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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
Insurance certificates are a critical part contract management. To improve risk management, contracts often require a party to carry certain insurance policies. The risk management benefits of these provisions are lost unless you track the insurance certificates in addition to the contract.
A new article and video from Berkman Solutions outline steps for managing insurance certificates required in a contract.
“You have carefully allocated risk in contract drafting,: the article says. “It is clear that the other party is responsible for their conduct and any damages your organization suffers. You go the extra step to require that the other party carry relevant liability insurance. In some cases, they must also name you as an additional insured party on their policy.
“The contract is executed. Now what? You add the contract and its expiration date in the contract management spreadsheet. You even collect the insurance certificate at signing.
“What is the problem? The problem is that the insurance certificate expires before the expiration of the contract. It is quite rare that the insurance certificate and the contract share the same time line.”
Platts and Bentek Energy have posted a free on-demand webinar that takes a look at the outlook for natural gas supply, concluding that this could be the summer of oversupply.
Presenters discuss such issues as: where natural gas storage will be this spring and summer, how regional gas prices will respond to the insurgent Northeast natural gas, how the summer price strip is responding to market conditions, what the expectations are for coal-to-gas switching, what key prices and fundamentals should be watched as the summer approaches, and more.
Leading the discussion are Patrick Badgley, Associate Editor of Platts, and Anne Swedberg, Manager of Quantitative Analysis at Bentek Energy.
A white paper posted by Jones Day partner Tara Kowalski on the firm’s Insurance Policy Advocate site says a recent string of cases addressing suit limitation provisions serves as a reminder of the numerous traps that surround such provisions and how insurer conduct can be misleading in those situations.
The article points out that suit limitation provisions are the contractual equivalent of statutes of limitations.
“They require policyholders to file coverage lawsuits within a specified period of time or risk forfeiting coverage for the claim at issue. The most common time period is one or two years – which is often shorter than the otherwise applicable statute of limitations,” Kowalski writes. “Despite the potential for Draconian results, suit limitation provisions are generally enforceable, subject to certain limitations. And, some jurisdictions don’t require a showing of prejudice from the insurer. Suit limitation provisions are often found in first-party policies and only rarely in liability policies.”She offers a summary of some recent cases addressing suit limitation provisions, as well as some practice pointers based on the rulings in those cases.
Sherrie L. Farrell of Dykema
Dykema, a leading national law firm, has announced that a member of the firm, Sherrie Farrell has been named to Savoy Magazine’s 2015 Most Influential Black Lawyers list. The list is comprised of the “best of the best” of African American partners in leading national law firms as well as corporate counsel from Fortune 1000 corporations.
In the spring issue of Savoy, the magazine will showcase Farrell among other visionaries, leaders, and advocates within the legal profession who are widely recognized for their professionalism, commitment to excellence and community service.
“Savoy is proud to be at the vanguard of recognizing excellence and success within private industry and corporate professionals,” said L.P. Green, II, publisher of Savoy Magazine. “Recognizing the Most Influential Black Lawyers is a natural extension of our ongoing coverage of influencers and achievers that began in with the creation of the Most Influential Black Executives and Most Influential Black Women listings. We remain committed to recognizing and exposing the world to the full spectrum of excellence within the African American community.”
Farrell is the Office Managing Member of the firm’s Detroit office, Leader of the firm’s Cybersecurity practice, and Chair of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. A member of the firm’s Litigation Department, she advises clients on all aspects of business disputes, including a broad range of complex litigation matters. She has represented manufacturers, closely-held corporations, auto suppliers and construction companies in both litigated and non-litigated matters. Her practice also includes the defense of consumer financial services matters and she has served as the national discovery counsel for a Fortune 25 corporation.
She is also a very active member in her community. Farrell is a board member for the Legal Aid and Defender Association, Inc., Black Family Development, Inc., Gift of Life-Michigan, and the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association. She is also the past president of the Wolverine Bar Association, and is involved with the Citizen’s Research Council, as well as several other organizations.
Farrell also has several other professional accolades, including recognition from Michigan Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America, as well as being named a Top Lawyer by DBusiness Magazine. A national publication, Law 360, recently recognized Farrell as one of its Minority Powerbrokers in the legal profession. She also earned the Wolverine Bar Association President’s Award for promotion of diversity in the legal profession, and was recently named a Michigan Chronicle 2015 Women of Excellence Honoree.
Farrell earned a J.D., cum laude, from the Detroit College of Law and a B.A. from Wayne State University.
About Savoy
Savoy Magazine is a national publication covering the power, substance and style of African American lifestyle. From entertainment to sports, business to politics, design to style, Savoy is a cultural catalyst for the African American community that showcases and drives positive dialogue on and about Black culture. Savoy is published quarterly and distributed via subscriptions and newsstands worldwide.
About Dykema
Dykema serves business entities worldwide on a wide range of complex legal issues. Dykema lawyers and other professionals in 12 U.S. offices work in close partnership with clients – from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies – to deliver outstanding results, unparalleled service and exceptional value in every engagement. To learn more, visit www.dykema.com and follow Dykema on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Dykema.
BloombergBusiness has published four charts that show the labor market is about as tight as it can be right now, and “the end of slack is near.”
According to one analysts’s research, wage growth is about to accelerate and a Fed rate hike is all but inevitable this summer.
On chart shows how employer costs for employee compensation per hour worked is spiking. And anotherhows that employers are finding it harder and harder to find skilled labor.
Should executives include an arbitration clause in their employment contracts? A paper by Zuckerman Spaeder partner John J. Connolly says there’s no uniform answer.
Connolly writes that arbitration proponents cite its speed, cost, privacy, informality, minimal discovery, and limited appellate rights. But opponents of arbitration list the same points as negatives. Volumes have been written about whether arbitration is a better form of dispute resolution than litigation, and we can’t resolve that question here.
The data do seem to suggest that arbitration is not as bad a forum for executives as it is for lower salaried employees, Connolly writes, but more research is needed.
Hogan Lovells has published a white paper discussing the aggregating sources for the purposes of Clean Air Act permitting in the oil and gas sector.
The clear judicial trend is to adopt physical adjacency as the aggregation test and to find that geographically dispersed upstream oil and gas wells, compressor stations, and other facilities are separate emissions sources, the paper’s authors conclude. Nothing in PennFuture indicates that trend will change anytime soon.
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the D.C. Circuit recently offered some regulatory relief to oil and gas operators under the Clean Air Act (CAA) with respect to aggregating sources for the purposes of CAA permitting,” they write. “On February 23, 2015, the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued an opinion that, consistent with the Sixth Circuit and D.C. Circuit opinions, held certain oil and gas operations should not be aggregated, while indicating that the question of interrelatedness (a concept rejected by the Sixth Circuit) could be appropriate in determining the scope of a stationary source.”
Aruvio presents an on-demand webinar discussing the management fo spreadsheet risk and enforcement of spreadsheet polices at all enterprise levels.
Data and information captured on spreadsheets may be the most critical components for running any business, Aruvio says on its website. At the enterprise level, the overwhelming volume of existing spreadsheets and documented data creates incredible risk for displacement, loss or improper modification.
Managing this spreadsheet risk and enforcing spreadsheet policies at all enterprise levels is crucial for achieving successful Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC).
The words “forced arbitration” might not appear in a contract and instead are referred to by the term “dispute-resolution mechanism.” But once you sign on the dotted line or click the “I agree” button online, the options for seeking justice are tossed out the window, says an article published by Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley.
“Forced arbitration lurks in the lengthy documents all of us sign at some point in our lives when we accept a job, buy tickets for travel, enter a cell-phone agreement or rent an apartment,” says the author of the article, Search Denney attorneyLaurie Briggs. “And those are just a few of the dozens of examples of us waiving our rights to sue should something go wrong. Radin describes the cunning contracts as boilerplates.”
Farrell Fritz has announced honors for two of its partners: Thomas J. Killeen and Patricia C. Marcin.
Killeen will receive the Community Champion, Friend and Advocate Award at the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s Laugh ‘til It Stops Hurting event to be held at Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury on Saturday, April 18, 2015.
The Manhasset, NY resident concentrates his practice in corporate law. He earned his J.D. degree from St. John’s University School of Law and his B.A. degree from St. Francis College.
Patricia C. Marcin was recently appointed Vice Chair of the Long Island Community Foundation’s (LICF) board of advisors. She will serve a three year term.
The Lloyd Neck, NY resident concentrates her practice in estate and tax planning. She earned her J.D. degree from Touro Law Center and her B.A. degree from SUNY Stony Brook.
The Obama administration had the authority to make a 180-degree shift in labor policy and declare thousands of mortgage loan officers subject to wage-and-hour laws, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, according to a report by Forbes.
In concurrences, the court’s most conservative justices complains that such deference to regulatory agencies threatens the constitutional balance of powers.
“The high court, in Perez vs. Mortgage Bankers Association, unanimously upheld the Labor Department’s 2010 determination that mortgage loan officers were mere salespeople, not administrators, and therefore entitled to a 40-hour work week and overtime wages.” Forbes says. “That was a reversal of the same agency’s 2006 decision that loan officers weren’t entitled to overtime. But the court ruled the Administrative Procedure Act governing how agencies promulgate rules and regulations clearly allows them to issue “interpretive rules” without going through the lengthy notice-and-comment procedure required for regulations that have the effect of law.”
The Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) has entered into a national settlement agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. (Chase) requiring Chase to pay more than $50 million, including cash payments, mortgage loan credits and loan forgiveness, to over 25,000 homeowners who are or were in bankruptcy. Chase will also change internal operations and submit to oversight by an independent compliance reviewer. The proposed settlement has been filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, where it is subject to court approval.
In the proposed settlement, Chase acknowledges that it filed in bankruptcy courts around the country more than 50,000 payment change notices that were improperly signed, under penalty of perjury, by persons who had not reviewed the accuracy of the notices. More than 25,000 notices were signed in the names of former employees or of employees who had nothing to do with reviewing the accuracy of the filings. The rest of the notices were signed by individuals employed by a third party vendor on matters unrelated to checking the accuracy of the filings.
Chase also acknowledges that it failed to file timely, accurate notices of mortgage payment changes and failed to provide timely, accurate escrow statements.
“It is shocking that the conduct admitted to by Chase in this settlement, including the filing of tens of thousands of documents in court that never had been reviewed by the people who attested to their accuracy, continued as long as it did,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery. “Such unlawful and abusive banking practices can deprive American homeowners of a fair chance in the bankruptcy system, and we will not tolerate them.”
“This settlement should signal once again to banks and mortgage servicers that they cannot continue to flout legal requirements, compromise the integrity of the bankruptcy system and abuse their customers in financial distress,” said Director Cliff White of the U.S. Trustee Program. “It should be acknowledged that Chase responded to the U.S. Trustee’s court actions by conducting an internal investigation and taking steps to mitigate harm to homeowners. But years after uncovering improper mortgage servicing practices and entering into court-ordered settlements to fix flawed systems, it is deeply disturbing that a major bank would still make improper court filings and fail to provide adequate and timely notices to homeowners about payments due. Other servicers should take note that the U.S. Trustee Program will continue to police their practices and will work to ensure that those who do not comply with bankruptcy law protections for homeowners will pay a price, just as Chase has done in this matter.”
Payments, Credits and Contributions of More Than $50 Million:
In the proposed settlement, Chase agrees to provide payments, credits and contributions totaling more than $50 million:
Changes to Internal Operations: In the proposed settlement Chase also agrees to make necessary changes to its technology, policies, procedures, internal controls and other oversight systems to ensure that the problems identified in the settlement do not recur.
Oversight by Independent Reviewer: Amy Walsh, a partner with the law firm Morvillo LLP, has been selected to serve as independent reviewer to verify that Chase complies with the settlement order. The independent reviewer will file public reports with the bankruptcy court.
No Effect on Additional Relief by Homeowners: This settlement does not affect the rights of any homeowners to seek any relief against Chase that they may deem appropriate.
Chase Contact Information: Homeowners with questions about the settlement may contact Chase at 866-451-2327.
The settlement is the culmination of actions taken by the U.S. Trustee Program in districts around the country concerning Chase’s improper practices in bankruptcy cases, including robo-signing. Director White commended the U.S. Trustee Program team in the field and headquarters who expertly identified, investigated, litigated and settled this matter, including Deputy Director and General Counsel Ramona Elliott, National Creditor Enforcement Coordinator Gail Geiger and Trial Attorneys Diarmuid Gorham and Kelley Callard.
The U.S. Trustee Program is the component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws. The U.S. Trustee Program has 21 regions and 93 field office locations.
Five attorneys from Dallas’ Sayles Werbner are being recognized among the top young lawyers in the state in the 2015 Texas Rising Stars list based on their courtroom work in Texas and across the United States.
Once a year, the publishers of Texas Rising Stars identify the state’s leading attorneys age 40 and younger, as well as those who have been in practice no more than 10 years. The annual guide is based on nominations from other lawyers and an exhaustive review by the publication’s editors. Only 2.5 percent of eligible Texas attorneys are selected for the honor each year.
The Sayles Werbner attorneys recognized in this year’s Texas Super Lawyers list have earned the same honor previously. The firm’s 2015 honorees and their areas of practice are:
In a complaint Friday in Seattle federal court, Microsoft claims Kyocera infringes its patents with three of Kyocera’s lower-cost Android phones, reports ArsTechnica. The accused models include the Duraforce, Hydro, and Brigadier.
The three models use the Android operating system and are “ruggedized,” meaning they include features like waterproofing and thick rubbery exteriors.
“Microsoft has long maintained that Android device makers must pay royalties for use of its patents,” reports Ars Technica. “Most Android device-makers pay a royalty to Microsoft for each phone, and estimates of the Redmond company’s patent-licensing revenue ranges up to $2 billion per year.”