Corporate Law

Make That 37 Partners Who Have Left Heller Ehrman This Year

With the departure of two San Francisco Bay area attorneys for other law firms, the total number of partners who have left Heller Ehrman this year now reportedly tallies at least 37. Trademark lawyer Harold Milstein is the seventh Heller partner to join Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton this year,…

Sep 3, 2008 7:33 PM CDT

Why the Happy Sumo Is Happier Now

A Utah sushi restaurant is undergoing a remodeling after a federal judge ruled its décor copied that of a competitor. The Yapona restaurant located in American Fork, Utah, is undergoing the $15,000 renovation as a result of an early ruling in a lawsuit brought by The Happy Sumo, with locations…

Sep 3, 2008 2:37 PM CDT

3 Duane Morris Corporate Partners Jump to Sheppard Mullin

A three-lawyer corporate group is jumping ship from Duane Morris to Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton in the San Diego area. Robert Copeland, James Mercer III and Michael Umansky are joining Sheppard Mullin as partners, according to a law firm press release. They were previously partners in the San Diego…

Sep 2, 2008 5:48 PM CDT

Chrysler’s GC Retires; Replacement is Assistant GC

Chrysler’s longtime general counsel Kenneth Gluckman is retiring. He worked for the company for 30 years. His replacement is Louann Van Der Wiele, the National Law Journal reports. Most recently she served as assistant general counsel for product litigation and discovery, according to a press release. She joined Chrysler in…

Aug 29, 2008 2:48 PM CDT

DOJ Announces New Corporate Guidelines that Ease Pressure for Privilege Waivers

Updated: The U.S. Department of Justice has unveiled new guidelines that ease pressure on corporations to waive attorney-client privilege. Under the new guidelines, corporations will no longer be required to waive the privilege to show their cooperation with the government and get more lenient treatment from prosecutors. Deputy Attorney General…

Aug 28, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

Off-Label Drugs Will Be Next Enforcement Focus, Law Prof Predicts

Every year, when Dallas attorney Steve Kardell kicks off the corporate compliance and governance class he teaches at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, he starts by predicting the subject of the next wave of company scandals. Last year, he pointed to subprime lending. The year before, it was…

Aug 27, 2008 3:39 PM CDT

New Role in Managing Law Firm Risk Exposure: the CRO

Once upon a time, the possibility of a malpractice suit being filed against them was pretty much the only risk that law firms had to worry about, and, since lawyers were reluctant to sue other lawyers, they were a rarity. Today, facing a panoply of potential pitfalls, including the Sarbanes-Oxley…

Aug 26, 2008 3:26 PM CDT

Appeals Court Upholds Sarbanes-Oxley Law

A federal appeals court in a 2-1 decision has upheld a corporate accountability law passed following the collapse of Enron. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected contentions that the Sarbanes-Oxley law gave too much power to a nonprofit board that oversees accounting firms that audit companies,…

Aug 25, 2008 10:46 AM CDT

Top Corporate Lawyer Creates ‘Virtual’ Law Firm in Hawaii

After 16 years as a partner at Hawaii’s largest law firm, Greg Kim was ready for a change. Even though he had developed a technique of doing much of his work outside the office at Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, as his reputation as a top corporate attorney helped him…

Aug 20, 2008 3:27 PM CDT

Morgan Lewis No. 1 in Survey of Litigation Firms Used by Fortune 100

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius came out on top in a Corporate Counsel survey of law firms most often used in Fortune 100 litigation last year. Helping propel Morgan Lewis into the top spot was employment and labor work, making up half of the matters the firm worked on and captured…

Aug 18, 2008 11:01 AM CDT

10 Stock Exchanges Plan Joint Enforcement of Insider Trading Rules

Ten stock exchanges plan to coordinate their efforts to enforce rules against insider trading, once their agreement to do so is OK’d by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Public comments are now being sought by the SEC concerning the plan. It would make the regulatory arm of the New…

Aug 13, 2008 7:56 PM CDT

W. Va. Governor Reportedly Got DuPont’s Help Before Filing Amicus Brief

DuPont lawyers accommodated a request by West Virginia’s governor by supplying two draft briefs that he could use for the state’s amicus brief urging the state supreme court to hear a case involving the company, the New York Times reports. The brief urges the supreme court to hear an appeal…

Aug 13, 2008 3:15 PM CDT

Wachtell Still #1, Vault Survey Says

For the sixth straight year, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz ranks as the top law firm in the country according to the latest Vault survey. Cravath Swaine & Moore retains the No. 2 spot, and among the rest of the top 10, only one name is different than last year,…

Aug 12, 2008 10:33 PM CDT

WSJ: Accounting Rule Would Allow Lawyers to ‘Extort Settlements’

A proposed Financial Accounting Standards Board rule that would require companies to account for the potential cost of litigation will do less to offer transparency than it will be a boon for trial lawyers, a Wall Street Journal editorial maintains. “The real gift is to the trial lawyers, who will…

Aug 7, 2008 12:42 PM CDT

SEC Eases Disclosure Rules Under Reg FD

Corporations may now sometimes fulfill their public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD by posting information on their websites and blogs rather than having news releases distributed by third-party companies, according to new guidance issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The move is expected to cut compliance costs. However,…

Aug 1, 2008 9:19 PM CDT