Attorney Michael Lyons, co-founder of the Dallas-based trial law firm Deans & Lyons, LLP, and firm partner Brian Lauten have earned selection to the 2016 D Magazine list of the Best Lawyers in Dallas.

“Brian and I take great pride in the work we do on behalf of our clients and appreciate earning the recognition of our peers,” says Mr. Lyons, who was named to the list for the fifth time.

In a release, the firm said:

Lyons has earned a reputation for using innovative trial strategies and a client-first approach in representing victims of catastrophic personal injuries, medical malpractice, product liability and wrongful death. He is equally respected for his work in complex business disputes, having successfully represented small businesses and large companies in “bet-the-company” litigation involving breach of contract, shareholder and royalty disputes, securities claims, business torts, and director and officer liability. Mr. Lyons is one of the few attorneys to earn recognition for both business and personal injury litigation in the listing of Dallas’ top attorneys.

This is Mr. Lauten’s second appearance on the list of Dallas’ best. He has extensive experience handling complex commercial litigation involving legal malpractice, professional liability, business and commercial torts, breach of fiduciary duty, contract disputes, and labor and employment matters. He is also a skilled appellate lawyer who has argued before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the various Texas courts of appeal. Mr. Lauten is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Board Certified in Civil Trial Law Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and Board Certified in Civil Pretrial Practice by the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification.

Former Sprint Corp chief executive William Esrey and former chief operating officer Ronald LeMay sued the United States government for allegedly concealing its investigation into accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP’s promotion of tax shelters sold to the executives, Reuters is reporting.

The suit involves a 2002 Internal Revenue Service investigation into Ernst & Young’s promotion of tax shelters to its clients, including the two executives and settled the audit with EY in July 2003, without informing the executives, the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs alleged that the IRS helped EY conceal the details of investigation from them, which meant they could not defend themselves against allegations by Sprint about their participation in the EY-promoted tax shelter schemes, Reuters reports.

Read the article.

Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP will host a complimentary one-hour webinar on what industry needs to know about the increasingly severe enforcement of energy efficiency rules.

The event will be Tuesday, May 3, 2016, at 12:30 p.m. EDT.

Speakers Scott Blake Harris and John Hodges will provide information on enforcement proceedings at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (for its Energy Star program), Federal Trade Commission, and the California Energy Commission.

The presentation will include an opportunity for participants to ask questions. This webinar is designed for manufacturers, importers, and marketers of appliances and equipment that are, or may become, subject to energy efficiency rules.

Register for the webinar.

David Conaway of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP has posted an article describing the key provisions to address in international sales contracts, other than normal trade terms.

The article covers what law applies, where will disputes be resolved, arbitration of foreign disputes, who pays the costs of dispute resolution, and miscellaneous important contract provisions.

“Companies ideally would have bespoke contracts that address these differences. However, given that many companies do business in numerous foreign countries, it may be impractical to have a bespoke contract for every country. A reasonable approach would be to consider an over-arching ‘international’ sales or supply contract, and variations for key market countries, or material customer relationships,” he writes.

Read the article.

Elizabeth Holmes
Photo by Max Morse for TechCrunch

Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into whether Theranos Inc. misled investors about the state of its technology and operations, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and the New York State Department of Health have received subpoenas in recent weeks seeking documents and testimony about representations made to them by the Palo Alto, Calif., blood-testing company, some of the people said.

Theranos once claimed it had made “breakthrough advancements” that made it possible to run “the full range” of lab tests on a few drops of blood pricked from a finger. But some regulators and former employees have voiced doubt about the tests.

“Theranos was valued at $9 billion in a funding round in 2014 and the majority stake of Elizabeth Holmes, the startup’s founder and chief executive, at more than half that,” The Journal reports.

Read the article.

A potentially precedent-setting lawsuit against gun manufacturers on behalf of families of those killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting will move forward to the discovery process, a Connecticut judge ruled Tuesday, according to a report on CNN.

The trial is set for April 3, 2018. The ruling opens the way for depositions and potential access to internal documents from Bushmaster Firearms and Remington.

CNN says this would be the first lawsuit of its kind to reach the discovery phase after the enactment of the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA, according to experts.

“The companies contend they are shielded under the federal legislation, which absolves gun manufacturers from liability if a firearm is ‘misused’ in a crime to kill people.” the report says.

Read the article.

Harvey Newkirk, a former lawyer at Bryan Cave LLP was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to lenders as part of a failed scheme to buy Maxim Magazine through impersonation, a false e-mail and stolen money, reports Bloomberg BNA.

New York prosecutors wanted the judge to sentence Newkirk, 39, to a “significant term of imprisonment,” describing him as “a facile liar lacking shame, remorse or sympathy for his many victims.” Newkirk’s lawyers sought probation, saying he was a “precocious only child born into a family of God” who lost his job and suffered from the shame of a criminal conviction.

Newkirk, while not part of the most “despicable aspects” of the scheme, “was a knowing and willful perpetrator of fraud in his own part,” U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said Thursday at his sentencing. “The jury’s verdict was amply deserved.” He could have been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, the Bloomberg report says.

“How to Ensure Organizational Resiliency,” a featured article in the latest issue of NACD Directorship magazine, explores what directors think boards can do to ensure a company’s survival — despite high rates of business failure.

NACD Directorship magazine is an exclusive benefit of membership in the National Association of Corporate Directors, but NACD has made this article available without a subscription.

The article discusses roundtables co-hosted by NACD and Dentons to explore directors’ perspectives on what contributes to the resiliency of an organization.

Prior to the dinners in Scottsdale, Chicago, and New York, each group of the invited directors was asked to consider the following questions:

• What is the board’s role in assessing threats, determining responses, and in educating or monitoring employees?
• How are risks presented to the board by management?
• How are risk assumptions challenged?
• How does the board approach the identification of new risks?
• What are the common threads running through business failures such as Arthur Andersen, Barings Bank, Enron, Lehman Bros., and others, and what can be learned from them?
• How do you assess insider threats?

Read the article.

Webinar: Thursday, April 28,
10 a.m. PDT

SecureDocs, a virtual data room provider for secure document sharing and storage, and Corum Group, a seller of technology companies globally,will host a webinar focused on examining the growing trend of Asian buyers eagerly seeking technology acquisition and investment opportunities, particularly in North America and Europe. The webinar also will consider what this means for the technology industry across the globe.

This webinar titled, “Is Your Company’s Buyer in Asia?,” will be on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 10 am PDT.

This webinar is especially relevant for the business leaders from the technology industry who are interested in understanding and capitalizing on the shifting tide of buyers from Asia, and their huge appetites for growth companies located in North America and Europe, SecureDocs says in a release.

During this 60-minute webinar, featured speaker Jim Perkins, Vice President at Corum Group, will present an in-depth analysis of what buyers from Asia are after, how to reach them, and what the ramifications are of doing business overseas. Additionally, Perkins will introduce and examine critical elements of working with buyers from Asia, including:

-Why Asian buyers are so eager for North American and European technology acquisitions.
-Why Asian buyers are doing deals of all sizes, from very large to moderate.
-How to best reach and leverage the potential acquirers in Asia.
-What it’s like working with a buyer in Asia.

Register for the webinar.

From the SecureDocs release:

About SecureDocs Virtual Data Room:
SecureDocs is a Virtual Data Room for businesses raising funds, going through M&A, licensing Intellectual Property, and those who recognize the importance of safeguarding their most critical business documentation. SecureDocs has an easy-to-use solution that keeps businesses organized and ready for opportunity, without breaking the bank. Created by the engineers and team who helped develop GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, AppFolio, and Rightscale, the team is dedicated to building software solutions that are highly secure, easily adopted, and affordable for any type or size of business.

About Corum Group:
Corum Group is the global leader in merger and acquisition services, specializing in serving sellers of software and information technology companies worldwide. With offices globally, Corum has completed over US $7 billion in software M&A transactions over the last 30 years, spanning six continents. Corum’s M&A advisors are highly experienced former tech CEOs, who are supported by the industry’s leading researchers, writers and valuators.

If your company is providing professional services as opposed to selling a product, you may find that you need a good Agreement for Professional Services, writes Richard Harroch for AllBusiness. This type of agreement lays out the terms and conditions under which a business provides certain services, such as accounting, engineering, consulting, software development, and property inspections.

The article discusses the key points to keep in mind when drafting or negotiating an Agreement for Professional Services.

Those points include services to be rendered, nonsolicitation of employees, fees, reimbursable costs, liability limitations, late charges, period for bringing claims, time to perform services, suspension of services, and force majeure.

Read the article.

Data and technology management company eTERA Consulting will host a complimentary webinar focused on best practices for data preservation and litigation holds on April 28, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. EDT with panel speakers Sam Morgan, Anthony Lowe, Esq. and Debra Rushton.

This one-hour complimentary webinar will provide in-house attorneys, outside counsel and litigation support professionals with a high level approach and best practices around the topic of data preservation, and will examine the overarching concepts of a sound preservation plan.

Corporations and their outside counsel often struggle with properly preserving data and implementing legal holds – and the recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) have only led to further confusion, eTERA Consulting said in a release.  With the volume of data only increasing exponentially, it is not advantageous from a cost or liability standpoint to keep everything.  The panel of experts will provide real life prospective of the complexities of properly preserving data in large organizations.

eTERA’s Sam Morgan, Global Managing Consultant Discovery/EDRM, and leading industry experts from a financial services corporation, Anthony Lowe, Esq. and Debra Rushton, will discuss the following key topics:

• The proper framework and components of a sound preservation plan
• Utilizing the proper technologies effectively
• Practical application of preservation and litigation holds
• Recent amendments to the FRCP

This webinar is part of eTERA’s ongoing series of training and education initiatives to help legal professionals stay abreast of critical issues surrounding data management and eDiscovery. To register, click here.

The release continues:

About the Speakers:

Sam Morgan, Global Managing Consultant Discovery/EDRM, eTERA Consulting 

Sam Morgan serves as the Global Managing Consultant Discovery/EDRM for eTERA.  In this role, he is responsible for advising corporate and law firm clients on managing complex litigation and investigations encompassing all aspects of eDiscovery including collections, processing and hosted solutions. He also provides client training programs covering eDiscovery management best practices.  Given his extensive background in litigation support, eDiscovery and trial support, Morgan has become a trusted advisor to several clients in key industries including insurance, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, and manufacturing.

Anthony Lowe, Esq., Associate General Counsel and Managing Attorney

Anthony Lowe, Esq. is associate general counsel and managing attorney for the Litigation Operations Group at a financial services corporation. He assists senior management to define, enhance and manage business operations to optimize the delivery of legal services. Anthony established the Litigation Operations Group, including the Litigation Support & eDiscovery Team to bring eDiscovery in-house, which he now leads as eDiscovery counsel. In addition, he handles various litigation matters, frequently providing guidance on preservation, information governance and cybersecurity issues. Anthony frequently speaks on eDiscovery, document preservation, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), Defensible Deletion and other issues related to electronically stored information.

Debra A. Rushton, Litigation Support Professional

Debra A. Rushton is a litigation support professional at a financial services corporation. Debra’s legal experience has focused on supporting a wide variety of litigation-related transactions and consulting on a broad range of issues especially best practices for business processes relating to eDiscovery. She frequently serves as a subject matter expert for a variety of internal technology and information management initiatives.  Debra is the Legal Hold Administrator and has experience managing the Legal Hold Process using manual processes and Legal Hold Notification software.

About eTERA Consulting

Founded in 2004, eTERA Consulting is an international, award-winning organization selected by clients to help solve the challenges of complex, big data projects in the areas of information governance, investigations, litigation, regulatory compliance, and security breach response. Built by the clients, for the clients™, eTERA provides customized data management solutions and services to Fortune 500 companies and the Am Law 100 at the intersection where legal, data analytics, security, and information technology meet. eTERA’s experienced subject matter experts ensure client engagement success by using best practices, leading technologies, and proven project management methodologies combined with exceptional client service. Having passed the most stringent security audits, eTERA is trusted by the world’s largest insurance, financial services, pharmaceutical, and energy companies. eTERA was selected by the Legal Times in 2014 and 2015 as the Best End-to-End Litigation Consulting Firm and was recognized by the National Law Journal as the nation’s top End-to-End eDiscovery Company for five consecutive years. Headquartered in Washington DC, eTERA maintains offices in Chicago, Detroit, Brussels, London, Paris and Rome.

Register for the webinar.

Now more than ever, corporate directors are finding themselves named in lawsuits, says Katherine Henderson, veteran insurance board advisor and partner with Wilson Sonsini, in a video posted by Boardroom Resources LLC.

“Today, any major decision from the company or board level seems to result in some form of legal action,” Boardroom Resources says on its website. “All this increased litigation begs the question – what’s the level of personal liability for directors on public boards and how can their liability be mitigated?”

In the video, Henderson discusses the current state of board liability, along with what you need to know about your D&O policy. She also outlines what steps to take to mitigate your risk of being sued.

Watch the on-demand video.

Second Genome, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines through innovative microbiome science, has closed an oversubscribed Series B investment round with $42.6 million in financing, co-led by Pfizer Venture Investments and Roche Venture Fund.

The company was advised in the financing by Latham & Watkins LLP corporate partner Mark Roeder and associate Alexander White in the firm’s Silicon Valley office.

The round brings the combined total investment in the company to $59 million. The round also included new investors Digitalis Ventures, Adveq, LifeForce Capital, MBL Venture Capital, and Mayo Clinic, as well as Series A investors Advanced Technology Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures, Seraph Group, and individual investor Matthew Winkler, Ph.D.

The funds will be used to further expand the Second Genome Microbiome Discovery Platform in a range of indications associated with barrier function, insulin sensitivity, and immune regulation. In addition, proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the clinical investigation of SGM-1019, a small molecule inhibitor of a key microbiome-mediated target to address inflammation and pain in ulcerative colitis, through human proof-of-concept studies.

“Our approach to developing novel therapeutics based on secreted functional proteins, peptides, and metabolites from the microbiome is highly relevant to the pharmaceutical industry. The progress made by our team to date has allowed us to attract significant interest from a premier group of investors, including Pfizer Venture Investments and Roche Venture Fund,” said Peter DiLaura, Second Genome’s CEO. “This financing will enable us to accelerate our efforts to scale our unique microbiome discovery platform and reach several major inflection points, including key milestones for the SGM-1019 clinical program and other therapeutic programs.”

In conjunction with the new financing, Elaine Jones, Ph.D., Executive Director of Pfizer Venture Investments, and Carole Nuechterlein, Head of Roche Venture Fund, will join the Second Genome Board of Directors.

“Second Genome has demonstrated early success in accessing the previously overlooked and untapped potential of the microbiome in drug discovery and development,” said Dr. Jones. “The company has developed a unique platform and the deep scientific expertise required to create value by mining the microbiome to build a pipeline of novel therapeutics for a broad range of chronic conditions with high unmet medical need.”

Second Genome‘s Microbiome Discovery Platform combines genomics technologies, computational biology, and phenotypic screening to identify novel proteins, peptides, and metabolites from the microbiome that play a causal role in human disease and wellness.

Michael J. Rivera has joined Schiff Hardin LLP as a partner in the Financial Markets and Products Group.

The firm said Rivera defends businesses and individuals in criminal and civil government investigations and enforcement proceedings and conducts internal investigations.

He has experience in securities and financial investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Department of Justice (DOJ). He also counsels companies on compliance and regulatory issues under the federal securities, anti-money laundering, and anti-corruption (FCPA) laws.

He is resident in the firm’s Washington, D.C. and New York offices.

In a release, the firm said:

In addition to working over two decades in private practice at Fried Frank LLP, and, most recently, Venable LLP, Mike gained valuable experience as a government investigator and prosecutor. From 2010-2013, Mike served as Chief Investigative Counsel for the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). At SIGTARP, Mike managed a premier white collar fraud unit of seasoned federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents engaged in investigations and prosecutions of complex financial frauds. Mike also functioned as SIGTARP’s lead liaison to the senior staff of law enforcement agencies, federal prosecutor offices, securities and bank regulators, and President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF).

“Mike’s breadth of experience makes him a valuable counselor to a wide variety of our clients, from public companies, hedge funds, and accounting firms to securities professionals, executives, and lawyers,” said Marci A. Eisenstein, Schiff Hardin’s Managing Partner. “He is a welcome addition to our firm, particularly as we build out our regulatory capabilities in Washington, D.C.”

Paul Dengel, leader of the firm’s Financial Markets and Products Group, said, “As a public servant, Mike led complex, high-profile securities fraud investigations. In private practice, he helps clients understand, anticipate, and respond to investigations. Relying on his counsel, our clients can make smarter compliance decisions.”

Mike began his legal career as a staff attorney in the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he conducted investigations into insider trading, disclosure and reporting violations, fraudulent securities transactions, and other violations of the federal securities laws.

“Given the current regulatory and enforcement climate, companies must be more mindful than ever of their compliance policies and obligations,” said Mike. “I look forward to advising Schiff Hardin’s clients on current and pending securities regulations and, when necessary, guiding them through complex investigations and enforcement proceedings.”

Mike earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his B.S. from St. John’s University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Environmental lawyer Laura Whiting has joined Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP as a partner in the firm’s Dallas office.

Whiting joins Gardere’s environmental practice group where she will assist clients with all aspects of compliance and permitting for heavily regulated industry and real estate development. For all businesses, she anticipates more state, federal and citizen enforcement, incident investigations, regulatory advocacy, and product stewardship requirements, as well as the ongoing need to conduct thorough due diligence and cost-effective remediation and cost recovery, the firm said in a release.

The release continues:

She brings more than 27 years of experience in the chemical manufacturing, power generation, airline, and oil and gas industries. Ms. Whiting joins the Firm from Occidental Chemical Corp. where she served as senior counsel for the company’s environmental, health, safety, process safety, product stewardship, quality assurance and security functions.

Ms. Whiting began her legal career at Gardere before joining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 as an assistant regional counsel and enforcement attorney for Region 6. While at the EPA, she represented the government in multimedia, hazardous waste, federal facility and release reporting enforcement cases, regulatory development and policy matters. Prior to joining Occidental, she was a partner at Hunton & Williams LLP and also practiced environmental law at Winstead PC.

“We are excited that Laura is rejoining Gardere as a partner in our environmental practice group,” says Gardere Chair Holland N. O’Neil. “Laura’s extensive environmental background, including her experience in the chemicals industry, will further enhance our expertise in this practice area.”

Ms. Whiting currently serves on the board of directors with the Dixon Water Foundation, an organization dedicated to ensuring that present and future generations of Texans have the water resources they need. She is also a Texas state trustee for The Nature Conservancy and previously chaired the Environmental Health Commission for the City of Dallas, as well as the Dallas Nature Center, now Audubon’s Cedar Ridge Preserve.

“It is a great pleasure to rejoin the Firm where I started my career,” says Ms. Whiting. “Gardere’s environmental attorneys are among the most respected in their field, and I am honored to join this highly regarded group of professionals.”

Nearly a dozen Beck Redden employees, along with other members of Houston’s legal community, recently volunteered at the Houston Food Bank during “Legal Frenzy Friday,” part of the Food from the Bar campaign. Hundreds of attorneys and staff form Houston-area law firms donated their by working a 3-hour volunteer shift, which was a Houston Food Bank volunteer bonus day.

In a release, the firm said:

Beck Redden’s participation was spearheaded by associate Kate Skagerberg, who serves as a board member of f.r.e.s.h. Young Professionals, which was formed to support the mission of the Houston Food Bank, along with Beck Redden partner, Alistair Dawson, who is on the Food from the Bar Steering Committee.

“I was proud of our firm’s representation at Legal Frenzy Friday,” Skagerberg said.  “It was wonderful to work with my colleagues for such a worthwhile cause and to see the entire Houston legal community come together to help those in need.”

In addition to volunteering, as part of the Food from the Bar Campaign, Beck Redden employees are also collecting non-perishable food items at their offices as well as having an online donation for the Houston Food Bank. Food from the Bar is a month-long effort led by Houston’s legal community to close the meal gap in Southeast Texas. By donating their time, food and funds, firms and legal organizations help the Houston Food Bank distribute more meals to neighbors in need during the summer months and beyond.

Houston Food Bank

The Houston Food Bank is America’s largest food bank in distribution to its network of 600 hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties. Named top charity in Texas by Charity Navigator for financial performance and accountability, the Houston Food Bank provides 74 million nutritious meals to food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers and other agencies, feeding 800,000 people each year. Fresh produce, meat and nonperishables are distributed from the warehouse at 535 Portwall, and hot meals are prepared and distributed from Keegan Center, a 15,000 square foot industrial kitchen. Additional community services range from nutrition education to assistance with food stamp applications and hands-on job training. Red Barrels offer a convenient way for grocery shoppers to donate nonperishables for their neighbors in need.

Donald Trump has made another new significant hire as he prepares for the possibility of a contested convention, bringing William McGinley, a prominent Republican political attorney and a veteran of past delegate battles, into his campaign, reports Politico.

“In 2012, McGinley served as counsel to the convention’s rules committee and he is currently a partner at Jones Day, the same law firm as Don McGahn, Trump’s top political attorney. McGinley is expected to travel to Florida this week, POLITICO has learned, where Republican National Committee members are gathering for their spring meeting amid an ongoing fight over the rules that will govern the convention,” according to the report.

Read the article.

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that two defense lawyers accused of spying on a plaintiff’s Facebook page can be prosecuted for attorney misconduct, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The court described the case as involving a “novel ethical issue.”

“Two defense attorneys in New Jersey are accused of snooping on the private Facebook account of a plaintiff suing their client,” the report says. “The Facebook account was at first publicly viewable. But after the plaintiff tightened the settings and put his profile page behind a privacy wall, the lawyers didn’t stop monitoring it. A paralegal at their firm was able to get access by sending a Facebook friend request to the plaintiffs without revealing her employer.”

Read the article.

The State Department has agreed to a conservative legal group’s request to question several current and former government officials about the creation of Hillary Clinton’s private email system, reports the Associated Press.

A judge granted the group, Judicial Watch, limited discovery to ask the officials why Clinton relied on an email server in her New York home during her tenure as secretary of state.

If the judge approves of the agreement, lawyers from Judicial Watch will be allowed to depose Clinton’s top aides, including former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills, deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and undersecretary Patrick F. Kennedy, the report says.

Read the report.

Josh Stark, lawyer and head of operations and legal at blockchain consulting firm Ledger Labs, comments in an opinion piece on CoinDesk on “smart contracts” as an alternative form of legal agreement, speculating on how they could come to impact his industry.

“Banks, exchanges, and other financial institutions are actively developing blockchain technologies that will enable them to store and trade real assets over blockchain systems. Nasdaq, in partnership with blockchain startup Chain, has developed and begun testing a private-market equity trading platform,” he writes.

“The impact will not be limited to financial contracts, although these are the most obvious use cases. As techniques are developed that enable other types of property to be recorded and transacted on a blockchain, the possible applications for smart contracts will multiply,” he adds.

Read the article.