Law Firm News

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Klinedinst, Attorneys At Law

Klinedinst Helps Coldwell Banker Successfully Defend Real Estate Agent Accused of Fraud in Multi-Million Dollar Building Sale
Kevin J. Gramling, shareholder from the Santa Ana office of Klinedinst PC, and Thomas Thrasher, Jr. of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage recently won a jury verdict in a case alleging that a real estate agent breached his fiduciary duty in the sale of a commercial building.

The case involved a two-story medical building in Costa Mesa, California. The building was owned by Paularino Holdings, LP, and contained a fully operational surgical center. In April of 2005, Paularino hired a Coldwell Banker agent to assist in the sale of the medical building and surgery center. Over the next few months, numerous offers and counter-offers were exchanged between Paularino and a prospective buyer, and both parties entered into a sales contract in September, 2005.

A few weeks before the close of escrow, Paularino informed the buyer that the license to operate the surgery center would not be transferred to the buyer unless the buyer paid an additional $400,000. The buyer refused, and filed a Temporary Restraining Order to prohibit Paularino from returning the license to the Department of Health Services. Both parties eventually settled their dispute under confidential settlement terms.

Paularino sued its agent and Coldwell Banker for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud. Paularino demanded $750,000 to settle the case. Kevin Gramling, who has previously defended agents in these types of actions, was called in to represent Coldwell Banker and the agent. The case was tried to a jury in Orange County Superior Court. Paularino asked the jury to award $780,000 to $940,000.

After weighing the evidence, the jurors agreed with Coldwell Banker’s arguments, and found that the agent’s actions did not result in any actionable damages for Paularino. The jurors rendered a defense verdict on all claims for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and its agent.

05-15-2007

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O'Melveny & Myers, LLP

O'MELVENY & MYERS REPRESENTS NETDEVICES IN ITS ACQUISITION BY ALCATEL-LUCENT
O'Melveny & Myers LLP announced today that they represented NetDevices, a developer of services gateway products for enterprise branch networks, in its acquisition by Alcatel-Lucent, the solutions provider that enables enterprises and governments worldwide, to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users.

The O'Melveny team was led by Silicon Valley's Warren Lazarow, John Crutcher, Melissa Wright, and Sandy Wong; with IP advice from Silicon Valley's Paul Meyer, Newport Beach's Gilbert Villaflor, and San Francisco's Trey Rees; labor advice from Silicon Valley's Eric Amdursky; executive compensation advice from San Francisco's Derek Windham; and tax advice from Los Angeles' Bob Fisher.

For more information, please refer to the Alcatel-Lucent press release below.

05-15-2007

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White & Case, LLP

$1.4 Billion Russian Real Estate IPO Breaks Records
White & Case advised AFI Development PLC, a subsidiary of Africa Israel Investments, one of the largest companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, on its $1.4 billion Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange. The flotation is the largest Russian real estate IPO to date, the fifth largest real estate IPO globally, as well as the second largest IPO by an Israeli company.

"We are seeing huge enthusiasm for securities linked to the Russian and Central and Eastern European real estate markets and investor appetite shows no signs of abating anytime soon," commented Josh Kiernan, White & Case partner and head of the Firm's Israel practice. "There's been a significant amount of corporate and private investment, particularly from Israel, in real estate across Russia and Central and Eastern Europe during the last decade and we expect further listings in the sector in the near future, as the fruits of these investments are brought to the equity capital markets. Including the AFI IPO we've already advised on five London listings of real estate businesses from this sector in the last six months."

Moreover, the listing is part of a broader trend of Israeli-owned businesses coming to the international equity capital markets, with NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange, including the Alternative Investment Market, the favoured venues. In addition, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is experiencing rapid growth.

White & Case's Israel practice has advised on more Israeli equity capital markets transactions than any other international law firm in the last five years. Highlights of the practice's work include providing counsel to:

* JPMorgan Securities Ltd., Lehman Brothers International (Europe) and Merrill Lynch International on the IPO of Oil Refineries Ltd., an Israeli corporation wholly owned by the State of Israel, on the TASE. The flotation raised NIS6.43 billion ($1.54 billion), making it the largest-ever IPO on the TASE, as well as being the largest-ever privatisation in the history of the State of Israel;
* Saifun Semiconductors in its $135 million IPO and $150 million secondary offering, both of which were on NASDAQ;
* Allot Communications Ltd. in its $78 million IPO on NASDAQ;
* Lehman Brothers in its role as underwriter to Ormat Technologies' $115 million IPO on the NYSE, as well as providing additional counsel for both Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs in their roles as underwriters to Ormat Technologies' $186 million follow-on offering, also on the NYSE;
* Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch in their roles as underwriters to the $300 million IPO on AIM by MirLand Development Corporation plc.;
* R.G.I. International Ltd. in its $200 million IPO on AIM; and
* Dor Energy in its $55 million IPO on both the LSE and TASE.


The White & Case team advising on the deal was led by partner Josh Kiernan, working alongside partner Greg Stonefield and associates Kevin Connolly, Shlomi Azar, Irwin Hung, Michael Lee, Nicholas Greenacre and Jeremy Reynolds in London, partner Sven Krogius from Moscow, who is soon to be relocating to London, and a ten-strong team in Moscow and New York.

05-15-2007

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White & Case, LLP

White & Case in £2BN European M&A Double
White & Case has acted on two major European M&A deals in the space of a week. Firstly, the Firm advised airport operator BAA plc on the sale of its 75 percent minus one share stake in Budapest Airport to a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort GmbH for £1.309 billion. The sale has been approved by both the Hungarian State Privatisation Agency and the European competition authorities.

The deal follows on from BAA's privatisation of Budapest airport in December 2005, on which White & Case also advised BAA. At the time, the transaction was the largest privatisation in Hungary. BAA's decision to sell its concern in Budapest Airport was made following BAA's purchase in 2006 by the ADI consortium led by Ferrovial.

In addition, White & Case also acted for Allianz Capital Partners GmbH in its £772.5 million acquisition of European vending business Selecta from Compass Group PLC, the world's largest catering group.

"Our London corporate team has had its best-ever first quarter," commented White & Case partner Peter Finlay, co-head of the Firm's Corporate practice in London. "Not only has the ECM component of the team had a flying start to the year, but we've also signed around 15 M&A transactions so far in 2007, including these two for BAA and Allianz, as well as Weather Investments' €3.4 billion purchase of Greek mobile operator TIM Hellas."

The White & Case team advising BAA was co-led by partners Peter Finlay and István Réczicza, based in London and Budapest respectively. They worked closely with partners Pieta Menon and Alan Rockwell, counsel Andrew O'Keeffe, and associates Andrew Macklin, James Meakin and Alex Pett in London, along with associates Ivan Varga and Zita Albert in Budapest. The BAA team was led by general counsel Robert Herga.

White & Case partners Greg Hammond and Claus Wecker, based in London and Düsseldorf respectively, led the team acting for Allianz Capital Partners, working alongside counsel Michelle Brady and partner Ashley Winton in London and local partners Heiko Wilde and Christoph Kuzaj in Düsseldorf.

05-15-2007

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Stinson, Morrison & Hecker, L.L.P.

Stinson Partner Receives Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree from Washburn University
Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP attorney Michael C. Manning, managing partner of the firm’s Phoenix office, received an honorary doctorate of law degree from the Board of Regents of Washburn University School of Law on May 11, 2007. Honorary degrees are awarded to men and women who, because of their scholarly contributions, meritorious public service or other noteworthy achievements, have come into universal high regard. Manning also gave the commencement address to the 2007 graduating class from Washburn University School of Law.

“I am incredibly honored to receive this honorary doctorate degree and privileged to return 30 years later to address the graduating class of 2007,” Manning said. “Washburn Law School gave me so much more in three years than I have or will be able to return to it.”

Manning graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 1977. Seven years out of law school he led litigation on behalf of the FDIC against mob-related money broker Mario Renda – multi-state civil and criminal prosecutions chronicled in the book Inside Job. The litigation resulted in successful civil and criminal prosecutions in New York, Florida, Kansas, California and Hawaii. In 1989, Manning was lead counsel in the Lincoln Savings/Charles Keating case, which at the time was the largest commercial litigation in U.S. history, involving over 51 million pages of documents and collections of nearly $300 million from individuals and entities that had corrupted savings and loan institutions around the nation.

In 1996, a successful five-count financial fraud complaint filed by Manning against then-Arizona’s Governor Fife J. Symington, III led to an eventual indictment by a federal grand jury. In 1999, he represented the family of a 34-year old man who was beaten to death by inmates in the Maricopa County Jail, which resulted in the largest ever wrongful death and civil rights settlement in Arizona history against defendants Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. In a 2003 case against the Sheriff’s Office, as a result of the Sheriff’s Office refusal to settle the case, Manning and his trial team achieved a $9 million federal court verdict.

Manning has received both local and national recognition for his extraordinary advocacy skills and career achievements. The National Law Journal recognized Manning in its triennial selection of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America,” and in 2005 Manning was recognized for his outstanding contributions to the valley’s legal community by the Phoenix Business Journal’s editorial board for its "Best of the Bar" issue.

In addition to his legal career, Manning is also very committed to giving his time and effort in contributing to the community. He is an active participant in Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona and he serves on the Advisory Board for the Washburn University School of Law Center for Excellence and Advocacy. He is also a board member and active participant of the FBI Citizens Academy

05-15-2007

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Sills, Cummis, Epstein & Gross, P.C.

R. Max Crane - N.J. Firms Hike First-Year Pay, Bulk Up on New Hires
In a New Jersey Law Journal article about NJ law firms hiking first year pay, Deputy Managing Partner R. Max Crane stated, "'We try to offer a different life,' he says, adding that New Jersey's big firms offer things new lawyers don't typically get at New York firms. 'It's hard work, but you get responsibility,' he says. 'You become a complete lawyer. You get more of a chance to make partner, to stay for the long term instead of having to move up and out. ... New York is blood hours; we offer a trade-off.' Sills Cummis raised its first-year pay by 11 percent to $125,000, plus a $2,000 "tech bonus" for purchasing BlackBerrys, laptops or the like. The firm also covers closing costs for home buyers."

05-15-2007

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Schiff Hardin LLP

Schiff Hardin LLP Welcomes Lorraine M. Buerger as an Associate in the Chicago Office
Schiff Hardin LLP has added Lorraine (Lori) M. Buerger as an associate in the Chicago office. She is a 2007 graduate of Loyola University Chicago Law School.

Ms. Buerger is taking advantage of the opportunity for new associates to work in several practice groups for broadened experience and expanded legal counseling perspectives.

During law school, Ms. Buerger gained legal experience as an extern for the Illinois Commerce Commission's Administrative Law Judge Bureau, as a judicial extern for the Honorable Samuel Der-Yeghiayan, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and as a clerk for the Illinois Office of the Attorney General in the Bureau of Consumer Fraud.

She published "The Safe Games Illinois Act: Can Curbs on Violent Video Games Survive Constitutional Challenges?" 37 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 617 (2006).

She received her undergraduate degree (B.A., cum laude, 1985) from Vassar College, her graduate degree (M.B.A., 1993) from the DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, and her law degree (J.D., cum laude, 2007) from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she was the Student Articles Editor of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Buerger served as Director of External Affairs for AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (received Circle of Excellence Award), Manager of External Affairs for Sprint Cellular Co./Centel Cellular Co. (received President's Award), Editor (internal and external publications) for the Orval Kent Food Company, Speechwriter/Public Relations Consultant for Kraft, Inc., and Account Executive for Janet Diederichs & Associates, Inc.

05-15-2007

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