Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Gibbons P.C.

Gibbons is Name Dropping
Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., will shorten its name and launch a new logo to coincide with the firm’s move to One Gateway Center in February 2007. The firm’s new name (effective on February 5, 2007) will be "Gibbons P.C." and the new Gibbons logo will be used on all firm materials, including on a sign that will join the Newark skyline upon the firm’s move to its new headquarters.

The process of analyzing the firm’s name and brand began with in-depth research conducted by a specialist in the marketing field who interviewed the firm’s clients, peers, alumni and other contacts for feedback on their views of the firm. In addition, interviews were conducted with firm attorneys, including those who had been at the firm for tenures varying from one to 40+ years.

"In these interviews, we found one resounding theme - our clients, our peers and our own attorneys call us by the name Gibbons," said Patrick C. Dunican, Jr., Managing Director of the firm. "When the most important people to your business call you by one name, it is the logical next step to use that name in all communications to leverage the equity in that name to create a consistent message and increased brand awareness."

Shortening the firm name comports with the trend for law firms and corporate America to brand the name most often referred to in both external and internal communications. The firm’s new name has the significant advantage of being easier to recall - two syllables are easier to remember than fourteen. In addition, the firm’s name pays tribute to its standard bearer, John J. Gibbons, who returned to the firm in 1990 after serving as the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. He served on that Court for 20 years, during which time he authored more than 800 published opinions.

01-19-2007

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Frilot, Partridge, Kohnke & Clements, L.C.

Defense Verdict in Medical Liability Jury Trial
Frilot Partridge lawyers Bruce A. Cranner and Mary C. Ehret won a defense verdict in a medical liability jury trial in Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. In Garcia Rivera v. Memorial Medical Center, plaintiffs sought an award for the wrongful death of a thirty-year-old single mother of three. The plaintiff was an end stage primary pulmonary hypertension patient on Flolan and her surviving children alleged that her Flolan was accidently withdrawn, causing her death.

A New Orleans 12-member jury disagreed, finding that Memorial’s nurses did not cause any interruption of the patient’s Flolan and rendered a verdict for the defense on January 18, 2007.

Memorial Medical Center was the hospital formerly known as Baptist and was at the time a TENET owned and operated facility.

Bruce A. Cranner is a partner in Frilot Partridge’s Commercial Litigation, Medical Malpractice & Health Care and Products Liability Sections. He is a versatile and very experienced trial and appellate litigator with a diverse practice including many complex matters and Class Actions. Mr. Cranner is an active member in several professional organizations, including the Defense Research Institute in which he is serving as the Chair of the Medical Liability and Health Care Law Committee.

Mary C. Ehret is an associate in the firm’s Medical Liability & Healthcare and Products Liability Practice Areas. Her practice includes representation of hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers, primarily in matters involving medical malpractice litigation, at the trial and appellate levels. She actively participates in such organizations as the Defense Research Institute, New Orleans Pro Bono Project and Association for Women Attorneys.

01-19-2007

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Fenwick & West, LLP

Fenwick & West LLP Announces 2007 Partnership Class
Fenwick & West LLP announced that it has elected two associates to join the Firm's partnership, effective January 1, 2007. The new equity partners are Blake W. Martell and Heather N. Mewes.

"We are honored to welcome Heather and Blake as our newest partners," commented Gordon K. Davidson, Chairman. "Blake and Heather are exemplary attorneys who are dedicated to our clients and the firm. They are invaluable counselors to their clients, and their continued contributions will further strengthen and grow the firm."

Blake W. Martell. Blake is a member of the Equity Compensation and Employee Benefits Group. Blake's practice focuses on corporate governance and disclosure; tax, securities and accounting treatment with respect to equity awards and plans and other compensatory arrangements for both publicly traded and privately held companies. He is also active in the firm's M&A practice regarding equity compensation matters and employment agreements. Blake received his LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law, his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law, and a B.A. in European history from the University of California, Davis.

Heather N. Mewes. Heather is a member of the Litigation Group. Her practice focuses primarily on patent litigation, but also includes other substantive areas of intellectual property law such as copyright and trade secrets. Heather's experience in patent litigation encompasses a variety of technological fields, including contact lenses, DNA FISH probes, semiconductors, computer graphics and electronic bingo games. Heather received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), and a B.S. in foreign service from Georgetown University.

01-19-2007

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Dickinson Wright PLLC

Dickinson Wright To Sponsor Ann Arbor Symphony Series Through 2009
The Ann Arbor office of nationally recognized law firm Dickinson Wright PLLC has announced a three-year partnership with the Ann Arbor Symphony for the sponsorship of its Family Concert Series. The Series comprises four family-oriented Sunday afternoon concerts and will feature, each year at the January concert, the world premiere of an original, commissioned musical work.

"Our sponsorship of the Dickinson Wright Family Concert Series is intended to expand the firm's long-term commitment to the Ann Arbor community," said Thomas D. Hammerschmidt, Jr., Member, Dickinson Wright.

"Ann Arbor has many world-class cultural organizations, its Symphony among them," Mr. Hammerschmidt said. "We are proud to provide both financial underwriting and the assistance of our office's intellectual property lawyers, in support of the innovative and proprietary work that the Family Concert Series and its composers will be contributing to the local community and the artistic community at large."

This year, the commissioned piece is Raccoon Tune. It was composed by Josh Penman and is based on the popular children's book by Ann Arbor author Nancy Shaw. The January 21 concert also includes Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, the Pink Panther and The Lion King. It begins at 4 p.m. at the Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty Street, Ann Arbor.

01-19-2007

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Dechert LLP

Dechert Partner Chris Watson Appointed to IBA role
Dechert LLP is delighted to announce that leading partner Chris Watson has been appointed to the board of the prestigious Communications Law Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA).

Composed of over 30,000 individual lawyers and over 195 Bar Associations and Law Societies, the IBA influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world. Through its various sections and committees, the IBA enables an interchange of information and views both among its members and with government and industry as to laws, practices and professional responsibilities relating to the practice of business law throughout the world. It aims to promote an exchange of information between legal associations worldwide, support the independence of the judiciary and the right of lawyers to practise their profession without interference, and support human rights for lawyers worldwide through its Human Rights Institute.

Grouped into two Divisions - the Legal Practice Division and the Public and Professional Interest Division - the Association covers all practice areas and professional interests. It provides members with access to leading experts and up-to-date information as well as top-level professional development and network-building opportunities through high quality publications and world-class conferences. The IBA's Bar Issues Commission provides its Member Organisations with substantive and social programmes at and between meetings and the IBA's Human Rights Institute works across the Association, helping to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.

Chris Watson is a highly acclaimed competition and regulatory lawyer, recognised on an international level. The Chambers Guide to the UK Legal Profession 2007 ranked him amongst the UK's top three telecoms practitioners, describing him as a "heavy hitter" who is "a pleasure to deal with." In Chambers UK 2006 he was acknowledged as a "brilliant and tenacious practitioner," while the Legal 500 Guide to the UK Legal Profession 2005 styled him as a "regulatory guru". The Who's Who Legal Guide 2006 acknowledged Chris amongst the top fifteen regulatory communications experts in the world.

Recent activities include advising the World Bank on the reform of Lebanese telecommunications law, the Jordanian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission on the implementation of a new licensing regime, Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group on its acquisition of NTL Broadcasting in the UK, and the Office of the Telecommunications Authority in Hong Kong in the drafting of its competition guidelines. He has also led in major competition proceedings at the European Commission and the UK Competition Commission.

Chris is also an avocat in France, bilingual in English and French, and speaks five other languages.

01-19-2007

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Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP

RICHARD HALL NAMED A MOST HIGHLY REGARDED INDIVIDUAL IN GLOBAL M&A
Cravath partner Richard Hall has been named one of the "Most Highly Regarded Individuals" in global M&A by The International Who's Who of Merger & Acquisition Lawyers 2007, published by Who's Who Legal. The Most Highly Regarded Individuals are those lawyers who are most frequently recommended in the course of Who's Who Legal's research, and Richard was one of only 15 lawyers worldwide who received this honor.

01-19-2007

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Clausen Miller PC

CM Attorneys Obtain Summary Judgment On A $14+ Million Design Defect/Ensuing Loss Claim
Clausen Miller Partners William G. Zieden-Weber and Andrew C. Jacobson successfully obtained summary judgment from a Nassau County Court in Uniondale Realty Associates v. The Hartford Ins. Co., Lexington Ins. Co., Illinois Union Ins. Co., et al., Case No. 585/06. The case in question arose from a property coverage dispute involving an all-risks policy, when an under-slab plumbing system fell away from the slab at a supermarket located in Uniondale, New York. Plaintiff alleged that only the supporting hooks for the plumbing system were defectively designed and/or faultily installed, and thus, excluded for coverage. Plaintiff, however, further alleged that it incurred in excess of $14 million in damages from its ensuing loss of the pipes as a result of the defectively designed plumbing system or faulty workmanship in the installation of the plumbing system.


CM moved for summary judgment based upon the policy’s design defect/faulty workmanship exclusion along with the policy provision requiring prompt notice of loss. CM argued that while there may have been a dispute between the architect who designed the plumbing system and the plumbing company that installed the system as to who was responsible for the system’s failure, it made no difference to the insurers because the policy specifically excluded both defective design and faulty workmanship. CM also argued that the ensuing loss exception to the design defect/faulty workmanship exclusion was inapplicable as a matter of law as New York requires that an ensuing loss must be to wholly separate covered property from a separate and independent covered peril.


The Court agreed with CM and granted summary judgment disposing of Plaintiff’s complaint. In agreeing with CM, the Court found that the ensuing loss exception to the Policy’s design defect/faulty workmanship exclusion requires damage to wholly separate property from a separate and independent covered peril. In this case, the Court disallowed coverage for the alleged ensuing loss because it directly related to the original excluded risk. The Court found that the original damage was the falling away of the plumbing system, which was not separate and extraneous to the failure of the support hooks, the very purpose of which was to prevent a plumbing system collapse as the soil settled. Accordingly, the Court found that the plumbing system, which was held up by the support hooks, could not be considered wholly separate from the support hooks.


Learning Point: The fundamental point this Court and others like it are making is that the Policy intends to exclude damages caused by defective design/faulty workmanship, and courts will not allow an insured to eviscerate the exclusion through the ensuing loss exception. Moreover, courts have also warned that an insurance policy does not operate as a warranty for faulty workmanship and should not be transformed into a guarantee against design and construction defects.

01-19-2007

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