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Business of Law
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October 09, 2024
Colo. Firm Seeks Bigger Cut Of Atty Fees From Competitor
A Colorado personal injury firm has told a state federal court it deserves a bigger cut of attorney fees than its successor firm in a $1.5 million tort settlement because the client's attorney, who left to work at another firm, did most of the work on the case while under her previous firm.
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October 09, 2024
Thomson Reuters Again Seeks Win On ROSS' Pilfering
Thomson Reuters on Tuesday filed a pair of renewed motions for partial summary judgment seeking to block ROSS Intelligence Inc. from claiming fair use, and hold it liable for copyright infringement, in a suit alleging ROSS ripped off the Westlaw research platform for its artificial intelligence product.
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October 09, 2024
US BigLaw Firms Accelerate Enviro Efforts, But Diversity Lags
Amid a number of recent legal challenges, large law firms in the U.S. have amped up many of their environmental, social and governance-related efforts, with particular growth in environmental sustainability action, while areas like diversity, equity and inclusion have been less successful, according to a report out Wednesday that examined firms' public-facing communications.
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October 09, 2024
National Basketball Players Association Head Joins JAMS
An attorney known for becoming the first woman to head a major professional sports union in North America has decided to take the next step of her career at JAMS, the alternative dispute resolution service announced on Tuesday.
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October 09, 2024
Girardi Seeks New Fraud Trial Over Memory Issues
Disbarred attorney Tom Girardi has called on a California federal court to overturn his conviction for misappropriating $15 million in client settlement funds, arguing he was not competent to stand trial due to memory problems that left him unable to remember witnesses or even his own attorneys.
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October 09, 2024
Lame-Duck Judiciary Confirmations? Wait And See
Democrats have been signaling that they want to surpass former President Donald Trump's record on judicial confirmations, but President Joe Biden's prospects for the post-election period are likely going to be contingent on the election results, according to an analysis published Wednesday.
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October 09, 2024
Mass. Gov. Nominates Land Court Counsel To Judgeship
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has nominated a longtime Land Court staff attorney and administrator to a seat on the court, according to an announcement Wednesday.
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October 09, 2024
Feds Seek 16 Months For Ex-BigLaw Partner's Tax Dodging
Prosecutors told a Wisconsin federal judge that a former Husch Blackwell LLP and Dykema Gossett PLLC partner who pled guilty to tax evasion should be sentenced to 16 months in prison, saying he lied to IRS revenue officers to keep them at bay while spending lavishly on private planes, jewelry and golf club memberships.
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October 09, 2024
'Ghost' Florida Atty Left Long Trail Of Irked Judges, Clients
A Florida lawyer accused in a state court suit of ignoring and defrauding dozens of clients who paid nonrefundable retainers has faced a series of similar allegations in federal court, drawing the ire of judges and opposing counsel.
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October 08, 2024
Judge Puts US Trustee's Depo On Ice In Judge Romance Suit
A Houston judge Tuesday put Jackson Walker's deposition of the U.S. Trustee for the Texas divisions of the bankruptcy watchdog on hold while he considers whether a Justice Department guideline applies to the ongoing dispute surrounding a former Texas bankruptcy judge's secret relationship with an ex-partner of the firm.
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October 08, 2024
Ex-Girardi Keese CFO Inks Plea Deal Over Firm Embezzlement
Girardi Keese's former Chief Financial Officer Christopher K. Kamon reached a plea agreement Tuesday with Los Angeles federal prosecutors, who allege he spearheaded a "side fraud" that bilked millions of dollars from the embattled law firm's accounts behind disbarred attorney Tom Girardi's back.
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October 08, 2024
'Alarming' AI Might Aid Research In Patent Fights, Judge Says
A Federal Circuit judge on Tuesday told law school students at the University of California, Berkeley that while he finds artificial intelligence tools "a little alarming and frightening," he could see how they might be useful for finding prior art in patent disputes.
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October 08, 2024
Jackson, Kagan Target Loper Bright In Ghost Gun Case
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was uncharacteristically quiet during initial arguments Tuesday over the federal government's authority to regulate ghost guns. While her colleagues debated whether kits of unassembled parts qualify as firearms, she waited patiently to post a different question: Can courts now toss agency interpretations they don't like?
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October 08, 2024
Divorced-Dads Firm Beats Fired Paralegal's Retaliation Suit
A Kansas federal jury on Monday sided with a law firm that bills itself as an advocate for divorced fathers, shutting down a suit from a paralegal who claimed she was fired for speaking up about sexual harassment by one of the firm's attorneys.
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October 08, 2024
Justices Divided Over 'Prevailing Party' Status For Atty Fees
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared noncommital on Tuesday while grappling with what constitutes a "prevailing party" for the purpose of awarding attorney fees in civil rights lawsuits, a question that has broad implications for both government agencies and legal advocacy groups.
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October 08, 2024
Judge Security Data Reflects Policy Shifts As Much As Threats
Former employees of the U.S. Marshals Service say that while judicial security has never been more urgent, finding trends is nearly impossible: The way threats against federal judges are tracked has varied so much from year to year, the data is essentially meaningless.
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October 08, 2024
US Airways Renews $139M Sabre Fee Bid For $1 Antitrust Win
US Airways has renewed its bid for more than $139 million in costs for a long-running case accusing Sabre of monopolizing ticket distribution systems after a jury awarded the airline just $1 in damages following a second trial on antitrust claims.
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October 08, 2024
NJ Judge Suspended For 'Admittedly Vulgar' TikTok Videos
The New Jersey Supreme Court has suspended a state Superior Court judge for three months for posting "admittedly vulgar" TikTok videos of himself lip-syncing songs with sexual content in his chambers and sometimes in his robes.
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October 08, 2024
In-House Attys Urged To Spearhead Creation Of AI Policies
In-house lawyers should craft a single artificial intelligence governance policy for their organizations, build cross-functional teams to assess AI needs and risks and audit and update their AI policy frequently to keep pace with the technology's rapid evolution, according to experts on an Association of Corporate Counsel conference panel.
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October 08, 2024
More Law Firms Want To Merge, But Deals Aren't Skyrocketing
Law firm management consultants say they continue to see historic interest among law firms to engage in merger talks, driven further by a spate of big deals announced during the third quarter of the year, but the number of actual combinations inked has remained fairly steady, Law360 Pulse data shows.
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October 08, 2024
Trump Held Back FBI's 2nd Kavanaugh Probe, Report Says
The FBI's follow-up investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process in September 2018 was restrained by the Trump White House, according to a report released by a Democratic senator on Tuesday.
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October 08, 2024
Ex-Aide To NYC Mayor Charged With Witness Tampering
Manhattan federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a former aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams with witness tampering and destroying evidence, alleging he told five witnesses to lie to FBI agents investigating his boss.
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October 07, 2024
New Bill Would Enact 'Commonsense' Litigation Disclosures
A top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee announced Monday he introduced legislation to require the disclosure of parties receiving payments in civil lawsuits, a phenomenon known as "third-party litigation financing," in order to prevent abuses in the legal system.
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October 07, 2024
Sparring With Adams, Feds Shadowbox The Supreme Court
The corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams may be the next front in an ongoing clash between federal prosecutors' desire to police official misconduct and a line of U.S. Supreme Court cases holding that alleged graft does not always amount to a federal crime.
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October 07, 2024
State Courts Splitting Over Future Of Climate Change Suits
Recent decisions on whether climate change suits brought by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies can go forward are exposing splits between state courts over whether they can impose liability for pollution that originates beyond their borders, legal experts say.
Expert Analysis
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Opinion
NY Should Pass Litigation Funding Bill To Protect Plaintiffs
New York state should embrace the regulatory framework proposed in the Consumer Litigation Funding Act, which would suppress the unregulated predatory lenders that currently prey on vulnerable litigants but preserve a funding option that helps personal injury plaintiffs stand up to deep-pocketed corporate defendants, says Alan Ripka at Alan Ripka & Associates.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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Series
Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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Series
Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System
As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
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Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.