP. She received a juris doctor degree from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.
• Senior counsel Hina Sodha – Won the 2016 Top Employment Counsel award. She has served in Grant Thornton’s Regulatory, Risk and Legal Affairs department for more than six years. Sodha received a juris doctor degree from DePaul University College of Law.

Dallas lawyer Deborah Hankinson has earned recognition in Benchmark Litigation as a Local Litigation Star among Texas appellate attorneys. It is the second time the former Texas Supreme Court justice has been selected for this prestigious honor.

Produced by London-based Legal Media Group, Benchmark Litigation is the only publication to focus exclusively on U.S. litigators and litigation-focused law firms. Attorneys undergo rigorous screening by the publication’s editorial team. The team also conducts extensive face-to-face interviews with judges, leading appellate lawyers and general counsel of Fortune 500 companies to make its final selections.

In a release, the firm said:

Benchmark Litigation is just the latest honor earned in 2016 by Ms. Hankinson. In recognition of her mediation, arbitration and appellate work, earlier this year she also was named to:

• The Texas Super Lawyers list of the state’s top legal practitioners for a 14^th consecutive year.
• The Best Lawyers in America for 2017. Best Lawyers is among the oldest and most respected legal guides based in the United States.
• Texas Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her tenure on the Texas Supreme Court and for her role in the establishment of the Texas Access to Justice Commission.
• The National Law Journal’s inaugural ADR Champions listing, recognizing the top 48 alternative dispute resolution trailblazers from across the nation.
• D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas for an 11^th time.

Global law firm Hogan Lovells and Fujian Fidelity Law Firm have entered into a formal association in the China (Shanghai) Free Trade Zone.

This move reflects the firm’s growth strategy in Asia and the importance of the region to many of the firm’s global clients, the firm said in a release.

The release continues:

Fidelity was established in 1989 and is one of the largest law firms in the Fujian province. The firm has around 170 lawyers and covers a wide range of legal services, but has a particularly strong track record in corporate and M&A, insolvency and liquidation, financial securities, real estate and construction, and arbitration and litigation work. They currently have seven offices, including the one within the Shanghai FTZ. Hogan Lovells partners Andrew McGinty and Zhen (Katie) Feng will be leading the relationship with Fidelity and the promotion of the joint services from the two firms to clients.

Hogan Lovells has been actively following recent developments in the Shanghai FTZ and is only the third international law firm to enter into an association in the Shanghai FTZ.

Patrick Sherrington, Asia Pacific and Middle East Regional Managing Partner, said: “This is an exciting time in Asia. The establishment of the China (Shanghai) Free Trade Zone by the Chinese government and the implementation of the new rules allowing foreign law firms in China to team up with a Chinese firm have dramatically changed the landscape. We see the association as a value driver for many of our clients whose needs are increasingly complex in this market. Multinationals have been quick to demonstrate their interest in the industry-specific liberalization policies within the Shanghai FTZ, while other investors have been drawn in by the simplified approval procedures. We look forward to serving these and other international and local clients, particularly those seeking to invest overseas. Fidelity is a high quality, innovative and well-respected firm.”

Steve Immelt, CEO of Hogan Lovells added: “Asia is critical to our global strategy and the Shanghai FTZ offers an exciting opportunity to expand our service offering in the region. The landscape is moving quickly there – so we need to be on the ground to cater for the increasingly complex needs of our clients in this market. We are excited about the prospects of our collaboration with Fidelity.”

Wang Ping, Managing Partner at Fidelity’s new Shanghai FTZ office, added: “We’ve been looking forward to this moment for quite some time. As Fidelity has been entrenched in Fujian for many years, the establishment of a branch in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone—the most important commercial center in the country—is our first foray outside of the Fujian Province. This is a critical step toward Fidelity becoming a large and significant national firm. We are very honored to be launching an association with Hogan Lovells, as we’ll be able to draw on each other’s strengths to fully realize our potential and to offer our clients a high-quality, professional, and seamless service. Furthermore, the association will give Fidelity even more opportunities to learn from a large, global law firm like Hogan Lovells and allow us to grow. We firmly believe that the association between Fidelity and Hogan Lovells will be a success, and will serve as an exemplary collaboration between a Chinese and foreign law firm.”

In a Fortune article, Paul Pendergrass analyzes the fall of Wells Fargo former CEO John Stumpf, finding that Stumpf underestimated the gravity of the situation three times, and each time his responses have been only strong enough to make things worse.

“When a corporation suddenly faces a public crisis of any kind – financial scandal, product recall, executive misbehavior, etc – the big question is always, ‘How strongly do we react?’ It’s often a tough call that has to be made under extreme time pressure, without all the essential facts fully known,” writes Pendergrass. “Overreact, and you can make the problem bigger than it actually is. But underreact, and you can find yourself in an irreversible nosedive.”

The writer traces the executive’s handling of the crisis, pointing to the three times he responded with too little too late.

Read the article.

Dallas police have released documents that detail evidence they’ve sought in the slaying of prominent attorney Ira Tobolowsky, according to a report by The Dallas Morning News.

“A search warrant affidavit reveals that detectives suspected that someone drilled holes into the 68-year-old’s fence to spy on him before he was set on fire May 13 at his North Dallas home,” writes Chris Siron.

Read the article.

Bloomberg Big Law Business is reporting that male partners in Big Law are still out-earning their female counterparts by 44 percent, according to the results of a survey published Wednesday by Major, Lindsey & Africa.

The poll of 2,153 partners showed that men earned an average of $949,000 per year while women brought in $659,000.

Men’s billing rates averaged $701, while women billed at an average of $636, the poll round. Hours billed were close for both groups: 1,703 for men and 1,632 for women.

“But the results show women still lag behind significantly in originations, pulling in an average of $1,730,000 versus $2,590,000 for men,” writes Bloomberg’s Stephanie Russell-Kraft.

Read the article.

Above the Law takes a look at a new trend:  law firms are demoting — if not firing — partners at a healthy clip over profitability fears.

The article quotes a Wall Street Journal report:

“Faced with client pressure to keep down costs and industry competition to achieve the highest profits, law firms now frequently assess which lawyers are worthy enough for the top rungs of partnership. Those who don’t bill enough hours or bring in enough business are quietly asked to leave or demoted from the so-called equity tier.”

Perhaps this marks the first, furtive steps into a new Biglaw model, writes Above the Law’s Joe Patrice, where the 8-year track gives way to a more corporate structure featuring a well-compensated middle management tier spending 5-10 additional years in a non-equity role.

Read the article.

A federal appeals court has found the structure of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be unconstitutional but has left the agency in place to “continue to operate and perform its many duties.”

The court said the way the CFPB is organized violates the Constitution’s separation of powers because it limits the president’s ability to remove the agency’s director, currently Richard Cordray, reports James Peltz for the Los Angeles Times.

The court said the law that now allows the bureau’s director to be removed only “for cause” conflicted with the Constitution, which allows the president to remove executives for any reason.

In his written ruling, Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, rejected the notion of shutting down the CFPB and said that the bureau instead “will continue to operate and perform its many duties,” Peltz reports.

Read the article.

Elizabeth Holmes

Photo by Max Morse for TechCrunch

Partner Fund Management, a San Francisco-based hedge fund that reportedly wrote out a $96 million check to Theranos in 2014, is now suing the blood-testing startup and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, reports TechCrunch.

In its filing, the plaintiff says Theranos duped it into investing “through a series of lies, material misstatements, and omissions,” and accusing the firm of engaging in “securities fraud and other violations by fraudulently inducing” it to invest and to maintain its investment in the company reports Connie Loizos.

Reports says that the plaintiff claims says Holmes and another former Theranos executive blatantly lied to the hedge fund by claiming it had developed “proprietary technologies that worked” and that it was nearing regulatory approvals.

Read the article.

Attorneys representing oil and gas royalty owners with interests in the Texas Eagle Ford Shale have filed a federal lawsuit against Talisman Energy USA Inc. based on claims that the company manipulated oil and gas production volumes by as much as 20 to 30 percent and consistently shorted royalty payments, according to a news release posted by Androvett Legal Media and Marketing.

Attorneys from Texas-based Provost Umphrey Law Firm, L.L.P., are representing Eugene and Kimberly Cran of DeWitt County in their claims against Warrendale, Pennsylvania-based Talisman.

The article explains how a change in the operating agreement between Talisman and  Norway-based energy company Statoil in the Eagle Ford joint venture resulted in the Crans receiving monthly checks from both companies. But the production numbers accompanying the checks didn’t match — with Talisman reporting smaller total production.

Read the news release.

A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board attempts to define further the boundaries of protected speech under the National Labor Relations Act, reports Seyfarth Shaw in its Employment Law Lookout blog.

Writers Erin Dougherty Foley and Craig B. Simonsen explain that the initial question in Laborers’ International Union of North America and Mantell was whether the union restrained or coerced Frank Mantell in the exercise of a Section 7 right. The union member posted comments on a Facebook page that criticized the Union for allowing a Niagara Falls city councilman, running for mayor, to obtain a journeyman’s book.

The union tried Mantell and fined him $5,000, as well as suspending his membership for 24 months. After an appeal, the International Union directed the local to dismiss charges against Mantell.

An NLRB Administrative Law Judge found that Mantell’s Facebook posts were protected under the National Labor Relations Act.

Read the article.

Investors wanting to sue Chinese companies in U.S. courts for corporate governance violations — using contractual provisions requiring litigation in their home country to replace what they see as “unfair” Chinese laws — may be disappointed in their options, writes Dan Harris in the China Law Blog.

“What will actually happen is that the parties will be required to prove Chinese law in a U.S. court, a difficult, time consuming and expensive process. This is usually exactly the opposite of what the U.S. party assumed would happen in this situation,” he explains.

“A contract provision calling for disputes to be resolved in one country’s court has little to no influence on the law that court will apply to the case. Most importantly, it is difficult to imagine a thoughtful American judge applying U.S. corporate governance law to a transaction that took place wholly in Mainland China and that involves Chinese entities,” Harris adds.

Read the article.

Many contracts contain no provisions regarding renewal, and the term simply ends after a specified period of time, write Peter M. Watt-Morse and Cindy L. Dole for the Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis blog.

They explain that sometimes this is appropriate:

“For example, contracts will end when a specific project has been completed or by a specified date for reasons related to intellectual property, third-party agreements, or specific business requirements. On the other hand, renewal should not be overlooked. The parties may have incurred significant start-up costs (including negotiating efforts) and want to avoid repeating those costs. For customers, the goods or services (or the price or quality of such deliveries) may not be available from other vendors. For vendors, the customer may be an important client that competitors prize. Therefore, before finalizing the term of any contract, potential renewal provisions should be reviewed.”

The article covers practical considerations of renewal, automatic renewal, and other renewal options.

Read the article.

The latest installment of Construction Dive’s “The Dotted Line” series discusses a problem many construction contractors see in their business: misinterpretation of terms in their contracts.

Writer Kim Slowey covers five of the most common sources of this misinterpretation, with input for experts.

“Most construction contractors follow custom and standard practice in the industry, or what they’ve always done in the past,” said Chicago attorney Matthew Horn, a long-time construction law attorney and founder of Legal Services Link.

The article discusses incorporation clauses, pay-if-pay versus pay-when-paid, Change orders and extras must be in writing to obtain payment, indemnify versus defend, and mechanics’ liens.

Read the article.

Software attorney Robert J. Scott will give real world examples of what happens when software audits wind up in court when he presents a 60-minute  complimentary webinar Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, beginning at 11 a.m. CST.

“Software audits have become routine as publishers have proven that compliance claims get customers’ attention more than sales proposals,” Scott & Scott LLP says on its website. “Most software license disputes are settled out of court, but what happens when you cannot negotiate a settlement with the publisher or one of its trade associations (BSA | The Software Alliance, The Software & Information Industry Association) because the settlement demands are too high? Software attorney Robert J. Scott will give real world examples of what happens when software audits wind up in court.”

In this session attendees will learn the following issues:

• Use of declaratory judgment actions
• Venue rules for copyright cases
• Choice of law issues
• Calculation of damages under copyright laws
• Individual liability for copyright infringement
• Burden shifting in copyright cases
• Electronic discovery issues
• Mediation strategy

Register for the webinar.

Matthew Graves has joined DLA Piper’s litigation practice as a partner in the Washington, DC office.

Graves, who will also be part of DLA Piper’s White Collar practice, previously served as the acting chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section at the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

In a release, the firm said he has extensive experience with white collar resolutions, foreign data privacy laws, and multi-agency investigations with US governing bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of the Treasury. He is also among the few lawyers who have prosecuted financial institutions for violating US sanctions laws.

The release continues:

“Matt is a highly respected trial lawyer whose background in white collar litigation and experience working at the US Attorney’s Office will complement our global platform, and help our clients navigate the complex regulatory and enforcement environment,” said Loren Brown, global and US co-chair of DLA Piper’s Litigation practice.

Graves will assist clients on complex civil litigation matters across industries including securities, healthcare, tax, election and export control laws. His practice includes counseling clients facing public integrity and anti-corruption challenges, including violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, contractual disputes and various forms of financial fraud.

“Washington, DC is the epicenter of federal government regulatory enforcement, and Matt’s government experience strengthens our presence in the market,” said Mary Gately, managing partner of DLA Piper’s Washington, DC office. “We expect Matt to quickly become a significant contributor to the firm’s sector-based practices in areas including financial services.”

Graves is the recipient of an FBI Service Award and six US Attorney’s Office Special Achievement Awards. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, and his B.A. from Washington and Lee University.