Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce the launch of a proprietary tool to help clients better assess the risk of an adverse ruling on spoliation of evidence in any US court. Developed in partnership with Fastcase, Spoliation Scientist is a first-of-its-kind legal data analytics tool that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence, text analytics, and interactive data visualizations to quickly and efficiently assess spoliation risk in any of the nation’s state and federal courts.

At the click of a button, the tool allows clients operating in multiple jurisdictions to quickly identify areas of risk, direct focus and better budget and forecast for specific discovery-related expenses. Spoliation Scientist uses a combination of Fastcase’s legal research data, professional review of automated data tagging by the Fastcase AI Sandbox technology, and content expertise to establish a visual database of cases where a judge ruled on a claim of spoliation and the sanctions imposed where spoliation was found.

The process and technology Fastcase and Eversheds Sutherland built together can be applied to other unique data sets within the litigation process, allowing Eversheds Sutherland to better advise their clients on risk and potential outcomes. For more information on the Spoliation Scientist, visit https://us.eversheds-sutherland.com/Client-Tools/Spoliation-Scientist. To learn more about Fastcase’s AI Sandbox and opportunities to collaborate for your firm, contact Fastcase’s AI Sandbox product manager Sean Tate at state@fastcase.com.

Debra Vernon joins Rimon from Zhong Lun Law Firm, where she was Partner. Prior to that, she was Partner with VLP Law Group LLP and of Counsel with DLA Piper.

Vernon advises companies and investors on legal issues faced through all stages of their corporate life cycles, with a particular focus on emerging companies. With over two decades of experience advising technology companies in Silicon Valley, Vernon specializes in startup formation, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, offshore corporate structuring and corporate governance for clients based in the United States, Asia, South America and Europe. Vernon provides business-focused, practical advice to help clients navigate the opportunities and challenges facing high-growth companies.

Vernon has been widely recognized for her achievements in the legal field. Most recently, she was announced a recipient of the Lawyer Monthly Women in Law Awards 2021 for Investments and Private Equity. She is a prior recipient of the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women of Influence of Silicon Valley Award and has been named in The Business Journal’s (Bizwomen) “Women to Watch: Silicon Valley’s Leading Business Women” list.

Vernon graduated from Stanford Law School (J.D.), and Yale University (B.A., Music, Comparative Literature).

San Francisco – Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Carlton Fleming has joined the firm as a partner in the Corporate and Capital Markets practices in San Francisco, with a focus on representing leading life sciences and technology companies. Fleming will be a member of Sidley’s award-winning Global Life Sciences practice. He was previously a partner at Cooley LLP.

Fleming represents high-growth private and public life sciences and technology companies in private financings, public offerings, SEC reporting and compliance, and corporate governance. He has been involved in over 60 IPOs and other public offerings during his career. He also regularly advises corporate clients and their boards of directors and special committees on a wide variety of securities law and corporate governance matters.

National Plaintiffs’ Firm DiCello Levitt Adds Leading Cybersecurity and Technology Law Partner to Growing New York Office

David Straite brings depth and additional firepower to a premier technology litigation practice that has played pivotal roles in several of the world’s largest data privacy class actions, including Equifax and Marriott/Starwood

NEW YORK, May 18, 2021 – National plaintiffs’ law firm, DiCello Levitt Gutzler, today announced that David Straite has joined the firm as a partner in its New York office. A veteran litigator with deep experience in cybersecurity, data privacy, securities, corporate governance, and hedge fund matters, Straite arrives from Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, where he emerged as the nation’s leading voice for the recognition of property interests in personal data, a 10-year effort culminating in the Ninth Circuit’s landmark April 2020 decision in In re: Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation and the Northern District of California’s March 2021 decision in Calhoun v. Google, both of which he argued.

Straite’s arrival marks yet another significant step forward for a firm that, in recent years, has cemented itself among the nation’s premier technology litigation practices, including being one of only five firms to be named “Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Practice Group of the Year” by Law360. Headed by firm partner Amy Keller, DiCello Levitt Gutzler’s Cybersecurity and Technology Law group has led several of the world’s largest data privacy class action lawsuits, including the multidistrict litigations against Equifax, Marriott, Blackbaud, and others.

Straite is also an Adjunct Professor at Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business Executive MBA program teaching Business Law and Ethics every fall semester since 2015 and is a frequent speaker on CLE panels addressing data privacy, Constitutional Standing, and investor rights. As a hands-on litigator with a history of innovation, Straite has spent the last decade fighting some of the largest and most complex data privacy cases, including protecting consumer privacy in class actions against Apple, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo. His early work in this field led M.I.T. Technology Review magazine to call him “something of a pioneer” in digital privacy litigation. Prior to joining the plaintiffs’ bar, Straite was an associate with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP for almost seven years, giving him useful perspectives when litigating against the top defense firms in the country.

Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm, today announced that legal marketing veteran Iris Jones has joined the firm as its Chief Marketing & Client Development Officer. Jones will be based in Akerman’s Austin office.

Jones has a longtime career in legal marketing and in the practice of law in both the public and private sectors. She has led law firm strategic growth, business development, and marketing efforts among Am Law 100 firms in Washington, D.C. and New York. She has been responsible for innovative and proactive global business development and marketing efforts, and created world class business development and marketing department models for a number of Am Law firms. Before joining Akerman, Jones served as a Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer for McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and previously practiced law in Texas. Jones gained extensive litigation and appellate experience having served as an assistant attorney general of Texas and director of the City of Austin’s Law Department. In 2020, she was inducted as a fellow into the College of Law Practice Management.

Jones will oversee Akerman’s marketing and client development team to advance the overall strategic plan of the firm by continuing to grow its client base while deepening existing client relationships. She will work closely with firm leadership to continue building the firm’s brand equity and positioning the firm as an influential thought leader and the law firm of choice for diverse clients across the firm’s practice areas. Skilled in designing solutions based on analytical needs assessment, Jones directs complex projects from concept to fully operational status. She has extensive experience in coaching, training, and providing business development support to all levels of stakeholders.

Compulsory licensing and IP waivers represent controversial topics in intellectual property. These mechanisms essentially suspend patent rights and permit countries to use a company’s intellectual property without the patentholders permission.

Talk about compulsory licenses and IP waivers has increased over the course of the COVID pandemic. Last week the Biden Administration even announced an IP waiver to help increase access to the Covid-19 vaccines. While it remains unclear how countries will proceed with respect to compulsory licensing or the IP waivers, it is time to start thinking about alternative mechanisms to increasing accessibility to the vaccines.

This article will first briefly explain the practical and technical hurdles to compulsory licensing and IP waivers and then provide three possible alternative mechanisms to increasing vaccine availability and accessibility.

Hurdles to Compulsory Licensing and IP Waivers

Before we can even consider waiving IP rights and allowing others to manufacture a product – in this case a vaccine – we have to consider the likelihood of success in such a scenario. While there have been success stories with compulsory licensing, namely Brazil issuing compulsory licenses for the HIV drug, efavirenz, those stories involve small molecule products that can be chemically synthesized. The Covid-19 vaccines that are manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna are very different from efavirenz and present a whole host of new issues. As a result, the efficacy of these proposals depends on a country’s internal technical capabilities to recreate the vaccine. Below are some issues presented by the Covid-19 vaccines that render compulsory licensing and IP waivers practically futile.

Covid-19 vaccines are new forms of vaccines

Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines are not typical vaccines. Whereas traditional vaccines function by introducing parts of a virus — or a weakened form of a virus — Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines use messenger RNA to cause host cells to produce the protein themselves. These are the first vaccines to utilize this type of technology and, given their novelty, information about how to make these vaccines is limited. While the technology underlying mRNA vaccines has been in development for decades, there are likely specific technological hurdles associated with, for instance, the coronavirus, mass production and scale up, and delivery mechanisms, that needed to be developed for this specific application. This additional information is not found in scientific journals or magazine articles, and it cannot be found in any patent application, yet.

The lack of available information is even more compounded by the fact that much of the vaccine manufacturing process relies heavily on trade secrets. These trade secrets hold critical scientific know-how that could be necessary for accurately replicating these vaccines. Without information and know-how of how to make these mRNA vaccines, countries will encounter difficulties in recreating them.

Covid-19 vaccines are complex to manufacture

The complexity of these vaccines further exacerbates the difficulties in recreating them. The NY Times recently published Pfizer’s 19-step process for manufacturing its vaccine . This 19-step process starts with pulling DNA from cold storage and ends with administering the vaccine. In between are all the steps required to grow cells, harvest DNA, transcribe the DNA into mRNA, and assemble the mRNA vaccine. At each point there are strict quality control measures designed to ensure that the end product will be what it is intended to be. Deviation at any point in this 19-step process can jeopardize the safety of the vaccine and put lives at risk.

In addition to the multi-step process of manufacturing these vaccines, obtaining the raw materials and having the proper manufacturing facilities to store them presents problems. There is currently a global shortage of raw materials to the point where even Pfizer is having difficulty obtaining the necessary materials for vaccine production. Moreover, the vaccines require storage at low temperatures and improper storage can result in lost vaccines. The spoiled vaccines in Emergent BioSolutions’ plant in Baltimore illustrate the difficulties of properly establishing manufacturing facilities. So even if countries possessed the necessary information about the vaccines, the complexity of manufacturing these vaccines on a large scale could be a particularly high barrier to overcome.

Alternatives to Increasing Access

Given the novelty and complexity of the Covid-19 vaccines, issues of safety, efficacy, and timing necessarily arise. Safety and efficacy because the lack of information surrounding these vaccines compounded by the complex manufacturing process increase the likelihood that any copycat vaccines will not be as safe or effective, and timing because figuring out, understanding, and scaling up the manufacturing process to the point where it can produce the desired amount of vaccine product will take time.

Instead of issuing compulsory licenses or IP waivers then, we should explore alternatives that will not only provide access to the vaccines, but do so in a safe, effective, and quick manner.

Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining is one such alterative and this is not a new concept. Given the high cost of drugs, developing countries have often partnered with other developing countries or non-profit organizations to collectively bargain for lower drug prices. Dr. Anthony Fauci even helped negotiate a collective agreement in 2008 to help administer treatment for AIDS . Groups like the WHO, Gavi, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) are ones that can lead this approach. This is certainly a different approach than obtaining a right to use the underlying intellectual property for a treatment, and it requires countries or non-profits to have some financial strength to achieve an agreement as these entities will still have to pay for the treatment. Since there is strength with numbers, the cost per dose may be less if more groups are able to band together to facilitate a deal.

Provide Incentives

Another solution to this problem could be gleaned from the old adage of the “carrot and the stick.” While the compulsory licensing and IP waivers approach is akin to the “stick”, what is missing is the carrot approach. Under-developed countries could offer vaccine manufacturers other enticements that provide value other than monetary payment to secure deals for the vaccines. Such enticements could include public-private sector cooperation, the offer of real property such as facilities and equipment, name recognition, establishment of in-country programs for the development of trained labor, lowered tax rates for operation within their country, eliminated import-export tariffs/fees, and exclusive country-wide distribution as well as data collection on the offered vaccine or other products.

Corporate and Government Donations

Finally, it is important to recognize that Covid-19’s unique global impact is not lost on those involved, including vaccine manufactures and governments. Moderna has already recognized this and they have provided resources for not only using their intellectual property, but also have demonstrated a willingness to help countries that lack the ability to meet the needs of the country’s citizens . Moderna’s recognition of the problem that is facing the world provides a glimmer of hope for struggling countries. While it is unclear if their willingness to provide transparent access to provisional patents will ultimately lead to reduced prices, it does provide some hope that the developing world will not face an uphill battle when—and if—these countries seek to negotiate the cost of these vaccines.

Similarly, western governments have indicated that they would supply their access vaccine reserves to countries in need. The Biden Administration has, in fact, promised to make “excess” vaccines available, amounting to approximately 60 million doses. Together with industry, western governments can help ensure that struggling countries receive the necessary doses needed to combat this pandemic.

Conclusion

Countries face roadblocks for producing a viable vaccine candidate based on Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines due to the hurdles in manufacturing the vaccines. Compulsory licensing and IP waivers do little to mitigate those issues. Alternatives that will allow the vaccine manufactures to continue producing their vaccines should be the primary focus.

Joanna T. Brougher, Esq., MPH is the Founder & Principal at BioPharma Law Group, PLLC. She can be reached at jbrougher@biopharmalaw.com or at (617) 699-2931. http://www.biopharmalaw.com/

1. How the How the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Works, NY Times, May 7, 2021 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/health/pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine.html
2. The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief: How George W. Bush And Aides Came To ‘Think Big’ On Battling HIV, Health Affairs, Vol. 31, No. 7
3. Moderna Press Release, Statement by Moderna on Intellectual Property Matters during the COVID-19 Pandemic, October 8, 2020 https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/statement-moderna-intellectual-property-matters-during-covid-19

Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has opened its 100th location. Reliance|Littler, part of Littler’s global platform, has expanded its presence in Belgium with a new office in Ghent. The office, which is its third in Belgium, will be led by partners Edward Carlier and Koen de Bisschop.

Since establishing its first international location in Caracas, Venezuela, in late 2010, Littler has grown rapidly across the globe. The firm opened two offices in Mexico in 2012 and, soon after, expanded into several other regions in Latin America – with the most recent being Brazil through a correspondent office relationship. In 2015, Littler bolstered its North American presence by opening an office in Toronto, Canada, while also establishing its first foothold in Europe with a move into Germany. Just six years later, Littler now has locations in 11 European countries, including a new office in Ireland that opened in January 2021. The firm has also continued to grow its presence in the Asia Pacific region, building on the opening of a Singapore office in late 2019 that serves as its APAC Regional Hub, and in North America, where it continues to add new talent across offices. Littler now has more than 1,600 attorneys practicing across 25 countries.

Littler’s international operations span four continents – North America, South America, Asia and Europe – and include Austria, Belgium, Brazil (via a correspondent counsel relationship), Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Venezuela. The firm’s global capabilities also include lawyers with exceptional international experience, including practitioners dually licensed in the U.S. and Australia, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, Russia and South Africa.

FORT WORTH, Texas – Trucking, serious injury, and wrongful death attorney Steve Laird, founder of The Law Offices of Steven C. Laird, PC in Fort Worth, has been inducted into the exclusive International Society of Barristers.

The invitation-only organization is devoted to retaining access to trial by jury, as well as improving trial advocacy training, encouraging civility, and supporting and protecting the legal rights of all citizens. Selection follows a stringent vetting process by fellow trial lawyers and judges based on a candidate’s abilities, experience, professional accomplishments, and ethical standards.

One of the nation’s foremost trucking, serious injury, and wrongful death lawyers, Laird is known for his commitment to trial advocacy and advancing the legal profession’s highest standards.

In addition to his trial work, Laird is a frequent speaker on trucking and personal injury and wrongful death topics, including evidence, procedure, and ethics, and is one of a select group of attorneys in the nation to earn Board Certification in Truck Accident Law from the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is also Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

Laird has held the position of president of the Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Fort Worth Trial Lawyers Association, and the Fort Worth Chapter of ABOTA.  He has received the annual Professionalism Award from the College of the State Bar of Texas, as well as also being given the Tarrant County Bar Association Professional Award.  Laird has also been recognized as Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Association. He recently received the 2021 Blackstone Award from the Tarrant County Bar Association, that organization’s most prestigious annual individual honor.

DALLAS – Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, one of the most recognized and respected trial boutiques in Texas, has announced that experienced trial attorney Mary Goodrich Nix has joined the firm as a partner. 

Nix has tried and arbitrated cases throughout Texas and across the United States and has managed nationwide legal teams for corporate clients with multistate operations. She also has frequently worked with international organizations to oversee the pursuit or defense of domestic disputes.

Nix has extensive experience in a wide variety of litigation matters affecting the employer-employee relationship and disputes between competitors. She also has experience managing corporate investigations. Her work frequently involves assisting companies in identifying protectable intellectual property and pursuing litigation to safeguard proprietary and trade secret information from theft and disclosure. She also frequently defends companies accused of violating non-compete, non-solicit, or non-disclosure agreements, or of stealing confidential information. 

Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Nix joins the firm from Holland & Knight, where she served as co-chair of the firm’s Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants Team. 

Nix earned her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center, and her undergraduate degree from Baylor University. For her complex commercial and employment litigation work, she was awarded the prestigious BTI Client Service All-Star Award in 2020, a distinction awarded by in-house counsel to less than 500 attorneys worldwide. Nix was one of only 11 attorneys in Dallas and 19 attorneys statewide who received this distinction.  

She was named a Best Lawyer in America in Employment Litigation in 2020 and 2021, and a Texas Super Lawyer every year since 2012. She was selected to serve on Sedona Conference’s Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, and the 2021 Sedona Conference on Remote Case Management of IP Proceedings. She has held numerous professional leadership positions in her career, including with the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, the Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Women Lawyers Association, and the Patrick E. Higginbotham American Inn of Court.  

Michael Best is pleased to announce that Andrea Riccio has joined Michael Best Strategies as a Principal in the Washington, D.C. office. Riccio will be a member of the Government Relations Group. Prior to joining Michael Best Strategies, Riccio served as a Vice President at S-3 Group, a full-service policy and government relations firm.

At S-3 Group, Riccio counseled a variety of trade associations, corporations, and nonprofits, utilizing over a decade of experience in government, public affairs, and consulting. While on Capitol Hill, she served as Deputy Director to the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, under then-Chairman, and current member of the Board of Advisors at Michael Best Strategies, Steve Israel, and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. As Deputy Director, Riccio headed House Democratic messaging during the 2016 election cycle and led multiple targeted campaigns using parliamentary tactics available to the minority.

Prior to that, Riccio was the Director of Member Services and principal leadership staffer for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). In this role she advised Congressional offices on best practices, led Caucus-wide programs for Chiefs of Staff, Press Secretaries, and District Directors, and served as floor staff.

Riccio’s addition to the firm comes just weeks after Michael Best Strategies announced the addition of Steven Rowe to the Government Relations group in Salt Lake City. Ranked among the top lobbying firms by Bloomberg Government this month, Michael Best Strategies has recruited Riccio during a period of progress and growth.

Riccio received her B.A., summa cum laude, in Political Science and Government from the University of New Hampshire.

Jeffrey Greene has rejoined the firm’s Trademark Copyright & Advertising Practice Group as a partner in its New York office. Greene, who was previously a partner at Foley from 2007-2017, joins the firm from Cooley LLP, where he had chaired its Trademark & Advertising Practice.

Greene’s practice focuses on strategic foreign and domestic brand counseling and protection, including the creation, development, expansion and management of global trademark portfolios, creative brand enforcement strategies, the licensing of brand assets and advertising. He also advises clients on the trademark and intellectual property aspects of mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions, as well as agreement/contract drafting, licensing and negotiation and transfer issues.

Greene has extensive experience representing both startups and established companies across a variety of industries, including financial services, technology, fintech, media, consumer products, retail and fashion. He also has specialized experience helping pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and other life sciences companies obtain and enforce foreign and domestic trademark rights for drug and device names.

Greene is routinely recognized as a top trademark and advertising attorney by leading outlets, such as World Trademark Review 1000 (WTR), Managing Intellectual Property and The Legal 500. He is a member of the International Trademark Association (INTA), where he currently serves on the U.S. Roundtables Project Team and the Law Firm Committee. Greene previously co-chaired the Leadership Labs Subcommittee and served on the Leadership Development Committee, the U.S. Programs Committee for INTA annual meetings, and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. He has also served on the Trademarks and Unfair Competition Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

Michael Best is pleased to announce that Courtney Tedrowe has joined the firm’s Labor & Employment practice group as a Partner in the Chicago office. Prior to joining Michael Best, Tedrowe spent nearly two decades with Novack and Macey LLP as a commercial, business and employment litigator.

Before his move to Michael Best, Tedrowe served as a partner at Novack and Macey where his clients included hedge funds, private equity firms, major food production manufacturers, and retailers, among others. He has represented clients that span different sectors, including labor and employment, real estate, corporate governance, energy, and trade secrets. Prior to his time at Novack and Macey, Tedrowe worked as an associate attorney at one of the top law firms in New York, where among his many accomplishments, was a member of a team who litigated a large case against Big Tobacco in the Eastern District of New York.

Tedrowe received his J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School, where he also served as the symposium editor of the Cornell Law Review. He also earned a B.A., cum laude, from Vassar College.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Lauren B. Jacques has been named managing partner of the firm’s Nashville office. She succeeds Lela M. Hollabaugh, who has served as the Nashville office managing partner since 2015. Hollabaugh will continue as a litigation partner in the Nashville office.

Bradley Chairman of the Board and Managing Partner Jonathan M. Skeeters said, “Lauren is a highly esteemed lawyer and colleague and has the skill, enthusiasm and leadership to help us maintain the highest standard of client service and execute on our vision for growth. We look forward to the contributions she will make to the Nashville office and the firm in her new position.”

Jacques is a member of Bradley’s Healthcare and Corporate Practice Groups and focuses her practice on healthcare transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures, and the regulatory and operational issues that affect healthcare providers. She has experience handling transactions involving hospitals, home health agencies, hospices, cancer centers, physician practices and cardiac catheterization and office-based laboratories. Jacques has a particular breadth and depth of experience handling transactions in the ambulatory surgery center and outpatient provider space. In addition to transactional work, she routinely counsels clients regarding healthcare regulatory and operational issues and assists on matters related to compliance with federal and state anti-kickback and self-referral laws, corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting laws, and issues with licensing, certificate of need and provider enrollment.

Jacques is also active in professional organizations and her community. She served on the planning committee for the Nashville Council of Health Care Attorneys for five years and is an active author and speaker for the American Health Law Association. She previously served on the board of The New Beginnings Center, a Tennessee non-profit dedicated to improving the health, strength and wellness of women. In 2017, Jacques received the firm’s Cameron J. Miller Award for Excellence and Community Service.

Jacques received both her undergraduate and law degrees from Vanderbilt University.

Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, today announced that Lori Brown has rejoined the firm as Office Managing Shareholder in Miami and as a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Brown previously served as Chief Executive Officer of ComplianceHR (CHR), a joint venture of Littler and Neota Logic. CHR has named Kimball Norup, currently the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, as CEO.

Brown was a shareholder with Littler from 2003 to 2011 and served on the firm’s Board of Directors for six of those years, while also serving as Miami Office Managing Shareholder. In her new leadership roles in returning to Littler, she will lead the Miami office and guide its continued growth, as well as serve on the firm’s seven-member Management Committee. Brown has extensive experience counseling and defending employers on a range of workplace issues, including discrimination, harassment and wage and hour matters. She has a particular focus on counseling companies through sensitive personnel matters, while ensuring compliance with constantly evolving federal and state employment and labor laws.

Brown joined CHR when it launched in 2015 and has been instrumental to its success. CHR is a web-based platform that helps human resources and legal professionals make informed decisions on employment law-related matters. The automated platform provides employers with cost-effective and valuable tools for making compliance decisions in hiring and managing their workforces. Under Brown’s leadership, the company has grown to offer over 20 applications to more than 11,000 users.

Norup joined CHR as Chief Marketing Officer in October 2020 and has assisted in building out the company’s go-to-market organization and broader growth plan. He brings two decades of senior executive experience with software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and in human capital management. Norup has held senior leadership roles with professional services firms that span general management, marketing, sales and growth, most recently as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Growth for Hays Talent Solutions, the managed services division of global recruitment firm Hays PLC.

Brown’s return marks the fourth attorney in the last month to rejoin Littler and the third in the firm’s Florida offices. Shareholder Jessica Travers and of counsel Miguel Morel recently rejoined Littler in Florida and shareholder Lisa Kathumbi returned to the firm’s Columbus office.

Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Hagai Zaifman has joined the firm in New York as a partner in its Tax, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice supporting Sidley’s work in the renewable energy sector and other infrastructure projects. He joins Sidley from White & Case LLP, where he was a partner.

Zaifman is a leading practitioner in the renewable energy area, advising sponsors, private equity funds and other investors, and lenders in connection with the structuring, planning and negotiating of all types of renewable energy transactions. He regularly advises clients on project development and financing, repowering, M&A transactions and tax equity investments, including in flip partnerships and all forms of leasing transactions. Zaifman has significant experience in the qualification of projects for the various energy tax credits and other government incentive programs, including the production tax credits (PTCs), investment tax credits (ITCs), new markets tax credits (NMTCs), and carbon sequestration tax credits. For several years, he served in various tax leadership roles, including as the tax director of one of the leading investors in the renewable energy industry in the country. Zaifman oversaw the underwriting, investing, managing and disposing of a debt and equity portfolio of over $10 billion of U.S. and foreign wind and solar projects.

Connecticut Law Tribune Honors Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. with Multiple 2021 Connecticut Legal Awards

Trumbull, Connecticut (May 14, 2021) – Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. (SDV) is proud to announce its recognition by the Connecticut Law Tribune at the 2021 Connecticut Legal Awards annual celebration held on May 12.

As a firm dedicated solely to policyholder coverage, SDV received the Litigation Department of the Year – Insurance Award. SDV’s highly skilled team of attorneys have successfully argued in appellate, federal, and state courts nationwide, have been involved in a multitude of precedent-setting decisions, and have recovered nearly $1 billion on behalf of clients in the firm’s 25-year history.

SDV is honored to have also received the Diversity Initiative Award in recognition of its diversity and inclusion efforts. The firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee is committed to providing a work environment that encourages mutual respect and is free of harassment, discrimination, and bias. As one of the first law firms in the state to sign the Connecticut Bar Association’s Diversity & Inclusion Plan and Pledge, SDV strives to create a workplace that embraces the collective value of our employees’ differences.

Finally, SDV would like to congratulate its Partners, who were recognized for their individual achievements. Founding Partner Tracy Alan Saxe was a finalist for the Best Mentor Award, while founding Partner Jeffrey J. Vita was a recipient of the Distinguished Leader Award, and Theresa A. Guertin, Managing Partner of SDV’s northeast offices, was a recipient of the New Leaders in Law Award.

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin is excited to announce the launch of the firm’s first West Coast office in Los Angeles with the addition of counsel Marco Giovine to its Italy Practice. Marco’s addition and the new Southern California location deepens the resources available to our clients as we expand our geographical footprint.

Giovine is a corporate transactional attorney who advises domestic and multinational clients on a broad range of matters including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, contracts, commercial transactions, and corporate governance. With a particular focus on clients who have a nexus to Italy, he draws on his deep understanding of cross-border transactions and the unique issues inherent in conducting business in the United States.

Giovine earned his law degree from the University of Padua in Italy and LL.M. degrees from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands and UCLA in Los Angeles. Bilingual in Italian and English and fluent in Spanish, he is admitted to practice in California and New York. Prior to joining Tarter Krinsky & Drogin, he founded and managed the Los Angeles office of a boutique international law firm and, before that, practiced at Hogan Lovells and DLA Piper in Milan, Italy.

DALLAS – Trial lawyer Chris Simmons, co-founder of Lyons & Simmons, LLP, is among a select group recognized by the National Law Journal as “Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers,” attorneys who are “born leaders.”

One of only 52 attorneys nationwide honored, Simmons was chosen based not only on his litigation success, but also for his role as an agent of change.

That focus also helped propel Lyons & Simmons’ recognition in 2020 as the top personal injury law firm in Dallas by readers of Texas Lawyer magazine.

Simmons’ reputation as a go-to trial lawyer in cases involving life-altering personal injuries, wrongful death, and “bet-the-company” business disputes has earned him recognition from Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon 500, Texas Super Lawyers, D Magazine, and Texas Lawyer.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that four attorneys in the firm’s Charlotte office have been named to the 2020 class of the North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society. Corby C. Anderson, Matthew S. DeAntonio, Erin Jane Illman, and Jonathan E. Schulz each provided 50 or more hours of pro bono legal services in 2020 to North Carolinians who are unable to pay.

The North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society is administered by the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center, which was launched in 2016 as a program of the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission. The commission works to increase North Carolina attorney pro bono legal service as a way to meet the legal needs of people of low-income and modest means in the state.

Attorneys in Bradley’s Charlotte office are actively involved in a number of pro bono efforts, including working with the Safe Alliance’s Victim Assistance/Legal Representation Program, which helps victims of domestic violence who seek Domestic Violence Protective Orders, and supporting the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, which provides a wide range of civil legal assistance to low-income people in the Charlotte metropolitan area and west-central North Carolina.

Global law firm Hogan Lovells obtained a rare ruling on interlocutory appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which held that the district court should have dismissed a False Claims Act complaint at the outset for failure to plausibly plead the claims.

Hogan Lovells represented Nuance Communications (formerly known as J.A. Thomas & Associates, or JATA), a company that provides clinical documentation support and products for hospitals to help them ensure patient medical records capture the full severity of patients’ conditions.

Integra Med Analytics, a data analytics company, brought a qui tam action under the False Claims Act, alleging that Providence Health & Services, certain affiliated hospitals, and JATA submitted false claims to Medicare that were coded for more lucrative secondary diagnoses than were supported by patients’ actual medical conditions.

Integra based its complaint primarily on a statistical analysis of Medicare claims data that it said demonstrated Providence hospitals had submitted proportionally more claims with three higher paying diagnosis codes than other hospitals.

The district court ruled that the plaintiff’s pleadings were sufficient to move forward to discovery, because it was plausible that the statistical outcome resulted from fraud. But the lower court certified this question for interlocutory appeal.

The Hogan Lovells team petitioned the Ninth Circuit to accept the case on interlocutory appeal, and Hogan Lovells partner Jessica Ellsworth argued the case on appeal. The Defendants argued that the statistical analysis and other complaint allegations did not plausibly plead fraud, given the “obvious, alternative explanation” that the hospitals submitted more claims with these diagnoses because of work done by their clinical documentation improvement departments, with JATA, to capture all appropriate medical diagnoses, exactly as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had encouraged hospitals to do.

The Ninth Circuit agreed. It held that Integra failed to state a plausible claim for relief. In its decision, the Ninth Circuit noted that the plaintiffs’ allegations “do not eliminate an obvious alternative explanation—that Providence, with JATA’s assistance, was more effective at properly coding for better Medicare reimbursement than others in the healthcare industry.”

The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s order denying the Defendant’s motion to discuss, and remanded the case. It then denied Integra’s motion for rehearing en banc.

In addition to Ellsworth, the Hogan Lovells team included partners Jonathan Diesenhaus (Washington, D.C.) and Mike Maddigan (Los Angeles), and former associates Ben Field and Michael West.