Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Cozen O' Connor

Cozen O’Connor Member Camille M. Miller Honored by Autism Society Of Delaware
Cozen O’Connor member Camille M. Miller has been honored with the Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Autism Society of Delaware. The award, presented before the organization’s “Walk the High Road for Autism” event, was given in recognition of Miller’s pro bono work for the society, which includes all manner of advice and representation on intellectual property issues, including the filing of trademark applications and the handling of copyright issues.

A member of the firm and resident in the Philadelphia office, Miller is the chair of the intellectual property practice group. She handles all aspects of intellectual property, specifically trademark, trade dress, copyright, unfair competition, right of privacy, right of publicity, domain names, counterfeiting, licensing, trade secret and franchising law, as well as all areas of intellectual property litigation. Prior to joining Cozen O’Connor, Miller was a partner with a Philadelphia IP boutique firm, specializing in all aspects of intellectual property law and litigation.

An author and speaker on intellectual property topics for a variety of legal associations, Miller has been named as one of the Women to Watch from Main Line Today, a Lawyer on the Fast Track by the Legal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Law Weekly, a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer,” and an up and coming intellectual property lawyer by Chambers USA.

Miller earned her undergraduate degree from Franklin & Marshall College (B.A., 1987) and her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D., 1991). She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and Illinois, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Federal, Third, Fourth and Seventh Circuits.

04-30-2007

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Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Former Chief Tax Counsel for Ways and Means Committee Joins Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC announced today that Robert S. Winters has joined the firm as a shareholder in Washington, D.C. Winters was most recently chief tax counsel for the House Committee on Ways and Means, where he was responsible for drafting tax provisions to implement objectives set by the committee. He has also served as special counsel for the committee, and prior to that, was legislative director and budget committee associate staff for former Republican Congressman Bill Thomas.

Ron Platt, head of the firm's Federal Government Relations Section, said Winters' background fits in perfectly with the firm's existing tax and government relations practices.

"Bob is held in the highest regard in Washington for his work on Ways and Means. We believe that he will not only be able to provide our clients with technical and sophisticated legal advice on tax issues, but he will also be a tremendously successful tax policy advocate," said Platt.

Winters indicated that his interest in Buchanan stemmed from his knowledge and familiarity with members of the firm.

"Buchanan has assembled a team that works together to provide clients with quality government relations and legal advice," said Winters. "This is precisely what I was looking for in choosing my next career move. I want to be part of an operation that has sharp, capable people, and Buchanan unquestionably has the quality of personnel and practice integrity that I was seeking."

Buchanan's federal government relations practice was noted recently by Influence/Legal Times as the 16th ranked law firm in terms of lobbying revenue for 2006.

04-30-2007

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

A Stellar Month Sees Baker & McKenzie Close US$6.75 Billion in Structured Capital Markets and Securitisation Deals
The structured capital markets team at Baker & McKenzie, London has rounded off a period of strong growth by closing structured capital markets and securitisation deals worth over US$6.75 billion in the past few weeks.

Significant deals closed during this period include:

US$141 million residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issue
A team comprising London and Almaty specialist lawyers, led by Vincent Keaveny in London, acted on the first ever RMBS transaction in Kazakhstan. It was rated by Moody's and Fitch, and involved a US$141 million residential mortgage-backed securities issue lead managed by ABN AMRO Bank N.V., London Branch, on behalf of JSC Hypothecary Organisation "BTA Ipoteka'', a joint stock company incorporated in Kazakhstan.

£256 million sub-prime mortgage-backed securities issue for Bear, Stearns
The London and New York team jointly acted on the £256 million sub-prime mortgage-backed securities issue, lead managed by Bear, Stearns International Limited on behalf of its mortgage originating subsidiary Rooftop Mortgages Limited. Notes were offered pursuant to both Reg S and a US 144A placement. The transaction, the second to be closed under the 'Mansard Mortgages' brand, was rated by Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch.

Issue of €2 billion Portuguese residential mortgage-backed notes
The London team acted for Santander de Titulización S.G.F.T, S.A. as English counsel on the €2 billion issue by Hipototta No.5 plc. The notes are backed by residential mortgages originated by Banco Santander Totta, S.A.. and the transaction's joint lead managers were Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A., UBS Limited and Calyon.

$1.75 billion bond issue for Banco Santander Totta, S.A.
Baker & McKenzie also won a repeat instruction from the Portuguese arm of Spain’s Banco Santander, advising Banco Santander Totta on a $1.75 billion (£890 million) bond issue. Led by London-based capital markets partner Simon Porter, the firm advised Banco Santander as guarantor, and Irish subsidiary, Totta Ireland, which issued extendible floating rate notes that were listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

€480 Million Portuguese warehousing securitisation deal
The Firm also acted as lead counsel to the joint-arrangers of a €480m securitisation of Portuguese and Spanish auto receivables. The securitisation involved a warehousing transaction of the receivables.

Issue of €750 million Portuguese residential mortgage-backed notes
The team acted for ABN AMRO and Citigroup on a securitisation transaction involving the issue of €750 million Portuguese residential mortgage-backed notes by Sagres STC. ABN AMRO and Citigroup were lead managers on the deal, which they arranged for Caixa Económica Montepio Geral, the originating Portuguese mortgage lender.

Establishment of CentreStar Bonds No.3 Under US£10 billion securities arbitrage vehicle
An international team acted for National Australia Bank in establishing a third special purpose securities arbitrage company, CentreStar Bonds No.3 Limited, funded by the National Australia Bank sponsored CentreStar US$10 billion asset-backed commercial paper conduit. The advice on CentreStar Bonds No.3 Limited follows the establishment of the CentreStar conduit and initial securities arbitrage company, CentreStar Bonds No.1 Limited in July 2006, and CentreStar Bonds No.2 Limited in November 2006, on which Baker & McKenzie also advised National Australia Bank.

Jonathan Walsh, co-head of global securitisation at Baker & McKenzie, commented: ''The scope and number of the deals we have been involved in illustrates the strength of the Firm's network. Our unparalleled international coverage means that we are realistically the only advisers able to offer this sort of truly global service in the structured capital markets area.''

The Baker & McKenzie structured capital markets team has recently seen a period of real growth and continued investment, with a four-partner team comprising of Jonathan Walsh, Vincent Keaveny, Simon Porter and Bruce Somer joining the Firm from Norton Rose in December 2005.

04-30-2007

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Zuckerman Spaeder LLP

Legal Times Names Carl Kravitz a Leading Lawyer in Business Litigation for 2007
Carl Kravitz was named one of Washington, DC's Leading Lawyers for 2007 in business litigation. The Legal Times released their top ten Leading Lawyer business litigators for this year on April 30th, 2007. Please click here to see the Legal Times article on Mr. Kravitz.

04-30-2007

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Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, LLP

Hartford Partner Serves on ADL Panel
Tyler Cooper attorney Howard L. Pierce has been named to the Connecticut Regional Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Rights Committee. The Anti-Defamation League is an advocacy group whose aim is to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, as well as all forms of bigotry, prejudice and discrimination.

The Civil Rights Division of the ADL comprises research, fact-finding and legal affairs departments, as well as a Civil Rights Information Center. Its focus includes monitoring extremism, safeguarding freedom of religion, and combating discrimination.

Howard is active in the Jewish community in West Hartford, serving as president of Congregation Beth Israel. Resident in the Hartford office, Howard is a partner and Chair of the firm’s Health Care Fraud and Abuse Practice Group. He represents some of the largest health care payors, self-funded organizations and property/casualty insurers in health care provider overpayment fraud issues across the United States.

04-30-2007

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Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, LLP

Partner Quoted in Hartford Courant Article
Tyler Cooper partner William W. Bouton III is quoted as a banking expert in an article in The Hartford Courant about the proposed second-step conversion of People’s Bank. The Bridgeport, Connecticut-based bank plans a reorganization that will make it a fully public financial institution. Bill was asked to comment on the rules applicable to such a reorganization and, specifically, how depositors may benefit.

A team of Tyler Cooper attorneys led by Bill served as counsel for the complex mutual bank conversion that created NewAlliance Bancshares, Inc. in 2004. In that transaction, New Haven Savings Bank was converted from a mutual savings bank to a shareholder-owned institution. The transaction involved a $1 billion-plus initial public offering (the largest ever for a U.S. bank at the time) and the simultaneous acquisitions of Savings Bank of Manchester and Tolland Bank.

Bill is the Co-Chair of Tyler Cooper’s Business Services Group. Resident in the firm’s Hartford office, he advises financial institutions on a variety of issues and transactions, including conversions, formations, mergers and acquisitions.

04-30-2007

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Tharrington Smith, LLP

2001 car crash got officials worried about school's walls
Six years after a mail courier drove a car into the side of a Mecklenburg County elementary school, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District has reached a settlement -- not with the driver but with the building's general contractor.

The 2001 accident exposed a significant flaw in the school's construction -- the lack of reinforcing steel beams in the walls.

The settlement came April 24, just weeks after the school district won a $1.6 million arbitration award against the contractor, lawyers for CMS said.

In a Feb. 19 judgment, Mecklenburg County Superior Court entered the arbitration award of $1,622,661 in the case of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education v. R.L. Casey, Inc., et al. Both sides filed appeals with the state Court of Appeals. Last week's settlement put those actions to rest.

The award was entered after the arbitrator found the general contractor liable for willful or wanton negligence. The award represented a 25 percent reduction of the $2,163,549 in principal damages that CMS originally sought.

Although CMS raised a claim for a violation of the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the arbitrator did not award treble damages.

Rod Malone and Kristopher Gardner, of Raleigh's Tharrington Smith law firm, represented the plaintiff. Representing the contractor was Gregory L. Shelton of Smith, Currie and Hancock's Charlotte office.

Malone said the settlement allowed the parties to establish details of a payment plan. Efforts to reach counsel for the defendant were unsuccessful.

Defendant R.L. Casey, Inc., the contractor that built the school in the early 1990's, was sued after CMS officials, inspecting the car-damaged wall in the days after the 2001 creash, noticed there were no steel reinforcing bars, or "rebar," inside it. No one was inside the school at the time of the crash, but under state building codes and the school's construction plans, rebar was a required component in the walls.

Further investigation indicated that rebar was missing throughout the structure. Repairs and remediation cost about $2.1 million, according to Malone and Gardner.

The school is Crown Point Elementary in Matthews.

"What they ultimately found was that only 19 percent of the walls were built properly," said Gardner.

That discovery led to a legal battle that hinged in part on whether the district's claims were limited under North Carolina's six-year statute of repose for improvements to real property.

The contractor contended "to avoid the statute of repose, CMS had to prove that [the contractor] committed fraud or willful or wanton negligence" in constructing the school.

The prelude to the battle started Oct. 27, 2001, when the mail courier decided to test-drive a car she thought she might want to buy. Her Saturday drive in the empty parking lot of Crown Point Elementary ended with the car crashing into a wall directly beneath a classroom window. That set the stage for the legal action.

At the point of impact, the required rebar should have been visible inside the wall, Gardner said.

It wasn't. Instead a gaping cavity yawned where the car had punched a hole through unreinforced brick and concrete block.

CMS hired a structural engineer to see whether rebar was misisng from the walls around 30 other windows. It was, along with wall fill. CMS then authorized testing of all the school's load bearing concrete masonry walls.

Lawsuit Filed

On Oct. 10, 2004, 11 years after the school's completion in 1993, CMS filed suit, claiming that 81 percent of the walls were improperly built.

CMS initially pursued nine claims: breach of contract, breach of express warranties, negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, gross negligence or willful or wanton conduct, negligence per se and unfair and deceptive trade practices. The last six claims were also filed against the masonry subcontractor hired by Casey for the school project.

In response to the complaint, Casey filed a motion to compel arbitration, citing the presence of an arbitration clause in a standard AIA agreement between the parties. The Mecklenburg Superior Court stayed the lawsuit and referred the dispute to binding arbitratioin.

Eventually, the action boiled down to CMS versus Casey on the fraud claim and willful or wanton conduct. The masonry subcontractor, an unincorporated South Carolina entity, never made an appearance in the case, according to Gardner.

CMS sought principal damages of more than $2 million and treble damages in excess of $6 million, according to court documents.

CMS contended that Casey failed to properly supervise the work of the masonry subcontractor, according to the arbitrator's Jan. 12 decision. That failure, CMS alleged, was the direct cause of the masonry subcontractor's failure to install steel reinforcing bar and pea gravel concrete in the walls.

Casey did "not seriously dispute the contention that a significant portion of the verticle rebar and grout was either not installed or not properly installed in the . . . walls of the school," arbitrator Gary S. Hemric wrote in the decision.

instead, the contractor contended that the failure "either was, or should have been, readily apparent to representatives of CMS . . . and that CMS failed to take timely action to correct the construction deficiencies prior to accepting the school as being substantially complete." according to Hemric's opinion.

The contract for the school project permitted "authorized representatives" of CMS to inspect the work, materials, payrolls, personnel records, invoices "and other relevant data," Hemric wrote.

Those representatives -- CMS's structural engineering consultant, Armfield Engineering, P.A. and Clary, Martin, McMullen & Associates, Inc., CMS's project architect, which hired Armfield -- were empowered to conduct field observations of the construction activities. An Armfield engineer visited the site several times during construction, Hemric found.

On April 27, 1992, when the Armfield employee noticed no rebar protruding from the top of concrete masonry walls in several locations, he notified Casey's project superintendent. The Casey employee "told him it was there," Hemric found.

In a July 10, 1992 report, the engineer mentioned not seeing any protruding vertical rebars during an inspection of the kindergarten wing, Hemric found. The engineer wrote that the superintendent "assured" him the bars would be properly installed.

On two other occasions, Armfield cautioned the project superintendent as to placement of rebar and wall fill, receiving the Casey superintendent's assurances on the second occasion that the work was being carried out properly.

04-30-2007

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