COUNSELING THE SUBPOENAED
Whether it’s a customer who simply wants to know his or her account balance or the Department of Justice asking for e-mails from the last 10 years, requests for information from companies can come from a wide variety of sources.
Oftentimes, companies call on their outside counsel for advice on handling the requests � sometimes when it’s too late, said Nixon Peabody partner and litigator Bruce Copeland.
“I get between 20 and 30 calls a year on this,” he said.
Subpoenas won’t go away, Copeland told an audience of about 15 corporate attorneys Wednesday. “Don’t let it sit on the corner of your desk until the day before, and God forbid, the day after!”
Copeland was speaking at a seminar titled “When A Stranger Calls,” organized by the local chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel. The seminar took attendees through several typical scenarios of information requests that sometimes flummox in-house counsel.
Copeland’s first bit of advice? Make sure your company has a document-retention policy that it follows consistently. Second, always respond to subpoenas quickly because doing so will actually afford you more legal protection down the line. For example, he said, a company will be better protected legally by responding with an objection to the subpoena � to which the other side is required to respond � than if the company doesn’t respond at all.
Governmental regulatory agencies request and are entitled to receive a great deal of information, Copeland said, and it’s important to know that turning documents over to such an agency could be considered a waiver of attorney-client privilege. Copeland’s co-speaker at the seminar, Slide Inc. General Counsel John Duncan, said it’s also important to check the requesting agency’s credentials.
“People call me and say, ‘I’m on the joint federal task force’ for this or that,” Duncan said. “Sometimes they turn out to be, and sometimes they don’t.”
Sometimes, companies receive “informal” requests. Perhaps a salesperson receives such a request, and rather than running it by the legal staff, he or she fields the call themselves and inadvertently turns over confidential information.
This scenario, Copeland said, is why all employees at a company need to know that they can call their in-house counsel anytime they’ve received any kind of informational request.
Duncan offered a suggestion for persuading employees to notify counsel.
“You can tell them, ‘If you turn over the information, you might have to show up in court and testify about it. If you let me handle it, I’ll have to go to court.’”
� Jessie Seyfer
THROWING MONEY AT A GORILLA
What does it take to make lawyers go bananas for giving? Koko the gorilla, of course.
Sixteen law firms raised a total $1.17 million in their San Francisco offices for charitable causes and a chance to win the coveted Koko prize from the United Way, awarded Thursday at the offices of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
Firms that raised the most money over the past year walked away with a fat, stuffed replica of the gorilla of sign-language and alleged nipple-fetish fame.
Gordon & Rees won the Big Koko award (for offices with more than 100 lawyers) for raising a total of $310,000 in its United Way campaign. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal won the Little Koko award (for offices with 46 to 100 lawyers) for the second year in a row, having raised more than $150,000. Squire, Sanders & Dempsey brought home the Baby Koko award given to offices with fewer than 45 lawyers.
“It’s great to have Koko, but it really helps the communities of the Bay Area that need our help,” said Gordon & Rees partner Andrew Cary, who headed the firm’s campaign.
The tradition of challenging law firms to raise money for good causes with a little friendly competition began 18 years ago with collaboration between the Bay Area General Counsel Group and United Way.
“The original thought was that general counsels of their clients could probably increase their giving,” said Bob Becker of BAGCG.
Few know why Koko was originally chosen for the award, but there is speculation that it’s either because Koko was a popular icon at the time, or because law firms are thought of as 800-pound gorillas, or because lawyers themselves sometimes behave like, well …
Other law firms participating in the Koko challenge were last year’s winner Felice Brown Eassa and McLeod; McKenna Long & Aldridge; Nossaman Guthner Knox & Elliott; Ropes & Gray; and Squire, Sanders in the Baby Koko category. Baker & McKenzie; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Keker & Van Nest; Nixon Peabody; Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker; and Sonnenschein were in the Little Koko category. Gordon & Rees; Heller Ehrman; Morrison & Foerster; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; and Pillsbury Winthrop, last year’s winner, were in the Big Koko category.
Lynn Davis, a Pillsbury senior facilities coordinator, walked away with the top banana award for her role as the best United Way campaign organizer.
� Zusha Elinson
