Scott & Scott will present a complimentary webinar discussing traditional and newly developed software licensing models, principal concerns about current licensing models, types of license agreements, and primary causes of exposure in enterprise-level software audits.

The webinar will be Tuesday, June 30, beginning at 11 a.m. Central time.

Software licensing options for large enterprises have evolved substantially over the past several years. Businesses today have more options and flexibility to meet their software needs, Scott & Scott says. However, with that flexibility often comes complex software asset management (SAM) obligations. Licensing models that were previously unavailable absent extensive negotiations are now regularly offered. IT teams must equip themselves to recognize the unique challenges involved with the various options in order to avoid unnecessary licensing exposure.

In this presentation attendees will learn:

• Differences between traditional and newly developed licensing models
• How to handle principal concerns with current licensing models
• Types of license agreements
• How to reduce exposure in enterprise-level software audits
• Challenges to SAM caused by new licensing model

Register for the webinar.

Matthew L. Simmons has joined Coats Rose as an associate in the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice group in the Houston office.

Simmons’ practice focuses on complex commercial and construction litigation. He counsels clients on the broad range of issues related to commercial litigation, trade secrets and employment disputes. His practice includes significant representations in Federal and State Court.

Prior to joining Coats Rose, Simmons was an associate at an AmLaw 10 firm. He received the CALI Award for Legal Practice 1, and the Jurisprudence Award for contracts, NAFTA, and Public International Law while at the Texas Tech University School of Law.

Coats Rose is a business transaction and litigation law firm based in Houston, Texas. For more than 25 years, Coats Rose attorneys have worked with clients in construction/surety law, real estate law, commercial litigation of all types, municipal law, public finance, affordable housing, insurance law, labor and employment law, and governmental relations. Coats Rose is comprised of more than 90 attorneys, with offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and New Orleans.

The Government Affairs Practice Group at Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP has once again topped the Texas Lawyer Lobbying Scorecard after representing more clients and reporting more compensation than any other firm in the state during the 84th Texas Legislature.

To compile its lobbying scorecard, the newspaper’s editors reviewed the legislative results for 12 of the state’s busiest law firm lobby shops.

During the regular session, which began on Jan. 13 and ended on June 1, Gardere’s lobbying group represented a total of 90 clients. This is an increase from the 60 clients the firm represented during the 2013 session and almost double the number of clients represented by any other firm, the firm said in a release.

Read the whole story.

Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, is recommended as one of the top seven U.S. plaintiff patent firms by the London-based intellectual property magazine Intellectual Asset Management (IAM).

The magazine’s guide to the world’s top patent lawyers in key jurisdictions also named AZA partner Amir Alavi a silver-level recommended Texas patent litigator. Alavi was hailed for his work in the record-breaking case Versata Software Inc. v. SAP America Inc.

“Amir Alavi, who played a lead role on the matter, is one of those guys who, without huge troops of people working for him, gets a lot done and carves out big wins. He is extremely smooth and capable in court,” says the IAM Patent 1000 2015 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals.

Read the whole story.

Trial lawyer Mark Lanier of Houston-based The Lanier Law Firm will be recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) at the organization’s annual convention on July 14, 2015.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an AAJ member of at least 20 years standing whose courtroom advocacy has powerfully advanced the rights of the wrongfully injured and who has significantly furthered the cause of justice and the mission of the Association.

The Washington, D.C.-based AAJ is the world’s largest trial bar, providing trial attorneys with information, professional support and a nationwide network that promotes a fair and effective justice system.

“To receive this award, the highest given by the AAJ, is a true milestone in my career,” says Mr. Lanier. “My ongoing commitment, and the commitment of every attorney in this firm, is to uphold the AAJ’s mission and to ensure that any person who is injured by the misconduct or negligence of others can obtain justice.”

Read the whole story.

3M has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Capital Safety from KKR for a total enterprise value of $2.5 billion, including the assumption of approximately $0.7 billion of debt, net of cash acquired.

Capital Safety is a leading global provider of fall protection equipment, one of the fastest-growing safety categories within the global personal protective equipment industry.

The personal protective equipment industry is a strategic priority for 3M, the company said in a release. Demand for personal protective equipment is rapidly growing, driven by increasing regulatory focus on worker safety across both developed and developing countries.

Capital Safety’s industry-leading products and solutions include harnesses, lanyards, self-retracting lifelines and engineered systems sold under well-known global brands DBI-SALA and PROTECTA. The company has demonstrated strong and consistent growth with sales increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent over the past four years. The company’s sales, adjusted to include recent acquisitions on a full-year basis, were approximately $430 million for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2015.

Latham & Watkins represents KKR in its sale of Capital Safety to 3M with a corporate deal team led from the firm’s New York office by partner Jennifer Perkins, with New York associate Samuel Powers and Chicago associate Jonathan Solomon; on tax matters by New York partner David Raab, with associate Matthew Dewitz; on benefits matters by Washington D.C. partner Adam Kestenbaum, with Washington D.C. associate Marysia Mullen and New York associate Lori Goodman; on antitrust matters by Washington D.C. partner Marc Williamson, Brussels partner Hector Armengod, with Washington D.C. associate Mitchell London; on intellectual property matters by New York partner Jeffrey Tochner; on environmental matters by Washington D.C. partner James Barrett; and on UK legal matters by London associates Farah O’Brien and Daniel Treloar.

eTERA Consulting, an internationally recognized and award-winning leader in data and technology management, announced that Cyber Crime Forensics has joined the company’s highly successful All1ance One Partner Program. The All1ance One Partner Program provides many ways for business partners to expand their business, win more clients and increase revenue by offering their clients a full range of eDiscovery services throughout the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (“EDRM”).

“The strategic partnership we have created with eTERA Consulting allows Cyber Crime Forensics to offer a full range of services with an internationally recognized data and technology management company,” said Richard Plummer, CEO of Cyber Crime Forensics. “We look forward to teaming up with eTERA Consulting to allow our clients to significantly reduce the cost of eDiscovery services across the EDRM. This will certainly be a win-win for all involved and we look forward to being part of the eTERA team!”

“We are very excited to have Rich and his team as part of the All1ance One Partner Program,” said Mary McGinness, eTERA’s All1ance One Manager. “Rich has great knowledge in the forensics space, and brings a passion and drive for client relations that the entire eTERA team can relate to. Rich, who is based in California, has experience in conducting collection and preservation for eDiscovery, incident response, computer forensics and mobile device forensics investigations. As an All1ance One Partner, Rich’s unique background, along with his west coast network, will be very beneficial to eTERA’s strategic growth.”

Read the full report.

The U.S. branch of a China-based company was hit with $31.5 million patent infringement verdict, reports the Southeast Texas Record.

The plaintiff DataQuill, sued ZTE Corp. and its U.S. subsidiary in 2013 in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, Marshall Division.

Nearly two years later, a Texas federal jury found ZTE USA infringed on two of the company’s patents, awarding $31.5 million in damages, court records show.

Read the article.

The parents of a community college student who went into a coma and died after a diagnostic test at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in New York State have reached an $18.1 million settlement with the hospital and doctor who treated their daughter.

A report in lohud.com, a Gannett company, said Raina Ferraro, 19, had an endoscopy, in which a hollow tube is inserted into the body, usually through the mouth, at Phelps in January 2013 after experiencing stomach pain.

During the procedure, the patient went into cardiac and respiratory arrest. She died in May after more than two years in a vegetative state.

Her parents were represented by attorney Sanford Rubenstein.

Read the article.

A paper published recently by Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner discusses a court decision that may have implications for enforcing settlement agreements in litigations when the other party tries to renounce.

“A plaintiff executed a settlement agreement received from the defendants, but later asserted that its acceptance of the agreement was contingent upon the defendants’ execution of the settlement by a specified deadline,” authors of the Finnegan paper explain. “Even though the defendants failed to sign by the deadline, the court enforced the agreement, finding that the signing deadline was not a material term of the settlement.”

The case is Adaptix, Inc. v. ASUStek Computer Inc., in which the plaintiff, Adaptix, executed a settlement agreement received from defendants ASUStek Computer Inc. and Asus Computer International, but later asserted that its acceptance of the agreement was contingent on ASUS’s execution of the settlement agreement by a specified date.

Read the paper.

Many people believe that having a contract with Chinese companies is a waste of time and money because “everyone knows” that China never enforces contracts, writes Dan Harris in a posting on Above the Law.

But there are three reasons why it makes sense to have a contract with your Chinese counterparty, and only one of those reasons is enforceability, he explains.

One reason is to assure that the Chinese company with which you are doing business truly understands what you want of it, he writes. Another reason for having a well-written Chinese language contract with your Chinese counterparty is to convince it that it will be better off complying with your contract than violating it. And the third reason is enforceability.

Read the article.

When allocating risk inherent in a construction project, it is necessary to pay close attention to the interplay between indemnity and insurance to ensure the objectives of the parties are achieved, writes Jeffrey A. Kiburtz of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in a paper published in Lexology.

He writes that each has its advantages and limitations, but can effectively be combined to secure the performance of the myriad participants in construction projects of all complexities.

The paper covers the varying scopes of protection, the timing of performance, and the likelihood of performance.

Read the article.

After three years of research and development with a national law firm, Law Ruler Software™ is ready to hit the market.

Legal Case Intake Edition was designed to reinvent the legal case intake process by providing an easy-to-learn, next-gen workflow that increases conversion during the process of converting a legal intake into a case, and manages this information securely in the cloud, the software developer said in a release.

The purpose of Law Ruler Software is to bridge the gap between the advertising/marketing of a law firm and their case management software to increase productivity and revenue for the firm and its associates. The release continues:

• Law Ruler Software was found to improve lead-to-client conversions by 20 percent on average and can be used with existing case management software

• Law Ruler Software enables law firms to shift their focus back to billable activities

• Can be configured to work in tandem with your existing case management software to prevent double data entry

Read more about the software or watch a video.

Dallas attorney Jim Mueller, managing partner of family law firm VernerBrumleyMcCurley PC, has been appointed President of The National Advocates: Top 40 Under 40.

The invitation-only professional association is composed of the top lawyers from each state who meet stringent membership qualifications and whose practices focus on matrimonial and family law, bankruptcy law, immigration law, Social Security disability law, employment law, and wills, trusts and estates law.

“This group is made up of young, influential attorneys who exhibit superior leadership and performance, so it’s not surprising that Jim would rise to this position,” says VernerBrumleyMcCurley name partner Jimmy L. Verner Jr. “His clients are well aware of his honesty and integrity, and I’m sure this organization will benefit from those same qualities.”

Mueller concentrates his practice on complex divorce matters, high-asset property division and contested custody litigation in courts across Texas. He is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and currently serves as a member of the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists. He is a repeat honoree in the annual Texas Super Lawyers listing of the state’s top attorneys, among other professional honors.

Mueller earned his law degree with honors from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, and he received his undergraduate degree with high honors as a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Rhodes College.

The National Advocates provides networking opportunities, continuing legal education and advocacy training for its members, who serve individuals and families in the American legal system.

VernerBrumleyMcCurley provides concierge-style representation to its divorce clients, the firm said in a release.

Thousands of slip, trip, missteps and fall accidents and train collisions occur each year at railroad stations, terminals, and
grade crossings resulting in serious injuries causing a significant drain of financial resources.

A paper recently presented at the 2015 Joint Rail Conference provides guidance in identifying common safety hazards and easy ways to reduce or eliminate these dangers. Authors of the paper are Carl Berkowitz, Ph.D., PE and Louis D. Rubenstein, a retired traffic engineer.

The paper covers a variety of safety issues, which are commonly present in a railroad environment. It also provides estimates regarding the cost of railroad related pedestrian accidents. More than 95 percent of injuries on rail system injuries are minor. The top one percent of injury claims can account for 20 percent of the total claims’ cost.

Download the white paper.

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) has prepared a complimentary report that offers insight into the five key principles that will help directors enhance their oversight of cybersecurity.

Developed in collaboration with AIG and the Internet Security Alliance, “Cyber-Risk Oversight” clearly explains a wide range of board-level considerations, including:

• Disclosure issues
• Access to expertise
• Risk appetite calibration

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) delivers insights and resources that more than 16,000 corporate director members rely on to make sound strategic decisions and confront complex business challenges with confidence.

Download the report.

Merrill DataSite offers a complimentary white paper on building an information governance policy and choosing a contract management system that will comply with your company’s policy needs.

The amount of information businesses require to operate has grown substantially in recent years, Merrill says. This information has created considerable improvements in many critical business functions. But each improvement also comes with new risks, and managing these risks involves a high level of coordination between numerous departments.

Building a good information governance policy helps set the stage for managing the challenges listed above. However, an effective contract management system is critical for a successful implementation of your information governance policy.

The paper, “Three steps to excellence in information governance,” is designed to help you along your path of building an information governance policy and choosing a contract management system that will comply with your company’s policy needs.

Download the white paper.

Two prominent Dallas business litigation boutiques – Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail Shank and Elrod – have announced that they are merging their law practices.

The combined law firm will have 30 lawyers, making it one of the largest commercial litigation-only law firms in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“Lawyers at both firms say their merger comes at a strategic time because they expect to see an increase in contract and commercial litigation in the oil and gas sector because of the falling oil prices,” says a Texas Lawbook report posted on the Gruber Hurst website.

Read the article.

Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP has added Adam A. Litwin and Van S. Wiltz as associates. Both join the firm’s growing corporate practice.

“Both Adam and Van come to the firm with impressive backgrounds. Their diverse professional experiences enhance our knowledge base,” said James Skochdopole, managing partner of Bell Nunnally. “As our client needs evolve and expand, we continue to look for dynamic, skilled practitioners to add to our team.”

Litwin joins the firm’s Corporate and Securities; Entertainment, Advertising and New Media; and Mergers and Acquisitions practice areas. He has extensive experience providing counsel on a wide variety of business transactions and corporate governance issues. He works closely with clients of all sizes, from individuals and small start-ups to multinational public corporations on issues including drafting and negotiating agreements and forming, structuring and advising start-up businesses in industries including entertainment, retail and technology.

Prior to joining Bell Nunnally, Litwin worked in the corporate finance section for Haynes and Boone, LLP before becoming a founding and managing member of the Litwin Law Group, PLLC. Before practicing law, he was a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley.

In addition to his legal practice, Litwin is an actor, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and is the legal chair of the Texas Association of Motion Media Professionals. Litwin is a graduate of Florida State University College of Law (J.D., 2007) and the University of Rochester (B.A., 2001).

Wiltz is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Securities and Mergers and Acquisitions practice areas. He has extensive experience in corporate governance and capital market, private equity and venture capital transactions. He also structures mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of securities and assets and is proficient in the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act pre-acquisition compliance. He serves as counsel to public and start-up companies in various industries, including oil field services, oil and gas exploration and production, insurance and financial services.

Prior to joining Bell Nunnally, Wiltz worked in the Corporate and Securities practice group for Thompson & Knight LLP. He is a member of several professional organizations and is a frequent author and speaker on the topics of equity-crowdfunding and compliance with SEC rules and regulations.

Wiltz is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (J.D., 2012) and the University of North Texas (B.A., 2008).

About Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP
With more than 50 attorneys and three decades of doing business, Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP is among the most respected business law firms in Texas, one of the 25 largest in North Texas and one of the state’s fastest-growing firms. The depth of the firm’s knowledge and breadth of its expertise sets Bell Nunnally apart. The firm provides a full range of services, including litigation, appellate law, commercial finance, corporate and securities, creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, health law, intellectual property, labor and employment, immigration, real estate, entertainment, mergers and acquisitions, estate planning, tax and white collar criminal defense. Bell Nunnally is regularly singled out as a “Go-To” firm by America’s largest companies each year in Corporate Counsel magazine. For more information, please visit www.bellnunnally.com.

Farrell Fritz announces that Katherine (Kate) A. Heptig has recently been named Chair of the Nassau County Bar Association’s Corporation, Banking & Securities Law Committee. She will serve a two-year term.

Heptig, a Rockville Centre, NY resident, provides general tax and corporate guidance to businesses and individuals. She earned her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and her B.A. from Hofstra University.

The Committee addresses various issues, including statutory developments, court decisions, regulatory bodies, and ADR agencies, and provides a forum for business attorneys. To learn more about the Nassau County Bar Association’s Committees, click here.