Law Firm News

---

Law Firm News

Firm Name

News Title

News

News Date

25383 matches |  21806-21812 displayed

1  3116 3117 3118 3119 3120  3627

---

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP

Steven Singer to Discuss New Developments in Accounting Litigation at the City Bar Center for CLE
BLB&G partner Steven Singer will serve on a panel at the upcoming “Current Issues in Accounting Litigation” program, co-sponsored by the City Bar Center for CLE and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant. This program, which will focus on current topics in accounting litigation, will be held in New York City on July 13, 2006. As a member of the “Legal & Regulatory Enforcement Update” panel, Mr. Singer will discuss recent developments in accounting-related litigation, resulting from regulatory enforcement and securities class-action litigation.

Mr. Singer was lead trial counsel for the investor class in WorldCom, which resulted in a settlement of over $6.15 billion. The WorldCom settlement included an unprecedented $24.75 million personal payment by the company's former outside directors. He has also worked on high- profile cases such as In re Lucent Technologies Securities Litigation and In re 3Com Securities Litigation, successfully securing significant settlements for aggrieved shareholders.

07-13-2006

---

Allen & Overy LLP

Bulgarian learning curve in EU legislation
Bulgarian businesses gearing up for European Union Accession were given an insight into complex EU laws at a seminar co-hosted by Allen & Overy specialists.
With EU Accession beckoning, Bulgaria is on the final leg of its transformation from a former centrally planned economy to a fully fledged member of the European Union. Accession is due to take place on 1 January 2007, provided Bulgaria meets its commitments to the EU by bringing its laws and their application into line with EU practice.

Businesses in Bulgaria are also becoming familiar with the complex maze of laws and regulations which make up the EU legal system. As part of this process, local law firm, Borislav Boyanov and Co, Sofia organised a conference on competition and State aid law within the EU, inviting Allen & Overy EU specialists in Brussels to co-host the event. Allen & Overy lawyers David Gabathuler and Liliana Eskenazi (a Bulgarian / French-speaking lawyer) gave presentations drawing on their practical experience:

The general EU rules on State aid.
A State aid case study in the energy sector - relevant to Bulgaria.
Specific EU rules dealing with the parallel imports of branded products by wholesalers playing on price differentials across the Community.
It was a rare opportunity to bring together all stakeholders to provide them with a valuable insight into the issues they will face as a result of Bulgaria’s imminent Accession to the EU. Participants included local and regional in-house counsel, regulators and members of the Bulgarian Competition Commission.

Allen & Overy held similar seminars when the first group of Central and Eastern European countries joined the EU in May 2004. The Brussels team is now working closely with colleagues in our Central and Eastern European offices on a number of important cases.

07-13-2006

---

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

"SNL's Second Quarter M&A Summary for Financial Institutions"
Summary: SNL Financial released its review of financial services M&A activity for U.S. deals announced through the first six months of 2006.

Sullivan & Cromwell was the leading legal advisor in SNL's major categories ranked by number of deals, including:
• 1 Bank and Thrift (nine deals valued at US$ 42 billion)
• 1 Financial Institutions (26 deals valued at US$ 59.3 billion)
• 1 Specialty Finance (four deals valued at US$ 1.4 billion)
• 1 Securities and Investment (eight deals valued at US$ 13.9 billion)

07-13-2006

---

Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland & Ellis LLP Secures Trial Win for Forest Laboratories, Inc. and H. Lundbeck A/S in Major Patent Case
On July 13, a federal judge ruled in favor of Kirkland & Ellis LLP clients Forest Laboratories, Inc. and H. Lundbeck A/S in a patent infringement case against Ivax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Cipla Ltd.

Kirkland scored a major victory for Forest and Lundbeck when Judge Joseph J. Farnan, Jr. (D. Del.) upheld the patent protecting their antidepressant product Lexapro®, a product with $2 billion in annual U.S. sales.Given the magnitude of theLexapro® sales at risk, the lawsuit was extremely important to both Forest and Lundbeck.

Forest and Lundbeck initiated the legal dispute in 2003 with a lawsuit alleging infringement by Ivax. Forest and Lundbeck later expanded the case to include Cipla. Invalidating the Lexapro® patent would have allowed Ivax and Cipla to sell a generic version of the drug. Ivax and Cipla admitted to infringing the patent protecting Lexapro® through 2012, but challenged its validity and enforceability in the hopes of entering the market this year with a generic copy of the drug.

After conducting a bench trial in March and considering the post-trial briefing submitted by the parties in May, the Court issued a sweeping decision in favor of Forest and Lundbeck. In the Court's opinion (For a copy of the published opinion, please click here.), Judge Farnan concluded that: ""The evidence presented by Plaintiffs demonstrates that the patented invention is unprecedented in the prior art and that one skilled in the art would not have been able to make the invention, even if they were motivated to do so, without undue experimentation. Plaintiffs have also persuaded the Court that Lexapro® . . . has superior potency and efficacy compared with citalopram and other SSRIs which has resulted in its significant success in the market and the attempts by others to partake in that success by copying Lexapro® for generic sales.""

The Kirkland team was led by John Desmarais, Peter Armenio and Gerald Flattmann, Jr., and also included Maxine Graham, Ellen Scordino, Anne Toker, Christine Willgoos, Greg Morris and Mitchell Oates.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a 1,100-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex intellectual property and technology, litigation, dispute resolution and arbitration, corporate, tax and restructuring matters. The Firm has offices in New York, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Munich, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

07-13-2006

---

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP

A Few Tips to Help Ensure a Win in Patent Litigation
Finnegan Henderson Cambridge office managing partner Thomas Banks authored a Boston Business Journal article that describes ten ways to maximize your chances of achieving a successful outcome from patent litigation.

07-13-2006

---

Fenwick & West, LLP

LG Electronics, Inc. v. Bizcom Electronics, Inc.
On July 7, 2006, the Federal Circuit ruled in the case of LG Electronics, Inc. v. Bizcom Electronics, Inc., Civ. 05-1261, that a license agreement that disclaimed an implied license may also establish a conditional sale, thus defeating the application of patent exhaustion.

07-13-2006

---

Leonard, Street and Deinard

Utility, Energy and Regulatory Law Alert - July 2006
On June 30, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over the development and approval of Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs).

Background
Various Transmission Owners (TOs) and state public utility commissions petitioned for a review of FERC's orders conditionally approving a proposal to form a Regional Transmission Organization in New England. In particular, the Transmission Owners challenged: (1) FERC's rejection of a provision of their Transmission Operating Agreement subjecting FERC's review of withdrawals from the RTO to the more restrictive Mobile-Sierra's public interest standard, and (2) FERC's rejection of an incentive adjustment to the Transmission Owners return on equity (ROE) for local transmission service. The State Commissions, on the other hand, argued that FERC's approval of a 50 basis point incentive adjustment to the Transmission Owners' ROE for regional transmission was arbitrary and capricious.

Decision
The Court held that RTOs are a creation of FERC's ratemaking authority and FERC has broad authority over the decision to approve an RTO. Accordingly, the Court determined that FERC was not arbitrary and capricious in requiring the ""just and reasonable"" standard of review for withdrawals from the RTO. The Court reasoned that ""absent a pre-existing FERC-approved RTO operating agreement, the TOs fail to explain why FERC would be obligated, under either the FPA or the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A) (2000), to approve all of the terms of the Transmission Operating Agreement, which is submitted as part of the RTO-NE proposal.""

The Court also found that FERC's ROE incentive adjustments were not arbitrary and capricious, determining that ""FERC's determinations on the ROE adders involve matters of rate design, which are technical and involve policy judgments at the core of FERC's regulatory responsibilities."" Consequently, the Court denied the petitions for review.

More Information
If you would like a copy of the U.S. Court of Appeals' June 30 opinion or have any questions related to the Court's holdings, please contact Jim Bertrand at 612-335-1651 or james.bertrand@leonard.com; Brian Meloy at 612-335-1451 or brian.meloy@leonard.com; or your usual Leonard, Street and Deinard contact.

If you would like more information about how Leonard, Street and Deinard provides outstanding legal services to our clients in the energy industry, please visit our Energy Practice page at www.leonard.com.

07-13-2006

---

25383 matches |  21806-21812 displayed

1  3116 3117 3118 3119 3120  3627