Willbros, McCarthy Tétrault and Duff & Phelps will present a free webinar on April 28 to discuss the 2015 oil and gas outlook in the midstream and downstream markets.

The webinar will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

Panelists will discuss North American and European M&A activity and industry trends.

Topics will include:

• Oil prices and geopolitics
• Commodity price impact on M&A activity
• Long-term outlook in midstream and downstream markets

Register for the webinar.

Energy reform in Mexico means a new era of partnerships, foreign direct investment, and future success stories in the country, write Edward H. Warner and Daniela Suarez de los Santos of Kean Miller in a new article.

The recent announcement of a $900 million transaction to send U.S. natural gas to central Mexico represents the first large scale infrastructure investment in Mexico since its energy sector was opened to foreign investors in 2013. is only the beginning.

On its website, the firm says, “The questions to consider are: what are the opportunities, what are the challenges, and how can U.S. companies make this groundbreaking change work for them?”

Read the article.

Guilford F. Thornton, Jr. of Adams and Reese

Adams and Reese announces that governmental relations and legislative counsel Guilford F. “Gif” Thornton, Jr., a partner in the firm’s Nashville office, has been elected Managing Partner.

Thornton, who has previously served as Chairman of the firm’s Executive Committee and held numerous management roles, joined the firm in 2005 when then Nashville’s Stokes Bartholomew merged with larger regional firm, Adams and Reese.

Thornton succeeds Charles P. Adams, Jr., who held the role of managing partner since 2001 until his term ended recently. Adams led the 300 lawyer firm through a volatile period in the economy and the legal industry, through natural catastrophes like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as the firm’s successful expansion into Birmingham, Alabama, three offices in Tennessee, five offices in Florida, and the firm’s newest office in Columbia, South Carolina

Read details about the appointment.

Many employers think they understand employment laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §201, et seq. (FLSA), only to find out – after costly litigation – that they were just plain wrong.

Assouline & Berlowe has prepared a white paper that highlights 10 of the most common mistakes that private, non-governmental employers (with a non-unionized work force) make when attempting in good faith to comply with employment laws.

The 10 mistakes range from, number 1, “Paying an employee a salary and assuming the employee need not be paid overtime,” to number 10, “Classifying all staff as independent contractors means you do not have to worry about the employment laws.”

Ellen M. Leibovitch, Head of Labor and Employment Practice at Assouline & Berlowe, wrote the paper.

Assouline & Berlowe is a business litigation and transactional law firm serving the business needs of local, national, and international clients. The firm has offices in Florida.

Read the white paper.

Dykema, a leading national law firm, will combine with Texas-based Cox Smith.

On its website, Dykema said the combination will give the firm a significantly expanded presence in Texas, where Cox Smith is a leading firm with deep history.

“The additional depth in key practices, coupled with the combined firm’s broader geographic reach, will enhance the range of services available to both firms’ clients.” the firm said in a release. “The addition of Cox Smith’s 118 lawyers will give the combined firm more than 450 attorneys in 15 offices. In Texas, the firm will initially operate under the name Dykema Cox Smith. The combination, which takes effect May 1, will double the size of each firm’s Dallas presence, and San Antonio will become one of Dykema’s largest offices.”

Read the story.

PayPal announced two new leaders will be joining the company as it prepares to separate from eBay Inc. and become an independent, publicly-traded company later this year. StreetInsider.comn reports that both will report to PayPal president and CEO designee Dan Schulman and serve on the company’s leadership team.

Louise Pentland will become PayPal’s new General Counsel, effective April 27. Pentland is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Nokia Corporation, the report says.

Jonathan Auerbach will become PayPal’s new Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth.

Read the story.

The National Labor Relations Board urged a federal district court in Kentucky to invalidate a county ordinance that prohibits the use of union-security provisions in collective bargaining agreements and regulates other practices that are either permitted or prohibited by federal law, reports Bloomberg BNA.

“Hardin County’s Ordinance 300 is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, the board argued in a proposed amicus brief it submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The court is considering a lawsuit the United Auto Workers and other unions filed in January to challenge the ordinance,” the report says.

Read the story.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling provides states a greater role in regulating the energy sector, reports Cozen O’Connor.

“In ONEOK, the Court held that states can regulate activities that affect both wholesale and retail transactions to the extent that the regulations do not conflict with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulations. In so doing, wide swaths of conduct continue to be subject to both state energy regulations and generally applicable state laws,” wrote Jonathan M. Grossman and Thomas Ingalls. “While the ruling ensures retail customers a remedy for business practices that are proscribed by state law, it may also subject conduct otherwise permitted by FERC to civil liability if that conduct affects retail transactions. This decision may also hold implications for similar regulatory regimes, such as the Federal Power Act (FPA).”

The decision upheld a lower court decision that allowed a greater role for state courts in regulating the energy sectorfinding that state laws may apply to conduct that affects both wholesale and retail transactions provided those laws do not conflict with FERC regulations. The Court rejected a bid by FERC and natural gas wholesalers to exempt from all state regulation activities that affect both types of sales, the report says.

Read the report.

L to R: A. Washelesky, S. Macaulay, P. Krasny

Culhane Meadows PLLC, one of the nation’s largest cloud-based law firms, announces its expansion into Chicago with the addition of three lateral partners: Angela Washelesky (formerly at Reed Smith), Susan Macaulay (formerly at Skadden Arps) and Paula Jill Krasny (formerly at Baker & McKenzie).

“Given the number of global companies headquartered in Chicago and its exciting start up community, Chicago has been a strategic priority of our firm since its inception,” says Jim Meadows, one of the firm’s founding partners. “Chicago also has an unenviable reputation among corporate clients for harboring some of the highest billable rates in the country—making it the perfect expansion market for our innovative and cost-cutting business model.”

Started by a group of former Big Law attorneys, some of whom had worked together for more than 15 years, the firm now has attorneys based in New York, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Austin and Chicago. Unlike traditional law firms, every Culhane-Meadows lawyer is a partner-level attorney with substantial experience with large national and international law firms or in-house legal departments of respected companies. The Firm also utilizes a platform that leverages modern technology and cloud-based commuting, resulting in significantly lower overhead and therefore lower hourly rates to clients – not to mention happier lawyers.

Culhane Meadows also bucks the trend of male-dominated national law firms. Currently, more than half of its partners, and sixty percent of its managers, are women. “We are proud to be one of the few national law firms to enter a major market like Chicago with an all-star team comprised entirely of leading female lawyers,” boasts Mr. Meadows. “It’s just one more example of how we are shaking up the legal marketplace and delivering a genuine alternative to traditional firms.”

Each new partner in Chicago is highly accomplished and brings decades of legal experience to serve the firm’s impressive roster of global business clients, including multiple Fortune 100 and 500 companies.

Angela Washelesky was the first Chicago-based lawyer to join Culhane Meadows, direct from her role as trademark chair of Reed Smith’s Chicago office.  For almost 25 years her practice has focused on trademark prosecution and marketing law. Prior to joining Reed Smith, Ms. Washelesky worked as in-house marketing counsel for Sears, Roebuck & Co. She was also an in-house advertising attorney for Leo Burnett where she worked on the legal aspects of marketing campaigns for companies such as Maytag, Procter & Gamble, Reebok and United Airlines. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from DePaul University and received an LL.M in Intellectual Property from John Marshall Law School. Angela explains that she joined CM so she could again practice law at a reasonable rate, have more client contact and be more like a business owner. “And working in jeans with my dogs nearby doesn’t hurt,” she laughs.

Susan J. Macaulay has more than 30 years’ experience advising clients on a wide range of sophisticated corporate and transactional matters with special emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, corporate, finance and banking.  She has spent more than half of her legal career as in-house counsel to a variety of companies, including roles as VP and Corporate Counsel for Caremark and Associate General Counsel for Heller Financial. She also practiced at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom before moving to Gardner Carton & Douglas (which later merged into Drinker Biddle Reath), where she served as head of the financial institutions group. Ms. Macaulay received her JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law her LL.M in financial services law from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she now serves as an adjunct professor of law. She is the author of a number of publications addressing various topics involving transactional and finance law, and has spoken at many conferences on both a local and a national level.

Paula Jill Krasny is an internationally recognized branding lawyer. For nearly three decades, Ms. Krasny has worked with corporate executives to build, monetize and protect global brands. At Baker & McKenzie, Ms. Krasny was the lead IP strategist on numerous brand-driven cross-border transactions, and she built up global trademark portfolios for some of the world’s leading brands. Ms. Krasny also was a former Chair of the firm’s Chicago Intellectual Property Practice Group. Prior to joining Baker & McKenzie, Ms. Krasny was a partner at the international firm of McDermott Will & Emery. Over the course of her career, she has advised companies, ranging from start-ups to multi-nationals, in numerous industries, including consumer products, apparel, food and beverage, financial and business services, insurance, technology, hospitality and nonprofits. A graduate of Vassar College, Ms. Krasny also studied at Harvard University and earned her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. She has received numerous professional honors and served on various nonprofit boards. In 2011, the Anti-Defamation League’s Chicago chapter honored Ms. Krasny as a “Woman of Achievement,” an award given to female business leaders with strong civic contributions. She notes that Culhane Meadows’ flexible business model allows her to have more fun practicing law. “The platform allows me to partner with clients in creative ways. In addition to being able to help companies solve their problems and achieve value, I get to work with amazing and highly experienced lawyers.”

Kelly Rittenberry Culhane, another co-founder of the firm, says that “an increasing number of Fortune-ranked clients are embracing the firm’s game-changing business model because it delivers responsive and exceptional partner-level counsel and experience at a fraction of the cost for identical services from traditional firms.” She continues: “General Counsels are under constant internal pressure to reduce outside legal expenses and they are discovering they can rely on us to provide top-notch services within a budget that benefits their entire organization.”

“Companies are demanding more value from their law firms, and our rapid growth demonstrates that clients and lawyers alike recognize the value proposition of our cloud-based platform,” adds Mr. Meadows. “Simply put, we are causing a wave of positive disruption to the legal markets we’ve already entered and now we are excited to introduce clients in the Windy City to our better way of practicing law.”

The “on demand” economy appears to be the newest front of wage and hour lawsuits targeting non-traditional and independent employment arrangements, Seyfarth Shaw reports.

Rob Whitman and Adam Smiley wrote the article.

“So how is a business supposed to know if a worker may be designated an independent contractor? The Supreme Court has never created a bright-line test,” they wrote. “Rather, the Court supports a totality of the circumstances approach that evaluates the entirety of the economic relationship between the business and the worker.”

The article outlines some cases and factors to consider.

Read the article.

The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP announced that partners John F. Dienelt and Scott McIntosh have been named by Washington D.C. Super Lawyers magazine as among the top attorneys in Washington, D.C. for 2015.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service that recognizes outstanding lawyers who have gained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual, statewide selections are made using a multi-phased process that includes independent peer nominations, peer evaluations, and research. No more than five percent of total lawyers in a state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers.

• John F. Dienelt – Franchise / Dealership

Dienelt is a litigator with 30 years of trial and appellate experience, particularly in franchising, antitrust, intellectual property, and other commercial cases. He concentrates on complex and enterprise-threatening litigation, including class actions. He speaks regularly at programs on franchising and teaches franchise law as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and at the University of Virginia Law School. He received his law degree from Yale Law School, his master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.

• Scott McIntosh – Franchise / Dealership

McIntosh serves as the Washington, D.C. office chair of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He is a franchise law attorney possessing significant experience dealing with the most complex cases among the business, litigation, and regulatory issues that confront franchising companies. Scott has practiced in state and federal courts, at both the trial court and appellate levels, and has arbitrated cases before various arbitral bodies, including the American Arbitration Association, JAMS, and United States Arbitration & Mediation. He earned his law degree, cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center, his master’s degree from Georgetown University, his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his certificate of executive management from the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business.

About Quarles & Brady LLP
Quarles & Brady is a full-service law 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, 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.

The Expert Institute interviewed several top accounting experts to find out how you can be sure you’re selecting the right accounting expert witness for your next case. Joe O’Neill’s report is available at TheExpertInstitute.com.

“When it comes to complex financial litigation, an expert witness with the skills and training of an accountant can be an essential part of any case, providing answers and insights into the intricacies of company balance sheets or the value of personal property,” he wrote. “With a range of specializations, certifications, and professional backgrounds, selecting an accounting expert witness can present a unique challenge, however the right expert can greatly increase the odds of victory well before a case ever reaches trial.”

Read the report.

Jackson Walker L.L.P. has named Alfie Meyerson, Thad Armstrong, David Jones, and David Robins as partners in the firm’s Houston office. The four partners, who join the firm from Thompson & Knight LLP, work in Jackson Walker’s Real Estate and Finance practice groups.

“The addition of this excellent group of lawyers, along with other high-profile lateral partners who have joined us recently, truly gives us the premier real estate practice group in the Southwest,” said Jackson Walker managing partner Wade Cooper. “We anticipate great synergies from having a large, efficient, and cost-effective real estate team that is as good as any in this part of the world.”

Houston managing partner Kurt Nondorf added, “We are thrilled and honored that this group has chosen to join Jackson Walker. Their practices align perfectly with our own and will add significantly to our deep bench here in Houston.”

Mr. Meyerson has served in key leadership roles at Thompson & Knight, including as managing partner of the Houston office, chairman of the firm’s Real Estate and Banking Practice Group and a member of the firm’s management committee. Mr. Meyerson’s legal practice spans more than 30 years and encompasses all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, and his clients have included some of the most significant players in the Houston real estate development and banking market.

In making the move to Jackson Walker, Mr. Meyerson said he was drawn to the firm’s competitive platform and efficient business model. “This is a firm that is firmly rooted in Texas and meshes well with our practice,” he said. “It’s a great fit for me and my clients.”

On a more personal note, Mr. Meyerson said he was looking forward to working with longtime friends and colleagues at Jackson Walker, including Mr. Nondorf, Real Estate practice group chair Steve Martens, and Dallas managing partner David Moran.

“These are friends I’ve known my entire adult life,” Mr. Meyerson said. “Steve and I went to law school together. Kurt and I have known each other for over 25 years, and David and I were high school classmates. I like the quality of the practice, and I like the quality of the people.”

Also joining Jackson Walker’s Real Estate practice group is Thad Armstrong, who advises and represents buyers and sellers, developers, landlords and tenants, and sublandlords and subtenants in all facets of their real estate, development, construction, and leasing and subleasing deals and projects. He also advises lenders and borrowers in foreclosures and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure. Some of Mr. Armstrong’s recent transactions include having represented owners and developers in major construction projects totaling over $1 billion.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Robins will practice in the Real Estate and Finance groups at Jackson Walker.

Mr. Jones represents banks and other lending institutions in all aspects of commercial lending, with an emphasis on real estate secured lending. His experience includes representing lenders in middle market, private banking, energy and syndicated transactions. He also represents both purchasers and sellers of loan portfolios (both performing and distressed assets). Mr. Jones has represented numerous borrowers in connection with commercial loans, including providing applicable legal opinions concerning the enforceability of loan documents and qualifications of borrowers and guarantors. Mr. Jones also represents both landlords and tenants in lease negotiations concerning retail, office, and industrial space. And he has represented both purchasers and sellers in negotiating and closing sales of commercial real estate.

Mr. Robins practices in commercial real estate and real estate finance, with an emphasis on the lender-borrower relationship. He has worked on hundreds of significant transactions including office buildings, shopping centers, industrial buildings and warehouses, land and residential development, apartments and condos. Mr. Robins regularly handles multi-state, multi-property transactions, as well as loan portfolio acquisitions and dispositions. In addition, he represents clients in oil and gas, timber, and water transactions and in PACE lending.

Over the past few years, Jackson Walker has expanded its skilled and dynamic Real Estate team to serve the needs of clients in an active Texas market. Recent additions to the practice group include Steve Jenkins, a 40-year commercial real estate veteran from Haynes and Boone, LLP; Andrew Baumgardner, also from Haynes and Boone; Brad Lowry from Haynie Rake Repass & Lowry; and Drew Darby, who founded his own successful practice in San Angelo and currently serves as a member of the Texas House of Representatives. The firm has also added partner Ashley Martzen, Senior Counsel Cassie Ross, and associates Amit Patel and Frank Morphis to its Real Estate team.

Firmwide, a large number of high-profile attorneys have made the move to Jackson Walker in the last year, many of whom served in key leadership roles at their previous firms.

“The fact that we continue to attract strong leaders from other law firms shows that there’s something good going on here,” said Mr. Cooper. “For Texas attorneys whose clients require an efficiently managed law firm with first-class resources, Jackson Walker is the place to be.”

Jackson Walker L.L.P. has 125 years of experience in providing legal counsel to clients throughout Texas, the United States and internationally. The firm provides a strong regional base of more than 350 attorneys in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Angelo, San Antonio and Texarkana.

Growing concern from lawmakers and increasing press on the relative lack of historic IRS attention on large partnerships is driving a shift toward an increased number of partnership-level audits with potential dramatic changes in partnership procedure on the horizon.

In a free on-demand webinar from Latham & Watkins, Washington, D.C. partners Miriam Fisher and Brian McManus and Houston partner Tim Fenn address the growing discussion around the increase in large partnership audit activity.

This presentation provides an overview of the key issues and legal considerations associated with an increase in such audits and how they are likely to affect the energy sector, the firm says on its website.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Deloitte will present a Dbriefs webcast on strategies and potential paths forward for oil and gas companies across the value chain, including upstream, oilfield services, midstream, and downstream, in a challenging investment environment.

The free webinar will be Tuesday, April 28, at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

After driving a period of record capital inflows and spending, growing supplies from shale oil fields have led to a new investment environment for crude oil and natural gas companies, Deloitte says on its website. This environment is low-priced for exploration and production companies globally and short-cycled for shale-focused exploration and production companies.

The webinar will cover the recent record capital growth in the oil and gas sector, and today’s situation of capital disturbance that threatens the profitability and sustainability of many oil and gas companies.

Register for the webinar.

FoodLegal, an online publication of Australian Lawyers & Consultants, publishes a roundup of current developments in food law and policy, both Australian and international.

Some of the headings include Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) news, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) news, food-related news and policy on the European Union, the United States and Asia.

Founded in 1986 by managing principal Joe Lederman, the firm developed the FoodLegal division in the mid-1990s as the leading food regulatory specialist offering services in food law, regulatory compliance, education and training, the firm says on its website. With its principal Australian offices located near the heart of the Melbourne Central Business District, FoodLegal advises organizations of all types and sizes from all around the world and throughout Australia. Its clientele includes some of Australia’s most well-known food companies, health and nutrition groups, government agencies, industry bodies, manufacturers and start-ups and many food importers and exporters.

Read the updates.

Jennie D.G. Azoulai

Jennie D.G. Azoulai has been named to the General Counsel News team as Chief Marketing and Business Development Consultant.

In this role, Jennie will shape the direction and extend the reach of GCN’s growing brand and embark upon new marketing and PR initiatives. As well, she will serve as the main point of contact for new clients and prospects.

Jennie states, “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to work with GCN — a relatively new company and invest in its growth. I very much look forward to the opportunities to increase GCN’s brand awareness, direct it’s brand messaging and grow and sustain our presence in the marketplace.”

Jennie has had more than 15 years’ experience in business-to-business marketing, branding and event planning. She has assisted companies with their marketing endeavors through her own entrepreneurial initiatives along with as a marketing consultant and even as a direct hire.

Most recently, Jennie served as a Marketing Consultant for e-Discovery provider, UBIC North America, Inc. and previously, the Marketing Manager for the market research firm, Scarborough Research (now Nielsen Local). She also filled the first role of Marketing Manager at the e-Discovery outfit, RVM Enterprises, Inc.

Jennie’s combined interests in the arts, world politics and public policy along with her professional ambitions led her to graduate from the University of Michigan, followed by the University of Illinois College of Law. She then became an attorney, licensed in New York and practiced Government Contract Law at boutique law firm, Petrillo & Powell, PLLC followed by McDermott Will & Emery.

VLP Law Group has posted an on-demand webinar discussing cloud-based software solutions and provide a comprehensive look at contracts for cloud-based software solutions vs. traditional EULAs, including data provisions and issues, SLA/Support provisions and issues and other typical provisions and issues in contracts and negotiations for cloud-based solutions.

VLP Law Group says on its webiste that the use of cloud-based solutions for delivery of software applications is growing rapidly due to advantages such as the ability to reduce IT operational costs by outsourcing the hardware and software maintenance and support to the vendor of the cloud-based solution, and to simplify the process of updating/upgrading the software.

“The discussion will focus on these key differences between cloud-based software solutions and traditional software licensing models, and the ways in which those differences manifest themselves in the contract between the software vendor and its customer and in contract negotiations,” the firm says. “The presentation will address contractual provisions that are unique to cloud-based software solutions, as well as the ways in which contractual provisions that are common to traditional software license agreements need to be looked at differently in the context of a cloud-based solution.”

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Piliero Mazza has posted the slides from a recent webinar on strategic relationships in contracting with prime and subcontractors.

Presenters were Pam Mazza and Paul Mengel.

The webinar covered negotiating a definitive work share clause, in teaming agreements, in subcontracts, clauses requiring escrow accounts to ensure prompt payments, terminations, period of performance clauses, representations and warranties, any breach of a representation or warranty constitutes a breach of contract, and the use of flow down provisions.

View the webinar slides.