In-house Counsel

Warner Norcross & Judd Enters Flat-Fee Deal With Whirlpool

Michigan law firm Warner Norcross & Judd, tapped as Whirlpool’s North American business litigation counsel, has agreed to set up a flat-fee billing arrangement with the appliance maker. Jay Cragwall, the client service manager for the Whirlpool account, told the National Law Journal that the arrangement can benefit both sides.…

Nov 15, 2007 2:15 PM CST

Ex-Legal Chief Claims Samsung Had Bribe Fund for Prosecutors

The former chief lawyer for Samsung Group has filed a legal complaint with South Korean prosecutors that alleges a bribery scheme and cover-up by chairman Lee Kun Hee. Kim Yong Chul, who worked for Samsung for seven years, claims the company kept a secret slush fund to bribe prosecutors and…

Nov 7, 2007 6:45 PM CST

Apple Gives New GC $25M in Stock

Apple has granted its new general counsel Daniel Cooperman 133,000 shares of restricted stock valued at about $25 million. Cooperman was general counsel of Oracle before moving to Apple on Sept. 28. To lure Cooperman to Apple, the company not only offered him the sweet stock deal, it also recruited…

Nov 6, 2007 3:16 PM CST

Wal-Mart Refuses Law Firm Fee Hikes, Cites High Associate Salaries

Wal-Mart has issued a memo to its law firms announcing a “moratorium on across-the-board rate increases.” The memo says the retailer will consider only “reasonable, individual requests for rate increases for those attorneys in your firm who are performing at an exceptional level,” the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).…

Nov 5, 2007 2:31 PM CST

Outside Law Firms Still Don’t Get It, In-House Counsel Say in Survey

Although the law firms doing corporate work understand that they need to focus on servicing the needs of in-house counsel, they still don’t know how to do so. That is the gist of what in-house counsel say in a recent survey, according to Fred Krebs, the president of the American…

Oct 31, 2007 6:10 PM CDT

Patent Dispute Aired on High-Tech Executives’ Blogs

Officials with two high-tech companies, including one general counsel, are trading barbs on their own blogs about a patent dispute. Voicing their opinions from Sun Microsystems are general counsel Mike Dillon and CEO Jonathan Schwartz, the Recorder reports. One the other side is Network Appliances co-founder Dave Hitz. NetApp sued…

Oct 31, 2007 10:34 AM CDT

Cost to Keep Ex in Health Plan: Law License

Misrepresenting himself as still married to his ex-wife for six years, so that she could continue to be covered under his health insurance, has cost a former New York state government lawyer his job and a two-year suspension from practice. Carmine Clemente, 64, also agreed under a plea deal in…

Oct 31, 2007 1:00 AM CDT

Big Biz Scoring System for Law Firm Hires

Two big-name companies based in Switzerland are now using a new scoring system to determine what law firms to hire. Zurich, a well-known insurance carrier, announced this week that it rates law firms on about 10 factors, including cost, responsiveness and “personalities,” reports Legal Week. “The insurer now hopes to…

Oct 25, 2007 3:30 PM CDT

A Lucky 17% of Big Companies Didn’t Get Sued

Fewer large U.S. companies got sued this past year, although a substantial majority still were named in suits, a new survey of corporate counsel concludes. Seventeen percent of in-house counsel said their companies did not get sued in the 12-month period ending at the end of June, compared to 11…

Oct 17, 2007 2:20 PM CDT

In-House DuPont Lawyers Post Profit

Like many corporations, DuPont Co. spends a lot of money on its in-house law department. The department’s annual budget was about $230 million last year. However, unlike most corporations, the Wilmington, Del.-based chemical giant has been getting more than it pays for. The company’s in-house counsel brought in $290 million…

Oct 2, 2007 7:50 PM CDT

GC Charges a Case of SEC Sour Grapes?

A former official with the Securities and Exchange Commission thinks his former employer is taking out its frustration over a failed reporting rule on general counsel. A record 10 general counsel have been charged with wrongdoing this year, most in connection with stock options backdating, the National Law Journal reports.…

Oct 2, 2007 1:32 PM CDT

A High-Tech GC Revolving Door

Donald Rosenberg appears to have a habit of replacing high-tech general counsel who leave their posts under a cloud. He is leaving his job at Apple Inc. and being replaced by another Silicon Valley general counsel in what the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) calls “a game of musical chairs.”…

Sep 28, 2007 7:09 PM CDT

Suit Accuses Sheppard Mullin of Conflict

Pan Am is accusing Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton of a conflict of interest in a malpractice suit. The complaint contends the law firm agreed to represent Pan Am’s general counsel even though it had represented two Pan Am subsidiaries in the past, Legal Times reports. The suit claims Sheppard…

Sep 24, 2007 12:22 PM CDT

Apple CEO, Law Firm May Play Role in GC Case

A well-known law firm and the CEO of Apple Inc. may provide evidence in the civil fraud case against the company’s former general counsel, Nancy Heinen. CEO Steve Jobs has been subpoenaed for a deposition in the Securities and Exchange Commission case against Heinen, who is accused of participating in…

Sep 21, 2007 12:56 PM CDT

Corporate Monitors Costly, Influential

Corporate monitor agreements with the U.S. Justice Department vary to such an extent that they can have a big impact on companies that agree to them. The agreements can last for months or years, they may or may not give the company a say in the monitor’s selection, and they…

Sep 20, 2007 1:43 PM CDT