Too Content, Roundup Wind Up, Marketing Moves: The Morning Minute
Here's the news you need to start your day.
May 16, 2019 at 06:00 AM
4 minute read
➤➤ Want to get this daily news briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.
|
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
|COMPLACENT - Law firms are resting on their laurels. So says Altman Weil, which has released its Law Firms in Transition survey. Dylan Jackson reports that while demand and gross revenues were up last year, law firms have stopped aggressively pushing for the cost-effective services that clients are still demanding. The study found that just 54% of law firm leaders say their firm's urgency to change is higher now than it was two years ago. Only 22% of firms made a serious effort to change work processes.
THE ENFORCERS - SEC enforcement actions remained at near-record levels through the first half of fiscal 2019, Sue Reisinger reports. Of the 52 actions against public companies and subsidiaries during the period ended March 31, some 67% were against the finance, insurance and real estate companies. And although critics are challenging the legality of the process, the SEC filed 100% of the actions as administrative proceedings.
ONWARD - Despite the crushing $2 billion jury verdict in a Roundup cancer case earlier this week, Bayer—owner of Roundup-maker Monsanto—is adamant that the fight has just begun. As Amanda Bronstad reports, Bayer attorney William Hoffman, a partner at Arnold & Porter in D.C., says the defense was “hamstrung by evidentiary decisions.” Law professor Jean Eggen observes that the way Bayer has “dug in” to litigate the cases means that its lawyers are convinced they have the evidence to show Roundup doesn't cause cancer. The jury on Monday was the third to find that Roundup caused plaintiffs to get non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Previous juries awarded $289 million and $80 million in similar trials.
|
EDITOR'S PICKS
|Jenner Partner Kenneth Lee Confirmed to Ninth Circuit Bench Over Calif. Senators' Objections
Legal's Modern Tech Challenge: Learning When Not to Use AI
|
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
|POSERS - Linklaters has been targeted by cyber scammers for the third time this year. Rowan Bennett reports that emails claiming to come from Linklaters were sent to a client of the Magic Circle firm, requesting that funds be paid into a “subsidiary bank account.” The latest incident comes just over a month after a scammer, posing as a Linklaters HR director, attempted to con job seekers out of $1,500. In February, messages were sent from email addresses ending with “@liinklaters.com,” asking the recipient to resend an invoice and “inform exact amount due for payment.”
|
WHAT YOU SAID
“I've resolved to try to ditch this mindset of 'what comes next?' It feels like the fastest route to burnout—a path well-traveled by many in the legal profession.”
— RENEE GRIFFIN, WHO HAS JUST COMPLETED HER FIRST YEAR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL.
➤➤ Sign up here to receive the Morning Minute straight to your inbox.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllUS Judge Rejects Morgan Stanley Reconsideration Bid in Deferred Compensation Litigation
Transgender Woman Awarded $150K Default Judgment Against Corrections Officer for Alleged Assault
Legal Speak: A Convicted Felon is Coming to the White House. What Happens Now?
1 minute readAT&T General Counsel Joins ADM Board as Company Reels From Accounting Scandal
Trending Stories
- 1Trump's Return to the White House: The Legal Industry Reacts
- 2Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 3Climate Disputes, International Arbitration, and State Court Limitations for Global Issues
- 4Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 5Judicial Face-Off: Navigating the Ethical and Efficient Use of AI in Legal Practice [CLE Pending]
- 6How Much Does the Frequency of Retirement Withdrawals Matter?
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250