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Law Firm News

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Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Miami Labor and Employment Attorney Mark Neuberger is Quoted in Wall Street Journal
Labor and Employment attorney Mark J. Neuberger was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal about Delta Air Lines pilots' recent decision to authorize a strike. He is a shareholder in Buchanan Ingersoll's Miami office.

The airline, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has said that a pilot strike would be illegal under the Federal Railway Labor Act.

Neuberger told The Journal that courts haven't ruled as to whether the act's provisions apply to companies that break contracts on the basis of bankruptcy.

04-05-2006

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Jenner & Block LLP

Sullivan Honored for Civil Rights Work by DePaul Black Law Students Association
Jenner & Block Partner Barry Sullivan was honored with the inaugural “Progressives in the Professions Award” by the DePaul University Black Law Students Association for his longstanding commitment to civil and human rights at a scholarship banquet last week in Chicago.

“Barry is an outstanding scholar, lawyer and community activist,” said Professor Michele Goodwin, faculty advisor to BLSA and the director of DePaul’s Health Law Institute and its Center for Race and Bioethics. “Each time I work with him I am more impressed by his passion for civil rights and justice – he takes his activism seriously and is proud of it,” she said.

Mr. Sullivan, Co-Chair of the Firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court Practice, has been involved in many cases raising important civil rights and civil liberties issues at all levels of the judicial system. Mr. Sullivan, who first joined the firm in 1975, argued his first pro bono appeal in the Seventh Circuit in 1976, securing reversal in a prisoners' civil rights case that had been dismissed for failure to state a claim. In later years, he has argued many other pro bono cases, including the landmark death penalty case People v. Wilson, in which the Illinois Supreme Court reversed a capital conviction because of a coerced confession which had been secured by police torture.

Among his other notable cases is the U.S. Supreme Court case Batson v. Kentucky, which established a three-part Equal Protection test for showing purposeful discrimination in jury selection. Mr. Sullivan filed an influential amicus brief on behalf of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law that was cited and closely considered by several of the Justices. More recently, Mr. Sullivan represented the American Bar Association in the Supreme Court case Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, supporting Guantanamo detainee Yaser Esam Hamdi’s right to due process and access to counsel. Mr. Hamdi, a U.S. citizen who had been held indefinitely by the government as part of the war on terrorism, was released after the Court’s 2004 decision.

Mr. Sullivan's other pro bono and public interest activities include service as the founding Chair of the ABA coordinating committee on AIDS, which position he held from 1988 to 1994, and service on the Council of the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities from 1993 to 1998. He has also been a member of the Advisory Board for the DePaul University International Human Rights Institute since 2003, and was a consultant to the government of Ireland’s commission on the status of people with disabilities in 1995-1996.

From 1994 to 1999, Mr. Sullivan was Dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law.

The banquet was also an occasion to present the inaugural Jenner & Block DePaul Black Law Student Association Scholarship to Darren H. Goodson, a first-year DePaul College of Law student. Mr. Goodson was awarded the three-year scholarship for his work to further civil and human rights causes, and for demonstrating a proven commitment to serving the community. The scholarship was presented by Partner Charlotte L. Wager, the Firm’s Director of Professional Development and Co-Chair of its Hiring Committee.

The Honorable R. Eugene Pincham, a former judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County and a former justice of the Appellate Court of Illinois, delivered the Keynote Address.

Pictured (top): Mr. Sullivan (left) with Christopher Brown, a second-year law student and member of the DePaul BLSA Executive Board, who introduced Mr. Sullivan and served as Master of Ceremonies at the event.

Pictured (bottom): Ms. Wager, Mr. Goodson and Mr. Sullivan at the banquet.

04-05-2006

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Jenner & Block LLP

Sullivan Honored for Civil Rights Work by DePaul Black Law Students Association
Jenner & Block Partner Barry Sullivan was honored with the inaugural “Progressives in the Professions Award” by the DePaul University Black Law Students Association for his longstanding commitment to civil and human rights at a scholarship banquet last week in Chicago.

“Barry is an outstanding scholar, lawyer and community activist,” said Professor Michele Goodwin, faculty advisor to BLSA and the director of DePaul’s Health Law Institute and its Center for Race and Bioethics. “Each time I work with him I am more impressed by his passion for civil rights and justice – he takes his activism seriously and is proud of it,” she said.

Mr. Sullivan, Co-Chair of the Firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court Practice, has been involved in many cases raising important civil rights and civil liberties issues at all levels of the judicial system. Mr. Sullivan, who first joined the firm in 1975, argued his first pro bono appeal in the Seventh Circuit in 1976, securing reversal in a prisoners' civil rights case that had been dismissed for failure to state a claim. In later years, he has argued many other pro bono cases, including the landmark death penalty case People v. Wilson, in which the Illinois Supreme Court reversed a capital conviction because of a coerced confession which had been secured by police torture.

Among his other notable cases is the U.S. Supreme Court case Batson v. Kentucky, which established a three-part Equal Protection test for showing purposeful discrimination in jury selection. Mr. Sullivan filed an influential amicus brief on behalf of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law that was cited and closely considered by several of the Justices. More recently, Mr. Sullivan represented the American Bar Association in the Supreme Court case Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, supporting Guantanamo detainee Yaser Esam Hamdi’s right to due process and access to counsel. Mr. Hamdi, a U.S. citizen who had been held indefinitely by the government as part of the war on terrorism, was released after the Court’s 2004 decision.

Mr. Sullivan's other pro bono and public interest activities include service as the founding Chair of the ABA coordinating committee on AIDS, which position he held from 1988 to 1994, and service on the Council of the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities from 1993 to 1998. He has also been a member of the Advisory Board for the DePaul University International Human Rights Institute since 2003, and was a consultant to the government of Ireland’s commission on the status of people with disabilities in 1995-1996.

From 1994 to 1999, Mr. Sullivan was Dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law.

The banquet was also an occasion to present the inaugural Jenner & Block DePaul Black Law Student Association Scholarship to Darren H. Goodson, a first-year DePaul College of Law student. Mr. Goodson was awarded the three-year scholarship for his work to further civil and human rights causes, and for demonstrating a proven commitment to serving the community. The scholarship was presented by Partner Charlotte L. Wager, the Firm’s Director of Professional Development and Co-Chair of its Hiring Committee.

The Honorable R. Eugene Pincham, a former judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County and a former justice of the Appellate Court of Illinois, delivered the Keynote Address.

Pictured (top): Mr. Sullivan (left) with Christopher Brown, a second-year law student and member of the DePaul BLSA Executive Board, who introduced Mr. Sullivan and served as Master of Ceremonies at the event.

Pictured (bottom): Ms. Wager, Mr. Goodson and Mr. Sullivan at the banquet.

04-05-2006

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Jenner & Block LLP

Several Partners Among Lawdragon Magazine’s “Champions of Justice”
Several Jenner & Block partners were recently named “Champions of Justice” by Lawdragon magazine in its list of the 500 Leading Litigators in America.

Recognized for their “talent and tenacity,” the magazine stated the attorneys were selected by Lawdragon’s editorial staff after extensive research and interviews with legal professionals across the country.

Chairman Jerold S. Solovy and Partner Ronald L. Marmer, Co-Chair of the Firm's Securities Litigation Practice, were chosen by the publication in part for their many courtroom victories, including 2005’s largest individual plaintiff verdict awarded by a Florida jury to client Ronald Perelman, who had sued a leading investment banking firm for securities fraud. Mr. Solovy was also recognized for defeating Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s claim that the Kennedys owed $53 million for selling Chicago’s famed Merchandise Mart, and for winning a $181 million judgment against DirecTV in a breach of contract lawsuit brought on behalf of General Electric Capital Corp.

Lawdragon also heralded the “courtroom fighting” of Partner Linda L. Listrom on behalf of Firm client General Dynamics, after having served as lead trial counsel for the defense contractor in several high-profile matters. Among other courtroom achievements, Ms. Listrom has also successfully represented CBS and its reporters in dozens of defamation cases in state and federal court in Chicago.

In addition, the article highlighted Partner Harry J. Roper, Chair of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Practice, as an “IP star,” pointing to his role as lead trial counsel for Union Carbide in its $152 million patent infringement claim against Shell. And Stephanie A. Scharf, Co-Chair of the Firm's Products Liability and Mass Tort Defense Practice, was recognized as “redefining the defense of product liability actions” through her work for medical device, pharmaceutical and other manufacturers.

These “courtroom favorites” will appear in the Lawdragon magazine’s Spring 2006 issue, due to be released on April 21.

Lawdragon is an online and print legal-services information company headed by a group of renowned legal journalists and lawyers. In addition to its quarterly magazine, first published in October 2005, the company offers a searchable database of the nation’s lawyers and other interactive online services.

04-05-2006

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Jenner & Block LLP

Firm Wins Political Asylum for Togolese Pro Bono Client
The Chicago Asylum Office recently granted political asylum to a Jenner & Block pro bono client whose family had been falsely accused of treason and routinely tortured by the government of Togo.

In 1996, the Togolese government, without any evidence, arrested a brother of the Firm’s client for treason and subjected him to brutal interrogation and torture. He was eventually able to escape the prison and flee to Ghana, where the Togolese government presumed he went to train as a rebel soldier. From that point forward, the government targeted the client’s family as perpetrators of treason and routinely subjected various family members to arrest, incarceration and torture.

The abuse culminated in a military assault against the client’s family home, during which both of his parents were arrested and tortured. Three of his brothers and sisters went missing. At this time, the client was fortunate to be staying in the United States.

At the time, the Firm's client was recovering from a brain tumor which impaired his memory and ability to communicate. Associates Reena R. Gokani and Shahid U. Haque nonetheless successfully argued that he had a “well-founded fear of persecution” based upon the history of torture inflicted against his family and the expectation that he would endure the same persecution should he be required to return to Togo. The Immigration Officer, persuaded by their presentation of the case, granted the client's request for political asylum.

Jenner & Block Partner Barry Sullivan served as supervising attorney on this pro bono matter.

04-05-2006

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Jenner & Block LLP

Firm Persuades Court to Lift Custody Restriction on Father and His Life Partner
Jenner & Block recently helped client Ulf Hedberg remove a court-ordered custody restriction that had prevented his same-sex life partner from living in the same household with Mr. Hedberg and his son. Associates Scott B. Wilkens and Duane Pozza persuaded a Maryland court that the restriction was harmful to the client’s 13-year-old son, and that it is in the child’s best interest to reunite the trio.

The restriction was originally issued by a Virginia court in 2002 following Mr. Hedberg’s divorce, and awarded Mr. Hedberg physical custody of his son on the condition that his partner not live in the same household, even though there was no evidence to suggest that Mr. Hedberg’s partner was harmful to the child. Mr. Hedberg and his son subsequently moved to Maryland, where he filed a petition to remove the restriction on the grounds that it had diminished the quality of the son’s life and deprived him of a stable two-parent home. The Maryland trial court denied Mr. Hedberg’s petition, but the Maryland Court of Special Appeals reversed and remanded the decision to determine the best interest of the child.

After the appeal Messrs. Wilkens and Pozza joined the case on a pro bono basis. Together with local counsel Susan Silber, and with the help of Jenner & Block paralegal Albert Peterson, they presented extensive evidence to the trial court about the negative impact of the restriction on the son and about the child’s positive relationship with Mr. Hedberg’s partner. Among other things, the attorneys obtained discovery orders, interviewed and prepared witnesses for the evidentiary hearing, submitted the pretrial brief and conducted key witness examinations at the hearing.

After four years of separation, Mr. Hedberg and his partner are currently looking for a new home to share with Mr. Hedberg’s son.

04-05-2006

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Jenner & Block LLP

Firm Persuades Court to Lift Custody Restriction on Father and His Life Partner
Jenner & Block recently helped client Ulf Hedberg remove a court-ordered custody restriction that had prevented his same-sex life partner from living in the same household with Mr. Hedberg and his son. Associates Scott B. Wilkens and Duane Pozza persuaded a Maryland court that the restriction was harmful to the client’s 13-year-old son, and that it is in the child’s best interest to reunite the trio.

The restriction was originally issued by a Virginia court in 2002 following Mr. Hedberg’s divorce, and awarded Mr. Hedberg physical custody of his son on the condition that his partner not live in the same household, even though there was no evidence to suggest that Mr. Hedberg’s partner was harmful to the child. Mr. Hedberg and his son subsequently moved to Maryland, where he filed a petition to remove the restriction on the grounds that it had diminished the quality of the son’s life and deprived him of a stable two-parent home. The Maryland trial court denied Mr. Hedberg’s petition, but the Maryland Court of Special Appeals reversed and remanded the decision to determine the best interest of the child.

After the appeal Messrs. Wilkens and Pozza joined the case on a pro bono basis. Together with local counsel Susan Silber, and with the help of Jenner & Block paralegal Albert Peterson, they presented extensive evidence to the trial court about the negative impact of the restriction on the son and about the child’s positive relationship with Mr. Hedberg’s partner. Among other things, the attorneys obtained discovery orders, interviewed and prepared witnesses for the evidentiary hearing, submitted the pretrial brief and conducted key witness examinations at the hearing.

After four years of separation, Mr. Hedberg and his partner are currently looking for a new home to share with Mr. Hedberg’s son.

04-05-2006

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25383 matches |  23675-23681 displayed

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