Cyber Revolution, Inc., a provider of solutions designed for small and medium sized law firms, has announced that it has been selected as a Premium Solution Provider to the ABA Law Practice Division.

“Cyber threats are constantly evolving to overcome security barriers, but our affordable Cyber Security monthly plan provides the protection that small and medium sized law firms need to stay ahead of current and future cyber threats. Being proactive is the only option for law firms to protect themselves,” said Nicolas Chaillan, CISO of Cyber Revolution, Inc.

In a release, the company said:

Cyber Revolution’s Serenity Plan provides an affordable and simple cyber security solution for law firms. Led by Cyber Revolution’s team of world-renowned experts, the Serenity Plan includes a yearly audit, employee trainings, risk assessments, 24/7 emergency support and Cyber Revolution’s proprietary Law Firm Cyber Security Certification program.

“Cyber Revolution’s Certification Seal can be used to assure current and prospective clients, regulators and insurance providers that your firm has taken the necessary steps to implement effective and secure procedures and processes that will limit exposure and protect their license, reputation and clients’ data”, Chaillan added.

Cyber Revolution hopes that with its relationship with the ABA, it can spread awareness of cyber security in the legal field through educational outreach, trade shows, professional publications and the ABA’s extensive network. Moreover, Cyber Revolution hopes to empower small to medium sized law firms that traditionally find themselves either too small or resource constrained to proactively take control of their digital security.

“This is the solution that everyone was waiting for. Cyber Security protections used to be too expensive and scary for small law firms like us. Cyber-Revolution’s Threat Brief and Report was thorough and insightful – exposing vulnerabilities not only to my systems but all aspects of my firm that could result in the unintended disclosure of critical information. Their level 3 certification will soon be the standard by which all lawyers will have to safeguard information,” said David J. Dischley, of the Law Office of David J. Dischley, PLC.

About Cyber Revolution, Inc.

Cyber Revolution has more than 15 years of experience in the Cyber Security industry, with leadership from Founder and Chief Information Security Officer, Nicolas Chaillan. Chaillan was an early pioneer and contributor to the computer language PHP. Chaillan developed two secure payment solutions for French banks and is considered a top industry expert in Cyber Security, the company said in a release.

iCONECT has prepared an infographic guide to help in improving document review. The company has made that infographic available for free download.

“2016 budgeting season is here and many firms find themselves disenfranchised from their document review platform of choice, or worse, forced to lock themselves into a long-term commitment for an expensive, unwanted bundle, that doesn’t even qualify as best-in-class,” the company says on its website.

The infographic is designed to help take a document review platform beyond the status quo and choosing the best platform for the job.

Download the infographic.

Christopher M. Schultz has become Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Level 2 Legal Solutions, a leading e-discovery and legal services outsourcing firm. Schultz goes to Level 2 from the AmLaw 50 firm Perkins Coie, where he was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s e-discovery practice.

“I have partnered with Level 2 on the most complex and sensitive of cases over the years and have watched them position themselves right where I want to be  ̶  at the intersection of technology and unparalleled personal attention to clients’ needs,” said Schultz. “There is a new value model quickly emerging in the legal world, and the opportunities are tremendous for Level 2.”

Schultz joins Level 2 after more than 16 years with Perkins Coie. He formed and co-chaired the E-Discovery Services & Strategies legal practice at the firm in 2007 and quickly established himself as one of the first experts in the new world of e-discovery law. A faculty member for The Sedona Conference, the legal sector’s premier forum dedicated to the advancement of e-discovery law and policy, Schultz graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law where he was an editor of the Arizona Law Review.

“Schultz’s extensive relationships range from Fortune 50 corporations to technology startups, having provided advice and expertise on the legal and technical issues surrounding data retention, corporate compliance, document production and the full scope of e-discovery in litigation and investigations,” the company said in a release. “He has also served as a key discovery expert in a number of high-profile intellectual property and employment class-action matters.”

Read more about the move.

Technology companies can preserve both significant sums of money and valuable intellectual property rights if they take action when a customer or business partner files for bankruptcy protection, according to a report published on the Buchalter Nemer website.

Shawn Christianson, Valerie Bantner Peo and Ivo Keller wrote the article.

“Far less effort is usually required to preserve these rights than what may be involved in a major piece of litigation; but, in almost every case, the company must take timely steps to ensure that its interests are protected,” they write.

They discuss measures that technology companies can take, and the procedures they should be aware of, to protect their rights in this area of law.

Read the article.

The International Association for Contract & Commercial Management will present a free, three-week online course offering ideas and insights into the world of business and trading relationships. This course will be a repeat of an April event.

Starting on Nov. 9, “the three week course will help you to better understand what is involved in commercial business relationships, and the process of managing contractual agreements,” IACCM says on its website. “You will learn how a person’s or organization’s objectives – and those of their customers and suppliers – can be achieved in an effective way, without threat or failure.”

Three modules, 5-10 minutes each, are released each week. They are recorded so participants can listen at their convenience.

Topics include:

• Relationship fundamentals; the things that can go right or wrong in commercial relationships
• The rules that govern public and private sector procurement
• The complexities of supply chains and networks that are a feature of many contracts
• How to manage interdependencies and the needs of multiple stakeholders
• Judgment and the data needed to inform it

Register for the course.

Contract managers carry with them a lot of valuable knowledge, data and wisdom, so it is important that a business captures this information so that when an employee contract manager leaves the company, these gems do not exit with them and can be leveraged for future use, reports ContractRoom on its blog.

The post outlines a list of information and valuable data a contract manager holds and why it should be captured, such as “Knowledge about the terms or specific parts of contracts that caused the most amount of pain in specific transactions,” and “Knowledge of the personalities people have with whom you negotiate regularly,”

Read the article.

The latest of a line of recent cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed the enforceability of class action waivers in arbitration agreements was before the court on Oct. 6, 2015, when the court heard oral argument in DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, et al., No. 14-462, reports James A. McKenna of Jackson Lewis.

“These decisions almost uniformly have favored arbitration, and many employers have adopted and successfully utilized arbitration agreements containing class action waivers,” he explains.

DirecTV’s customers signed agreements requiring claims relating to the agreement or to the company’s service to be decided by binding arbitration on an individual basis. “Arbitration on a class basis was specifically prohibited. At the time Amy Imburgia signed the agreement, the controlling California law was the “Discover Bank rule” announced by the California Supreme Court in 2005. Under the Discover Bank rule, almost all consumer arbitration agreements containing class action waivers were deemed unconconscionable and, therefore, unenforceable,” according to the article.

Read the article.

An article in Kane Russell Coleman & Logan’s new Energy Law Today blog reports on a case before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that raises the question: “When will an anti-indemnity statute bar an often well-crafted legal indemnity term in a master-service agreement?”.

The case is Tetra Techs., Inc. v. Continental Ins. Co., No. 15-30446.

“In Tetra, the commercial fight was between Tetra, which sought to enforce an indemnity clause against its subcontractor, Vertex Services.  Continental, Vertex’s insurer, tried to block any indemnity payment, relying, in large part, on the LOAIA,” writes Andrea (A.J.) Johnson.

“The district court held that the decommissioning of a platform in a salvage operation did not come under the LOAIA, and, thus, Tetra’s claim for indemnity was enforceable. In opposition, appellant Continental contends that the trial court too restrictively interpreted the [Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act].”

Read the article.

When you become a new general counsel, building your peer network is an important step in developing a support system as you prepare to face challenges in your organization, write Ilene Rosh and Kimberly Lerman in Major, Lindsey & Africa’s In Brief blog.

“We recommend that you look for opportunities to network wherever you can find them. There are many associations and trade groups that offer regular events, ranging from annually to monthly.” they write.

The benefits of attending networking events include connecting with key influencers, increasing your visibility, sharing knowledge and advice, and growing your confidence.

Read the article.

Every IG, IS and EDD project should start by defining the objectives and assembling the right team of people for the tasks ahead. The second stage is to conduct a complete and accurate inventory of the data sources implicated by the project scope, reports QDiscovery on its website. Indiana attorney Helen Geib wrote the article.

The article continues:

Taken together, stages one and two lay the groundwork for the final stage of accomplishing the objectives.

Making it happen — and doing it right — is undoubtedly the most challenging and complex part of any project, and the point at which most stalled or unsuccessful efforts founder. However, it can be made more manageable by breaking it down into a series of mini-stages, each building on the one before:

1. Make a plan.
2. Evaluate technology options.
3. Implement new systems and policies.
4. Educate and train employees.
5. Audit compliance on an ongoing basis.

To flesh out what these steps look like in practice, the balance of this post outlines a typical project in each area.

A) eDiscovery

Objective: Produce responsive ESI from an inventory management database in a readable format.

Team: Outside litigation counsel, records custodian

Project Steps:

1. Make use of the built-in searching and reporting capabilities of the database to identify, collect and produce the relevant data.
2. Schedule an online demo of the database with a records custodian (an employee who regularly works in the database). Look at the forms to identify potentially relevant fields, ask about search capabilities and go over options for standard and custom reports. Select the best format after reviewing sample reports to assess readability.
3. Direct the client to generate a report, in the selected format, that includes the field entries that are responsive to the requests for production subject to appropriate limitations, such as a date cut-off.
4. Not applicable (but note that employee education is important in eDiscovery in the context of litigation holds).
5. Repeat step three as needed to comply with continuing obligations to supplement discovery.

B) Information Governance

Objective: Improve overall company compliance with records retention requirements, while also making it easier for employees to find useful documents and collaborate on creating and reviewing documents on a day-to-day basis.

Team: Legal department, IT and department managers

Project Steps:

1. Develop and implement a comprehensive records management policy for unstructured data (e.g., MS Office files, PDFs).
2. Research the capabilities, system requirements and costs of document management systems such as Sharepoint and Office 360. Select the best solution in light of employees’ access needs, typical file types, data volume, the relative complexity of regulatory retention requirements, IT infrastructure and staffing, and of course, the budget.
3. Write or revise as needed a records retention schedule for the different categories of company information within the scope of the project. Develop practical guidelines for organizing and saving documents. Finally, roll out the new DMS.
4. First, educate employees in the legal and business reasons for adopting the new system and the costs to the company from not complying with retention policies. Second, provide technical training in using the software.
5. Set and follow an appropriate schedule for making regular and/or spot audits of employee compliance with the retention schedules specifically and the new document management guidelines more generally.

C) Information Security

Objective: Protect the company against garden variety cyber-attacks.

Team: IT

Project Steps:

1. Install and/or upgrade cybersecurity software for secure email use and web browsing.
2. Conduct due diligence on firewall, anti-virus and encryption solutions and select the best software tools.
3. Install the selected software on the server and individual workstations.
4. Hold mandatory employee training sessions on safe web browsing, spotting phishing emails, promptly reporting suspected viruses to IT staff and similar topics.
5. Actively manage software updates, install software on all new computers and continue to hold employee training sessions on an occasional but ongoing basis. Constantly monitor for cyber threats and troubleshoot issues as the need arises.

The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP has announced two newly created section chair roles, as well as new leaders for several practice groups, as the firm begins its new fiscal year. All of the new appointees practice out of the firm’s Milwaukee office.

Jeff Peelen and Daniel G. Radler have assumed the newly created positions of section chair. In this role, they will serve as an extension of the managing partner, working directly with national practice group chairs and industry team leaders to help strengthen planning, execution, and operational practices of these strategic areas of the firm.

Jeff Peelen is a member of the firm’s Public Finance Practice Group. In his public finance practice, he represents multiple regional and national underwriters in tax-exempt debt and revenue financings across the country. His governmental affairs and political law compliance program has a national reputation, serving multiple Fortune 50 clients and other corporations who regularly interact with state and federal officials.

Daniel G. Radler is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, and advises clients on all aspects of intellectual property. He has particular practice strength in patent procurement, patent re-examinations, infringement and validity opinions, and licensing in a variety of disciplines, including materials handling equipment, heavy machinery, manufacturing and molding processes, fluid dynamics, and general mechanical and electro-mechanical devices.

In addition, three partners were named as national chairs of several high-profile practice groups.

Jack M. Cook has been named the national chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. He focuses his practice on assisting businesses with a broad range of intellectual property issues, with an emphasis on patent prosecution, IP licensing, and IP litigation, and data security. He works with large national and international corporations, research institutions, and other IP owners to build IP strategies that align with business objectives.

Elizabeth A. Orelup has been named the national chair of the Business Law Practice Group. She represents lenders, borrowers, buyers, sellers, and other parties in commercial lending and leasing transactions, other commercial transactions, and distressed credit matters and bankruptcy. Orelup has comprehensive experience in representing private equity and strategic buyers in acquisition financing transactions and a variety of other commercial loan transactions. She also serves as chair of the firm’s Legal Opinions Committee.

Rebecca A. Speckhard has been named the national chair of the Public Finance Practice Group. She dedicates her practice to municipal and governmental finance, and serves as bond counsel to municipal and governmental issuers throughout Wisconsin, with particular experience in general obligation financings, public utility revenue bond financings, community development authority and redevelopment authority financings, and related tax incremental financing and development matters.

“Quarles & Brady is delighted that Jeff, Dan, Jack, Liz, and Rebecca have accepted these leadership positions,” said Fredrick G. Lautz, firm managing partner. “We are confident that they will continue to strongly lead these groups, and work together to continue providing the client focus for which the firm is known.”

About Quarles & Brady LLP

Quarles & Brady is a full-service AmLaw 200 firm with more than 475 attorneys offering an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients that range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies, with practice focuses in health care and life sciences, business law, labor and employment, real estate, data privacy and security, and complex litigation. The firm has offices in Chicago; Indianapolis; Madison; Milwaukee; Naples, Florida; Phoenix; Scottsdale; Tampa; Tucson; and Washington, D.C. Additional information can be found online at quarles.com, as well as on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Blockchain technology has the potential to drastically change the way business is done, mainly in accounting and contracts, reports Inside Bitcoins.

“Large businesses make contracts on a daily basis. Contract law is a wide field of study and essential to understanding how to run a successful business. What happens if the other party breaches a contract? Does a contract need to be in writing to be legally binding? These are things business owners and decision makers need to know. Smart assets are not widely used in modern business, but the benefits of integrating them greatly exceed the low cost of implementing them,” according to the article.

Businesses can create and complete contracts that are stored on the public ledger permanently, it says.

Read the article.

eTERA Consulting, an internationally recognized and award-winning leader in data and technology management, announces the launch of its new website at www.eteraconsulting.com.

The user-friendly website offers information about the company’s unmatched data and technology management services, as well as educational information on topics encompassing information governance, forensic preservation and collection, transparent processing and hosting, managed review and staffing, and eDiscovery managed services, eTERA said in a release.

“As we continue to deepen our footprint in the U.S. and Europe, the new website will be an important part of our expansion, allowing us to effectively communicate eTERA’s data and technology management expertise, while supporting the company’s continued commitment to train and educate clients, business partners and employees,” said Scott Holec, eTERA’s President. “The new website will be an important component of eTERA’s external communication efforts with all key stakeholders.”

“In redesigning our website, we wanted to create a responsive site that told the eTERA story, and offered visitors the ability to locate content of particular interest to them,” said eTERA’s Director of Marketing, Shelley Haley. “We also sought to create a unique branding area to highlight important company information including recent blog posts, upcoming webinars, industry events, and employment opportunities. This site is sure to act as a valuable resource to those in the legal profession, encouraging visitors to return time and time again.”

“eTERA’s new website features several new content rich areas that will be beneficial to our site visitors,” said Cassey Elder, eTERA’s Manager of Public Relations.

The new site features:

• An interactive and unique Case Map covering recent eDiscovery cases around the U.S.
• Industry articles and media placements
• Information about eTERA’s Speakers Bureau
• A detailed agenda of eTERA’s one-day complimentary eDiscovery Training Program
• Blog content and webinars indexed by topic and date
• E-newsletter sign-up page
• Mobile friendly interface

Gritstone Oncology, a cancer immunotherapy company developing next-generation, personalized cancer therapeutics, has announced a Series A financing of $102 million. The financing will support discovery and development of novel tumor-specific neo-antigen (TSNA) based immunotherapies, with an initial focus on lung cancer, the company said in a release.

Latham & Watkins LLP advised Gritstone Oncology in its formation and the Series A financing with a corporate team led from the firm’s Silicon Valley office by partners Alan Mendelson and Brian Cuneo, with associates Alexander White and Kevin Tsai.

The financing was co-led by biotechnology investors Versant Ventures and The Column Group, with Clarus Ventures alongside. Other investors include Frazier Healthcare Partners, Redmile Group, Casdin Capital, and Transformational Healthcare Opportunity, a special-purpose vehicle for private investors.

“We are honored that this discerning group of investors recognized the tremendous potential that exists both in our approach and our team,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., Gritstone Oncology co-founder, president and CEO. “We believe that this substantial funding, along with our best-in-class expertise, a systematic discovery and development approach, and our commitment to do the scientific heavy-lifting required, will enable us to solve the core challenge of identifying personalized, therapeutic neo-antigens for individual patients.

“Cancer immunotherapy is an exciting area of discovery, and an ability to predict the antigens recognized by T cells that drive tumor elimination is likely fundamental to continuing advances in the field,” said Allen. Gritstone will focus initially on discovering and developing TSNA-based therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Good attorneys constantly evolve their contract provisions, but contract evolution hates to discard pieces that were once useful, writes J. Benjamin Patrick of Gordon & Rees LLP in an article published on Lexology.com. The tendency to keep these pieces can result in a contract having the equivalent of the human appendix: a piece no longer of any positive use and that harbors the potential for harm.

For example, outdated contract provisions linger in the “standard form” contracts used by many contractors and owners, he writes. “The presence of such a provision in your standard contract is a sign that some additional evolution is necessary in order to bring your contract up to current laws, standards, and industry practices.”

Read the article.

Current contract management processes are lacking proper rules and controls, says ContractRoom in an article posted on its website. Serious consequences typically arise from lack of oversight during the negotiation phase or mismanagement of contract commitments after execution.

The company says poor time management or a simple manual error, either pre-or post-signature, could lead a business to miss a key deliverable and even risk being sued. This in turn could lead to significant legal expenses or even the loss of future business from a counterparty.

The article lists efforts a good contract manager (whether legal counsel or a business professional) can do to add control — even with a manual contracting process.

Read the article.

Compliancy Group will present a complimentary webinar Thursday, Oct. 22, 2-3:30 p.m. EDT, to discuss how a medical practice can measure, control and protect the practice’s reputation.

“Can you name the one thing in your practice that can dictate everything from new patient referrals to insurance contract negotiations and recruiting of staff and providers?” the firm asks.

“Your practice’s online reputation is your most important asset, yet it is often ignored, unmanaged or neglected.”

David Brooks, VP, Marketing, Doctor.com, will discuss:

• How patients, insurance carriers, and potential employees evaluate the reputation of your practice
• Five things you can do right now to improve the way search engines view your practice’s reputation
• The best practices that define high-performance practices

The webinar is limited to medical practice owners and senior practice management executives.

Register for the webinar.

Farrell Fritz announced that John P. McEntee, Kathryn (Katy) Carney Cole and Jaclene (Jackie) D’Agostino have been selected to receive Long Island Business News’ “Leadership in Law” Awards. They will be honored at a dinner Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015 at Crest Hollow Country Club (Woodbury, NY).

John McEntee will receive the Partner Award. He earned his J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from SUNY Brockport.

Katy Carney Cole, a Garden City, NY resident, will receive the Counsel Award. She earned her J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law and her B.A. degree from Colgate University.

Jackie D’Agostino, also from Garden City, will receive the Associate Award. She earned her J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law and her B.A. degree from Barnard College.

Long Island Business News created the “Leadership in Law” Awards to recognize individuals whose leadership, both in the legal profession and in the community, has had a positive impact on Long Island.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is exploring a rulemaking to eliminate the use of certain arbitration agreements in consumer contracts that block consumers from participating in class-action lawsuits, report Bill Mayberry and Jodie Herrmann Lawson of McGuireWoods. They write that, if the new rule is enacted, it will impact companies that fall within the CFPB’s broad interpretation of businesses that provide financial products and services for consumer purposes.

“The announcement comes on the heels of the CFPB’s publication of a three-year study on arbitration that concluded that consumers generally are better served through litigation. According to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, arbitration clauses amount to ‘a free pass to sidestep the court and avoid accountability for wrongdoing,” they write.

The article is on the firm’s Subject to Inquiry blog.

Read the article.

A 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Northbound Group, Inc. v. Norvax, Inc. indicates that courts will not add parties to a contract after the contract has been negotiated, writes Stephen M. Proctor, a principal in Masuda Funai Eifert & Mitchell Ltd.

The article, published on Lexology.com, describes the case: “Norvax agreed to acquire the assets of Northbound and, for this purpose, formed an acquisition vehicle called Leadbot LLC. The result was an asset purchase agreement executed in February 2009 by and between Northbound and Leadbot LLC. Norvax was not a party to the asset purchase agreement. Northbound was to be paid through an “earn-out” calculated as a percentage of the monthly net revenue of Leadbot LLC.”

Northbound later sued Norvax and Leadbot, claiming a breach of contract.

“Once a contract is negotiated, a party will likely be unsuccessful in persuading a court to rewrite the contract or to add provisions that may not have been considered, are erroneous or, in hindsight, seem unfair,” Proctor writes.

Read the article.