Corporate Law

Wineries challenge Minnesota cap on use of out-of-state grapes

Two Minnesota wineries are challenging a Minnesota law that requires their wines to contain more than 50 percent of state-grown grapes. The Alexis Bailly Vineyard and Next Chapter Winery argue the state’s Farm Wineries Act is an unconstitutional restriction on their ability to use grapes grown outside the state, report…

Mar 29, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

Blockchain technology can provide lawyers with an authentic, secure ledger

A crash course in blockchain at ABA Techshow started Friday with Oliver Goodenough instructing participants to repeat after him its more useful generic description, "distributed ledger technology."

Mar 18, 2017 10:00 AM CDT

Former BigLaw partner is convicted of insider trading

A partner at Arent Fox has been convicted of insider trading for tipping his investment adviser about a pending pharmaceutical merger when he was a lawyer at Hunton & Williams. Robert Schulman was convicted by a Brooklyn federal jury on Wednesday, report the New York Law Journal (sub. req.) and…

Mar 16, 2017 2:37 PM CDT

Paul Hastings to acquire most of Boies Schiller’s corporate group

Most of the lawyers in Boies Schiller Flexner’s corporate group will be moving to Paul Hastings. Firm chairman David Boies told the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) that the move will help the corporate lawyers serve their clients from a larger platform. And it will allow Boies Schiller to concentrate…

Mar 14, 2017 2:21 PM CDT

Washington’s top court rules against Christian florist who wouldn’t provide flowers for gay wedding

A Christian florist did not have a First Amendment right to refuse to provide flowers for a gay wedding, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled. The court on Thursday affirmed a fine and citation imposed against Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers, for her violation of state laws barring discrimination…

Feb 17, 2017 10:05 AM CST

Acting on a campaign promise, Trump withdraws from Trans-Pacific Partnership

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying his decision to abandon the trade deal is “a great thing for the American worker.” The order is “mostly symbolic,” report NPR and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.), because the deal with 11…

Jan 23, 2017 12:26 PM CST

SCOTUS accepts second case in a week on jurisdictions where businesses can be sued

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to decide whether a pharmaceutical company headquartered in New York can be sued in California by plaintiffs who don’t live there. The case is the second case granted within a week that raises jurisdictional issues in cases against corporations. At issue is whether…

Jan 20, 2017 12:48 PM CST

Three Takata executives are indicted in airbag scandal; company settles with Justice Department

Updated: Three former executives with the Takata Corp. have been indicted on wire fraud charges in connection with its production of faulty air bags that sometimes exploded. The executives were accused of deceiving automakers about the safety of the air bags, report the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal (sub.…

Jan 13, 2017 11:31 AM CST

Volkswagen agrees to pay $4.3B in penalties in emissions scandal; six executives are indicted

The Volkswagen emissions scandal has produced six indictments of German corporate executives and a guilty plea by the company itself, which will pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties. Volkswagen will plead guilty to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and the automaker’s U.S. customers by…

Jan 11, 2017 1:55 PM CST

Volkswagen executive is arrested in emissions scandal

A Volkswagen executive has been arrested on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States for allegedly misleading regulators in the automaker’s emissions scandal. The executive, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested in Florida on Saturday, the New York Times reports. USA Today and the Detroit Free Press have stories on…

Jan 9, 2017 12:13 PM CST

Chemerinsky: Free speech on the SCOTUS docket

The January oral argument calendar includes two major cases about freedom of speech. Although they arise in quite different contexts, they each raise questions of how far the First Amendment extends to limit government regulation. Lee v. Tam Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a), provides that no…

Jan 5, 2017 8:30 AM CST

Portland will tax companies that reward CEOs with disproportionately high pay

The city of Portland, Oregon, is addressing income inequality by taxing publicly traded companies in the city that pay their chief executives at least 100 times more than the median pay of their workers. The city council on Wednesday voted to require companies to pay an extra 10 percent in…

Dec 9, 2016 9:25 AM CST

Supreme Court upholds insider trading conviction for secondhand tippee

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a secondhand tippee who traded on confidential inside corporate information first passed between brothers can be convicted of insider trading even though the original tipper received no money or property for the tips. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Bassam Salman…

Dec 6, 2016 10:21 AM CST

Future is cloudy for Dodd-Frank and financial regulatory agencies under Trump presidency

Throughout the course of his presidential campaign, there was a veritable laundry list of proverbial bogeymen that Donald Trump promised to vanquish if and when he got into the Oval Office. One of the biggest was the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The wide-ranging law, which was…

Nov 30, 2016 1:25 PM CST

Fiat Chrysler’s GC joins Mayer Brown

Fiat Chrysler’s top lawyer is joining Mayer Brown. The firm announced Tuesday that Marjorie Loeb, general counsel and member of the North American management team at Fiat Chrysler, has joined Mayer Brown as a partner in the corporate and securities practice group. According to a press release, Loeb will be…

Nov 29, 2016 3:45 PM CST