Posts on ‘June 9th, 2009’

While the economic malaise may be starting to take a slight toll on the video game industry, overall the sector remains robust. And as game developers get more active in bringing their creations to market, there’s more and more work for lawyers who are equipped to say “Game On.”

The Supreme Court has agreed to resolve a long-simmering debate over the constitutionality of provisions in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 that include lawyers as “debt relief agencies” and restrict the advice they can give to clients. The Obama administration is challenging an 8th Circuit ruling that struck down a provision prohibiting debt relief agencies from advising consumer clients “to incur any additional debt when the assisted person is contemplating bankruptcy.”

The first celebrity lawsuit against Twitter came and went as fast as a tweet — or did it? St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Friday that he’d settled his suit against Twitter over a snarky impersonator on the microblogging site. But Twitter now says there was no deal, and plans to fight the case in court. The sudden change in legal strategy shows that the young, popular and still-unblemished-by-litigation start-up reconsidered the implications of settling early, observers say.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has temporarily stayed the sale of Chrysler LLC to a group led by Fiat. But her action appears to be only a brief hold meant to stop the clock as a 4 p.m. deadline for high court action on Monday came and went. Over the weekend, three separate parties filed significant challenges to the sale, in the wake of a decision on Friday by a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the sale of the automaker’s assets.

Clifford Chance is gearing up to relocate London banking partner Chris Wyman to Mumbai in a bid to tighten its links with Indian alliance firm AZB & Partners. Wyman will be seconded to AZB for an unconfirmed period of time in an effort to strengthen the relationship between the two firms. Clifford Chance and AZB agreed to sign a formal alliance at the start of the year, referring work to each other on a non-exclusive basis.

Among the concerns brought on by the failing economy, a healthy work/life balance for lawyers ranks down at the bottom of the list. But even though it may seem counterintuitive, flexibility and balance-oriented policies are tools that can actually help law firms during this recession, says attorney Denise Howell. In fact, consultant Deborah Epstein Henry has even coined a new phrase, “balanomics,” to talk with law firms about the economic benefits of forgoing layoffs in favor of reduced hours.

Recessions often bring a heightened temptation on the part of businesspeople to engage in cartel behavior. This fact, along with the ever-increasing risk of detection by energized and global anti-cartel enforcers, can create a perfect storm of criminal antitrust risk. Reducing or deferring compliance efforts, antitrust audits and investigations of potentially questionable behavior may come at a very high price, warn attorneys Janet L. McDavid and Megan Dixon.