Quarles & Brady LLP has announced that the firm’s Washington, D.C. office has a new location. The firm is now located at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20006.

“Our expansion and relocation allows us to better execute on the firm’s strategic goal of enhancing our presence in the D.C. market,” said Larry Cote, Washington, D.C. office managing partner. “The design of our new office maximizes the efficient use of space through same-sized offices and several collaborative work areas, which encourages teamwork, assists in recruiting top talent, and greatly supports our efforts to provide exceptional service to our clients.”

In a release, the firm said:

The space, designed by Chemistry in PlaceSM, focuses on flexibility, collaboration, and client service. The office will house a permanent collection of photographic images of Washington, D.C. taken by students from the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at George Washington University. The new office also showcases the latest innovative products in furniture and floor covering from Steelcase and Milliken.

“This new office space is perfect for what we need moving into the future,” said Kelly Williams, Washington, D.C. office manager. “1701 Pennsylvania gives us the opportunity to expand, and we are looking forward to adding additional members to our D.C. office.”

The office will retain its existing phone and fax numbers. The firm occupies suite 700, located on the seventh floor of the building. To learn more about 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, click here.

Practical Law will present a free 75-minute webinar in which Matthew A. Karlyn, partner with Foley & Lardner LLP and co-author of “A Guide to IT Contracting: Checklists, Tools and Techniques,” to discuss practice tips on data privacy and security provisions of SaaS and other cloud service agreements, including a discussion of recent trends and issues.

The webinar will be Wednesday, June 15, at 1 p.m. EDT.

Data privacy and security are key issues for businesses who seek to upload their information onto the cloud, the company says on its website. Customers need assurance that the software as a service (SaaS) or other cloud service provider will maintain effective policies and practices to safeguard the confidentiality and security of their information.

In seeking this assurance, it is not enough for the customer to conduct due diligence of the provider’s practices because those practices, like the laws and regulations that govern them, can be a fast-moving target. Only by the skillful drafting of the customer’s cloud service agreement can counsel aim to ensure that the customer’s confidential, trade secret, and personal information stay well protected and that both the service provider and customer remain compliant with data privacy and security laws.

A key case is the pending replacement of the EU-US safe harbor framework with stringent requirements of a new, EU-US Privacy Shield for the handling of personal data. It is crucial to businesses that their cloud service agreements include terms broad enough to anticipate such legal developments, technological advances, and changes in standards and practices.

In this program, attendees will:

• Learn how to avoid common errors in data security, privacy, and disaster recovery provisions and provide for proper data protection both during and after the term of the cloud agreement.
• Explore effective remedies for breaches of data privacy and security.
• Consider the requirements of the EU-US Privacy Shield and its anticipated impact on cloud service customers and providers and the terms of their cloud service agreements.

A short Q&A session will follow.

Presenters:

• Matt Karlyn, Co-Chair Technology Industry Team, Foley & Lardner
• Paul Connuck, Senior Legal Editor, Intellectual Property & Technology

CLE credit is available for: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington. CLE credit is being sought for: Louisiana, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia CLE can be self-applied for in: Florida.

Register for the webinar.

While subscription services (sometimes referred to as auto-renewal programs) can be lucrative, companies should be mindful of the applicable laws to avoid the costs of fighting off the type of lawsuits that led to Sirius XM Radio settling an auto-renewal case for $3.8 million and Angie’s List settling a similar suit for $2.8 million, warn Andrew Klungness and Aaron Ginsburg on Bryan Cave’s Retail Law blog.

They discuss the the three main categories that various states use to regulate automatic renewal programs as they relate to contracts.

“Given the significant penalties and potential litigation costs associated with non-compliance, companies should work with experienced professionals to maximize compliance without adversely impacting the business,” the article says.

Read the article.

Anyone who has purchased a product online or downloaded software for a computer, tablet or mobile device has likely encountered “browsewrap” and “clickwrap” agreements, write Carolyn S. Toto and Kimberly Buffington on Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman‘s Social Media & Games Law Blog.

In the article, they write, “Such agreements are the bread and butter of companies that sell or license products or provide services via websites or web applications. Clickwrap agreements require a user to affirmatively click a button to affirm his or her assent to the agreement’s terms, whereas with a browsewrap agreement, the user’s assent to the agreement’s terms is inferred from the user’s use of the website. (Often, the terms of a browsewrap agreement are accessible from a hyperlink placed on one or more webpages of the company’s website.)”

The discuss a few recent cases that have addressed what exactly constitutes a valid, legally binding and enforceable contract.

Read the article.

The International Tax Controversy Update is an annual event where private and government tax professionals to discuss current events and best practices relating to International Tax Enforcement and Voluntary Disclosures. The event will be Wednesday, June 22, 8:30 a.m. to noon, in Paramus, NJ.

Topics will include:

*Current Events in Civil and Criminal Tax Enforcement
*Defending against the IRS assessment of “Continuation Penalties” for failure to file information returns.
*Gotchas: The unanticipated consequences of late filing, amended return filings and quiet voluntary disclosures and best practices for penalty mitigation
*Voluntary Disclosure Updates
*When and why does the IRS/DOJ impose penalties against banks, financial advisors and return preparers for their client’s failure to file FinCen Form 114 and other information returns?

Register for the event.

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), an organization that works for fair and effective alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practices worldwide, has spoken out against Donald Trump’s attacks on adjudicators.

In a release, CPR said it took this position in response to recent statements made by Trump questioning the impartiality of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel because of his Mexican heritage, and also questioning whether a Muslim judge could fairly preside over a case involving him.

“Those who sit as judges and adjudicate cases have a well-established responsibility to be fair and impartial,” said CPR President and CEO Noah Hanft. “This obligation is one that all adjudicators, including neutrals on CPR’s own panel of distinguished neutrals that includes many former Judges, take with extreme seriousness. Indeed, it is critical to maintaining both the integrity and stability of the dispute resolution process. Therefore, accusations that judges are biased, based solely upon factors such as their ‘heritage,’ are both dangerous and irresponsible and anathema to basic precepts of justice.”

Hanft concluded, “As an organization committed to improving the way disputes are resolved and driving diversity within the profession, we consider the implication that one’s family background renders him or her biased and unable to adjudicate a matter fairly and without conflict to be a great affront. We call upon other ADR providers, and the legal and business community that relies upon a fair and stable judicial framework, to similarly condemn these statements.”

Jason Tomitz has joined Farrell Fritz as a tax associate in the firm’s Uniondale office.

Prior to joining Farrell Fritz, Tomitz was an associate at Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel, LLP in New York, NY. He was a summer associate at the same firm from June to August 2010. He  was a legal intern at Monteiro & Fishman, LLP from June to August 2009.

Tomitz, a South Huntington, NY resident, earned his Juris Doctorate, summa cum laude, from Hofstra University School of Law, where he was a research assistant to Dean Nora Demleitner from June 2009 to April 2011. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Albany.

He is admitted to practice in New York and is a member of the New York State Bar Association.

A blog post on the Cooley M&A site discusses the “option to acquire” structure, which addresses both the needs of a target company to develop a product or business on the one hand and the desire by a buyer to identify growth opportunities on the other.

“In an option to acquire transaction, the buyer agrees to pay the target an option fee in exchange for the exclusive option to acquire the target for a fixed price during an option period subject to certain conditions and agreements that are set forth in a fully negotiated and executed acquisition agreement,” the post explains. “As part of the arrangement, the parties may also enter into a collaboration agreement covering certain development activities of the target during the option period, with the achievement of the developments functioning as milestones to the buyer’s ability to exercise its option to buy. The collaboration agreement is usually separate from the option and acquisition agreement. Sometimes, the specific terms of the option may also be set forth in a standalone option agreement that is separate from the acquisition agreement.”

While options to acquire are fairly common in the medical device and life sciences industries, the option also provides attractive opportunities for funds and companies in other industries as well, as a way to get an inside track on new technology, the firm writes.

Read the article.

FisherBroyles, LLP has a warning for employers dealing with an employee who is doing — or is suspected of doing — illegal drugs: Situations of this kind are fraught with potential for large legal fees, company embarrassment, and major diversion of management time if you become involved in formal proceedings — even if you eventually win.

Drugs permeate our society. It’s on the news, in social media, and all over movies and television. It may also be in your workplace when you discover that your awesome SVP Frank Fantastic’s belief-suspending prior year’s sales record might be due to — or despite — a little cocaine habit combined with his daughter’s ADHD meds.

Some questions you want to consider — do you know this hotshot is doing illegal drugs or abusing alcohol or prescription drugs, or do you just suspect? Is Frank’s employment terminable at will or only for cause if he is a party to an employment contract? Is a substance addiction a “disability” under the Americans with Disabilities Act?

While the answers to such questions depend on the particular facts in each situation, one thing we can tell you is tread lightly, navigate carefully. You want to minimize involvement in such proceedings if at all possible.

The firm offers advice on how to proceed: maintain a clear anti-drug policy, manage the situation with care, review employment agreement, remember that the ada protects recovering addicts, and be proactive in future employment agreements. The article expands on each of those points.

Read the article.

Just one day after Cravath, Swaine & Moore announced an increase in associate salaries, bringing first-years’ pay up to $180,000, BigLaw firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCloy told its associates that it would match the new scale, according to Above the Law.

The site also reports that California litigation boutique Hueston Hennigan matched the new salaries only about four hours after Cravath’s announcement.

David Lat, Above the Law managing editor, wrote that Milbank Tweed has more than 600 lawyers and $700 million in annual revenue.

Read the article.

A federal judge found a pattern of misconduct by Merck & Co., including lying under oath and other unethical practices, freeing Gilead Sciences Inc from paying any damages for infringing Merck’s patents with its lucrative treatments for hepatitis C, Sovaldi and Harvoni, according to a Reuters report.

The ruling follows a March 24 jury verdict that ordered Gilead to pay $200 million in damages, based on findings that Merck’s patents were valid.

In this week’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman said Merck deceptively used confidential information from Pharmasset, Inc, a company Gilead bought in 2011.

“Freeman also said Merck cannot enforce the patents because Merck’s own lawyer gave inconsistent and untruthful testimony during the trial. ‘Merck’s acts are even more egregious because the main perpetrator of its misconduct was its attorney,’ she said,” reports Andrew Chung.

Read the article.

A French labor court Tuesday awarded Jérôme Kerviel, the Société Générale SA rogue trader convicted in 2010 of bringing the bank to the brink of collapse, a total of €450,000 ($511,000) because he was fired without “real or serious cause,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report: “Société Générale ‘could not pretend it hadn’t long been aware of the unauthorized trades conducted by Mr. Kerviel,’ judges wrote in their ruling. The bank therefore can’t argue that Mr. Kerviel was at fault when it ‘previously tolerated similar practices,’ they added.”

In a previous trial, Kerviel was found guilty on charges of forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized computer use and sentenced to three years in prison. He was ordered to repay his former employer €4.9 billion.

Read the article.

Dallas-based trial law firm Deans & Lyons, LLP, is expanding its Texas footprint with the addition of five prominent trial attorneys in the firm’s newly opened Houston office at 1001 Fannin St., Suite 1925.

Joining the firm are veteran Houston trial lawyers Tom Sartwelle, Matt Pletcher and Jeff Nobles, previously with the Houston office of Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, LLP, and Chad Castille and Matt McCracken, previously of Houston-based Serpe Jones Andrews Callender & Bell, PLLC.

Castille will serve as managing partner of the Houston office. His practice is concentrated on complex civil litigation, representing individuals, small businesses and Fortune 500 corporations in a diverse array of industries. His experience includes cases involving medical and hospital negligence, oil and gas, commercial and residential construction, pharmaceutical liability, medical devices, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, and commercial business disputes and torts.

Sartwelle has nearly 50 years of experience and has tried cases throughout Texas involving commercial business disputes; catastrophic personal injury; products liability; and medical, hospital and legal malpractice. He tried to verdict a case involving the first Texas corporation to be indicted for murder. He is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law and by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a Civil Trial Advocate and a Civil Pretrial Practice Advocate. He is also Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys as a Legal Malpractice and Medical Malpractice Specialist and serves as an officer with that organization. He joins as of counsel.

Pletcher is an experienced trial lawyer with a focus on cases involving commercial business disputes, products liability, professional negligence, and employment, health care, pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech litigation and civil appeals. In addition, he has successfully represented clients in a variety of civil claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. He joins as partner.

Nobles is an appellate lawyer with experience handling a variety of civil appeals in state and federal courts throughout Texas. He has successfully represented plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of complex trials and appeals involving commercial business disputes, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, and products litigation. He is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a former chair of the Houston Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section and the Appellate Pro Bono Committee. He joins as partner.

McCracken’s trial and appellate experience includes cases involving professional liability with an emphasis on doctor and hospital litigation. He also handles matters involving a variety of industries including manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, and health care. He has briefed and argued major cases to state and federal appellate courts in Texas including the Texas Supreme Court. He has been an invited lecturer on legal ethics issues. He joins as partner.

In an article published by IPWatchdog, James Cosgrove, a legal analyst at Juristat, offers some guidance on general trends regarding appeals at the United States Patent and Trademark Office and shows practitioners how to use big data to win their appeals.

“In the patent world, the phrase ‘final rejection’ has something of a unique meaning,” Cosgrove writes. “While the uninitiated likely would assume that a final rejection would indicate the end of the patent prosecution process, it is actually just the beginning of the final stage of prosecution, when applicants must decide how hard they really want to fight for their patent.”

He says the applicant has three ways forward at that point, and discusses the third: appealing the examiner’s rejection.

Read the article.

Contractual provisions for liquidated damages, indemnification, or other limitations on liability are a few of the most commonly used “damage control” tools, points out Theresa Y. Kananen for Arnall Golden Gregory LLP.

“In too many cases, however, drafting errors transform the very provisions intended to provide for clear-cut remedies, or clear-cut limitations on remedies, into sources of prolonged and expensive litigation,” she writes.

She lists and discusses three of the most common pitfalls to avoid when using one of these “damage control” provisions in a contract, including liquidated vs. actual damages, indemnity clauses and conspicuous limitations.

Read the article.

The National Association of Corporate Directors’ 2016 edition of Governance Challenges combines guidance from five strategic content partners of the NACD with broad M&A expertise. The report addresses the importance of early board engagement in strategy, the need for proactive dialogue with all key stakeholders, and the imperative to balance short-term and long-term goals throughout the M&A process.

A complimentary copy of the report is available for download.

Boards can use this new resource to:

• identify “drive and drag” factors that can advance or delay transaction results;
• monitor key aspects of the due-diligence process before approving the deal;
• understand the tax implications of a prospective transaction;
• consider exposure to risk from antitrust liability, cybersecurity challenges, and environmental liability; and
• select and retain talent and adjust compensation arrangements during the leadership change.

Download the report.

Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (Legal Aid) has announced the recipients of its 16th Annual Women’s Advocacy Awards to be presented on July 12 in Dallas. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas will receive the Business Leadership Award; Rev. Larry James and  CitySquare will receive the Nonprofit Leadership Award; Paul Zoltan will receive the Louise Raggio Women’s Legal Advocate Award; and Randy Johnston will receive the Champion of Justice Award.

The Women’s Advocacy Awards (WAA) supports civil legal aid for victims of domestic violence. Each year, the WAA recognizes exceptional advocacy on behalf of women living in poverty. This year’s event will be held at 6 p.m., July 12, 2016, in Arlington Hall at Lee Park.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) has a long history of working to advance opportunities for women and children in Texas. BCBSTX has provided numerous grants through its “Healthy Kids, Healthy Families” initiative, partnering with nonprofits to offer sustainable programs to underserved communities and provides safe environments for growth. Notable among these are partnerships with the Caring for Children Foundation, which provides immunizations to uninsured children through its Care Van fleet, and the Texas Women’s Empowerment Foundation, which provides urban gardens along with healthy cooking demonstrations and mentoring provided to residents in need, as well as “Kids Meals,” a Meals-on-Wheels-style summer program that helps feed young children who may not otherwise have regular meals outside the school year due to limited economic and transportation resources.

BCBSTX also created the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas STEM Scholarship, which provides $20,000 scholarships to underprivileged high school seniors seeking college study in a STEM-related field. In a related effort, BCBSTX’s WISE group (Women Improving the Strength of the Enterprise) hosts Dallas Girl Scouts at its state-of-the-art facility, providing a full day of STEM-related activities for young girls. In addition, leadership within BCBSTX actively demonstrates its support through the encouragement of executives to hold Board seats with organizations including Texas CASA, REAL School Gardens, and It’s Time Texas. The organization also promotes advancement of women from within and encourages female leadership to participate in programs such as the Leading Women’s Executive program.

Larry James

Larry James has been involved in developing and implementing holistic, justice-focused approaches to congregational and community service and outreach throughout his career. Since 1994, James has provided executive leadership for CitySquare (formerly Central Dallas Ministries), a faith-based, human and community development corporation that battles poverty and its various related expressions in several inner city neighborhoods in Dallas and beyond. First serving as Executive Director and then President and CEO, James began his CEO role with a vision for CitySquare’s future fund development and external community endeavors. CitySquare offers a variety of services to its clients: legal services, youth and children’s ministry, affordable workforce housing, initiatives related to work force development and technology training, housing interventions for homeless persons, and spiritual development to neighbors living in the communities of East and South Dallas.

James, a native of Richardson, Texas, is married to Brenda Erwin. The couple, who reside in one of the neighborhoods CitySquare serves, have two grown daughters.

Paul Zoltan

Paul Zoltan is a long-time pro bono attorney volunteer specializing in immigration law. In 2014, inspired to do more when the influx of Central American women and children to Texas soared, Zoltan launched a pro se asylum workshop model that would multiply the representation provided to these refugees. In the last two years, more than 150 asylum applications for women and children have been completed at and submitted through these workshops. Through this project, Zoltan is credited with saving the lives of immigrant women and children who fled horrific and violent circumstances in their home countries.

Zoltan also mentors other attorneys, and works closely with the Catholic Charities team of AmeriCorps lawyers, whose caseloads number as high as 250 individuals and families. He helped the organization start its own legal program for immigrant children, training and mentoring staff in their representation of children in immigration court. He is a passionate advocate who fights against poor attorney practices in the field of immigration law, and is an inspiration not only to immigration lawyers, but also to those who practice in the area of public service law.

Randy Johnston

Randy Johnston has been a great supporter of women’s causes and legal aid for the poor for many years. Johnston, whose law practice focuses on the professional and ethical practice of law, is known both as “the lawyer with a ponytail” and the attorney who will sue other lawyers for malpractice and client abandonment. A founding supporter of the Dallas Bar Association’s Law Jam, a musical fundraising for the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP), a joint program of the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. During Law Jam 2, Johnston auctioned off the right for the winning bidder to cut off his ponytail following the performance of his blues band, Blue Collar Crime. Two groups paid $7,000 each for the right to cut off his ponytail, and all of the proceeds went to DVAP.  Randy was awarded a Presidential Citation by the Dallas Bar Association for his efforts to aid the poor.

He is a highly sought after speaker, presenting more than 100 speeches designed to educate other lawyers on how to avoid client problems while complying with the ethical rules and standards of professionalism. Johnston is proud to practice law with Robert Tobey, Chad Baruch, and his son, Coyt. He is married and the proud father of eight children, five of whom are strong, independent women.

Ramona’s Story

Ramona’s husband tried to kill her in front of a crowd of bystanders when he lifted her off of the ground by the throat. Before bystanders could intervene, Ramona was thrown onto the concrete sidewalk and she lost consciousness. A witness called police, but the abuser had fled the scene and his family and friends refused to cooperate with authorities or share the husband’s location.

With her husband on the run, Ramona, the mother of two children, filed for divorce pro se. Unsure how to proceed on her own, she applied for help at Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (Legal Aid). With the assistance of the Legal Aid attorney, Ramona amended the petition for divorce, and located and served her husband, who was in jail. Legal Aid assisted Ramona in finalizing the divorce, where she obtained sole managing conservatorship of her children, permanent injunctions against further abuse by or contact from her ex-husband, and no visitation of the children by their father.

The Women’s Advocacy Awards event helps provide critical civil legal aid for women like Ramona. This year’s WAA event takes place from 6-8 pm on Tuesday, July 12 in Arlington Hall at Lee Park in Dallas. Additional information is available on the 16th Annual Women’s Advocacy Awards Facebook event page, https://www.facebook.com/events/1572399809724590/permalink/1580695462228358, or by contacting Sam Prince at princes@lanwt.org.

Above the Law is reporting that BigLaw firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore has hiked annual salaries for associates — ranging from $180,000 for first-year associates to $315,000 for eighth-years.

The report cites a memorandum, which Above the Law received from multiple Cravath sources, as saying, “The increase is effective July 1, 2016, and will be reflected in paychecks commencing on July 8, 2016.”

The author, David Lat, also says the news raises several questions, such as How did this event come to pass? Will other firms match the new Cravath scale? How fast will the matching happen? Will any other firm beat the new Cravath scale? and What does this mean for bonuses? He offers his opinions on each of those points.

Read the report.

The Center for Board Excellence is offering a free whitepaper that describes moving the directors and officers questionnaire process to a dynamic online system.

CBE says the paper explains how to save time and money by moving the D&O questionnaire online to:

• Reduce the number of questions
• Make them easier to follow and answer
• Turn definitions and schedules into dynamic flyovers or online links

“Focus particularly on the cost of your Directors’ and Officers’ time,” CBE suggests. “How much time did it take them to complete the process? How many irrelevant questions did they have to read and skip over? How many definitions did they have to look up in an appendix? Add to that the time it took you to compile the questionnaire and parse the results only to find that three forms came back incomplete.”

Download the paper or request a demo.

A new filing in the re-trial of former Dewey & LeBoeuf chief financial officer Joel Sanders and former executive director Stephen DiCarmine alleges that two former Dewey partners put pressure upon the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to look into the financials of the failed firm, reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law.

Three former Dewey executives went on trial last year for their roles in the demise of the firm. After a mistrial, former Dewey chairman, Steven Davis, signed a deferred prosecution agreement, and Sanders and DiCarmine could be facing a new trial in 2017.

“It is in the context of this new trial that Sanders’s legal team filed documents suggesting two attorneys pressured the District Attorney’s office to investigate the firm’s finances,” Rubino reports.

Read the article.