Watson & Associates LLC has posted a complimentary white paper analyzing considerations involved in the bid protest process.

The government does make mistakes in the bidding process, the firm says on its website. However, understanding protest procedure and legal standards could help you.

The firm advises keeping in mind that the bid protest regulations can be tricky, there is never too much information for you to make a decision, and always consider getting the help of counsel.

Download the white paper.

Nine attorneys from the Dallas litigation firm Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail Shank LLP have been named to the 2015 Texas Rising Stars list, which honors the state’s top lawyers age 40 or younger and those who have been in practice for no more than 10 years.

The annual compilation of Texas’ top up-and-coming lawyers is based on professional nominations and evaluations, combined with independent research by the staff of Thomson Reuters. No more than 2.5 percent of lawyers in Texas are named to the annual list.

The Gruber Hurst attorneys recognized for their work in business litigation are firm partners Jonathan R. Childers, Trey Crawford and Michael J. Lang, along with associates Laura M. Fontaine, Steven W. Hopkins, Bill S. Richmond, Robert E. Weitzel and David F. Wishnew. Firm associate Joshua M. Sandler also is featured based on his representation of clients in employment and labor disputes. (Read more about the nine lawyers here.)

“We’re gratified that these young attorneys continue to receive recognition for their skills in the courtroom and for their leadership and service to legal and civic organizations throughout our community,” says Mark L. Johansen, a name partner in the firm.

The honorees’ record of leadership includes Mr. Childers’ current service as President of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers (DAYL) and Mr. Richmond’s role as President of the Dallas Asian American Bar Association. All the Gruber Hurst honorees are active participants in the DAYL and Dallas Bar Association, in addition to serving as volunteers for a variety of worthwhile groups, including the Dallas Independent School District’s Lawyers in the Classroom program, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boy Scouts of America, and the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas.

The Texas Rising Stars list is published in the April 2015 editions of Texas Rising Stars and Texas Monthly magazines, and individual honorees are listed online at http://www.superlawyers.com/.

In Part 2 of its Anti-Bribery & Corruption Webinar Series, Aruvio presents a free on-demand webinar showing the importance of an organization showing that it has a strong, defensible compliance program in place that mitigates both risk and exposure to investigations.

The distributed and dynamic nature of business makes anti-bribery & corruption compliance a challenge. Compliance must be an active part of the organization and its culture to prevent and detect corruption, bribery and fraud, Aruvio says on its website. This continuous process must be monitored, maintained and nurtured. Ultimately, the best offense is a good defense: an organization must be prepared to show that it has a strong, defensible compliance program in place that mitigates both risk and exposure to investigations, penalties and possible prosecution.

Part 2 of this webinar series examines how you can enhance your enterprise’s anti-bribery and corruption compliance.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Marsh USA offers a free on-demand webinar in which a panel of risk experts provide real-world examples of deal issues and how the insurance market can be accessed to solve them.

The topics include representations and warranties, tax and indemnity insurance, contingent liability insurance, political risk insurance for private equity investments in emerging markets, non-payment coverage for commercial contracts or debt transactions, kKey life and disability policies, environmental insurance, and environmental liability buyouts.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Benefit Express will present a free webinar reviewing the topic of Medicare and how it can affect Employers Health Coverage offerings.

The webinar will be Tuesday, April 7, at 1 p.m. Central time.

The topics will include employer secondary rules, COBRA, notice requirements and reporting requirement.

Benefit Express Services, LLC was established in 2001. It’s a benefits administration solutions firm that provides HR professionals with the tools and services necessary to simplify the benefits administration process.

Register for the webinar.

Apttus is offering a free guide to help companies choose the right contract lifecycle management solution.

Choosing the right Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM)  solution is no easy task, Apttus says on its website. While a broad array of functionality is available in the marketplace, each system has different capabilities and strengths across a range of categories.

The Apttus Contract Lifecycle Management Buyer’s Guide has information to help convince key internal decision makers and make the right decision for their company.​

Download the guide.

Bracewell & Giuliani has posted a white paper taking a look at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) Office of Enforcement and what market participants should expect in 2015.

The current pending cases and these developments shed more light on what to expect in 2015 than the statistics FERC released concerning 2014, the authors say.

“In 2014, market participants, for the first time, showed a willingness to challenge Enforcement actions instead of settling. Five companies have refused to pay assessed civil penalties and settle thereby causing Enforcement to go to Federal court or to an administrative law judge to enforce the penalty and manipulation claims,” according to the report. “We should expect more challenges in 2015 because another company has publicly vowed to challenge FERC should FERC proceed with a charge of manipulation. However, unless and until the courts narrow Enforcement’s reach, we should expect that Enforcement will continue to be aggressive in its prosecutions.”

Read the white paper.

Law professors from across the country  – from Georgetown to the University of California  – say they have “serious reservations” about the new chemical reform bill introduced by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter (R-La.) , reports The Hill.

Days before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to discuss the legislation, a group of 25 professors and public interest lawyers sent a letter to committee Chair Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and ranking member Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)

The Hill reports that co-signers include Thomas Cluderay, general counsel for the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which has been one of the most vocal outliers of the Udall-Vitter bill.

Read the story.

Reuters is reporting that Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has agreed to pay $84 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that it illegally reduced potential payouts on annuities it sold at least 30 years ago, cheating investors who used them as retirement investments.

The settlement , announced in a Milwaukee federal court, covers about 4,000 current and 29,000 former owners of the annuities pursuing a class action.

“They claimed Northwestern Mutual breached its contractual obligations when in 1985 it quietly changed how it calculated dividends on deferred, fixed annuities it had sold, costing them millions of dollars annually,” the report says.

As investment firms including UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Deutsche Bank AG have curtailed or shuttered lines of business, particularly in debt trading, the contractions have prompted former bankers to quit finance and put their experience to use in the new field of financial technology, or fintech, reports BloombergBusiness.

“Capitalizing on the changing regulatory environment, such companies offer risk management, data analytics, trading platforms and other services often previously performed by humans,” the story says

Bloomberg points out that North America had 212,100 fewer bond brokering jobs and other roles defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as credit intermediation in January, versus the start of 2008, according to the latest data available.

Read the story.

Selectica presents a free on-demand webinar on the management of Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) systems.

Too many departments operate in silos with separateCLM systems, Selectica says on its website. Contracts and the valuable data they contain are often locked away in formats that are difficult to integrate into sell-side or buy-side transaction systems, which require retrieval of critical information.

An Enterprise CLM (ECLM) approach gives you greater access, visibility and control to achieve cost savings, workflow efficiencies, increased compliance, reduced risk and more.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Icertis Inc. has posted a complimentary on-demand webinar discussing the value of gauging the effectiveness of a company’s existing contract management system.

On its website, Icertis says this webcast discusses how businesses in today’s time demand enhanced visibility into contracts to identify and prioritize risks and gain assurance over contract compliances.

The webinar also highlights the best practices and tools to help organizations strengthen their existing contract management framework.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Courtesy of BP Public Affairs Staff, via BOEM.gov

Oil & Gas IQ has posted a white paper on how enterprise asset management software can play a role in software project ROI for drilling contractors as well as specific, discrete steps to take during implementation.

The offshore industry is struggling right now to deal with growth and an increased focus on asset integrity management (AIM) and risk management, the white paper says. That is why more rig owners and operators are reassessing their investments in enterprise asset management (EAM) software to ensure they have applications in place that are properly implemented and functional, help them ensure compliance with regulations and adopt AIM best practices.

Download the white paper.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has posted a free on-demand webinar about new challenges introduced as commercial, industrial and residential consumers are investing in technologies to increase energy efficiency and generate their own energy.

While these efforts can be beneficial for utilities and their customers, the rapid growth of these technologies introduces new challenges by increasing variability in the system and creating two-way energy flows.

On its website, NCSL says that transactive energy systems rely on a market-based approach to address these challenges, promoting grid reliability while reflecting the evolving role of customers as both generators and consumers. This webinar explores transactive energy systems and what they mean for customers, utilities and state policymakers.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Egress Software Technologies has produced an infographic showing how human errors are the main cause of data breaches.

Infographic based on ICO FOI request data by Egress Software Technologies, providers of email security as well as large file transfer and encryption software.

Bridgeway Software offers for download a free e-book titled “8 Roadblocks to New ELM Implementation.”

This e-book discusses the obstacles that can hinder your department’s ability to successfully integrate new enterprise legal management software, Bridgeway says.

It covers common roadblocks, such as letting go-live dates drive your project, expecting perfection right off the bat, and not understanding what reporting you really need.

Download the free e-book.

Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher

Successful litigator Elizabeth “Lizzie” Pannill Fletcher has been promoted to partner at Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA.

A fourth-generation Texas trial lawyer and native Houstonian, Ms. Fletcher has a lengthy track record of courtroom wins, including the July 2014 dismissal of a multimillion-dollar breach of contract and fraud lawsuit against a Houston investment banker, the firm said in an announcement.

She also earned a take-nothing verdict in 2014 for a Houston businesswoman who was sued over proceeds from allegedly fraudulent commercial property sales. Ms. Fletcher’s opening statement in that case was so masterful that the presiding judge, Harris County Civil District Judge Randy Wilson, offered his praise in a column he wrote for the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas.

“The jury was enraptured by the story,” Judge Wilson wrote in the “From My Side of the Bench” column. “At one point, my court reporter remarked that she was about to cry during the opening. Think about it – in a case involving an alleged constructive trust, the court reporter is on the verge of tears.”

Read the announcement.

Sirius Solutions presents a free white paper exploring several key issues commonly faced in the valuation and financial reporting of oil and gas property acquisitions.

The paper is written by Sirius Solutions’ John Lehman, Financial Advisory Services Director.

“The complexity of oil and gas property acquisitions has increased due to constantly changing positions on appropriate valuation techniques, methodologies and regulatory requirements,” the company says on its website. “Sirius Solutions knows financial executives like yourself in the oil and gas industry are under pressure to complete the preliminary financial reporting of property acquisitions as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Download the white paper.

Chesapeake Utilities Corp. has announced today that James Moriarty has joined the company as Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

In his new role, Moriarty will oversee the company’s legal affairs by managing the company’s internal legal function, and managing outside counsel, Chesapeaker Utilities said in a news release.

“He will provide counsel on legal matters to senior management and the business units to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and advise senior management and the board on corporate governance matters,” the release continues. “In addition, he will provide legal advice on all major business transactions and assist management on governmental relations, including lobbying and other legislative activities. Mr. Moriarty will oversee the preparation, review and negotiation of contracts and other legal documents and provide legal and contractual support for project development and transactions.”

Read the announcement.

America’s largest electric company announced that it is settling a lawsuit that claimed shareholders lost millions of dollars when Duke Energy fired its CEO hours after a long-anticipated buyout of its smaller neighbor, reports the Greensboro News & Record.

“Charlotte-based Duke Energy said its insurers and shareholders would pay $146 million to end the lawsuit filed after the company completed its July 2012 buyout of Raleigh-based Progress Energy Inc. The company set aside $26 million for the amount not covered by insurance and said consumers would not pay the cost,” the report says.

The litigation claimed shareholders suffered when Duke Energy directors suddenly fired new chief executive Bill Johnson, who was supposed to head the combined company after holding the same post at Progress Energy.

Read the story.