Wilson Elser announced this week that its Albany office, formerly known for its lobbying/government relations practice, will refocus its business on the firm’s core services – commercial and civil litigation and corporate transactions – and will launch a government affairs advisory services practice.

Newly appointed regional managing partner Peter Lauricella, an Albany-based attorney for 20 years, who has been with Wilson Elser since 2005, will lead the office.

“Albany has always been a full-service office, but the stature of our former lobbying practice and the fact that we are located in the New York State capital often overshadowed our other practice areas,” said Lauricella. “With a deeper focus on litigation and corporate transactions, our practices are more closely aligned with the firm’s core services offered by our other 29 U.S. offices. By adding an advisory practice, we expand our capabilities and are able to advise clients in a way we couldn’t until now.”

The firm’s release continues:

Wilson Elser attorneys in Albany represent clients in high-stakes lawsuits and commercial transactional matters related to a variety of practice areas including:

• Complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on contracts, noncompete agreements, trade secrets, unfair competition, corporate dissolution, shareholder derivative actions, intellectual property, construction, real estate, creditors’ rights and employment matters
• Professional liability matters, involving the defense of accountants, engineers, architects, directors, officers, attorneys, and financial and insurance brokers
• Premises liability, toxic tort and Labor Law actions.

For the newly formed advisory practice, attorneys in Albany, White Plains and the New York City offices will leverage their collective experience and reputations in government affairs and municipal law to help clients pursue their interests on legislative and regulatory fronts. They also will continue to represent clients before New York’s municipal and state agencies and legislative bodies providing regulatory and lobbying compliance advice, and represent clients in government investigations brought by the office of the New York State Attorney General and other state and federal agencies.

“Our experience in the government affairs and municipal law sectors has provided us with a deep understanding of the legislative and regulatory process that we can now parlay into a government affairs advisory services practice,” explained Lauricella.  “We see potential for new growth opportunities because for the first time in more than 20 years, we can work with numerous lobbying firms and serve clients in a consulting role that advances our offerings beyond our core legal business. This was a key factor in our decision not to reinstitute a traditional lobbying team at this time.”

“There is no one better suited to lead the office into its next chapter,” said Daniel J. McMahon, Wilson Elser’s chairman. “Peter is well respected by his colleagues in Albany and across the firm, and is highly regarded by his clients and the general business community.”

Lauricella joined the firm and founded its Commercial Litigation and Government Investigations practices in 2005; in 2014 he was selected to lead all facets of the Litigation practice. Although based in Albany, Lauricella represents clients across New York state and in federal district courts outside of the state.

A native of Upstate New York, Lauricella has practiced in Albany since graduating cum laude from Albany Law School with his J.D. degree. He also holds a B.A. degree magna cum laude from the University of Albany.

In 2000, Lauricella was selected to participate in the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce “Capital Leadership” program (now named the Tech Valley Leadership program) and received the 2016 Capital District YMCA President’s Award for his board participation and decade-long service to the organization.  In 2010, he was honored by The Business Review as a “40 Under 40” rising business leader and has been selected for inclusion in the Upstate New York edition of Super Lawyers in the Business Litigation category the past four years.

Frank L. Branson

In an article on its website, the Law Offices of Frank L. Branson tallied some of the firm’s recent victories, including a $10.9 million verdict for the families of two north Texas grandmothers who died as a result of injuries from the crash of a the Choctaw Casino chartered bus.

In that case, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma refused to take responsibility for its role in ensuring the safety of its guests and offered only $50,000 to settle the case, the firm says on its website. At trial, testimony established a critical finding that the Choctaw Casino had retained the right to control the charter bus and its driver.

In another case, the firm won $4.45 million in actual damages and another $598,500 in exemplary damages for a physician who was forced out of a partnership in two medical imaging center businesses.

The firm has been honored by Best Law Firms in America Metropolitan Tier I, Texas Super Lawyers, and more.

Read the article.

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016
New York

Bloomberg BNA and Bentham IMF will hold an executive briefing and reception that explores how firms are integrating financing into their litigation practices.

The event will be Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, at Bloomberg LP, 120 Park Ave., New York, from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., with a networking reception to follow.

Law firms face increasing pressure to help clients gain affordable access to the courts as skyrocketing legal costs and other factors make litigation more expensive. Financing provided by litigation funders is helping firms meet this demand while also accomplishing strategic objectives, Bloomberg says on its website.

Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of University of California Irvine School of Law and author of the forthcoming book,Closing the Courthouse Doors, will deliver a keynote speech on how the upcoming election can change the course of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions and create a new era of wider access to civil justice.

Following Dean Chemerinsky, a panel of top legal and funding professionals will discuss the impact of funding on the U.S. legal system, and how law firms are taking measured risk to increase profits and accomplish growth objectives. Finally, the panel will look at the benefits to corporate clients, as well as plaintiffs.

Register for the event.

The news of Gretchen Carlson‘s $20 million settlement with 21st Century Fox is sending shock waves through the legal world, especially in employment and labor law circles, according to a LawNewz.com report.

Rachel Stockman spoke with several legal experts about the settlement, including one who called this a “watershed moment for sexual harassment cases.”

Some of the experts said the case could open the door to more sexual harassment claims in the workplace, and some were surprised by the high dollar amount that 21st Century Fox agreed to pay.

The article quotes Washington, DC, employment lawyer Tom Spiggle as saying this case could convince victims of sexual harassment that the laws on the subject still have teeth.

Read the article.

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Kentucky lawyer Alex R. White has filed a class action complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Lawyer.com LLC and World Media Group LLC, alleging violation of New York and other state consumer protection statutes, reports Legal NewsLine.

Reporter Jenie Mallari-Torres writes that the complaint claims White and his class suffered damages to the reputations of their business and professional careers when users posted unflattering reviews on the defendants’ website. Some the lawyers and judges had grades of “D” or “F”.

“White alleges the defendants enriched themselves at the expense of lawyers who have not authorized the disclosure of their personal and professional information, bombarded attorneys with unsolicited emails from ‘potential clients. as part of its efforts to sell premium memberships on its website which cost hundreds of dollars a month and promoted attorneys and law firms based solely on how much money was paid,” according to the report.

Read the article.

An insurer’s duty of good faith is pervasive and its application to claim handling has matured into a formidable body of law, write Douglas L. Christian and Nathan D. Meyer for Jaburg Wilk.

But when a bad faith lawsuit converts the quasi-fiduciary relationship with the policyholder into an adversarial one, how does a policyholder lawsuit affect the insurer’s duty of good faith? And, how does the insurer’s duty of good faith affect the lawsuit?

“Policyholders argue that if a lawsuit obviates the insurer’s duty it will encourage insurers to engage in conduct that will precipitate a lawsuit. Insurers respond by arguing that if the fiduciary duty continues unabated, it will encourage premature lawsuits by policyholders, deprive insurers of their ability to adjust losses, and eviscerate their rights as litigants,” according to the article.

The authors discuss   the development of the continuing duty of good faith, whether insurer litigation and post-filing conduct is admissible under current rules of evidence, and whether continuing bad faith is actionable as a separate theory of liability.

Read the article.

Kerrie L. Campbell brought more than two decades of experience in consumer product safety and product defamation litigation when she joined the Washington office of the Chadbourne & Parke in January 2014, but she contends that other Chadbourne partners shut her out of leadership positions and paid her far less than male partners at her level, reports The New York Times.

“After being told this year that she would be terminated, she sued in federal court on Wednesday, asking for a total of $100 million on behalf of herself and other female partners who, she said, receive less compensation than male partners even when they bring in more client revenue,” writes Elizabeth Olson. “A five-man management committee at the firm arbitrarily awards male partners more points, which translate into higher dollar compensation, than they do to women, she maintained.”

In a statement responding to the suit, Chadbourne denied the gender discrimination claims, saying her complaint against the firm is riddled with falsehoods and “will be shown to be completely baseless.”

Read the article.

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Over the past two years, a growing number of U.S. banks has capped their directors’ earnings, but the ceilings are so high that they primarily serve to fend off potential shareholder litigation rather than control the pace of pay increases, reports Olivia Oran in a Reuters article.

The banks’ caps can be triple what directors now get paid, according to data and filings reviewed by Reuters.

“For the most part, these limits aren’t really going to affect director pay, other than the fact that it’s really just a protection for them,” said Bill Gerek who advises companies on executive pay and governance matters at Korn Ferry. “What’s the cost?”

Oran reports that consultants and lawyers say having any ceiling makes a company less likely to be targeted in a lawsuit from shareholders.

Read the article.

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A law firm in Montgomery, Ala., says it received nearly 26,000 phone calls from people inquiring about a possible link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer after its clients won a total of $127 million in two verdicts earlier this year, reports AL.com.

Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C. reported 12,221 open cases from the 25,916 calls it had received as of Thursday. In a statement, the firm said it now has 867 cases filed nationwide against Johnson & Johnson regarding talcum powder products, which plaintiffs have claimed are linked to cases of ovarian cancer.

“In February a City of St. Louis Circuit Court jury awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $72 million, finding Johnson & Johnson liable for her ovarian cancer that led to her death,” reports Kent Faulk of AL.com. “In May another jury in St. Louis found Johnson & Johnson liable for ovarian cancer linked to genital use of its talcum powder products and awarded a South Dakota woman, Gloria Ristesund, $55 million.”

“Though it’s been discussed as a hypothesis and carefully studied for decades, there is no proven linkage between talc and ovarian cancer,” Gene Williams, outside counsel for Johnson & Johnson, told Legal NewsLine.

Read the article.

All contractors dread receiving the seemingly inescapable call that a preventable, yet too common, workplace accident occurred such as a crane collapse, the fall of an ironworker, or a delivery vehicle accident, writes James J. Buldas of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti LLP.

“Besides the human and project costs these accidents bring, claims and lawsuits nearly always follow,” he warns in his article. “While defending claims and lawsuits may cause even the most seasoned contractors to suffer from sleepless nights, responsible parties may take solace in knowing that their counsel negotiated defense and indemnity agreements in their contracts. Why then do such parties sometimes learn that because of the language in an insurance policy, the indemnity clause in the construction contract provides little or no protection?”

Because of unforeseen risk, additional insured endorsements have been revised to link contractual indemnity obligations to additional insured coverage. These new endorsements explicitly limit additional insured status to the indemnity clause of the underlying contract, regardless of whether the endorsement incorporates the “arising out of” or “caused, in whole or in part” language.

Read the article.

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A new startup, Legalist, is looking to make money from the practice of bankrolling lawsuits, reports Business Insider. The startup plans to fund those that it calculates has a chance to win.

Although Eva Shang, its cofounder, is a Thiel Fellow, she said the company won’t be funding lawsuits like the one Peter Thiel backed when Hulk Hogan successfully sued Gawker. The fellowship means that Shand took a $100,000 investment from Thiel’s foundation to help build Legalist.

“In a presentation at Y Combinator’s Demo Day on Tuesday, Shang argued that litigation funding is poised to become an ‘explosive asset class.’ The startup has funded one lawsuit for $75,000 and expects a return of over $1 million once the case is over. That money will then be reinvested in other lawsuits, and the process will repeat itself,” reports Biz Carson.

Legalist uses an algorithm tocalculates the odds of winning the case and the time scale in which it would finish.

Read the article.

A Texas-based legal recruiter is seeking up to $1 million in damages from a Holland & Knight partner, saying the lawyer broke his promise and used another headhunter to place him at the firm after the recruiter discussed the opportunity with him.

Legal recruiter Sean Cassidy’s suit against Dean Schaner alleges breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

“The [law firm] that we contacted you about… I would just ask that… since we contacted you about it, I always ask two things Dean,” said Cassidy, according to a recording played for Bloomberg Law. “One, I ask that if it’s something you ultimately decide to pursue, I just ask that you work through me on it.”

The Bloomberg article by Casey Sullivan reports:

“When contacted about Cassidy’s recording and overall litigation, Schaner wrote in an email Tuesday that the sound clip was a ‘misleading partial conversation,’ that he ‘never agreed to pursue the opportunity through Cassidy’ and furthermore, ‘never disclosed [Holland & Knight] to anyone.’ ”

Read the article.

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Donald Trump’s power to nominate Supreme Court justices if elected to the White House is a threat to women workers, equal pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter and two union officials said, according to a report by Bloomberg Law.

Ledbetter was a former Goodyear tire plant supervisor who sued her employer after she discovered she was making less than her male colleagues after 20 years on the job. She lost that pay discrimination case at the Supreme Court in 2007. Congress responded by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to allow more time for claimants in federal pay bias claims.

“Ivanka Trump said during the Republican Convention that her father would likely look at the the pay bias issue,” reports Bloomberg’s Chris Opfer. “The AFL-CIO’s Shuler blasted the GOP nominee, however, for later saying on the campaign trial that he would expect his daughter to leave her job if she was being discriminated against.”

Read the article.

Reuters is reporting that prominent Texas lawyer Mikal Watts was acquitted on Thursday of charges he made up thousands of fake clients to sue BP Plc for damages that the oil company caused in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, court records show.

A Mississippi federal jury found Watts and four other defendants not guilty of charges related to an alleged scheme to defraud a program set up by BP to compensate people who suffered economic losses from the spill, writes Jonathan Stempel. The jury found two other defendants guilty.

“The U.S. Department of Justice had accused the defendants of submitting claims on behalf of more than 40,000 people who had not agreed to be represented by Watts’ firm, or else were identified with stolen or bogus Social Security numbers and other personal information,” reports Stempel.

Read the article.

The advantages and disadvantages of arbitration versus litigation have been long debated, writes Kirk Watkins of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP.

“Because arbitration is a matter of contract, parties are free to adopt existing procedural and substantive rules or invent their own. This freedom can complicate comparisons. For example, the parties can include or exclude discovery, permit or prohibit direct testimony, and require prompt and detailed rulings – or not. Arbitrations have one advantage that is unquestioned – treaties make the international enforcement of arbitration awards easier and more likely than the informant of state judgments.” he explains.

He adds that, “if parties to a license or industry dispute resolution agreement devote appropriate time and effort to preparing an arbitration provision to meet their specific objectives, arbitration can be a valuable tool in resolving patent disputes.”

Read the article.

Four workers injured in a flash fire last week at the Sunoco Logistics terminal in Nederland, Texas, remain hospitalized with severe burns and related injuries. Two of the workers have retained Matthew Matheny and Edward Fisher of the Provost Umphrey law firm to represent their interests, and the attorneys have already secured a preservation agreement covering the accident site and will be leading an investigation on behalf of their clients.

“It’s important to preserve the location and allow investigators and experts to better determine the causes of the accident and what might have prevented this tragedy,” says Matheny in an article posted by Androvett Legal Media & Marketing. “We’ll be talking to witnesses and examining any records of safety and maintenance procedures at the facility. Obviously this horrible accident should not have happened, and we’re prepared to find out why.”

According to initial reports, at the time of the accident the workers were doing some welding at the Sunoco facility, which handles crude oil, condensate, naphtha, base and extract oils.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx

Bloomberg Law examines a lawsuit involving U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, who is the target of an attempt to recover salary Foxx collected during his three-and-a-half year tenure as deputy general counsel at a now-defunct company.

“From 2009 to 2013, Foxx worked as a deputy general counsel at the bankrupt Charlotte bus maker DesignLine. During that time, he also served as mayor of Charlotte on a part-time basis, writes Gabe Friedman. “Now, the liquidating trustee in bankruptcy court is seeking to recover his pay — as a fraudulent transfer — during a three-and-a-half year stretch.”

The salary in question works out to $309,760, or $88,502.86 per year.

“The parties in the case have agreed to participate in a voluntary, non-binding mediation in Charlotte that will occur on or before Sept. 30, according to an order filed in federal bankruptcy court this month,” according to The Charlotte Observer.

Read the article.

CNN is reporting that Kentucky’s attorney general is suing health-care giant Johnson & Johnson for millions of dollars, saying the company “concealed and misrepresented” the risk of its transvaginal mesh products to doctors and patients.

In the lawsuit, AG Andy Beshear alleged Johnson & Johnson’s medical device company, Ethicon, didn’t provide enough information about possible adverse effects to more than 15,000 women in Kentucky who had the transvaginal mesh implanted.

The company called the suit justified.

“The lawsuit says women have reported chronic pelvic pain, pain associated with intercourse and/or the loss sexual function, and other health problems,” according to the report by Steve Almasy.

Read the article.

Houston trial law boutique Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, once again is being recognized as one of Texas’ top commercial litigation firms after earning a spot in the 2016 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

In addition to being ranked as a top Texas firm, AZA partners Joseph Ahmad, Demetrios Anaipakos, John Zavitsanos and Todd Mensing received individual recognition from Chambers USA.

In the firm’s Chambers USA profile, AZA lawyers are described as, “Robust litigation specialists with a fast-growing reputation as a feared opponent for established national firms. Especially strong experience in representing clients in the technology and energy arenas.”

Published by London-based Chambers and Partners, Chambers USA is known worldwide for its thorough guides to the legal profession.

Read more about the announcement.

A federal appeals panel in Chicago has tossed out a settlement intended to end a shareholder class action brought over the Walgreens Boots Alliance merger, saying the lawsuit and related settlement did nothing more than contribute a quick $370,000 payment to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, reports the Cook County Record.

“The type of class action illustrated by this case — the class action that yields fees for class counsel and nothing for the class — is no better than a racket,” wrote Judge Richard Posner in the unanimous decision. “It must end. No class action settlement that yields zero benefits for the class should be approved, and a class action that seeks only worthless benefits for the class should be dismissed out of hand.”

The firms representing the plaintiffs were Pomerantz LLP, of Chicago and New York; DiTomasso Lubin P.C., of Oakbrook Terrace; Friedman Oster PLLC, of New York; Law Office of Alfred G. Yates Jr. P.C., of Pittsburgh; and Levi & Korsinsky LLP, of New York, reports Jonathan Bilyk.

Read the article.