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Podcast

Legal Speak at General Counsel Conference Midwest 2024: John Meyer, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer at Zeem Solutions

Zeem Solutions GC and Chief Privacy Officer John Meyer discusses the importance of data privacy and how difficult it has become to protect as the number of external vendors many companies, and law firms, utilize grows exponentially.
1 minute read

Q&A

Litigator of the Week: Landing a $525M Patent Verdict Against Amazon Web Services

Courtland Reichman and his team Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg convinced a Chicago federal jury that AWS infringed three computer storage and data management patents held by Kove IO, a company founded by two University of Chicago Ph.D. graduates and co-inventors.
8 minute read

Quick Takes

Another Stellar Group of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up this week include litigators from Kirkland, Jones Day, Morgan Lewis and Paul Weiss.
6 minute read

Profile

Logging 5,500 Miles to Handle 3 Arguments in 11 Days, Capped With a Quake

After Wiggin and Dana partner Jonathan Freiman argued in the Second Circuit late last month and the California Supreme Court on April 3, he flew back East for a repeat argument in the Second Circuit just after the April 5 earthquake that shook the court.
6 minute read

Best Practices

10 Things to Keep in Mind When Picking a Jury

Richard Gabriel, president of Southern California trial consulting firm Decision Analysis Litigation Strategies, says modern jurors are coming to cases more set in their opinions, but certain best practices still apply.
7 minute read

Profile

After Munger Litigation Partner's AI-Focused Fellowship, a Call for More 'Tech Bono'

After serving as a fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology during her sabbatical from Munger, Tolles & Olson, Miriam Kim is calling on firms to expand their pro bono efforts beyond lawyer hours to include providing technical assistance to legal aid organizations.
5 minute read

Big Law Better, Explained

In this week's Legal Speak episode, McDermott Will & Emery Chair Ira Coleman explains "Big Law Better," his idea on where the legal sector is moving and what elements of previous iterations the industry should be looking to maintain and which it should perhaps relegate to times gone by.
2 minute read

Litigation Leaders: Debbie Ellingboe of Faegre Drinker on the Challenge of Merging 2 Departments During a Pandemic

Ellingboe, who led the business litigation group at Faegre Baker Daniels before its 2020 merger with Drinker Biddle & Reath, said the virtual environment provided an opportunity for attorneys to meet and connect, and likely led to more cross-office work.
11 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Hitting Walmart With a $100M Verdict in Its Own Backyard

Brendon DeMay and Priyanka Timblo of Holwell Shuster & Goldberg represented a company that claimed Walmart backed out of a deal struck during the pandemic to get into the business-to-business market for disposable nitrile gloves when demand for PPE cooled.
8 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up this week include litigators from Quinn Emanuel, Latham and Paul Hastings.
6 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the (Past) Week: Google Agrees to Delete User Data in 'Incognito' Browsing Privacy Settlement

Google agreed to delete billions of user records and block third parties from tracking "Incognito" mode browsing as part of a deal to resolve litigation brought by David Boies, Mark Mao and James Lee of Boies Schiller Flexner.
6 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the (Past) Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

The runners-up for the cycle that closed on April 3.
7 minute read

Q&A

How Overseeing Legal Operations Has Affected How Steve Mahieu of Kraft Heinz Looks at Litigation

"Having visibility to hourly rates, spend by matter, and other financial metrics across the department has given me a greater appreciation for the need to focus our resources on the most impactful matters to the company."
6 minute read

Podcast

As 'Social Inflation' Helps Fuel 'Nuclear' Verdicts, Insurers Address 'Legal System Abuse'

In this week's Legal Speak episode, James Whittle with the American Property Casualty Insurance Association dives into the impact of what the organization has dubbed "legal system abuse" as social inflation—the belief that large corporations are "bad actors with deep pockets"—helps fuel "nuclear" verdicts.
1 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Kaplan Hecker Knocks Out Suit Aiming to 'Punish' Non-Profit Critical of Musk's X Corp.

"X Corp. has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp.—and perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism," wrote Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.
6 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up this week include litigators from King & Spalding, Kirkland, Hogan Lovells and Weil Gotshal.
6 minute read

Analysis

'Trying to Make Some Order Out of All This Chaos': Thoughts on the MDL Process from 3 Federal Judges

"We love trying to get to the end of what seems like an intractable problem and the MDL is the perfect mechanism for that problem-solving talent to come out in members of the federal bench," said U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, chair of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
6 minute read

Best Practices

Even When Witnesses Don't Tell You They're Panicking, They're Panicking

Allison Rocker of Baker McKenzie says that's especially true in "document-heavy" cases with tons of exhibits.
4 minute read

Conversation

4 Out of Sidley's 5 Global IP Litigation Leaders Are Women. Here's How That's Shaped the Practice

Ching-Lee Fukuda and Aimee Fagan, who both joined Sidley's IP litigation team as laterals, discuss what brought them to the firm and their approach to leading the practice.
10 minute read

Q&A

Litigation Leaders: DWT's Jaime Drozd on Practicing as an Extension of Clients' Business

"Core to this mindset is understanding how a given piece of litigation fits within our clients' objectives and molding our litigation strategy accordingly," said Drozd, who co-chairs the litigation practice group at Davis Wright Tremaine.
8 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Plaintiffs Reach a $418M Market-Shifting Settlement With Realtor Group

The National Association of Realtors agreed to changes that could trim the commissions paid to agents as part of the deal reached with co-lead counsel at Ketchmark and McCreight, Boulware Law, Williams Dirks Dameron, Hagens Berman, Cohen Milstein, and Susman Godfrey.
7 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up this week include litigators from Quinn Emanuel, Keller Postman, Latham, MoFo and Steptoe.
6 minute read

Best Practices

How Kirkland & Ellis Litigators Became a National Brand in Oil and Gas

Kirkland & Ellis partners and recent Litigator of the Week runners-up Dan Donovan, Ragan Naresh and Anna Rotman discuss the value of learning clients' business goals and partnering with other firms across the country.
6 minute read

Webcast

Future-Proofing the Legal Team in the New AI World

Join this webcast on the transformative potential of GenAI for contract management.
3 minute read

Best Practices

Avoiding Potential Social Media Pitfalls of Modern Trial Practice

Southern California defense lawyer Deb Tropp and Philadelphia plaintiffs lawyer Jim Beasley Jr. think jurors can't help themselves when it comes to internet-snooping on trial counsel.
4 minute read

Analysis

Another Look at How AI Is Shaping Litigation Finance

Eva Shang, the CEO and co-founder of litigation funder Legalist, describes how generative AI helps shape its outreach to lawyers.
6 minute read

Best Practices

What the Judges Had to Say at the Class Action Law Forum

A handful of the juiciest nuggets jurists let fly during the three-day conference at the University of San Diego School of Law last week.
7 minute read

Q&A

Litigator of the Week: Akin's Pratik Shah Helps the Chamber Block the NLRB's 'Joint Employer' Rule

Representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, Shah secured a summary judgment decision striking down the rule that could have held companies liable as the employer of workers provided by staffing agencies or hired by franchisees.
5 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Visa and Mastercard can't escape the latest round of swipe fee antitrust litigation on summary judgment.
7 minute read

Analysis

How Judges Weigh Lead Counsel Decisions in Class Actions and MDLs

"I talk a lot to my new colleagues because it is kind of an animal many of them are not acquainted with. And it's like, 'What do we do?'" said Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the Northern District of California.
6 minute read

Commentary

Of Predictive Analytics and Robots: A First-Year Federal Judge's Thoughts on AI

U.S. District Judge Wesley Hsu says that judges' information online should be fair game for those putting together predictive analytics. Then again, as someone who previously spent more than a decade prosecuting cybercrime, he has a tiny digital fingerprint.
4 minute read

Q&A

In-House Lawyers See Class Action Costs Continue to Rise, and a Labor & Employment Surge on the Horizon

D. Matthew Allen, the chair of the national class actions practice at Carlton Fields, and co-director of the firm's annual survey of senior in-house lawyers at large companies, expands on the latest findings.
7 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: $284M and Counting From Elite Universities Accused of Price-Fixing

A federal judge in Chicago last week gave preliminary approval to three more settlements in the price-fixing case being handled by Bob Gilbert of Gilbert Litigators & Counselors, Ted Normand of Freedman Normand Friedland, and Eric Cramer of Berger Montague.
7 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up this week include litigators at Kirkland, Greenberg Traurig, Latham & Watkins and Quinn Emanuel.
6 minute read

Conversation

Covington's Stacey Grigsby on the Changing Legal Landscape for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Initiatives

Grigsby, who worked on civil rights issues as Deputy White House Counsel in the Biden Administration, returned to the firm earlier this year as a senior member of its institutional culture and social responsibility practice and co-chair of government litigation.
8 minute read

Research

In Length of Time to Settlement in Securities Class Actions, the Pandemic's Fingerprint Lingers

Among last year's settlements, the median time from when a case was filed to a settlement hearing date was 3.7 years, the second-highest for any year in Cornerstone Research records going back to 1996.
3 minute read

Analysis

Dorsey & Whitney Hits Back Against Complaint Claiming Firm Dragged Its Feet on Malpractice Suit Against Fellow Big Firm

Michael Reger claims his lawyers at Dorsey & Whitney admitted their reluctance to sue Faegre Drinker over a steakhouse lunch in September 2022.
5 minute read

Q&A

Litigation Leaders: HSG's Michael Shuster on Balancing a 'Street Fighter' Approach With Civility and Common Sense

Shuster, who helped found Holwell Shuster & Goldberg in 2012 after heading global commercial litigation at White & Case, says "the challenge there was the same as it is at HSG—build effective teams, make sure younger lawyers are receiving proper mentorship, achieve good results for clients."
9 minute read

Q&A

Litigator of the Week: Susman Lands $287M Verdict Against Samsung in Marshall, Texas … State Court

Alexandra (Lexie) White and her Susman Godfrey trial team convinced a state court jury that Samsung breached a 2016 settlement agreement with Dutch telecommunications company Koninklijke KPN N.V. when Samsung later took a license to a patent pool without paying KPN its due share.
6 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

A Skadden defense team secured an acquittal for semiconductor company Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. in a criminal trade secret and economic espionage case originally filed as part of the Justice Department's now-defunct China Initiative.
7 minute read

Research

Taking Stock of the Gender of Judges on State and Federal Appeals Courts

Comparing the current distributions of male and female judges in both the federal court of appeals and state courts of last resort.
7 minute read

Profile

Trick or Treat? How an Office Halloween Party Convo Led to a Quinn Associate's Appellate Argument

Alex Loomis, a seventh-year associate in Boston, landed a precedential First Circuit decision on personal jurisdiction issues in a case he first heard about from partner Bill Weinreb at an office Halloween party.
5 minute read

Analysis

How to Evaluate a Case Like a Plaintiffs Lawyer or Litigation Funder

Roman Silberfeld, the national trial chair of Robins Kaplan based in Los Angeles, and Allison Chock, director at litigation finance company Omni Bridgeway Management (USA), discuss the basics of their respective approaches to evaluate a potential case.
6 minute read

Quick Takes

The Litigators Among Am Law's Top Lateral Hires of 2023

By our count, litigation partners were central to nearly a third of The American Lawyer's annual list of the year's biggest moves in Big Law.
6 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Kirkland Duo Keeps Up Trial Streak With Defense Win for Samsung in $4B Patent Case

Adam Alper and Michael De Vries helped Samsung fight off infringement claims from Demaray LLC at trial in Waco, Texas, marking their seventh straight trial win in high-stakes cases.
12 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up this week include litigators from Orrick, Nelson Mullins, Faegre Drinker and Steptoe.
6 minute read

Best Practices

A DIY Approach to Mock Juror Focus Groups

Stuart Ratzan, founding partner of South Florida plaintiffs firm Ratzan Weissman & Boldt discusses what he gets out of hearing from seven to 12 mock jurors on issues varying from opening statements to witness credibility—sometimes 10 times or more on a particular case.
6 minute read

Best Practices

The Value of Having an Appellate Specialist on Your Trial Team

"We are error-correcting courts," said Florida appellate Judge Morris Silberman. "Appellate lawyers know what appellate judges need to make a decision that is based on the law."
4 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: In Mobile Gaming Showdown, a Side-Battle Over 'Bots'

King & Spalding partners Lazar Raynal and Chris Campbell won a $42.9 million verdict for mobile gaming client Skillz Platform Inc. after jurors in San Jose, California found that rival AviaGames willfully infringed a patent for pairing like-skilled players.
8 minute read

Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up honors this week go to litigators at Cleary, Latham, MoFo, Simpson Thacher and Skadden.
7 minute read

Latest
Trending

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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