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Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP

Milbank Attorney Melinda Creasman Honored for Pro Bono Work by Sanctuary for Families
Sanctuary for Families has honored Melinda Creasman, an attorney at the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, for excellence in pro bono advocacy on behalf of an elderly woman whose husband denied her of financial support after 52 years of marriage. Ms. Creasman is an associate in Milbank’s Capital Markets practice group.

She was among 11 pro bono attorneys honored at the 4th Annual Sanctuary for Families Associates Committee (“SAC”) Benefit held in New York City on October 30, 2006. SAC recognized Ms. Creasman “[f]or her diligent and compassionate I representation of a 75-year old woman in a complex contested spousal support action against her husband of 52 years who has punitively denied her of financial support during her elder years.”

The case hinged on gaining the client “fair and reasonable support” from her husband based on factors such as the duration of the ongoing marriage, the client’s significant long-term contributions to the household and family income and the client’s comparatively disproportionate financial means to those of her husband. Her husband’s denial of financial support caused the client’s standard of living to decline to near poverty while her husband has enjoyed a comfortable retirement since 1979. The New York Family Court Act requires a married person possessed with sufficient means to provide “fair and reasonable support” to the other, but fails to provide guidance as to what constitutes “fair and reasonable support.” The ambiguity of the statue combined with the lack of direct case law precedent made this case particularly challenging. Moreover, the client’s preference to remain in the marriage due to religious, economic and other reasons caused the reviewing support magistrate to scrutinize the legal legitimacy of the claim as well as the client’s credibility.

Devoting enormous effort to the case, Ms Creasman conducted extensive discovery, led several settlement attempts, and argued the case at three Family Court proceedings before winning a temporary support order of $250 per month. Both parties subsequently appealed, with Ms. Creasman seeking to increase the amount of the order to $1,000 per month, make the order retroactive and secure reimbursement for the client’s out-of-pocket medical expenses. She also sought to require the client’s husband to pay the full amount of rent for the couple’s shared apartment as well as all joint healthcare premiums and prevent the husband from removing the client as primary beneficiary of his life insurance policies.

In September 2006, after a fiercely contested year-long trial, Ms. Creasman and her client achieved another victory when the support magistrate issued a permanent support order of $450 per month with retroactive support payments totaling $9,450, and requiring the husband to pay 100 percent of the client’s current and future un-reimbursed medical, dental and prescription expenses. The trial involved six Family Court appearances, comprehensive witness preparation, persistent discovery to combat unsubstantiated claims of hidden assets and numerous pre- and post-trial motions and memoranda.

Ms. Creasman recently submitted a partial appeal requesting an upward adjustment of the support amount as well as modification of certain procedural and substantive points omitted from the order that are necessary to make it optimally beneficial for the client. The support magistrate’s five page decision, which details numerous findings of fact in the client’s favor, is expected to provide a persuasive foundation for the appeals magistrate and serve as a useful precedent for subsequent cases involving similarly situated women. The final decision is expected next month.

In the meantime, Ms. Creasman commenced an enforcement proceeding to require the husband to comply with the order and remit two months of outstanding support payments. The outcome of the case has enabled the client to regain economic stability and reclaim her personal dignity by overcoming her husband’s attempts to control and punish her financially.

11-12-2006

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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Colleen Mahoney Among Faculty Members at PLI Conference
Washington, D.C. government enforcement partner Colleen Mahoney was among the faculty members for the Practising Law Institute's 38th Annual Institute on Securities Regulation. The conference was held November 9-11 in New York City, with an additional live Webcast and time-delayed video presentation in San Francisco, as well as an optional pre-conference briefing entitled, "Critical Decisions in the Boardroom: Advising Your Clients." Ms. Mahoney served as a panelist for a discussion entitled, "How To Deal With Internal Investigations – Practical Advice." This discussion focused on how internal investigations arise, who should perform them, the proper responses to whistleblowers, best practices in avoiding obstruction of justice allegations and more.

11-11-2006

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Cowan, De Baets, Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP

We Welcome!
Five attorneys have joined the CDAS team: Robert Van Lierop, Nancy Wolff, Mason Weisz, Kilburg Reedy and Zehra Abdi. Robert is an internationally recognized transactional attorney in the areas of sports and entertainment law, public international law and real estate. Nancy practices primarily in cases relating to intellectual property, including art law, copyright, trademark and new media law. Mason is a commercial litigator whose practice primarily involves copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property matters, as well as cases relating to new media. Kilburg practices primarily in entertainment law including transactions relating to theater, copyright, trademark, new media and commercial/corporate law. Zehra practices primarily in the areas of copyright, trademark and transactional entertainment law.

11-11-2006

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Cowan, De Baets, Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP

Licensing Show a Success!
The firm reprised its presence of last year at Booth #4552 in the Javits Center, June 20-22. At the show we had a chance to meet many of you and network with some of the industry leaders to discuss the directions this growing industry is taking. For those who attended, thank you for helping make it such a success!

11-11-2006

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Cowan, De Baets, Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP

The Art of the Deal
As a Contributing Editor to "Indie Slate" magazine, Robert L. Seigel has written an article entitled "Negotiating The Composer's Deal" and a two part article which addresses issues concerning "Negotiating The 'Name' Actor Deal.

11-11-2006

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Cowan, De Baets, Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP

Protecting Television Format Rights
Toby Butterfield has become a regular speaker on issues concerning protection of television format rights, having delivered speeches and spoken on panels at the Banff World Television Festival, the Rose D'Or Television Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland, and at a meeting of the copyright working group of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union.

11-11-2006

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Cowan, De Baets, Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP

Recapture Your Copyright
An article written by David Wolf entitled "Gave Away Your Copyright? Maybe You Can Get It Back!", dealing with recapture of copyrights, has been published in the January/February 2006 issue of Beyond the Numbers, distributed by Marcum & Kliegman LLP, an accounting firm that includes many literary agencies among its clients.

11-11-2006

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