Posts on ‘September 24th, 2009’

Robert Bohn, a senior associate in the government contracts practice group in McKenna Long & Aldridge’s Los Angeles office, believes that treating yourself as just an employee won’t get you far. To give himself the best chance of survival at the firm in the current economy, Bohn since 2007 has been developing a hybrid corporate transactional practice focused primarily on government contract-specific due diligence within the defense and aerospace industry.

The ALM event “Social Media: Risks & Rewards” was held at the Harvard Club in NYC on Monday. Law Technology News editor-in-chief Monica Bay was on-site, and on Twitter, to confirm that the risks are real but the rewards are great to use the new media to promote your firm.

Lawyers for the American Bar Association filed for partial summary judgment on Wednesday in a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission, which is getting ready to impose identity theft rules on law firms and other businesses that extend credit. The motion comes about a month after the ABA filed suit, arguing that the FTC has no authority to regulate the legal profession and that law firms do not qualify as “creditors” under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Greenberg Traurig was hit Tuesday with a malpractice suit seeking more than $100 million in damages over allegations that it failed to properly prosecute patents for a longtime electronics manufacturing client and committed discovery abuses in related litigation. Leviton Manufacturing Co. sued Greenberg Traurig and three of its former intellectual property partners after the company itself was sanctioned earlier this year for the conduct of Greenberg Traurig lawyers in prosecuting Leviton patents.

In a ruling that broadens the scope of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the statute’s retaliation provisions may be invoked by workers who claim they were fired for merely asking permission to take a leave and cannot be limited to those who actually exercised the right. In addition to the holding on the retaliation claim, the 3rd Circuit’s decision also included important rulings on two other key components of FMLA eligibility.

A California jury has awarded $49 million in damages to a college student who was on his way to a camping trip when two trucks collided and one struck the car he was riding in, causing him traumatic brain injuries. The jury awarded $3.4 million in past medical expenses, $27.6 million in future medical expenses, $4.5 million for future lost wages and $13.5 million in general damages. The lawyer for the plaintiff said the verdict represents “the staggering cost of care to individuals sustaining traumatic brain injury.”

The lawyer for a wealthy fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other top Democrats said Wednesday that his client’s political contributions were legal — despite charges he defrauded banks of hundreds of millions of dollars. Hassan Nemazee pleaded not guilty to an indictment accusing him of carrying out a $292 million Ponzi scheme. Nemazee was the national finance chairman for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and later raised money for President Barack Obama.