Posts from ‘November, 2008’

Spillane Shaeffer Aronoff Bandlow, a Los Angeles litigation shop, has announced plans to merge with Lathrop & Gage on Jan. 1, 2009. The merger gives Lathrop & Gage, a Kansas City, Mo.-based law firm, an office in California — and will make Lathrop “a truly national firm,” says its chief executive officer, Joel Voran. Lathrop hopes to expand the L.A. office to as many as 30 lawyers in the next year or so, including potential additions in employment law, according to Voran.

The widow of a smoker who died from lung cancer brings the nation’s biggest cigarette producer to court this week in the first trial spawned by a Florida Supreme Court ruling that decreed smoking is dangerous and addictive and causes disease. But before Elaine Hess can benefit from the landmark decision in the wake of the death of her husband, Stuart, plaintiffs lawyers must prove that he would have been part of a class of sick Florida smokers that was disbanded by the 2006 court decision.

Automakers cannot sue to block Rhode Island from enforcing tighter tailpipe emissions standards first adopted by California because the industry has already lost similar lawsuits elsewhere, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres dismissed General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and two automakers associations from the case, but his ruling permits several local car dealers to pursue the lawsuit for now.

Three Thelen associates and a staff member filed a federal suit against the firm on Monday, seeking damages for lost wages under the WARN Act. The named plaintiffs worked in the firm’s New York and Connecticut offices. Attorneys from California are expected to join the suit in January, after waiting period penalties have accrued, said attorneys for the plaintiffs. This is at least the second potential class action filed in the past two weeks against the firm.

The family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Robert Wone filed a $20 million wrongful death suit Tuesday against three men who were indicted last week for allegedly obstructing the investigation into his death. The complaint accuses Arent Fox partner Joe Price, his partner Victor Zaborsky and their roommate Dylan Ward of conspiring to thwart the investigation and of “intentional, reckless and/or negligent acts” that caused Wone’s death. Wone was stabbed to death in the guest room of Price’s home in 2006.

When IP lawyer and entrepreneur John Amster launched RPX Corp. as the cure-all for patent trolls in September, the industry was skeptical about how it would work. The new business is catering to the frustration that big tech companies have with what they derogatorily label “patent trolls.” Amster says his company will charge members an annual fee and in return RPX will buy dangerous patents off the street and give their members a license. So far RPX has signed up two companies to its program: IBM and Cisco.

For midsize firms, buying the right hardware can be a long, frustrating and expensive process. But with patience, perseverance and a lot of communication, IT leaders can prevail and serve their users efficiently. Consultant Shawna Childress has tips to put the right items in your cart.

In 23 years, Los Angeles firm Richardson & Patel had never let anyone go. Even during the dot-com bust, the firm, which focuses primarily on corporate and securities work, had continued to grow. But in September, the firm laid off five associates and six staff members. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” says partner Nimish Patel. Back in August 2007, the firm took some steps in response to a perceived slowdown, but things didn’t improve. Eventually, Patel realized he’d have to do something drastic.

A New York judge has refused to dismiss a suit alleging that Robert J. Ivanhoe, chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s New York office and head of its real estate group, disregarded his “legal and fiduciary duties” by taking a personal financial stake in a competitor to a client that had invested in a multibillion-dollar Las Vegas real estate venture. The judge ruled that the principal investor of the client could derivatively sue Ivanhoe and the firm, and that a pending arbitration would not render the suit moot.

In the wake of the ugly breakup of heavyweight plaintiffs firm Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll, a federal judge has effectively ordered the lawyers to do their best to get along as they finalize work on a massive antitrust suit that generated more than $120 million in settlements. On the eve of a fairness hearing for the final settlements, the judge was drawn into the fray of an erupting dispute between Cohen Milstein and former Michael D. Hausfeld, who was ousted from the firm on Nov. 6.