Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business, in partnership with Catalyst, will present a complimentary live event, “Taking Control of Corporate Discovery: What It Means for Outside Counsel,” Thursday, July 21, in New York. The event will be 3-7 p.m. EDT, at Bloomberg LP, 731 Lexington Ave., New York, NY.

This free event will explore the changing nature of the in-house and outside counsel relationship, given ever-tightening corporate budgets and new approaches to discovery.

Sessions will address:

• Best practices on managing costs in complex cases by leveraging technology
• An overview of the latest analytical tools to aid in discovery
• How the recently amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure will affect eDiscovery

Register for the event.

A New York magistrate judge has found that a plaintiff’s request for individual defendants to search for and produce certain documents from their personal computers and email accounts was not “unduly intrusive or burdensome” because the request was limited in time frame and the parties had agreed to search terms, and granted the plaintiff’s motion to compel, according to a report by Doug Austin on eDiscoverydaily.

The magistrate judge noted that “to the extent such documents exist on the Individual Defendants’ personal computers, they may contain information going to bias or motivation which may show why a personal computer was used for such communications, including information which may support Plaintiff’s claims of deliberate indifference against the Individual Defendants.”

The case involved a transgender prison inmate who sued the defendants claiming they acted “with deliberate indifference” to serious medical needs by denying hormone therapy for gender dysphoria.

Read the article.

Civil fines across federal agencies have recently been increased dramatically under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (2015 Act) (Sec. 701 of Public Law 114-74), with some more than doubling, according to an article published by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.

“Companies violating the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Improvements Act, the Securities Exchange Act, or the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), among others, could soon face civil monetary penalties that are up to 150% higher than the existing levels. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the 2015 Act would increase the federal government’s revenue by $1.3 billion over the next ten years,” the article says.

The authors provide a chart listing some of the notable increases in federal civil fines under the 2015 Act.

Read the article.

Chesapeake Energy will pay about $51 million to wipe out hundreds of lawsuits accusing the Oklahoma City energy giant of cheating North Texas property owners out of millions of dollars in natural gas royalties, according to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Max B. Baker reports that the law firm representing the property owners said 91 percent of their 13,000 clients — representing 97.15 percent of the natural gas production — agreed to accept the out-of-court settlement.

“The lawsuits alleged that Chesapeake deducted higher-than-necessary postproduction costs from royalty checks,” Baker reports. “They contended that the company used sham sales to affiliates to transport and market the natural gas to increase what it earned.”

Read the article.

Bruce Sewell is Apple’s general counsel and senior VP of Legal and Global Security.

Bruce Sewell, senior vice president of legal and global security and general counsel at Apple Inc., leads Bloomberg Law’s list of the most highly compensated general counsel in American companies.

While his 2015 salary was $1 million, other benefits brought his total compensation to $25,017,626, according to the report.

The list names 30 of the best-paid GCs, with total compensation ranging from $4.8 million for Eli Lilly’s Michael Harrington, to Sewell’s $25 million.

The top five slots on the list include GCs from Apple, General Electric, Amgen, Hertz and PayPal.

Blake Edwards and Gabe Friedman, with special assistance from Brandon Kochkodin, compiled the list for Bloomberg.

Read the article.

The Federal Trade Commission has determined that Herbalife is not a pyramid scheme, but the nutritional supplement marketer will still be required to pay $200 million to consumers and “fully restructure” its “unfair” business in a comprehensive settlement, the federal regulator said Friday, according to a report by USA Today.

“The settlement caps a two-year investigation by the FTC, which probed Herbalife over accusations that the company’s main focuses less on retail sales of products than on on bringing in increasing numbers of new sales people who were deceived into believing they could reap substantial profits by selling diet, nutritional supplement and personal care products,” report Nathan Bomey and Kevin McCoy.

Under the settlement, Herbalife must “fundamentally restructure its business, so that participants are rewarded for what they sell, not how many people the recruit,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement.

Read the article.

Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Department of Justice has begun a rare internal examination of what went wrong in the prosecution of a controversial drug conspiracy case against delivery service Federal Express, according to the department’s top prosecutor in San Francisco.

“The review plays into a broader debate about how the government prosecutes suspected corporate wrongdoing and could influence its approach to such cases in the future,” write Dan Levine and David Ingram.

FedEx was indicted in 2014 on charges the company had knowingly helped Internet pharmacies ship illegal pills. Then, four days into a trial in San Francisco last month, the DOJ dropped all charges, a decision the judge praised, saying it was clear FedEx was “factually innocent.”

The new review will examine why prosecutors brought the case, what oversight supervisors provided and what role officials in Washington D.C. played.

Read the article.

Fish & Richardson announced that three principals – including Natalie Arbaugh of Dallas – have been named to the Profiles in Diversity Journal (PDJ) 2016 list of the “Women Worth Watching.” According to the PDJ, the women selected for this honor “are forging ahead with global acclaim in strategies that are making a difference in their workplace, marketplace and around the world.”

In a release, the firm said Arbaugh is a commercial business and intellectual property (IP) litigator with a reputation for top-notch client service, creative problem solving, and courtroom excellence. She has tried nearly 30 cases as lead counsel or second chair including many high-profile business and IP disputes such as trademark and anti-counterfeiting litigation, trade secret, non-compete, and non-solicitation litigation.

She leads the firm’s EMPOWER Women’s Initiative, which provides expanded professional and business development opportunities, mentoring, training, and support to Fish’s female legal staff. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in 2001 and her B.A., with honors, in business administration from the University of Florida in 1995.

Also selected for this honor were Fish principals Linda Liu Kordziel of Washington, D.C., and Boston’s Cynthia Johnson Walden, Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Trademark and Copyright Group.

Profiles in Diversity Journal is dedicated to promoting and advancing diversity and inclusion in the corporate, government, nonprofit, STEM, and higher education sectors.

The decision to end a supplier relationship can be a difficult one, often reached only after multiple attempts to fix problems have failed and various alternatives to termination have been fully considered, writes Robert F. Ware of Thompson Hine.

“When the decision is finally made, the focus turns to effecting the termination and transitioning to a new supplier as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Having reached this stage, it can be frustrating to encounter legal issues that delay the conversion or require a change in strategy. Even worse is a legal dispute that causes delay and significant unanticipated costs,” Ware writes.

He offers some strategies to consider at the outset of any discussion about a possible supplier termination.

Read the article.

Western business people have been falling for a classic Chinese scam for a long time, writes Dan Harris in Harris Moure, LLP’s China Law blog, and it seems to be rapidly accelerating of late.

“The scam consists of the Chinese company (actually, in every instance when our firm has done any investigation at all we immediately learned that there is actually no real company there) luring in the Western company with promises of big money for services (or sometimes products) to be supplied by the Western company. There is just one small hitch: the Western company must go to China,” he explains.

Once the Westerner gets to China, the local representative profits by splitting inflated costs incurred at hotels and restaurants and from fake notary charges.

Read the article.

An article written by Matthew DeVries on Burr & Forman LLP‘s Best Practices Construction Law blog illustrates an oft-repeated plea from lawyers: “Please, please, please read your contract.” In this instance, one party’s failure to strictly follow the contractual notice provision was a $209,235.36 mistake.

He describes a case in which a general contractor entered into an agreement with the City of New York Department of Sanitation to construct a garage. “The subcontractor agreed to to furnish and install five elevators for the project. Although the court’s decision does not elaborate on the details, the subcontractor filed suit and was awarded more than $200,000 in damages incurred as a result of delays in performance of the work.”

According to the article,”When you are required to strictly comply with a particular provision or legal requirement, then any departure from that requirement (no matter how insubstantial) can void the claim or provide an absolute defense.”

Read the article.

With the recent passage of the Defense of Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), businesses are welcoming the many benefits the statute brings, including federal jurisdiction, robust equitable relief, and the ability to recover compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees, according to a report by Fisher & Phillips LLP.

The article points out that many employers may overlook a requirement that requires revisions to existing confidentiality agreements and restrictive covenants.

“Namely, employers are required to provide employees with notice that they are entitled to immunity if they disclose a trade secret for the purpose of reporting suspected illegal conduct,” writes Michael R. Greco. “If employers fail to give notice in the manner required by the DTSA, they will not be able to recover punitive damages or attorneys’ fees. Consequently, employers must pay careful attention to the DTSA notification requirements, which are not as straightforward as many believe.”

Read the article.

Paper Software has announced the release of Contract Tools, a powerful new Microsoft Word add-in designed to aid in working with contracts.

To introduce the new product the company will have a free webinar July 26 at 11 a.m. Central time.

The company says the product helps with:

• Comprehensive proofreading
• Streamlined search
• Automatic to-do lists
• Intuitive navigation
• Autocompletion
• And much more

Register for the webinar.

Texas Lawyer’s annual listing of the top verdicts in Texas includes last year’s trial win by Dallas-based Rose•Walker for firm client ThermoTek Inc. as one of the state’s top contract verdicts.

In November of last year, Judge Sidney Fitzwater of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas entered a judgment of $9.6 million for medical products manufacturer ThermoTek. The judgment followed a unanimous verdict in which jurors agreed with Rose•Walker’s argument that a competitor fraudulently obtained ThermoTek’s business information for a series of physical therapy machines.

“We’re always happy to walk out of court with a win on behalf of our clients,” says firm founder Marty Rose, who represented ThermoTek at trial along with firm partner Chris McDowell. “But to have our work recognized among other top trial wins is a special honor.”

Read the article.

DLA Piper has named Frank Ryan, a partner in the firm’s New York office, U.S. co-chair of its Intellectual Property and Technology practice, effective July 1, 2016.

Ryan will co-chair the U.S. practice with John Allcock, a partner in the firm’s San Diego and Silicon Valley offices, who is also global co-chair of the practice group.

In his practice, Ryan advises U.S. and multinational clients with a focus on litigation, intellectual property, media and sports, and complex commercial matters. He has successfully represented clients in a number of cases at trial and is well-versed in content distribution agreements, patent litigation and intellectual property portfolio development and protection.

Ryan previously led the New York office’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice and now serves as the deputy chair of the firm’s Global Media, Sports and Entertainment sector. He also serves on the firm’s Executive Committee and Global Board.

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) recently released Director Essentials: Preparing the Board for Shareholder Activism and provides an executive summary of the report for free download.

As year-round shareholder activism becomes the new norm in the American boardroom, directors are called upon to prepare for and respond to any possible activist challenges, the NACD reports. The new publication is designed to equip directors with the knowledge and tools they need to address this challenge.

This report includes information on trends in activist campaigns, types of investors and their methods of influence, and the board’s role in preparing for and responding to an activist campaign.

The full publication is available exclusively to NACD members, but the executive summary is freely available.

Download the executive summary.

Littler Mendelson, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has released the results of its 2016 Executive Employer Survey. The fifth annual survey, completed by 844 in-house counsel, human resources professionals and C-suite executives from some of America’s largest companies, examines the key legal, economic and social issues impacting employers as the 2016 presidential election approaches.

New Overtime Rules, Aggressive DOL Enforcement Plague Employers

The Department of Labor (DOL) has advanced several regulatory initiatives that have brought the agency’s enforcement of federal employment laws more to the forefront for employers. The vast majority of respondents to this year’s survey (82 percent) expect DOL enforcement to have an impact on their workplace over the next 12 months, with 31 percent anticipating a significant impact (up from 18 percent in the 2015 survey).

This concern is no doubt driven in large part by the recently finalized Fair Labor Standard Act “white collar” overtime regulations that drastically increase the number of Americans who can qualify for overtime pay. Although respondents completed the survey in the weeks prior to the release of the final rule, 65 percent had already conducted audits to identify affected employees.

“Employers are clearly feeling the impact of the DOL’s increasingly aggressive regulatory agenda, most notably the new overtime regulations,” said Littler attorneys Tammy McCutchen and Lee Schreter in a joint statement. “While it is encouraging that the majority of respondents started to prepare before the rule was finalized, more than a quarter (28 percent) said they had taken no action given delays in the rulemaking process. Given that the reclassification process can take up to six months and the rule is unlikely to be blocked from going into effect on December 1, 2016, employers should move quickly to ensure compliance.”

Further, in ranking the priority they expect a presidential candidate from each party to place on various issues, the majority of respondents (75 percent) said income inequality (e.g., overtime rules, state equal pay, minimum wage laws, etc.) would be a significant priority of the Democratic candidate. This is in comparison to only 4 percent who felt income inequality would be a significant priority of the Republican candidate.

Joint Employer, ACA among Top Regulatory and Legislative Issues Facing Workplace

Increased DOL enforcement is just one example of employers grappling with a continuously shifting regulatory and enforcement landscape, as federal agencies continue to be the governmental bodies inflicting the most pressure on employers.

With the National Labor Relations Board’s recent expansion of the definition of a “joint employer,” 70 percent of respondents expect a rise in claims over the next year based on actions of subcontractors, staffing agencies and franchisees. Approximately half of respondents predicted higher costs (53 percent) and increased caution in entering into arrangements that might constitute joint employment (49 percent).

“It is significant and telling that only 2 percent of respondents said the expanded definition of a joint employer will have no impact on their workplace,” said Michael Lotito, co-chair of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute. “This finding shows the breadth of the NLRB’s decision, overturning a standard of joint employment that had been in place for decades, which required a relationship that was actual, direct and substantial.”

As was the case in the 2015 survey, 85 percent of employers said the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would have an impact on their workplace in the next 12 months. While two-thirds said they do not expect a repeal of the ACA if a Republican is elected president this fall, respondents saw a greater likelihood of changes to individual provisions. Fifty-three percent said a Republican administration could lead to a repeal of or changes to the Cadillac excise tax and 48 percent saw a likelihood for changes to the play-or-pay mandate.

Rising Public Attention to Social Issues Influences the Workplace

Employers have always had to keep an eye on demographic and social trends, but as information spreads more rapidly and as office culture shifts to accommodate a new generation, today’s companies are increasingly experiencing the incursion of social issues into the workplace.

In the largest year-over-year change in Littler’s survey results, 74 percent of respondents expect more discrimination claims over the next year related to the rights of LGBT workers (up from 31 percent in 2015) and 61 percent expect more claims based on equal pay (up from 34 percent in 2015). This change is driven by LGBT discrimination and equal pay ranking among the top enforcement priorities for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), but it also mirrors key focus areas for the Obama administration, government efforts at the state and federal levels, and increased public awareness.

“The EEOC has sent a clear signal that it will continue to prioritize rooting out discrimination based on sexual orientation and equal pay, so employers’ instincts that claims in this area will likely rise are right on the mark,” said Barry Hartstein, co-chair of Littler’s EEO & Diversity practice. “As LGBT rights and the gender pay gap continue to be in the headlines and topics of discussion among the general public, employers can expect to face increased pressure to address these issues in the workplace.”

In addition, the changing nature of work and the rise of the so-called gig economy have given companies more hiring options than ever, including independent contractors, contingent workers and an online workforce. While this shift has created greater flexibility for workers and increased efficiency for employers, it has also given rise to more independent contractor misclassification lawsuits and regulatory investigations. Despite the legal challenges, more than half of respondents at large-cap organizations either said they were not reluctant to hire more freelancers or contractors (24 percent) or they were neutral on the matter (35 percent).

Employers Take Steps to Prevent Workplace Violence

In response to tragic mass shootings across the nation, companies are taking a range of actions to keep their employees safe, including updating or implementing a zero-tolerance workplace policy (52 percent), conducting pre-employment screenings (40 percent) and holding training programs (38 percent). Only 11 percent of respondents said they had not taken any action because violence is not a concern for their company.

“Putting policies in place to increase awareness of workplace violence and ensure that employees understand how to report threats in the workplace are steps that all employers would be advised to take,” said Terri Solomon, a Littler shareholder with extensive experience counseling employers on workplace violence prevention. “Unfortunately, even though workplace violence – and particularly active shooter instances – are statistically rare, no employer is truly immune, so taking preventative action can help save lives.”

View the 2016 Executive Employer Survey Report here: http://www.littler.com/files/2016_littler_executive_employer_survey.pdf

About Littler

Littler is the largest global employment and labor law practice, with more than 1,000 attorneys in over 70 offices worldwide. Littler represents management in all aspects of employment and labor law and serves as a single-source solution provider to the global employer community. Consistently recognized in the industry as a leading and innovative law practice, Littler has been litigating, mediating and negotiating some of the most influential employment law cases and labor contracts on record for over 70 years. Littler Global is the collective trade name for an international legal practice, the practicing entities of which are separate and distinct professional firms. For more information visit: www.littler.com.

BP Plc faces more than $20 million in penalties and surrendered profits after a U.S. regulator found that the energy giant manipulated commodity markets in Texas, according to a report by Bloomberg and published by The Business Times.

The case dates back to 2008, when — according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — BP rigged prices at a Texas natural gas hub.

The order upholds an earlier ruling by the agency’s judge. BP had denied the allegations, Bloomberg reports.

“We find the violation here to have been very serious,” the commission said. “BP manipulated the market to profit from a natural disaster, and it did not stop after a trade or two but rather kept the scheme going for nearly three months.”

Read the article.

Image by Marc van der Chijs

Google’s self-driving car project has created a general counsel position—and hired Kevin Vosen, the chief legal officer of The Climate Corporation to fill it—as it prepares to shift from moonshot to company, reports Kirsten Korosec for Fortune.

“Alphabet’s Google has teams of lawyers. And even the Google self-driving project, which is housed under X (the division where the company’s experimental projects reside), has lawyers. But until now, it’s never had one dedicated to the project full time and of this level of seniority,” she writes.

The article points out that the hiring comes at a critical time as Google aims to commercialize self-driving cars by 2020. With a CEO and a director already in place, a chief lawyer has been a missing piece.

Read the article.

One of the founders of futuristic transportation start-up Hyperloop One has filed a wrongful termination suit against his former co-founder, alleging nepotism and harassment, CNN is reporting.

The company is competing to build a Hyperloop transportation system to transport people and cargo up to 760 mph in a partially pressurized tube.

“On the outside, Hyperloop One appeared to be leading the competition with plans to have a working Hyperloop by 2020.” report Heather Kelly & Laurie Segall. “Inside, the startup was apparently being torn apart by mismanagement and growing tensions between leaders, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 12.”

Plaintiffs allege the current leaders of the company gave  lucrative jobs and raises to relatives and, and in one case, a girlfriend, pocketed money themselves and harassed other employees.

Read the article.