“The rolling blackouts that cut electricity for tens of thousands of Spokane, Washington, residents amid this week’s record breaking heat wave mostly hit the same power customers repeatedly because of strains on equipment that couldn’t handle the blistering temperatures, utility officials said,” reports CBS News in their blog.

“And there was plenty of power available for customers in Spokane despite increased demand. That’s in contrast to the blackouts imposed in Texas last winter amid freezing temperatures, when there wasn’t enough electricity to meet the demand, and during a hot spell in California last summer.”

Read the article.

“Good news for associates that haven’t, just yet, gotten the raises making their way through Biglaw firms are still announcing salary increases. The latest firm to make associates happy with well-deserved compensation bumps is Alston & Bird,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above The Law.

“The firm, which took in $851,601,000 in gross revenue last year, making them 53rd in the Am Law 100, announced a brand new salary scale yesterday. And it is a familiar compensation grid, at least for Biglaw observers, as Alston & Bird matched the raises set by Davis Polk.”

Read the article.

“San Jose Water, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SJW Group, announced this week the appointment of Willie Brown of Santa Clara  as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. In this new role, he will also be a member of the company’s executive leadership team and an officer of SJW Group, according to an announcement  by the SJW Group board of directors,” reports Silicon Valley in San Jose Inside.

“In his 13 years at SJW, Willie Brown has demonstrated his passion and skill for serving customers, employees and shareholders,” stated Eric W. Thornburg, president and CEO of SJW Group. Brown will oversee corporate governance, legal matters, contract negotiation and management, and management of outside counsel. His team supports company financings, mergers and acquisitions, SEC filings, executive compensation, internal controls, policy development and implementation, enterprise risk management and other company business functions.”

Read the article.

“The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California recently ended a long, drawn-out patent infringement battle dealing with menu patents, which saw action in front of a jury, at the district court, at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), at the Federal Circuit, and even an unsuccessful petition to the Supreme Court,” reports Gene Quinn in IP Watch Dog.

“The district court awarded Domino’s $2.7 million in attorneys’ fees and costs after finding the case exceptional within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. 285. Beginning in August 2011, Ameranth, Inc. brought a series of patent infringement lawsuits against Domino’s and over 30 other defendants relating to the alleged infringement of four patents for menu generation and synchronization of data for mobile devices.”

Read the article.

“Detroit-based Rocket Companies was hit Tuesday with a shareholder lawsuit accusing the firm and its executives of giving misleading guidance that the suit says artificially boosted Rocket’s stock price in the weeks before founder Dan Gilbert sold $500 million in stock to finance a major philanthropic effort in the city’s neighborhoods,” reports JC Reindl in Detroit Free Press.

“The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, claims that Rocket executives were extremely optimistic to the point of deception and fraud earlier this year when forecasting the anticipated “gain on sale” margin for its mortgage loans. The gain on sale margin is commonly viewed by investors as a core measure of profitability.”

Read the article.

Jackson Walker LLP in Texas is pleased to announce the addition of Arthur Gollwitzer as a partner in the Austin office. Combining his experience gained as a federal prosecutor with 25 years in private practice, Arthur focuses on intellectual property litigation and also is highly experienced in criminal matters and internal investigations.

Ross Forbes Jr., Chair of the Firm’s Trial & Appellate Litigation practice group, said, “Arthur’s addition marks a significant win for our IP litigation practice as well as our internal investigations and white-collar group. He has a history of winning cases as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and as an attorney at a national law firm. His experience will complement and support the team’s abilities involving intellectual property litigation as well as counseling clients in government investigations.”

Virginia Alverson Mimmack, Chair of the Firm’s Healthcare practice group, said, “We are happy to welcome Arthur to Jackson Walker and we look forward to working with him. His experience advising clients on internal investigations and government investigations, including False Claims Act suits will be a great addition to our healthcare team.”

Arthur has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, Seventh, and Federal Circuits and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas. He has also litigated matters in the Southern District of New York, \ Northern Districts of Illinois, the Central and Northern Districts of California, the Northern District of Indiana, and the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin.

He received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin Law School and his B.A. in Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.

As the use of Microsoft Teams has exploded, compliance officers, information governance professionals, and other risk management decision-makers must determine whether they have the right tools to secure the information that comes out of this collaboration tool, for their compliance, legal processes, and internal investigations.

Using a third-party archiving and data protection solution to capture point-in-time and point-in-context actions, enables organizations to take advantage of new capabilities within Teams without undermining their compliance requirements.

Join Pierre Chamberland, IPRO Innovation Catalyst and Michael Sampson, Senior Analyst at Osterman Research, who has been consulting on collaboration tools for over 20 years, for this webinar as they discuss how to evaluate such third-party security s

Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to have advised GlobalFood Tech on its acquisition by Oracle Corporation, which closed on June 25, 2021. GlobalFood Tech SRL (https://www.gloriafood.com) provides a market-leading platform enabling restaurants around the world to easily create websites, ordering menus, and branded mobile apps as well as to accept online payments and run flexible, data driven, marketing/promotional campaigns.

Eversheds Sutherland served as international legal advisors to the sellers, led by cross-border M&A team of Partner Ted Cominos (Chicago), Counsel Cristina Audran-Proca (Paris), and Associate Evan W. Johnson (Chicago).

This transaction is yet another example of the deal team’s impressive track record advising European tech companies with global reach in relation to their successful strategic exits to US and global tech giants. Ted and Cristina have previously advised on scores of similar tech transactions including the sale of RAV antivirus to Microsoft, Avangate to Francisco Partners, Vector Watch to Fitbit, ePayment to Naspers, and others. With coverage and expertise on both sides of the Atlantic, and deep familiarity with the deal terms that strategic US buyers seek of European targets, this international deal team is able to find solutions and drive value for its clients.

Cristina commented: “We are very proud to have collaborated with Oliver, Mihai and Cosmin on the very successful sale of their business. What they achieved as a young technology company is remarkable and inspiring and will certainly move onto bigger and better opportunities as a result of joining forces with Oracle.”

Ted also stated: “We were honored to have collaborated with the highly experienced and professional tech investment banking team of Telegraph Hill Advisors, and particularly Phillip Courten and Dinesh Moorjani – who commercially led this transaction in a first-rate manner. And we are delighted to have had the opportunity to work alongside distinguished legal co-counsel from Radu & Asociatii, including Radu Diaconu (Partner, Lead), Stefan Mantea (Senior Managing Associate, Lead) and Claudia Grosu (Senior Associate).”

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Shundra Crumpton Manning, an associate in the firm’s Nashville office, has been selected to the inaugural National Bar Association (NBA) Associate Advancement Academy for Excellence.

The NBA Advancement Academy is designed to facilitate the advancement and retention of black attorneys in the nation’s largest law firms, focusing on associates within the first three years of practice at AmLaw 200 firms. The year-long academy, which runs from July 1 through June 30, is comprised of 20 associates and entails monthly participation in educational and networking sessions, mentoring check-ins with NBA mentors, and events throughout the year.

Ms. Manning is an associate in Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group and represents clients involved in complex business litigation and product liability disputes with particular experience in managing class action litigation. She is also experienced in privacy and data security matters. While attending Vanderbilt University Law School, Ms. Manning was a three-time recipient of the Sen. Avon N. Williams Jr. and Hon. Robert Lillard Law School Scholarship. Ms. Manning currently serves as a First Year Director for the Marion Griffin Chapter of the Lawyers’ Association for Women, which addresses issues of concern to women within the legal profession.

New York, NY and Portland, OR — 29 June, 2021: Onna and Zapproved have today announced a direct integration between Onna’s Knowledge Integration Platform and Zapproved’s ZDiscovery platform to create a more seamless legal hold experience than ever before, particularly for unstructured data.

Through this integration, joint Onna and Zapproved customers will be able to automatically preserve Slack data at the point of hold issuance — something that has not been possible until now. Slack legal holds initiated from Zapproved’s ZDiscovery Preserve are instantly applied to archived data in Onna, significantly reducing the time and costs associated with preserving Slack data.

Until now, businesses have struggled with a way to deal with legal hold management for unstructured data. Traditionally, preserving Slack data required multiple steps, including notifying custodians from a legal hold platform, followed by a repeated process to identify, collect and hold Slack data from a separate platform. This integration will enable customers to place holds and send out communications seamlessly, starting first with Slack and then expanding to other applications, where a single hold for selected custodians in ZDiscovery Preserve can be automatically applied across multiple data sources in Onna.

Data can be searched, culled, and exported for review at any time, which improves legal self-service by creating less dependence on the IT department. The integration can be set up quickly and easily, and features an intuitive user experience that allows for rapid time to value.

Join experts from Onna and Zapproved for a live webinar on Wednesday, June 30th, 2021: “Unstructured data and the EDRM: Building a defensible strategy that mitigates risk.” Register here.

Contract Logix, a leading provider of data-driven contract lifecycle management (CLM) software, secured the top spot in the Summer 2021 G2 Results Index for Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM). Contract Logix continued its leadership, also ranking as a “High Performer” in the G2 Summer 2021 Grid® Report for Contract Lifecycle Management Software. G2 scores products and sellers based on actual customer reviews of the software, as well as data aggregated from online sources and social networks.

According to G2, “the Results Index for Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) | Summer 2021 report is affected by the following (in order of importance):

Customers’ reported ease of doing business with the seller based on reviews by G2 users
Customers’ satisfaction with the product’s quality of support based on reviews by G2 users
Customers’ likelihood to recommend each product based on reviews by G2 users
The number of reviews received on G2; buyers trust a product with more reviews, and a greater number of reviews indicates a more representative and accurate reflection of the customer experience”

Contract Logix’s inclusion in the categories comes at a pivotal time in the company’s growth as it continues to see triple-digit percentage growth in usage of its products as customers rapidly digitize contracts and business processes. Contract Logix’s data-driven contract management software plays a key role in its customers’ digital transformation initiatives by allowing them to speed up processes and time to revenue, as well as meet governance and compliance requirements while mitigating risk. In addition, the company recently rolled out revolutionary new real-time collaboration capabilities in its contract management platform that makes contract collaboration and negotiation fast, simple, and frictionless for all internal and third parties involved.

A key differentiator and driver behind Contract Logix’s “Best Results” recognition by its customers is the company’s unique and proven customer success model. Every Contract Logix customer is assigned a Customer Success Manager (CSM) to help onboard, set up, and get the most value out of its platform in the fastest time possible. This on-demand dedicated team serves the customer throughout the life of the relationship and is highlighted in numerous G2 reviews, with “quality of support” receiving an above-average 9.4 out of 10 stars. One reviewer stated, “They work to fit your needs, and if your needs change, they help modify it. They want the product to work for you.”

“At Contract Logix, we pride ourselves in having a very customer-centric culture, not just in how we work with our customers to help them achieve success and get value from our platform, but also in how we develop and go-to-market with our technology,” said Jim Averill, Vice President of Customer Success, Contract Logix. “We’re always proud of G2 ratings because this recognition is a result of feedback provided by the people we aim to serve, our customers. We are one of the longest-tenured companies in the contract lifecycle management industry and will continue to do whatever it takes to help our customers leverage our solutions to optimize their businesses and minimize risk.”

To learn more about Contract Logix and read about customer experiences using the platform, please visit the company’s rating page on the G2 website.

Barnes & Thornburg has added Raanon Gal as partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment Department in Atlanta. Gal’s move follows on the heels of the Austin Bersinger addition to the Atlanta office in April.

Gal represents employers in a range of industries, including airline, manufacturing and retail, in matters involving wage and hour, wrongful termination litigation, discrimination, harassment, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and employment practice liability insurance arrangements. Also a litigator, Gal has handled cases involving the misappropriation of trade secrets, noncompete agreements, and employment/business torts in front of federal courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and district courts across Georgia. Additionally, Gal provides proactive risk management counsel to clients, and has drafted numerous employee handbooks, executive employment agreements, and employer policies.

Gal is a thought leader in the Georgia market and also lectures on matters such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, FMLA, sexual harassment avoidance, and record retention requirements.

Gal earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School and his B.A. from the University of Florida.

Arent Fox is pleased to announce the expansion of its Corporate & Securities practice with the addition of corporate Partner Scott Adamson in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Scott represents public and private strategic and financial buyers and sellers, emerging businesses, family offices, and business owners in transactions spanning leveraged buyouts, carve-outs, 363 asset sales, and going-private deals.

Scott has particular experience advising clients in the health care, technology, manufacturing, service, and construction industries and has completed cross-border transactions across the globe, including in Japan, Mexico, Ireland, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Already this year, Arent Fox has welcomed nine Partners and two Counsel to the firm, including private equity, M&A, and VC Partner Stephen P. Hanson in New York and corporate and commercial finance Partner Jonathan P. Bagg in Washington, DC.

Scott routinely executes complex transaction structures, including stock sales, asset sales, statutory mergers, tender offers, and transactions structured as tax-free reorganizations, spinoffs, and contributions. He represents buyers and sellers of companies bought and sold through auctions and advises clients on alternative liquidity strategies, including sale, leveraged recapitalization, private placement, and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transactions. In addition, Scott counsels clients engaged in debt and equity financing involving funds, mezzanine lenders, and banks.

Scott’s Experience

– Scott’s recent work includes representing an NYSE-listed aerospace and defense company in a bid to acquire an ESOP-owned aerospace and defense engineering firm with a sales price of $1.65 billion; advising a payroll processing company in a $200 million CAD cross-border Canadian acquisition; and representing the manager of a $70 billion portfolio in the $65 million sale to a publicly-traded strategic acquirer of a majority-owned company engaged in the auto parts business.

– Scott has structured, implemented, and executed many of the largest and most complex transactions involving ESOPs to create liquidity on a tax-advantaged basis; to facilitate management buyout of a subsidiary, division, or portfolio company; to engage in a roll-up transaction; or to permit private equity investment on a tax-advantaged basis.

– He has led some of the largest transactions undertaken involving the sale of ESOP-owned companies to equity sponsors and strategic buyers.

– Scott has been annually recognized by Legal 500 United States in the M&A/Corporate and Commercial — M&A — Middle-Market (Sub-$500M) category.

“The South Carolina Department of Corrections has received approval to offer a $6 million settlement to the victims of a deadly 2018 riot at Lee Correctional Institution. The State Fiscal Accountability Authority a five member board consisting of the governor, House and Senate budget chairmen, the comptroller general and the state treasurer voted 4-0 to approve the settlement offer. House Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith recused himself from voting because his law firm is involved in the litigation over the riot,” reports Emily Bohatch in The State.

“The Department of Corrections was seeking money for the settlement after facing more than 80 lawsuits following a deadly 2018 prison riot at the Lee Correctional Institution, which was named the deadliest in the United States in the last 25 years. Though the board approved a $6 million settlement option, that settlement is not yet finalized. Plaintiffs in the lawsuits could reject the offer. There was no public discussion on the settlement. Board members reviewed terms of the offer in executive session, which is not open to the public.”

Read the article.

“Listen, at the end of the day, any raise is better than no raise. And while associates may get pangs of jealousy when they hear about the $205,000 pay day for their peers, there’s still a place for Biglaw firms that don’t live up to the big raises going around,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law.

“Snell & Wilmer, a firm with $283,500,000 in gross revenue last year making it 115th on the AmLaw 200, announced raises this week. But they’re not quite as generous as other Biglaw firms are handing out. Announced during an associate town hall, salary raises will vary by location.”

Read the article.

“Kristy N. Waterman has been named executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at TreeHouse Foods, Inc., effective July 1. She will succeed Tom O’Neill, who will become a consultant focused on the ongoing litigation with Keurig Green Mountain,” reports Eric Schroeder in Food Business News.

“Ms. Waterman most recently was senior vice president, strategy and chief administrative officer of DFA Dairy Brands, the division of Dairy Farmers of America that acquired a substantial portion of Dean Foods Co. Prior to DFA Dairy Brands, she was senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and government affairs at Dean Foods.”

Read the article.

“In a significant blow to US regulators’ attempt to rein in big tech, a federal judge has dismissed lawsuits brought against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a broad coalition of state attorneys general. Markets cheered the ruling, sending Facebook shares surging by more than 4%, which pushed the social network’s market value to more than $1tn (£722bn) for the first time,” reports Kari Paul in The Guardian.

“The US government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook in December, accusing the tech company of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spin-off of the social network’s Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services.”

Read the article.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka is pleased to announce that Stephanie Friese Aron and Scott Augustine have been named co-managing shareholders of the firm’s Atlanta office. “We are excited for the Atlanta office under Stephanie and Scott’s leadership and look forward to continued success as a leading middle-market law firm with a talented team of attorneys,” said Larry Campagna, Chamberlain Hrdlicka managing shareholder. The firm will maintain its focus on personalized client service that has become a hallmark during the firm’s growth to more than 150 attorneys.

David Aughtry, long-time Atlanta managing shareholder, will continue to focus on his thriving tax practice. “We are grateful for David’s many contributions to our firm, his commitment to clients, and the exciting future that we are thrilled to enjoy alongside of him.”

Friese chairs Chamberlain’s Real Estate Practice and is a member of the firm’s board of directors. She is involved in nearly all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, from acquisition of land, to leasing, construction, financing and disposition. She also counsels clients involved in real estate litigation and dispute resolutions, including foreclosures, evictions and federal enforcement actions. Her clients typically own, develop and manage commercial office, retail, multifamily and industrial properties across the United States.

As an active member in the commercial real estate and legal community, she is a past president of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers and CREW Atlanta, and remains actively involved in both organizations, which lean heavily on past presidents for their continued advice, fundraising and programming. She also is a former board member of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation and the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors.

Augustine chairs Chamberlain’s Corporate, Securities & Finance Practice in Atlanta and is a member of the firm’s board of directors. He has established himself as an innovative and trusted advisor to, and advocate for, businesses across the country. Working with entrepreneurs and owners, CEOs, general counsel and other C-suite and lead executives, his practice is focused on the intersection of law and business.

Buchalter secured a favorable settlement of more than $22.6 million from Chicago Title on behalf of approximately 80 victims of a fraudulent liquor license investment scheme. Gina Champion-Cain, the mastermind behind the scheme, defrauded investors into believing they were investing in short term loans for liquor license applicants. Chicago Title was the escrow company investors were led to believe would hold their money while supposed liquor license applications were pending. The settlement resolves all of Buchalter’s clients’ claims against Chicago Title, including claims for fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, conversion, negligence, and financial elder abuse. The settlement recovers more than 70 percent of Buchalter’s clients’ net losses—the highest percentage Chicago Title has agreed to pay in any of the related investor lawsuits to date.

The liquor license investment scheme is the largest known fraud in San Diego history. The scheme collapsed in August 2019 amid legal action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Champion-Cain, accused of funneling investors’ money into her restaurants and other business and personal interests, pleaded guilty last July to criminal charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, and obstruction of justice. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The case is Atherton et al. v. Chicago Title Company et al., San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2020-00017967-CU-FR-CTL. The SEC receivership action is SEC v. Champion-Cain et al., Case No. 3:19-CV-01628-LAB-AHG, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. The District Court approved the settlement on June 3, 2021.

Buchalter’s team was led by Mark T. Cramer, together with Jeffrey S. Wruble, William M. Miller, Oren Bitan, David E. Mark, and Michael J. Worth.

New York City, June 29, 2021 – In a significant broadening of the firm’s government investigations capabilities, a trio of seasoned white collar and securities litigation partners have joined Stroock’s Litigation and Government Affairs and Regulatory Services (GARS) practice.

A nationally renowned SEC enforcement lawyer, Richard Morvillo joins in Washington, D.C., while partners Scott Morvillo, and Ellen Murphy will be based in New York. Each draws on vast experience before government agencies, lawmakers and regulatory bodies to counsel clients on complex civil and criminal investigations.

The addition comes on the heels of M&A/Private Equity corporate partner Peter Rooney and Real Estate/Hospitality partner Michael Kosmas recently joining the firm, and further enhances the litigation practice after last year’s onboarding of partner Eric Aronson.

Richard Morvillo
Rich will lead Stroock’s White Collar & Investigations practice. A former branch chief with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, he is a nationally recognized authority in SEC enforcement and other white collar matters. Rich has been a part of several high-profile cases, including securities matters involving Enron, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Liberty Media, Capital One and Prestige Brands.

He also represents corporations, corporate executives, brokerage firms, investment advisers, accounting firms, auditors, law firms, hedge funds and individual investors in matters involving investigations related to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, New York Stock Exchange, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, congressional oversight, state attorney general and grand jury inquiries. Rich received his B.A. from Colgate University and his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Scott Morvillo
A former Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Scott regularly represents clients before district courts and regulatory bodies, focusing on matters involving securities fraud, public corruption, bank fraud, bribery, wire and mail fraud, accounting fraud, health care fraud, insurance fraud and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Skilled in both criminal and civil complaints, Scott draws on his court experience to counsel clients on RICO and narcotics cases, money laundering, bank fraud and credit card fraud, among others. Scott received his B.A. from Colgate University and his J.D. from the Fordham University School of Law.

Ellen Murphy
Ellen’s practice centers on advising financial institutions, public and private companies, boards and executives in a variety of regulatory, criminal, internal and civil investigations and litigations, including extensive experience with both civil and criminal trials as well as mediations and arbitrations.

Ellen’s regulatory counsel to clients includes investigations by the Department of Justice, the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, State Attorney General Offices, State District Attorney Offices and other regulatory agencies. Ellen received her B.A. from the State University of New York Stony Brook and her J.D. magna cum laude from the St. John’s University School of Law, where she served as Articles and Notes Editor for the St. John’s Law Review.