Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Davis Polk & Wardwell

The Korea Development Bank Notes Offering
Davis Polk & Wardwell advised ABN AMRO Inc., DEPFA BANK plc, J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and UBS AG as underwriters of concurrent SEC-registered debt offerings of €300 million floating-rate notes due 2014 and US$600 million floating-rate notes due 2010 by The Korea Development Bank.

The Davis Polk corporate team included partner Eugene C. Gregor of the Tokyo office and associates Hyun Kim and Kee Won Shin of the Hong Kong office. Partner John D. Paton and associate Brian Radigan of the London office provided tax advice. Sandra Cheng of the Hong Kong office was the legal assistant on the transaction.

04-04-2007

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Dean Mead

EGERTON APPOINTED TO ABA TASK FORCE
Charles H. Egerton, a shareholder in the Dean Mead law firm, was recently appointed to serve on a special task force established by the American Bar Association (ABA) Tax Section to study the growing problem of patenting of tax strategies.

Egerton is a founding member of Dean Mead. He practices in the field of taxation with an emphasis on tax planning for real estate transactions. He is recognized as a leading national expert in the areas of like-kind exchanges.

Egerton is a Florida Bar Board Certified Tax Lawyer and is named in both The Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA in the field of Taxation. He received his undergraduate degree from Emory University (B.A. 1966) and his law degree from the University of Florida (J.D. 1969). He earned his master of laws in taxation from New York University (LL.M. in Taxation 1971).

04-04-2007

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Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Attorneys Prevail Again in Setoff Dispute With Legion Indemnity Company Liquidator
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC litigation shareholders Steve Bizar and Kevin Brobson obtained their third victory for reinsurance clients GE Frankona Reinsurance Co., Ltd. and ERC Frankona Reinsurance (III), Ltd. (collectively, "Eagle Star") in a 4-year-old dispute with the statutory receivers for Legion Insurance Company (In Liquidation) and Legion Indemnity Company (In Liquidation).

Buchanan government relations specialist Ron Chronister assisted in the case. Bizar, Brobson and Chronister are all members of Buchanan's Insurance and Reinsurance Practice, a group of attorneys and professionals who focus on issues facing clients in the insurance and reinsurance industry.

"This dispute has always been about ensuring that each party to the reinsurance arrangement received the benefit of the bargain, nothing more and nothing less," said Bizar. "It is, of course, gratifying that a third court has looked at this issue and has concluded that Eagle Star owes nothing to the Legion companies."

The dispute began in August 2002, when, shortly after the Legion companies were placed into receivership, Legion Insurance re-billed Eagle Star for amounts due and owing under a property insurance program. In a bill that predated receivership, Legion Insurance reported all amounts due and owing on a combined basis with its sister company, Legion Indemnity, to reflect an amount due Eagle Star by "Legion" of approximately $2.3 million. In the post-receivership August 2002 revised bill, Legion Insurance attempted to segregate Legion Insurance business from Legion Indemnity business, showing that Legion Insurance owed Eagle Star $14.5 million while Eagle Star owed Legion Indemnity $12.2 million. Legion Indemnity demanded payment from Eagle Star. Eagle Star maintained that the August 2002 statement was an improper effort by the statutory receivers of the two Legion companies to restate a pre-receivership obligation owed to Eagle Star. All of the pre-receivership contracts and billings sent to Eagle Star made no distinction between Legion Insurance and Legion Indemnity and, instead, treated the companies as if they were one and the same under the banner "Legion." In response, the Legion companies maintained that Eagle Star actually sought an improper cross-company offset of obligations owed to Legion Indemnity and Legion Insurance, which are separate companies under separate state receivership proceedings (Illinois and Pennsylvania, respectively).

Bizar and Brobson obtained their first victory for Eagle Star in December 2004, when the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued its decision in Koken v. Legion Ins. Co., 865 A.2d 945 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004), concluding that the post-receivership August 2002 account was an improper attempt by the Legion Insurance liquidator to alter fixed pre-receivership obligations of Legion Insurance to the benefit of Legion Indemnity and the detriment of Eagle Star.

Bizar and Brobson then sought enforcement of the Commonwealth Court's opinion against Legion Indemnity in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, which is the court overseeing the Legion Indemnity receivership. In November 2005, the circuit court judge handed Eagle Star its second victory, concluding that although Legion Indemnity was not a party in the commonwealth court proceeding, it was so closely related to and its interests so aligned with Legion Insurance that it was in privity with Legion Insurance and thus was bound by the commonwealth court’s decision. The liquidator for Legion Indemnity appealed the circuit court’s decision to the Illinois Court of Appeals.

In a March 29, 2007, opinion, the Illinois Court of Appeals affirmed the Circuit Court's decision, concluding that it was not unfair or unjust to enforce the commonwealth court’s decision against Legion Indemnity because Legion Insurance was an adequate representative in the commonwealth court proceeding of the contractual interests that it shared with its sister company Legion Indemnity.

"Statutory receivers for insurance companies are given a great deal of authority and flexibility to muster the assets of the insolvent insurer, but the receiver cannot rewrite history," said Brobson. "The receiver steps into the shoes of the company. In this case, the shoes were the March 2002 statement, which showed that Legion owed Eagle Star $2.2 million and that Eagle Star owed Legion nothing.

04-04-2007

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Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP

Sonnenschein's Congressional Investigations Team Continues to Build Momentum on Capitol Hill
The prospect of being the subject of a Congressional investigation can be both overwhelming and challenging. These investigations can expose a company, its executives, officers, board members, and employees to not only public and media scrutiny, but to criminal liability, criminal or regulatory referrals, administrative penalties, and potential civil litigation. In the face of a Congressional investigation, a company or individual must coordinate and address all aspects of the investigation—legal, political and public relations—to ensure that their rights and reputation are protected. Given the stakes, the unique demands of a Congressional investigation require experienced counsel. Whether compelled by subpoena or appearing voluntarily, seasoned guidance is necessary to navigate individuals and corporations through the potential pitfalls associated with Congressional inquiries. Sonnenschein is a leader in representing companies and individuals in Congressional investigations and high-profile hearings, and has the necessary skills to manage legal, political, and public relations risks. Our multidisciplinary team has significant experience representing companies and individuals in a wide variety of industries, including health care, pharmaceuticals, financial services, energy, telecommunications, defense, and homeland security.

04-04-2007

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Plunkett Cooney, P.C.

Two shareholders named to national appellate academy
Plunkett & Cooney, P.C. shareholders Robert G. Kamenec and Mary Massaron Ross were recently named Fellows of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Kamenec and Massaron Ross will be formally inducted into the Academy during its 2007 Spring Meeting on March 30-31 in Coronado, California. The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers was founded in 1990 to advance the highest standards and practices of appellate advocacy and to recognize outstanding appellate lawyers.

“Rob and Mary have received a number of individual awards for their expertise, but this is one of the highest national honors an appellate lawyer can receive,” said Henry B. Cooney, President & CEO of Plunkett & Cooney. “We are all extremely proud of them.”

The selection process begins with nominations from current Fellows, board members and members of the Circuit and Membership Evaluation committees. Nominees are elected by a two-thirds vote of the board of directors, acting on the recommendations of the Membership Evaluation Committee. Academy membership is by invitation only and is extended to appellate attorneys with a minimum of 15 years experience in appellate practice.

A shareholder in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office, Robert G. Kamenec currently serves as Plunkett & Cooney’s Insurance/Professional Liability Department Leader. He was recently named by a leading Michigan legal industry publication as one of its “Lawyers of the Year” for 2006 for his involvement in 11 high-profile appellate cases.

Kamenec represents a variety of clients, including municipalities, insurance companies, hospitals, physicians and pharmaceutical manufacturers. His involvement in complex litigation, both at the trial and appellate court levels, includes successfully handling appeals of multi-million dollar verdicts involving medical malpractice claims, diethylstilbestrol (DES), L-Tryptophan, silicone breast implants, DBCP, other chemicals and pesticides and Fen-Phen.

He graduated from University of Detroit School of Law in 1982 and is a member of the Oakland County and Michigan bar associations, as well as the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel and the Defense Research Institute.

Mary Massaron Ross is a member of Plunkett & Cooney’s Board of Directors and currently serves as the firm’s Appellate Practice Group Leader. A former law clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Associate Justice Patricia J. Boyle, Massaron Ross has handled appeals resulting in over 50 published opinions.

She has won numerous victories before the Michigan Supreme Court for clients in both the public and private sector, overturning multi-million dollar judgments and establishing new legal principles. She has also handled appellate matters before the Michigan Court of Appeals, the California Court of Appeals, the Ohio Supreme Court, and federal circuit courts of appeal. Massaron Ross is also a past recipient of recognition as a Lawyer of the Year by Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly and has won the prestigious Cooley Law School Distinguished Brief Award for her brief in Gilbert v. Daimler-Chrysler.

Massaron Ross co-chairs the Michigan Appellate Bench Bar Conference Foundation, an organization of Michigan appellate judges and lawyers. She currently serves as chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs, the five-member committee that oversees preparation of ABA briefs for filing in the United States Supreme Court and other courts. She is also chair-elect of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers, a division of the Appellate Judges Conference.

Massaron Ross received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Marygrove College. She was awarded her law degree, summa cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School.

Plunkett & Cooney’s appellate attorneys concentrate their practices exclusively on appeals and have more than 1,500 combined state and federal appellate decisions to their credit. They offer clients a vision for litigation based on their knowledge of the law and whether it can be changed. Members of the group also provide the firm’s commercial and municipal clients with insight regarding appropriate settlement decisions based on their appellate experience and knowledge.

04-04-2007

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Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, P.L.C.

Miller Johnson One Of West Michigan's "101 Best And Brightest Companies To Work For"
More than 10 percent of Grand Rapids-based Miller Johnson’s total workforce has worked at the law firm for more than 30 years, so being named one of West Michigan’s “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For ” is not surprising.

Sponsored by the Michigan Business & Professional Association, the “Best and Brightest” is an annual program that honors local businesses and organizations that recognize employees are their greatest asset. Criteria for award selection include community initiatives, employee education and development, recruitment and retention and work-life balance.

Of Miller Johnson’s more than 200 employees, 18 have been with the firm for 30 years or more, and 32 people have between 20 and 29 years of service with the firm. The average tenure among current employees is 12 years and four months.

“In today’s changing workplace, the sort of commitment from our people that we see here at Miller Johnson is rare,” said Miller Johnson Human Resources Director Robert Carpenter. “Miller Johnson is a great place to work.

04-04-2007

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Martin, Disiere, Jefferson & Wisdom, L.L.P.

Firm Welcomes New Dallas Partner
Stephen Henninger joins us as a partner in our Dallas office, where he works in the litigation group. He has a specialization in defending civil lawsuits involving municipalities, school districts, and other public entities. He also has extensive experience in defending premise and product liability cases. We welcome him to our great group of trial lawyers.

04-04-2007

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