Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Brown, Raysman, Millstein, Felder & Steiner, L.L.P.

San Francisco Federal Judge Takes Aim at Lawyer-Driven Class Action Lawsuits
A federal judge has had enough with unscrupulous plaintiffs’ lawyers and denied class action certification in a lawsuit filed against Oreck Direct, LLC, the company best known for its high quality vacuum cleaners and air purifiers.

Plaintiff’s counsel claimed their client had suffered from allergies and that an air purifier sold by the company failed to alleviate his symptoms. The lawyers had asked to certify a class of more than 70,000 people.

But in an opinion that could put plaintiffs’ lawyers on notice and possibly have far-reaching implications for class action certification, United States Northern District of California Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, who granted class status in the Napster case, found that the lawyers had manufactured their lawsuit against the defendant after it was revealed that they found the lead plaintiff through a newspaper ad.

"The conduct in this action does not look good, does not sound good, and does not smell good. In fact, it reeks," Patel wrote in her opinion. She added: "It is clear from the record that plaintiff’s counsel, and not plaintiff, is the driving force behind this action."

Patel's opinion, which was issued April 25, was welcomed by defense lawyers who have been pressing the issue of adequacy of class counsel and representatives for years. Thelen commercial litigation partner David Aronoff, who led Oreck's defense, called the decision, "groundbreaking."

He said class action plaintiffs' lawyers have been cashing in on settlements that net them huge multimillion dollar fees. In their exuberance to keep the spigot open wide, these lawyers resort to manufacturing the litigation. That is, baking up a lawsuit and then going out to solicit a class representative.

"Judge Patel issued a resounding ‘no’ to lawyer-driven litigation,” Aronoff said. “She wanted nothing to do with cases manufactured by the plaintiff’s lawyers in order to create legal fees for themselves. This judge finally said enough is enough.

05-01-2007

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Bingham McCutchen, LLP

BINGHAM COMBINES WITH 40-LAWYER L.A. LITIGATION FIRM, HIGH-STAKES, HIGH-PROFILE ALSCHULER GROSSMAN
Bingham McCutchen LLP will add 40 lawyers in Los Angeles through a combination announced today with Alschuler Grossman LLP, a firm with a national reputation for handling high-stakes, high-profile litigation and deep roots in Los Angeles.

“With the addition of Alschuler, Bingham has significantly expanded its litigation strength in Southern California to match our unparalleled corporate, private-equity and environmental talent,” said Chairman Jay S. Zimmerman, noting that both firms’ clients with connections to California, the world’s seventh largest economy, would benefit from the combination. “Alschuler joining Bingham reflects our commitment to growing strategically in key financial markets to accommodate client needs locally, nationally and globally.”

The Alschuler combination is Bingham’s eighth since 1997, third in California since 2002, and second for 2007, following the joint enterprise with 22-lawyer Tokyo restructuring firm, Sakai & Mimura, in January. Bingham now has nearly 1,000 lawyers worldwide, with 350 in California in offices in Los Angeles, Orange County, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Walnut Creek.
In addition to its strong litigation practice, Alschuler also does real estate, real-estate finance, mergers, acquisitions, securities and intellectual property work, which complements other Bingham practices. Alschuler’s clients include an impressive array of domestic and multinational Fortune 500 companies, and major international accounting, law and insurance companies.

“We are thrilled to join Bingham and its outstanding group of transactional lawyers and litigators who will complement our own practice,” said Marshall B. Grossman, the leading name partner of the firm he joined in 1965 upon graduation from law school, noting that he has long admired Bingham’s success in attracting first-rate law firms internationally, nationally and locally. “Bingham has brought together California’s ‘A Team’ in litigation, transactional work and intellectual property through its prior successful combinations,” added Grossman, referring to Bingham’s California combinations with the former McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen LLP (based in San Francisco) in 2002 and Los Angeles-based Riordan & McKinzie in 2003.

Richard J. Welch, managing partner of Bingham’s Los Angeles office, agreed and noted that the addition of Alschuler significantly strengthens Bingham’s Southern California base to better serve clients.

“We are now as strong in litigation as we are in our corporate and environmental practices in Los Angeles,” said Welch, who came to Bingham from Riordan & McKinzie, a firm founded by former Los Angeles mayor and now-Bingham of counsel Richard Riordan, known for its high-level corporate and private equity work. “This is great for our clients and a natural for us -- Alschuler Grossman is a firm we have worked with extensively and know well. We know how good they are.”

Founded in 1952, Alschuler Grossman LLP is a leading litigation firm in Southern California, known for achieving outstanding results in significant “bet-the-company” cases. The firm has a well-earned national reputation for having outstanding commercial litigators, with extensive trial experience. Alschuler has received national attention for its representation in accountants’ liability and securities class actions, major contract disputes and complex business litigation. Alschuler’s clients include Blockbuster, Grupo Televisa, AIG, CNA, Washington Mutual, CB Richard Ellis, Grant Thornton, and BDO Seidman. In 1999, an Alschuler litigation team, led by Grossman, obtained a defense jury verdict for Arthur Andersen LLP in a $1.3 billion class action securities lawsuit filed in Arizona state court. Currently, it represents Grupo Televisa in its corporate and litigation battles with Univision and is defending Blockbuster in patent infringement litigation filed by Netflix. View a list of the Alschuler lawyers that have joined Bingham McCutchen.

05-01-2007

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Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC

Baker Donelson Adds Attorneys in New Orleans
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC announces the addition of Dawei Zhang and Susannah B. Walter to its New Orleans office.

Mr. Zhang, who joins the Firm as of counsel, concentrates his practice in the areas of maritime transportation and immigration. Prior to attending Tulane Law School, he was employed by the Legal Affairs Department of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the China Maritime Arbitration Commission in Beijing, China. After receiving his J.D. and LL.M. in Admiralty degrees from Tulane, Mr. Zhang entered private practice in the United States and has worked on a wide variety of shipping and maritime cases involving marine collisions and allisions, general average, salvage, oil spills and pollution, shipboard fires, cargo loss and damage, marine insurance, maritime personal injuries, stevedore damage to vessels, charter party disputes and enforcement of maritime liens. On the transaction side, he has handled matters involving contracts, vessel purchases and corporate joint ventures. Over the past several years, Mr. Zhang has also focused part of his practice on employment-based immigration matters, including work visa and legal permanent residence applications. Born in Beijing, China, Mr. Zhang is bilingual, fluent in both Mandarin and English.

Ms. Walter, who also joins the Firm as of counsel, concentrates her practice in the area of business litigation, including matters related to copyright, trademark, antitrust, unfair competition and complex commercial litigation. A graduate of Fordham University Law School, she also has experience in railroad litigation, including environmental issues, banking and trust litigation, and bankruptcy. Ms. Walter has represented a wide variety of individual and corporate clients including railroads, banks, consumer electronic manufacturers, consumer products manufacturers, energy and telecom companies, insurance companies, and entrepreneurs. Her experience also includes pro bono trial work for the Torts Division of the New York City Corporation Counsel. After graduating from law school, Ms. Walter served as law clerk to the Honorable John M. Duhé of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

"Dawei and Susannah are the latest in a number of recent additions to the Firm in Louisiana," stated Roy Cheatwood, managing shareholder of the Baker Donelson's three Louisiana offices. "As we continue to expand our presence in Louisiana, we strive to bring in the best available talent to serve our clients. Dawei and Susannah exemplify this approach, and we are pleased to welcome them to our team.

05-01-2007

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Alston & Bird LLP

Charlena Thorpe invited to Rule of Law Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia
Charlena Thorpe has been invited by People to People International (founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower) to serve as a member of a delegation to attend the U.S.-Russia Joint Conference on the Rule of Law to meet in St. Petersburg, Russia, in November 2007.

05-01-2007

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Alston & Bird LLP

Alston & Bird’s New DC Office Library Featured in AALL Magazine
The library in Alston & Bird’s new Washington, D.C., office is prominently featured in the May American Association of Law Libraries’ magazine Spectrum. The article, “A Modern Library in a Historic Building,” was written by Karen Hinson, the library’s manager, and includes color photographs of the new space. Rusty Conner, Partner-In-Charge, notes that, “The library provides a classical setting for research and reading. It also provides a beautiful and comfortable atmosphere for meeting clients and friends of the firm. Everyone who sees the space is most impressed and complimentary.

05-01-2007

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Venable Baetjer & Howard

Five Venable Partners Included in Legal 500’s Ranking of Top U.S. Attorneys
Five Venable partners have been selected by Legal 500, a UK-based legal rankings publication, for their work in capital markets, M&A, and advertising practices. This year marks the first year the publication is ranking leading U.S. attorneys. Michael J. Baader, Robert J. Bolger Jr., Jill B. Deal, Thomas W. France, and Elizabeth R. Hughes are included in the guide.

Messrs. Baader and Bolger were cited for their active DC and Baltimore-area merger and acquisition practices. Mr. Baader, Partner-in-Charge of Venable’s Baltimore office, was also highlighted for his work with several private equity firms in the region. Ms. Hughes, head of Venable's Business Transactions Group, and Mr. France were cited for the firm’s representation of issuers and underwriters in capital markets transactions. And Ms. Deal was singled out for her successes advising the pharmaceutical industry in marketing and advertising law.

“We’re pleased at the recognition that all of our attorneys and our practice groups have received from an independent source such as Legal 500,” said Karl A. Racine, Venable's Managing Partner.

Commenting on Venable’s M&A practice, Legal 500 noted that the “Washington DC and Baltimore branches house some of the most active figures in this practice area.” Legal 500 also cited the firm’s number of NASDAQ-listed clients including longstanding client SafeNet, in addition to other clients such as Kimco Realty and Mercantile Bankshares.

In capital markets, Legal 500 points to Venable’s “expertise in industries including financial services, technology and life sciences” as well as the firm’s “strong links with private equity.” Recent Venable equity deals highlighted include representation of the underwriters in the $82 million IPO of Harbor Acquisition Corporation and the $75 million IPO involving the units of JK Acquisition, as well as representation of the issuer in the $84 million SafeNet public offering.

“Venable's Business Transactions Group proves itself daily with its committed work in the M&A market and representation of underwriters and issuers,” said Mr. Racine. “Our firm's longstanding reputation for outstanding client service continues to produce great relationships with companies based in the expanding Baltimore- Washington area even as the firm expands out of the mid-Atlantic with the recent opening of offices in New York and Los Angeles.”

Legal 500 also cited Venable for its “strong reputation in Washington, DC [which] gives the firm significant clout in advising clients on regulatory aspects of marketing and advertising law, particularly for clients from heavily-regulated industries such as cosmetics, drugs, food and telecoms.”

Jill Deal, a partner in the firm’s Food & Drug and Advertising, Marketing and New Media groups who advises the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, was highlighted in the Advertising and Marketing category by the guide. It states that she was "particularly recommended by clients for her advertising and marketing advice to clients in the cosmetics and drug industries."

“Jill has a richly faceted practice combining sophisticated food and drug counsel with experience in the full range of issues related to advertising, marketing and new media,” Mr. Racine noted.

This year marks the first year Legal 500 is ranking U.S. attorneys. For more than 18 years the guide has published editions for the UK , Europe , Africa , Middle East and Asia Pacific markets. Rankings are derived from staff surveys of general counsel, as well as public company filings and commentary from law firm peers on areas of interest to potential clients including quality of service, responsiveness to needs and value delivered.

05-01-2007

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Thompson & Knight LLP

T&K Attorney Publishes Article on Protecting Company Secrets
Keeping the competition away from human and intellectual capital can be critical to staying ahead," says Thompson & Knight Partner W. Christopher Schaeper. Schaeper's article "Preparation keeps employees, secrets from going out the door" was published in the April 20, 2007 special "Business Survival Guide" supplement of the Houston Business Journal.

According to the article, companies can protect their "secret sauce" with a few legal tools as well as establishing a few best practices. Some of Schaeper's suggestions include: identifying and securing trade secrets, including electronic files, having a regular practice of requiring employees to sign non-disclosure and no-compete agreements, and taking steps to protect copyrights. Schaeper advises "any company wishing to protect its key assets should seek the advice of a lawyer to help make sure those key assets are safe."

Schaeper provides counsel in mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions of private and public entities; venture capital and related investment transactions (institutional and private); and public and private placements of equity and debt securities. He also counsels clients in public securities compliance and secured and unsecured financings at senior, subordinated, mezzanine, and angel levels. He has completed over 200 acquisitions and dispositions, 50 private investment transactions, 50 lending transactions, and 17 securities offerings since 1984, all matters valued over $1 million.

05-01-2007

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