19.9.08

Ringler Kearney Alvarez Metrolink Train Crash Attorneys

As a governmental agency, lawyers noted, Metrolink cannot be subjected to punitive damages in any civil action - a situation those lawyers said likely protects it from a bankruptcy situation. A spokesman for Metrolink said the agency would not be making any comments on potential legal issues.

Attorney Jerome Ringler, who served as lead counsel for victims of a Metrolink train derailment in Placentia in 2002, those in a Burbank derailment in 2003, and in the Glendale derailment in 2005, said the Chatsworth crash could expose further fault with Metrolink.

"I suspect the real reason these tragedies occurred is due to either simple inattentivenesss on the part of the engineers or a failure on the part of the railrood industry to allow these engineers adequate rest between shifts so that these kind of tragedies could be avoided," Ringler said.

"This is a horrible tragedy. They are facing hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars of exposure."

18.9.08

Train Accident Lawyer Jerome Ringler - Special Message for Chatsworth Metrolink Victims

Special Message for Victims of Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster

On September 12, 2008, an unprecedented tragedy occurred in Chatsworth, California when Metrolink Train #111 struck a Union Pacific freight train which was traveling on the same tracks. Our hearts go out to the victims. But this tragedy should not have happened. It happened because of human error on the part of Metrolink employees. Unfortunately, as the lawyers of RKA know well, human error by railroad engineers is not at all unique as a cause of commuter rail disasters.

Jerome L. Ringler has greater experience in representing victims of commuter rail and freight train disasters than any other lawyer in the State of California, if not the country. He has served as lead counsel in every one of the largest commuter rail disasters which have occurred in Southern California in the past 10 years.

In the Placentia Commuter Rail Disaster of 2003, Mr. Ringler was appointed by the Court as lead counsel for all of the Plaintiffs. He was requested by all of the lawyers representing individuals injured or killed in that incident to try the first case. That case resulted in the largest verdict for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ever rendered by a jury in the United States. That verdict, which was for $9 million, is detailed below in the multimedia section.

In the Burbank Commuter Rail Disaster, which also occurred in 2003, Mr. Ringler was again appointed by the Court to serve as lead counsel. In that capacity he was given the responsibility to try the entire liability (i.e., fault) case for all of the victims. In other words, every one of the dozens of lawyers who represented individual victims in that disaster trusted Mr. Ringler to try the liability phase for them, knowing that their clients would only recover if Mr. Ringler was successful. He was. In fact, Mr. Ringler not only obtained a favorable verdict for all of the plaintiffs, he obtained a $12 million verdict for his own client as well. This verdict was the largest in the State of California for a person with the type of injuries Mr. Ringler's client had suffered. This verdict is detailed below in the multimedia section.

Mr. Ringler is currently lead counsel for all plaintiffs in the Glendale Metrolink Derailment Disaster of 2005. This incident was, before September 12, 2008, the largest Metrolink disaster in history. Interestingly, in that case (which involves 11 deaths and dozens of serious injuries), Mr. Ringler has, against all odds, developed testimony proving that, even though a mentally-ill person placed a jeep across the tracks that the Metrolink train was traveling upon, human error on the part of the Metrolink engineer prevented him from stopping the train before hitting the jeep, which caused the train to derail. In other words, while the jeep certainly never should have been on the tracks, the Metrolink engineer would have been able to stop the train before ever striking the jeep had he only been paying proper attention. That case is scheduled to go to trial on June 8, 2009, with Mr. Ringler as lead counsel.

The verdicts detailed on this page all relate to railroad litigation. However, Mr. Ringler has achieved enormous, record-breaking monetary awards across California in a variety of complex areas. Those accomplishments are detailed elsewhere in this website. To see them, click here.

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or death as a result of the horrific Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster, we are available to discuss your rights with you confidentially and at no charge.

Please feel free to contact us at your convenience. Ask for Mr. Ringler,or any of his partners, at (213) 473-1900.

www.rkallp.com

FOX 11 Interviews Jerome Ringler about Metrolink Train Crash

13.6.08

Chicago Business Firm Roth Law Named Featured Law Firm





The Roth Law Group has been named a Breaking Legal News Featured Law Firm for its outstanding achievements in Business law and contract law in the Chicago area. Below is a little bit about the firm.

About Roth Law:
Business owners know that it takes hard work and dedication to make it in today's competitive marketplace. And choosing a law firm that understands the needs of small business is essential if you want to get a leg-up on the competition. You expect that your law firm will provide you with practical solutions and attentive individualized service. At the Chicago-based business law firm of the Roth Law Group, that's what you get.

At the Roth Law Group, we understand the concerns of small business owners like you and we have experience working in industries ranging from construction to chemical manufacturing. Our lawyers know that you need to remain focused on business and legal issues often detract from this goal. When the Roth Law Group represents you, we concentrate our efforts on resolving matters efficiently and economically and seek to reach the best business outcome in the least amount of time whenever practical. From contract negotiations to commercial litigation, we offer a full-range of business legal services specifically tailored to meet your needs.

If your small business is in the market for business legal services in Cook County or throughout Illinois, contact the Chicago-based Roth Law Group for a Free Initial Consultation. We offer practical solutions to your small business legal challenges at affordable rates.


A Few Representative Matters

-Obtained six-figure settlement on behalf of an Italian-based Manufacturer of wood veneer products in a breach of contract action against U.S. based distributor.

-Obtained judgment in favor of a Commercial Landscaping Contractor involving breach of contract.

-Negotiated nuisance value settlement on behalf of a Multi-Media Company sued for violation of Non-Compete Agreement, thus avoiding business interruption and an injunction.

-Successfully prosecuted foreclosure and other actions on behalf of a Colorado-based Mortgage Company.

www.rothlawgroup.com

7.5.08

Texas Judge Sets Execution for Mexican National - Legal News

A Texas court Monday set the execution date for Mexican national and Texas prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin for August 5, after the US Supreme Court ruled in March that President George W. Bush did not have the authority to direct state courts to comply with a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) granting new court hearings. The government of Mexico and Medellin's lawyers had requested that the judge hold off on setting an execution date, but Judge Caprice Cosper scheduled the lethal injection after refusing to allow a legal adviser to the Mexican Foreign Secretary to speak before the court.

Medellin, a Mexican national sentenced to death for raping and murdering two teenage girls, had appealed a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals November 2006 ruling that Bush had "exceeded his constitutional authority" by ordering state court rehearings for 51 Mexican nationals, including Medellin, convicted in US courts. The president's February 2005 memorandum instructed the Texas courts to follow a March 2004 ICJ decision that held that Medellin and the other Mexican nationals tried in US courts had been denied their right under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to contact the Mexican consulate for legal assistance and that the US was obligated to grant review and reconsideration of their convictions and sentences.

Tax Payers Challenge $7.4 Billion Prison Bond

The State of California illegally approved issuance of $7.4 billion in "lease-revenue bonds" to build facilities for 53,000 more state and county prisoners, Californians United for a Responsible Budget claims in Superior Court.

Plaintiffs CURB and individual taxpayers claim AB 900, signed into law in 2007, violates the state constitution because it was not approved by voters and is deceptively and illegally described as a revenue bond.

The lawsuit comes as California faces an annual budget deficit of nearly $20 billion. A similar budget deficit led to the recall of Gov. Gray Davis and his replacement by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a defendant in this case.

"Article XVI, Section 1 of the California Constitution requires voter approval for all long-term debts greater than $300,000. However, the state contends that the AB 900 bonds do not require voter approval because they are secured only by 'lease' payments. This lawsuit contends the opposite: namely, that the $7.4 billion in lease-revenue bonds in AB 900 are actual debts that will further impair the credit of the state, and that require voter approval before they can be incurred," the complaint states.

"A revenue bond is backed by the future revenue stream created by a given construction project. For example, a revenue bond allows a cit or the state to build a tool bridge or a convention center and then to repay the debt with user fees generated by the project. ... Prisons, however, do not generate revenue. ... Under the lease-revenue bond transactions at issue here, the state will not receive any funds from the operation of the new prison facilities financed by the bonds, but will instead incur substantial additional costs - in excess of $1.4 billion each year. ...

"In the past, the state itself clearly recognized that bonds used to finance prison construction had to satisfy the constitutional requirement of voter approval. Until 1996, the state routinely used general obligation bonds to finance prisons and submitted proposed prison expansion projects to the voters. However, the last two times that state did so, in 1990 and again in 1996, the voters rejected the prison bonds. The state has not submitted any of its prison expansion plans to the voters since 1996."

21.4.08

"Green" Lawyer Seeing Red over Environment

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. Today, more than half a billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns.

My travels take me to beautiful downtown Valparaiso. At Valparaiso High School, Kim Ferraro's eldest daughter wears a green singlet for the Viking track team.

Kim E. Ferraro Esq. is a "green" lawyer -- not green as in inexperienced. She is the founder and executive director of Legal Environmental Aid Foundation of Indiana Inc. (L.E.A.F.). She also started the Northwest Indiana chapter of "Green Drinks," where "eco-freaks" meet once a month to let their hair down and discuss environmental issues.

Ferraro, 44, was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She and her husband moved to the Midwest 22 years ago so she could attend the Valparaiso University School of Law. Her husband also is a lawyer.

They live in Valpo with their two daughters, ages 16 and 12. In October, Ferraro opened her not-for-profit law practice in Valparaiso.

"I've been an environmental activist for more than a decade," Ferraro begins. "That is the sole reason I went to law school and opened my law practice. Before I went to law school, I was a paralegal. I was very unchallenged and unhappy at work, but certainly recognized how lawyers can effect societal change for the good or bad, depending on the types of cases they're involved in and what side they're on.

"There are laws in the books that are not being enforced because most environmental lawyers go to work for companies like BP."

You work for PB -- pro bono.

"Yes, I don't charge my clients for the cases I take on. My funding comes from private donations and grants. The only way you can really do effective public-interest law is to make your services available to those who need it, not based on whether or not they can afford it."

Typical clients?

"Most are the local activist organizations such as Save the Dunes Council. For years, they have been trying to do good things to protect the environment on a legislative level, but they have not had good access to low-cost attorneys. So I'm filling that need for them."

You represent urban and rural communities. You go up against Davids and Goliaths. Let's start with a giant -- BP. Jobs versus the environment.

"That is a very false choice. Regarding the BP air permit, they framed that very issue. We don't want to stop the BP air permit. All that we want is for that air permit to have the most stringent standards, as it's supposed to under the Clean Air Act. This is not about stopping the Whiting expansion project.

"So, for the people of BP to come out at the hearing and say, 'This is for national security and our jobs are going to be lost' -- no. You can have your jobs and we can have environmental protection.

"Study after study shows that when you have a clean environment, the economy benefits. We'll have green jobs. You can have people working on projects that are good economically and environmentally; get me off of my soapbox."

You got my attention.

"How is a multibillion-dollar company like BP going to be put out of business just because it has to put in stringent environmental pollution controls at its new plant? Look at the price of oil. They are raking it in. They are making record profits."

Counselor, to paraphrase the late, great Carl Sagan, "BP's makin' billions and billions of bucks. Why 60 clams to gas up our trucks?"

"Sagan really said that?"

No, but I saw a chance to speak in rhyme and took it. An idiosyncrasy some find annoying -- editors in particular.

"I have a case fighting a local ethanol plant from being built in San Pierre. Ethanol is not a renewable energy source; in fact, it's very polluting to the surrounding communities. Ethanol made from corn is a horrible thing. Even the small plant that we're fighting uses 250,000 gallons of water per minute. Significant toxins end up in the local well-water supply.

"That's an example of a case where I'm representing the local community. They do not want the plant there, so we are challenging the Board of Zoning Appeal's decision to grant the plant a conditional use. The land where they want to build the plant is zoned for agriculture. An ethanol plant is industry, so you have to get it re-zoned or get a conditional use permit."

Kim, the ethanol plant would probably mean jobs for people living near San Pierre. It also could be a source of income for local farmers.

"The (company) is basically saying (it) will hire 32 people. Ethanol production seems like it would benefit local farmers, but the truth is, the corn that would be brought in for this plant would not come from local farmers. In fact, they'd also burn wood supply, old tires and garbage.

"OK, it might create a few jobs, but it's also going to cost the community in health problems and water issues. The water the plant uses is going to suck up the water the local farmers need for their crops.

"I represent more than 200 people in San Pierre as a community-action group. Not as sexy as BP ... ."

It is to the folks of San Pierre.

"The behemoths go out and spend millions of dollars and hire big-time lawyers to fight the things I'm bringing. We want to slow them down and raise awareness. And, if the judge agrees with what we're doing, that's great, too.

"We can go to meetings and (complain) all day long about the way things are, but to effect change against the powers that be respecting the environment, you need to educate yourself, know what your politicians' views are on environmental issues and support organizations like mine that do legal work for the environment. The only way to hold corporations accountable is to bring them into a court of law.

"At some point, we have to look at how we have become consumers at our own expense. At what point do we recognize that what we are doing is not sustainable? At what point do we say enough is enough?

"At some point, we're going to run out of oil. And we will have ruined the Earth in the process, so that our children's children's children have no place to live.

At what point do we say we can still have a good way of life and we can still maintain our existence on this Earth? We have to do it in a way that is not just for the for the almighty dollar; the environment always loses and, ultimately, we all lose."

One small planet, trashed by billions.

Detroit Takes Crime Stats Online

Detroit Police, long criticized for not keeping track of crime and having outdated statistics, has launched an interactive crime map on the agency's Web site that allows users to map every type of crime within a half-mile of an address.

The site maps crimes that occurred as recently as a week ago.

Police Chief Ella M. Bully-Cummings launched its CrimeView Community program to share crime data with residents, said Detroit Police spokesman James Tate.

"We understand it's important for us to have informed community," he said. "An informed community is the best type that can assist us in crime prevention."

Crime experts say, however, there haven't been any studies to show whether systems such as CrimeView have an impact on crime prevention.

"If we really wanted to know the impact, we have to take a bunch of cities and test what the impact was over time," said Christopher Maxwell, an associate professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University.

To use the system, users plug in an address or cross street, select the type of crime they want to view and the distance within a half-mile radius. Information on the site will be updated daily, Tate said.

The biggest users of crime mapping programs are business owners or people looking to purchase homes, Maxwell said. "Crime is pretty regular," he said. "You can pretty much predict where the high areas are going to be if it's been that way for a fair amount of time."

Resident Austin Black, a real estate agent who lives in Midtown, said he plans to use the system.

"It's good for residents to know what's going in their neighborhood," he said.

Virigina Offering Gift Certificates for Those Who Buckle Up

Law enforcement in Wise County will be stepping up its patrols on a dangerous road, in an effort to get more people to buckle up.
According to the Wise County Sheriff's Department, here's been three fatal crashes in a ten mile stretch of Route 58.
Police say none of the drivers who were killed were wearing a seat belt.
To get people to start wearing their seat belts, officers in Wise County, Coeburn, and the Virginia State Police will be conducting checkpoints.
And they will reward drivers who buckle up with gift certificates to area restaurants.
The first Operation 58 checkpoint will be held Monday at the Banner Bridge Intersection, just east of Coeburn, from 3:00 to 5:30pm.

Skype Launches Global Calling Plan

Skype on Monday launched an aggressive $9.95-a-month international calling plan for U.S. customers that includes landlines and some cell phone calls to 34 countries.

The action by the eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) unit comes just days after eBay's chief executive John Donahoe indicated the auction company will seek to find and improve synergies between the VoIP calling unit and eBay's core auction operation. The Financial Times also reported that Donahoe indicated that eBay would "reassess" Skype if its "synergies" with the auction company aren't strong.

"This move is a natural step for Skype," said Stefan Oberg, Skype's VP and general manager for telecoms, in a statement describing the new calling plans. "We're making it even easier for the Skype community to call their friends and family who are not yet on Skype." It was not immediately clear, however, whether the new calling plan will represent a direct synergistic relationship between Skype and auctions.

When eBay acquired Skype, the auction company envisioned sellers and buyers on its popular auction site calling each other over Skype. That activity never gained traction and eBay subsequently wrote off $1.4 billion of the $4.3 billion it paid for Skype.

Skype has continued to thrive and grow with more than 309 million global subscribers using the system for VoIP phone calls, instant messages, and now video calls.

"We're building a great business," said Donahoe after eBay reported first quarter financial results last week. He cited Skype's "strong growth trajectory." Even so, Skype stands out in bold relief against eBay's PayPal electronic payments system, which is heavily integrated in its auction business.

Josh Silverman, who was named chief executive of Skype last month, praised the support eBay is giving to the VoIP calling service. "I am delighted with the support we get from eBay," Silverman told the Reuters news service. "Synergies are not an end in and of itself, just a means to help us achieve our full potential."

Skype built its success on undercutting the prices of established telecom providers, and the VoIP business is continuing that policy with the $9.95 plan it announced Monday along with a variety of other calling plans among 34 countries.

The plans cover most European countries, North America, and many Asian countries. For U.S. subscribers, a $5.95-a-month plan covers all of North America as well as major Mexican cities. Skype currently offers a $3-a-month plan for North American calls.

4.4.08

Akin Gump Recruiter Law Suit Thrown Out

A New York state judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought against Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld by a legal recruiter who claimed the law firm stiffed him on a partner placement commission.

In a suit filed in October 2006, New York headhunter Eric Sivin of Sivin-Tobin Associates claimed he was entitled to a fee because he first introduced Akin Gump to Korea specialist Chang-Joo Kim, who joined the firm's New York office as a lateral partner from Dorsey & Whitney in April 2006.

The dispute highlighted the difficulties that can arise in a market for lateral partners that can be as competitive for recruiters as for the lawyers they represent.

In a decision granting summary judgment to Akin Gump, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jane Solomon ruled that, even if Sivin was first to submit Kim's resume to the firm, that fact alone did not make him the "procuring cause" of the partner's placement.

Akin Gump had credited another recruiter, Phil Morimoto of Boston Executive Search Associates, with the placement, paying him a commission of $227,500 for both Kim and one of his associates.

Solomon agreed and contrasted the two recruiters' approaches in her decision.

Sivin had e-mailed Kim's resume to Akin Gump's then-New York office head, Stephen M. Vine, on Dec. 19, 2005. The recruiter also attached to his e-mail a personalized letter and a term sheet stating Sivin Tobin's fee for the placement would be 25 percent of the candidate's total compensation in his first 12 months at the firm.

The judge noted that Vine stated in an affidavit he did not recall receiving Sivin's e-mail and that he would not have been interested anyway because the firm did not have a Korea practice in New York at the time.

Morimoto, on the other hand, sent the resume on Dec. 28, 2005, to Sukhan Kim, the Washington, D.C.-based head of Akin Gump's Korea practice, who met with Chang-Joo Kim barely a week later.

Sukhan Kim told Morimoto on Jan. 13, 2006, that he wanted Chang-Joo Kim to join Akin Gump's New York office, pending approval by firm chairman R. Bruce McLean, also resident in Washington.

Following that approval, Sukhan Kim and Morimoto held further meetings and continued to discuss Chang-Joo Kim's salary as well as Morimoto's fee. The judge said Sivin's relative inactivity meant he had no reasonable expectation of payment.

"[P]laintiff, admittedly, sent Chang-Joo's resume unsolicited and did nothing else to secure Chang-Joo's placement at Akin Gump, save for a few telephone calls and one subsequent e-mail to a man who, as plaintiff admits, never returned them," the judge wrote in Sivin-Tobin v. Akin Gump, 107123/06. "As such, it cannot be said that defendant accepted the alleged 'services' plaintiff performed."

Sivin Thursday expressed disappointment in the decision and said he would appeal it.

"It doesn't reflect the reality of the industry," he said. Most headhunters and firms follow a "first-come, first-served" approach, he added.

Sivin also took issue with the judge's characterization of his work on the placement. He said he spent a considerable amount of time working with Kim and getting him interested in Akin Gump, which he knew had a Korea practice. Sivin said he would have expected Vine, as head of the New York office, to forward the resume internally.

Law Firm Deals Down by a Third

Noting that the deals market has experienced “something of a ‘death rattle,'" MergerMarket reports that the volume of global M&A work has dropped substantially at the largest global firms.

Data released Thursday shows that U.K. and U.S. firms touched a third fewer M&A deals in the first quarter of 2008 than a year earlier.

At several top firms, including the high rankers in The American Lawyer’s 2008 Corporate Scorecard, M&A dropped by half as compared to the first quarter of 2007: Latham & Watkins went from 81 to 41 deals; Skadden from 69 to 32; and Sullivan & Cromwell from 44 to 26. Wachtell, which ranked second in U.S. M&A last year, according to the Corporate Scorecard, did not even make MergerMarket’s global top 20.

Not only were firms signing on fewer clients, but the value of the work was less: Only two deals on the list topped $100 billion. Each of the remaining deals were valued at no more than $19 billion.

The $100 billion spin-off of Philip Morris International Inc. announced in January skewed U.S.–sided deal counsel listings ranked by value, lifting some unlikely firms—Hunton & Williams, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, and McCarthy Tetrault—over their Wall Street competitors. If the Philip Morris deal is excluded, the same Wall Street firms that dominated the tables last year lead the current ranking.

The current credit freeze took the heaviest toll among the U.S. firms on global buyouts. While seven of the ten largest global deals in the first half of 2007 were leveraged buyouts, none was in the top ten this last quarter. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, longtime counsel to KKR, was the sole U.S. firm among the top five in value of global buyouts, with just $5.6 billion in deals. Linklaters and Lovells took second and third in deal value, up from twenty-third and forty-third a year ago, respectively.

Los Angeles Health Care Attorney Michael Khouri Featured on The Insider Exclusive

Well known attorney Michael Khouri will be featured on the Insider Exclusive Show which regularly features prominent lawyers and business executives. This is a description taken from the Insider Exclusive TV show site:

America’s Best TV Legal Commentators. Mike is a former Deputy District Attorney in Orange County, California, and an insightful expert concerning the criminal justice system. He concentrates his practice on the defense of licensed professionals, mostly health care providers, charged with criminal offenses. Mike has also defended numerous health care defense matters including, Medi-Care and Medi-Cal fraud matters, sexual assault cases and narcotics and other substance abuse matters. When a prosecutor, he personally briefed and argued the case of People v. Bravo before the California Supreme Court which resulted in the Supreme Court establishing guidelines regarding the search of repeat narcotics offenders. His approach to major legal issues makes for riveting commentary that is eloquent and highly informative.


Mike has a BA from Loyola Marymount University, a MPA from California State University, Long Beach, and a JD from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Mr. Khouri recently started his own practice which can be found here: Health Care Attorney Los Angeles

31.3.08

The Lateral Partner Power Play

Are law firms spending too much time and money branding the firm? We argue that in the age of the portable professional, strategies for promoting, retaining and attracting lateral partner talent — similar to the investment services model — is the path to long-term success.

How does a firm attract top lateral partners with large portable practices and at the same time retain its rainmakers? The solution is the same for both—demonstrate to potential and existing partners that the firm is focused on their success.

Wall Street clearly gets this. When Goldman Sachs reportedly paid out more than $16.5 billion in bonuses, The New Yorker explained, “talent is the most precious commodity on Wall Street; it’s what they sell, so it’s also what they have to pay for.”

At law firms, like all professional service organizations, talent is everything. But consider the difference in how much firms spend branding the firm versus what they spend branding the powerful business generators that are their individual partners.

Firms with genuine respect for their partners—and clients—never lose sight of the fact that clients hire the lawyers they trust, as opposed to law firms with letterhead they recognize. To this end, firms likely to succeed in today’s fluid market are those that view themselves as “brand marketers” rather than the “brand.”

Think of the way the Coca-Cola Company markets Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dasani, or how Apple creates marketing campaigns for iPod, iTunes, and Mac. Just as General Motors bestows a hefty budget to its premier brand, Cadillac, the lateral that has been heavily wooed should expect, upon joining a new firm, to receive marketing dollars devoted to significantly increasing their value during their first year there.

Working with new laterals to develop and implement strategic, sophisticated marketing campaigns enhances their likelihood of success—and sends a clear message to other potential laterals that the firm is dedicated to helping its professionals grow their practices.

Law firms spend millions in branding campaigns in attempts to attract and institutionalize clients. Down the hall, the recruiting department, operating under the assumption that lawyers and their books of business are portable, has little or no marketing support devoted to recruiting partners.

Free agency has created a strong sellers’ market for laterals. Consider that The American Lawyer reported that between October 2005 and October 2006, 2,429 partners changed firms among the AmLaw 200—an average of 12 partners per firm!

This situation exists because clients control the state of play. As long as clients agree, lawyers are free to move as often as they like. To some extent, the legal market has always operated this way. Time and time again, in-house counsel say they hire lawyers not law firms. To avoid this attrition and client instability, firms must recognize where client loyalty lies. The key to obtaining and keeping top clients is keeping their lawyers happy.

When clients say they hire lawyers not firms, we know that practically speaking, what clients really mean is they hire great lawyers who work for “safe” firms. But what makes a firm safe? Safe means a firm with an established reputation for success; a reputation obtained by the results its individual lawyers achieve over time. By devoting marketing dollars to helping laterals solidify and expand their reputations, firms will find that clients come and stay too.

Smart firms should demonstrate to highly sought-after laterals that when they join the firm, an aggressive, sustained, customized marketing campaign will be immediately initiated on their behalf. This is an appealing commitment that’s hard to ignore.

Savvy candidates understand the importance of marketing support, and include marketing expectations in negotiations. They ask questions such as, “how many seminars will you help me produce this year?” And “how will you position my practice in the media?” And, “what will my personal branding budget be?”

Though the acquisition of lateral talent represents a significant investment in time and resources, oddly, many firms fail to engage in much business strategizing at the outset of the recruitment process. Firms frequently do not provide recruiters with enough guidance on the type of candidate likely to add true value to a firm’s current service offering.

In considering potential laterals, firm managers should carefully examine their long-term marketing plans, and identify and select candidates based on these needs. Procter & Gamble would not have purchased Gillette without a strategic marketing plan in place to leverage it. Smart firms ask difficult questions such as: “Where is our practice going, and what talent do we need to make it stronger?” “What will the debt market look like in five years, and who do we need to capitalize on that?” “What business could we get with partner ‘X’ that neither of us can get on our own?”

In an era of free agency, talent is everything. The firms that do the best job of articulating why lateral superstars will fare best with them—and then back up their plans with strategic, focused marketing support, will find they are able to successfully institutionalize the talent they need to attract the clients they want.

No Summary Judgment For WTC Defendants

A unanimous Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York correctly denied federal immunity summary judgment for New York City, a port authority and contractors for personal injury claims filed by emergency responders arising from alleged exposure to toxins during the removal of debris after the September 2001 collapse of the World Trade Center towers (In re: World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation, No. 06-5324, 2nd Cir.).

The plaintiffs are hundreds of construction workers, firefighters, police officers and other responders who allege respiratory injuries from exposure to dust and fumes. They sued New York City, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, World Trade Center Properties and dozens of companies with whom New York City had contracts to remove the debris at the World Trade Center site.

The defense motion for summary judgment based on immunity under the New York emergency response statutes and common law and federal statutes and common law was denied by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in October 2006.

The panel said the New York defenses do not attach because they are defenses against liability rather than immunity from litigation and do not create a right of interlocutory appeal. It said it has jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal of denial of a Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 93-288) derivative immunity summary judgment.

The panel affirmed the trial court judge’s conclusion that the evidence supporting the motion for summary judgment is insufficient to determine which decisions at the World Trade Center site were federally instructed decisions and which were made by the defendants. It also said the judge erred in concluding that derivative Stafford Act immunity does not exist as a matter of law but affirmed the decision to deny the defense motion for summary judgment.

“Defendants contend that the Stafford Act immunity should be derivatively extended to nonfederal responders to allow these entities to ‘seamlessly implement the discretionary decisions and instructions of federal experts and agencies,’” the panel said. “The district court’s resolution of the defendants’ asserted federal immunity is somewhat ambiguous. To the extent it held that Defendants are not entitled to immunity under the language of the Stafford Act, we agree. Defendants are not federal agencies within the statutory definition, nor are they employees of the federal government.”

Article from Legal News Post

Law Firms Expect Rise In Bankruptcy Business

As the credit crisis deepens, law firms across the country are betting that bankruptcy work will be their most-promising avenue of growth, and are accelerating their recruitment of restructuring specialists. A survey of more than 300 attorneys from the country's largest law firms found that a plurality -- one out of every four -- expects bankruptcy law to be the fastest area of growth in the next 12 months. That number exceeds the tally of attorneys who think litigation or corporate governance will be hot growth areas.

"The number of bankruptcy proceedings is expected to increase in reaction to continued economic uncertainty," said Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal, which conducted the survey.

The slump in U.S. housing prices over the past year triggered a financial crisis that some economists say is the country's worst in at least 50 years.

To ease the crisis, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates and lent hundreds of billions of dollars to financial institutions on Wall Street. But the credit crunch persists, making it especially difficult for troubled companies to obtain loans.

Last year, Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings hit a two-year high of 6,236, according to Jupiter eSources, an Oklahoma company that tracks the data. The pace of Chapter 11 filings has accelerated further this year.

"We've just stayed extremely busy," said Laura Davis Jones, managing partner of boutique bankruptcy firm Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP's Delaware office. "The way the market looks now, it doesn't look like that will be changing anytime in the near future."

Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom LLP added 17 attorneys to its corporate restructuring team last year and expects to add three more to the ranks over the next two months, according to J. Gregory Milmoe, the team's co-leader in New York.

Mr. Milmoe said the group's attorneys billed 45% more hours in January and February of this year than they did in the same months a year earlier, thanks to a demand for the their services that "emphatically" increased.

At Davis Polk & Wardwell, the firm's "extremely busy" bankruptcy practice has looked internally to meet its need for more staff, according to Marshall Huebner, partner and co-head of the practice. The firm cross-trains attorneys in related practices, such as banking or litigation, so it may redistribute them based on demand.

He said there are between 30 and 40 attorneys who are "actively working on restructuring," whether or not that is their full-time focus. Of those, 15 are attorneys who wouldn't have been working in the area a year ago but may have been focusing on banking or litigation.

Mr. Volkert of Robert Half said the complex and fast-paced nature of bankruptcy leads most firms to seek attorneys who have at least three to five years of experience in the practice so they can hit the ground running.

"Hands-on experience really matters. Legal professionals who are able to demonstrate a proven track record in that area are in demand," he said.

Article Featured in:Breaking Legal News

Michael Khouri Featured in The Mercury News

Abuse, Embezzlement charges dropped; status of old job in unclear
By Elise Banducci – Mercury News

Stanford physician Cheryl Walker, cleared of charges she abused her elderly grandmother and embezzled from her estate, is once again free to practice medicine in California.

However, officials at Stanford Medical Center, which put the world-renowned reproductive science expert on unpaid leave after charges surfaced, did not return calls for comment on whether she would also be reinstated in her job.
The Medical Board of California suspended Walker’s license in May 2002, several months after she and her mother, Janice Walker, were indicted in what prosecutors said was a scheme to loot the estate of family matriarch Mary Lee Koleber, 95, and hasten her death with a “lethal cocktail” of drugs.

Prosecutors dropped charges against Cheryl Walker and cut a deal with her mother last month after a key witness against the pair admitted forging documents, shattering his credibility.

The medical board had 30 days after the charges were dropped –which was Thursday – to file papers to keep the suspension in place, said David Carr, deputy attorney general representing the medical board. Though the suspension expired, the board has up to three years after the arrest to investigate and take further action.

Friday, Walker paid the renewal fee for her medical license, which expired during the suspension, her attorney Mike Khouri said. Khouri said he did not know the status of his client’s discussions with Stanford.

“I would hope that since the criminal charges have been dismissed, and since her license has been reinstated, that Stanford would do the right thing and reinstate her to her position,” he said. Khouri also said Walker was weighing various academic and clinical opportunities elsewhere.

In her statement last week to the judge, before hoer mother was sentenced, Cheryl Walker said that her career had suffered irreparable harm and that she would have to move to start over.

Her mother, a 74-year-old retired nurse, pleaded no contest earlier this month to elder abuse and embezzlement and received a two-year sentence. She is expected to be releases on parole after no more than eight months in a minimum security prison. Walker, 45, has two young children.

About Michael Khouri:

Mr. Khouri has been practicing law in Orange County for over 26 years.
He is considered an expert in professional licensing defense and the defense of Medi-Care/Medi-Cal audits, and has tried in excess of 100 cases. An expert in representing health care providers, Michael has proven his abilities with a number of cases and has spoken at multiple events. He is recognized throughout California and the Country for his integrity and firm resolve to help his clients get the best possible resolution to their licensing or criminal matters.

Professional Licensing Defense Attorney