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Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, L.L.P.

Kennedy Covington Attorneys Named Among 2007 Super Lawyers
Kennedy Covington, one of the largest law firms in the Carolinas, has announced that 48 of its attorneys have been named to the 2007 North Carolina Super Lawyers list. J. Norfleet Pruden III, a partner in the Charlotte office, was among the top ten.

The list, which is touted as a "diverse and comprehensive listing of outstanding lawyers," appears in the most recent issue of Charlotte magazine and will appear in the New York Times (North Carolina distribution) next month. Compiled by Law & Politics through the balloting of 14,000 active North Carolina attorneys, only 5 percent of the state's attorneys are selected as North Carolina Super Lawyers.

In addition to Pruden (Business/Corporate), Kennedy Covington attorneys from the Charlotte office named to the 2007 list were John D. Allison (Business/Corporate), J. Michael Booe (Banking), Jefferson W. Brown (Environmental), Richard K. Brown (Banking), G. Lee Cory Jr. (Real Estate), George C. Covington (Securities Litigation), John H. Culver III (Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights), Charles O. DuBose (Real Estate), Brian P. Evans (Real Estate), Bernie D. Farmer III (Real Estate), Walter D. Fisher Jr. (Real Estate), David A. Franchina (Environmental), T. Richard Giovannelli (Business/Corporate), Glen B. Hardymon (Real Estate), and Wayne P. Huckel (Alternative Dispute Resolution).

Also named from the Charlotte office were David H. Jones (Real Estate), Warren P. Kean (Business/Corporate), Joseph B. C. Kluttz (Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights), J. Don Lassiter (Real Estate), William C. Livingston (Employment & Labor), Kiran H. Mehta (Business Litigation), John M. Murchison Jr. (Business/Corporate), Raymond E. Owens Jr. (Business Litigation), Bailey Patrick Jr. (Real Estate), Francis M. Pinckney (Intellectual Property), E. Allen Prichard (Real Estate), Eugene C. Pridgen (Business/Corporate), Stephen K. Rhyne (Mergers & Acquisitions), Alice Carmichael Richey (Business Litigation), Karl S. Sawyer Jr. (Intellectual Property), Raleigh A. Shoemaker (Employee Benefits/ERISA), Maynard E. Tipps (Real Estate), Charles V. Tompkins Jr. (Alternative Dispute Resolution), and Dean A. Warren (Banking).

Kennedy Covington attorneys from the Raleigh office named to the Super Lawyers list include: Curtis C. Brewer IV (Business/Corporate), Amie F. Carmack (Business Litigation), Kent F. Christison (Business/Corporate), D. Scott Coward (Business/Corporate), A. Lee Hogewood III (Business Litigation), Thomas I. Lyon (Business/Corporate), Alan H. Peterson (Real Estate), Lacy H. Reaves (Environmental), John L. Sarratt (Business Litigation), Michael R. Thornton (Real Estate), and Robert B. Womble ( Business/Corporate).

Attorneys named from the Research Triangle Park office were Patricia T. Meador (Health Care) and Gary S. Qualls (Health Care).

Booe, Evans, Owens and Pruden were also included in the "Top 100" list, while Carmack was included in the "Top 50 Women" list.

02-02-2007

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Keating, Muething & Klekamp PLL

Keating Muething & Klekamp Lawyers Recognized in 2007 Chambers USA
Ten lawyers at Keating Muething & Klekamp (KMK) were selected for inclusion in the 2007 edition of Chambers USA: America''s Leading Business Lawyers, published by Chambers & Partners Publishing. The directory contains a detailed and independently researched editorial describing each listed law firm and lawyer and its strengths, details of recent work, quotes from clients and peers, and a list of active clients within each practice area.

The Chambers & Partners research team spent a year canvassing clients and lawyers across the country to obtain a consistent market view of which firms and lawyers are considered leaders in their field. Over 10,000 interviews were conducted nationwide.

The KMK lawyers selected for inclusion in the 2007 edition of Chambers USA: America''s Leading Business Lawyers are: James E. Burke (Litigation), Robert E. Coletti (Corporate/M&A), Karen Kreider Gaunt (Intellectual Property), Patricia B. Hogan (Intellectual Property), Kevin E. Irwin (Bankruptcy/Restructuring),Gary P. Kreider (Corporate/M&A), Robert G. Sanker (Bankruptcy/Restructuring), Edward E. Steiner (Corporate/M&A), Mark A. Weiss (Corporate/M&A) and Herbert B. Weiss (Real Estate).

02-02-2007

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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields builds its regulatory practice in China
Umesh Kumar, a senior associate from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's London office has joined the Hong Kong office, primarily to assist in the development of the Greater China regulatory practice. Umesh has just completed a six month secondment to the Hong Kong office of a global investment bank. He will work closely with the corporate, finance and dispute resolution teams across a wide range of financial services and regulatory matters.

'We are delighted to welcome Umesh to our Hong Kong office,' said Clive Rough, Hong Kong managing partner. 'Umesh will play an important role in growing our Greater China financial services and regulatory practice with a view to securing more work from our core investment banking clients, both on the non contentious and contentious side. He will also draw on the regulatory expertise of our Shanghai and Beijing offices to achieve this objective.'
Profile

Umesh Kumar is a senior associate who qualified in March 1998. Since qualifying, he has worked predominantly in our London office. He has worked for a range of international financial institutions (investment banks, asset managers and insurers) and his experience includes a mix of regulatory advisory work (advising on all aspects of UK, European and international financial services legislation); prime brokerage and repos, stocklending and derivatives work. He has also worked on a number of major transactions involving financial institutions including, most recently, the sale by Deutsche Bank AG of its UK asset management business.

Umesh graduated with a B.A. Law, First Class, Balliol College, Oxford University and an LL.M. University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of the New York State Bar and the Bar of England & Wales.

02-02-2007

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Ford & Harrison LLP

Ford & Harrison Attorney Launches an HR Blog Tracking the Antics of NBC’s The Office
Outing a gay employee, forcing a female employee to act out a lesbian love scene as part of sexual harassment training, and mass emailing romantic pictures to the entire company – such are the antics of Michael Scott, regional manager of Dundler Mifflin, the fictional paper company that serves as the setting for NBC's hit show, The Office.

If Michael was your boss what would you do in these uncomfortable situations? If you said, “sue for millions,” you’d have a good case according to Ford & Harrison employment attorney Julie Elgar’s new blog, That’s What She Said. Launched today by M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC, a leading publisher of HR newsletters and journals, That’s What She Said can be found at www.hrheroblogs.com.

Named after Michael’s trademark punch line, That’s What She Said puts a price tag on each episode, estimating how much the politically incorrect behavior of Michael Scott and Dunder Mifflin would cost real-life companies to defend.

For instance, in the episode entitled “The Convict,” Michael reveals to the entire office that employee Martin has a criminal history. According to Julie’s blog, if it were a real life situation, Martin’s suit against Michael and the company could cost upwards of $500,000 after the company paid its lawyers, Martin’s lawyers and any award assessed by the jury. The settlement value of the episode “The Coup” (in which the boss forces an employee to stand atop his desk wearing a sign that says “liar” because of their perceived disloyalty) is $65,000.

As someone who litigates employment disputes on behalf of management, Julie enjoys watching The Office, but also pays special attention to the legal consequences presented in each episode. Through Julie’s blog, Ford & Harrison is able to provide HR executives and managers, as well as fans of the show, with a light and fun, but also educational take on today’s workplace.

“Because the show itself is hilarious, we hope HR executives and managers will find the tone of That’s What She Said light and fun. But the bottom line is that a real boss who behaved like Michael (as sweet and well intentioned as he is) would end up costing a real company hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that's no laughing matter,” said Julie.

“As our first blog, That’s What She Said provides a fun and interesting way to create a discourse about real life issues faced by HR managers and executives at businesses nationwide,” explained M. Lee Smith editorial director, Tony Kessler. “We were excited by Julie’s and Ford & Harrison’s idea to parlay the pop cultural phenomenon that is the show into something that HR executives and managers can use as a tool in their jobs.”

Entries for each episode of the current season can be found on That’s What She Said at www.hrherosblogs.com. Julie will post a new entry every Friday morning, following Thursday night’s show. Readers of the blog are encouraged to visit before their first trip to the water-cooler and comment or submit questions.

Julie focuses her practice on employment litigation representing management. Her practice encompasses all areas relating to the counseling, training, and representation of management clients in federal and state courts, as well as before state and local agencies. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association, and the Society for Human Resources Management. A graduate of Georgia State University College of Law, Julie is also a frequent speaker on issues related to employment law.

About M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC: For 32 years, M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC has provided information products to the Human Resources and Legal communities. These products translate complex legal and regulatory developments into plain-English in the form of newsletters, books, videos, on-line services and conference calls.

02-02-2007

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Forchelli, Curto, Schwartz, Mineo, Carlino & Cohn, LLP

Partner John V. Terrana Named in the Long Island Business News’ Listing of “Who’s Who in Tax Certiorari Law”
Partner John V. Terrana is featured in the Long Island Business News’ listing of "Who's Who in Tax Certiorari Law." In the article, Mr. Terrana stresses the importance of reviewing every aspect of a property’s taxation in order to produce the most substantial tax certiorari results.

Discussing his findings in a recent tax certiorari matter, Mr. Terrana explains, "First, there was an error in the county's assessment of the property's construction status during one of the tax status dates. Second, the county failed to phase in an increase in the land assessment of the property. Third, the county valued the property as if it had excess land, when in fact it did not."

After proving the property's actual construction status, citing the law and arguing the county's error in increasing the land assessment and proving that the property did not have excess land, the firm was able to obtain a tax credit of about $700,000 on behalf of its client, Terrana said.

Mr. Terrana counsels clients in all aspects of real estate taxation, including tax exemptions, the estimation of taxes for new construction, lease tax escalation clauses and the sale, purchase and foreclosure of tax liens. Since joining FCSMC&C in 1993, Mr. Terrana has successfully obtained millions of dollars in real estate tax refunds and savings for clients, which include national, regional and local owners and tenants of all types of commercial and residential property.

Prior to joining FCSMC&C, Mr. Terrana served as a Deputy County Attorney for Nassau County, where he practiced in the areas of tax certiorari, condemnation, tax lien litigation and real estate. He later became the Glen Cove City Attorney, where he was general counsel to all of the city's departments and boards and represented the city in its tax certiorari matters. He was also counsel to the Glen Cove Community Development Agency and the Glen Cove Industrial Development Agency, where he prepared tax, financing and contract documents for complex real estate projects.

Mr. Terrana is a member of the New York State, Nassau and Suffolk County Bar Associations and serves on their Tax Certiorari, Real Property and Municipal Law Committees. From 2001-2004, he served as Chairman of the Tax Certiorari and Condemnation Law Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association. During his tenure as Chairman, Nassau County completely changed its tax assessment and review process to what it is today. Mr. Terrana has published numerous articles and lectures on tax certiorari issues. He was selected for inclusion in Long Island Business News' "40 Under 40" (1999).

02-02-2007

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Bryan Cave LLP

Firm Wins Major Employment Case for State Farm
A Bryan Cave LLP team recently helped State Farm reverse a $20 million judgment against it on appeal. The Missouri Court of Appeals on Jan. 23 threw out the verdict against State Farm, ruling that the insurer was allowed under Missouri’s at-will employment doctrine to terminate its relationship with five insurance agents without cause.

St. Louis Partner Tom Wack led the appeal, with the help of Partner Elizabeth Carver.

The ruling reversed a trial court’s decision in a lawsuit filed by five State Farm insurance agents who said the company took away their rights to sell insurance policies after they made public statements critical of the company. The agents claimed State Farm wrongfully terminated their agency agreements without cause, breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in terminating the agreements and tortiously interfered with their business relationships with policyholders. A jury awarded them $8.73 million in compensatory damages and more than $11 million in punitive damages.

On appeal, State Farm argued that the verdict should be overturned because the company’s agency agreements allowed for termination at will. It also claimed that any implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing could not override State Farm’s right to terminate the agreements at will and that the agents could not bring a claim of tortious interference because State Farm itself was a party to the insurance contracts with the agents’ customers.

The agents’ attorney said they will seek either en banc review or transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court.

02-02-2007

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Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP

Weil Gotshal Joins Forces with NYLPI to Assist People with Disabilities
As part of its continued commitment to pro bono work, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP has partnered with New York Lawyers for Public Interest on a novel endeavor – “Partnership Projects” – in which attorneys are trained in a specific area of law and provide counseling to numerous clients on matters related to that area. As part of this project, Weil Gotshal has been providing assistance to people with disabilities who rely on durable medical equipment by advocating on their behalf if they have been improperly denied the equipment. Weil Gotshal associate Lianne S. Pinchuk explains, “[a]lthough this was a new area of law for most Weil attorneys, this program provides an opportunity to use our pre-existing negotiation and drafting skills in a way that has a huge impact on individuals’ lives. It has been wonderful helping clients navigate the confusing process and seeing the gratitude on their faces when we are able to get them equipment that will make their lives easier and more comfortable.”

The article, “New York Lawyers for the Public Interest Pioneers Partnership Projects for City Firms,” appeared in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of the New York State Bar Association Pro Bono Newsletter.

02-02-2007

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