Alabama Family and Personal
Injury Law Firm Chooses Law
Ruler Software
Charlotte
Christian,
managing
partner
and
founder of Charlotte Christian Law, conducted
a holistic market scan to determine what legal
software was available for law firms and
selected Law Ruler software as the best fit
for their needs, the software company said in
a release.
“The firm wanted to improve its existing intake and marketing
capabilities to save time and reduce workloads, while bringing
in more clients. The staff at Law Ruler were very supportive
of our needs, and integrated with our phone system to allow
Caller ID to open up the corresponding client file on the
screen, Click-to-Call features and other advanced features for
client interactions. Our goal as a firm is to make sure that
all clients receive the personal attention that they deserve,
and Law Ruler will help us deliver on that promise,” said
Charlotte Christian, Managing Partner and Founder of Charlotte
Christian Law.
“We are very excited to support the strong community of law
firms nationally. The decision of Charlotte Christian Law to
use Law Ruler Software is a testament to how our solution is
now a fit for law firms of all sizes and is truly plug and
play with existing systems as needed. Almost 50% of new
clients find their law firms online, so it is critical to have
all of the tools in your toolbox to help convert new leads to
clients from a firm’s marketing efforts. Law Ruler’s lead
intake software module is that toolbox,” said Daniel S Jacobs,
Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Law Ruler Software, LLC.
The release continues:
Law Ruler software leverages the marketing and operational
secrets of leading plaintiff law firm experts and is very
easy-to-use, plug-and-play legal software with three separate
or seamless modules for Lead/Intake/Marketing (More Clients),
Practice/Case Management (Lower Workload), and Trust/Financial
Accounting (Increase Profits) for plaintiff law firms. Law
Ruler legal software can work with your existing legal case
management software or on its own.
One of the key features that helps law firms save
reduce their workloads is that Law Ruler contains a
toolbox with everything that a law firm needs to
their lead-to-client conversions from their existing
time and
preloaded
increase
marketing
efforts, based on successful methods of leading plaintiff law
firm experts.
This includes preloaded integrations with electronic signature
providers, live chat providers, call centers/phone system and
VOIP providers, mobile phones, Google TM Calendar, Microsoft
TM Calendar, and is designed with a widget-type approach to
legal software.
Law Ruler software has everything built-in, which benefits law
firms with increased efficiencies, makes them more competitive
in an already competitive landscape, and prevents wasted time
in double, triple, and quadruple data entry.
Read the full news release.
Three Organizations
Honors on AZA
Bestow
Houston-based Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos,
Alavi & Mensing, also known as AZA, has
received recognition from three organizations,
including being cited as one of the nation’s
“most feared law firms.”
Legal research group BTI Consulting, which conducts a
comprehensive survey of corporate counsel at major U.S.
companies, included AZA on its “most feared” list on the basis
of extensive interviews with 300 general counsel and in-house
litigation counsel at top-spending companies and
organizations.
And AZA was listed as one of only 10 boutique firms nationally
recognized by the legal news publication Law360 for
successfully challenging the nation’s biggest law firms.
Law360 says the 2015 list includes firms that are on par with
the biggest firms but less expensive and more accessible to
clients.
The firm also earned selection as a Litigation Department of
the Year for 2015 by the publishers of Texas Lawyer newspaper.
Read details on the honors.
How to Determine What is a
Breach of Contract
One of the more common forms of business
disputes is a dispute over the failure to
perform certain obligations set forth in a
contract, and many businesses and individuals
often wonder what is or what constitutes a
“breach of contract,” writes Robert Fojo of
Fojo Dell’Orfano of New Hampshire.
“If you entered into a contract, performed your obligations
under that contract, and you are experiencing issues with
getting the other party to perform its own obligations, you
may have a situation where that party has not fulfilled its
end of the bargain,” he writes.
“What do you do next? This is a question that haunts many
businesses and individuals. How do you know what is a breach
of contract? Are there any specific steps that need to be
taken to make that determination? Should you go back and read
the actual contract? How long do you have to do this? Should
you talk to an attorney?”
Read the article.
LOIs
Are
Nothing
to
LOL
About: A Primer on Letters of
Intent
Letters of intent can be minefields, writes Jeffrey Brown of
Thompson Coburn.
“On the one hand, business people want to use them to tie up a
deal. On the other, they don’t want to be bound by them if
they want to walk away,” he explains in the article published
on JDSupra.com. “As one court explained, ‘It is a common
commercial practice for two negotiating parties to sign a
letter of intent or an agreement in principle, signaling that
they have come to a tentative agreement on the general
outlines of a deal without having nailed down all of the
details. Not infrequently, the negotiations that follow the
execution of this document break down, prompting the
disappointed party to sue on the theory that the preliminary
document is binding.’ ”
He writes that parties must be careful in drafting LOIs if
they want to avoid having a judge later hold that instead of a
precursor to an agreement, the LOI became an enforceable
agreement.
Read the article.
Seamlessly
Implementing
Safety in
Industry
the
Oil
&
Gas
Industrial Safety & Hygiene News has posted a complimentary
on-demand webinar on the challenging demands of maintaining
safety in the oil and gas industry as it involves
operators or lease owners, drillers and oil-field service
companies.
“It is inherently difficult to manage,” ISHN says on its
website. “As a result, implementing safety across all three
functions is equally challenging. This webinar will address
the activities that occur under each and how to seamlessly
implement these practices to ensure worker safety.”
The presenter is Mark Hansen, a past president and a Fellow of
the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and a subject
matter expert on oil and gas industry safety.
Watch the on-demand webinar.
Joseph
Ceccarelli
Joins
Wilson Elser’s NYC Office
National law firm Wilson Elser announces that
Joseph J. Ceccarelli has joined the firm’s New
York City office as a partner. Ceccarelli was
a founding and managing partner of Ceccarelli
Weprin PLLC, specializing in business and
commercial real estate litigation and
transactional work. He also served as
treasurer for now State Assemblyman David I. Weprin during
four consecutive successful election campaigns for Finance
Committee Chair of the New York City Council from 2002 through
2009.
“Joe is a welcome addition to our New York City office and our
national commercial services team,” said Partner Thomas
Manisero, chair of the firm’s Commercial Services practice.
“His experience handling complex commercial transactional and
litigation matters will benefit our clients across all
industries. His particular specialty in commercial real estate
enables us to bolster our capabilities in one of the city’s
thriving business sectors.”
In a release, the firm said:
With a career spanning more than 25 years, Ceccarelli has
developed a practice focused on commercial and real estate
litigation in federal and state courts. His strengths and
roots lie in New York City, representing high-stakes business
interests on Wall Street and owners, developers and managers
in the city’s real estate market.
Among the many services Ceccarelli provides his clients are
leasing in office and retail space asset classes; drafting and
negotiating service and construction contracts and other
building-related agreements; and strategic counsel related to
government and regulatory investigations, national and crossborder portfolio acquisitions, and distressed real estate and
related asset management.
He has also gained a reputation as a trusted and valued
advisor in supporting the cross-practice corporate and
litigation needs of growing enterprise software, music and
film production, recording artist and digital advertising
businesses.
Among Ceccarelli’s civic contributions is his successful pro
bono prosecution of the New York test case regarding
grandparents’ rights to raise grandchildren in the event of
abandonment by or death of the parents. He also served as
president and board member of New York City’s Future
Condominium from 1995 through 2003, a prominent example of
late modernist architecture for international high-rise
buildings.
Ceccarelli earned his J.D. degree from Fordham University
School of Law and graduated magna cum laude from Fordham
University with his B.A. degree in economics.
About Wilson Elser
Wilson Elser, a full-service and leading defense litigation
law firm (www.wilsonelser.com), serves its clients with nearly
800 attorneys in 27 offices in the United States and one in
London and through a network of affiliates in key regions
globally. Founded in 1978, it ranks among the top 200 law
firms identified by The American Lawyer and is included in the
top 50 of The National Law Journal’s survey of the nation’s
largest law firms.
iManage Leadership Completes
Buyout of Business Unit from
HP
The iManage leadership team has announced that
it has completed a buyout from Hewlett-Packard
(HP) for the purchase of the complete iManage
business, including its brand, products and
services. iManage co-founder and current
General Manager Neil Araujo is the CEO of the
management-owned company, now one of the
largest independent software companies focused on work product
management solutions for professional services firms and their
clients. Rafiq Mohammadi, also a co-founder and former CTO of
iManage, is returning to the company as Chief Scientist.
“With this buyout now complete, the iManage team has
rededicated itself to our customer and partner community
around the world,” said Araujo. “They have trusted us with
their most important assets, and we are proud to begin a new
era of innovation and ultimate market leadership in
partnership with them.”
The newly independent iManage is led by the founding
executives responsible for making iManage the market leader
relied upon by nearly 3,000 of the most prestigious
professional organizations worldwide. iManage helps legal,
accounting and financial services firms and the corporate
departments they serve streamline the creation, sharing,
governance and security of their work product to improve
productivity and client service.
With a 20-year innovation track record and support from an
existing global network of integration partners, the newly
independent iManage is a well-established and profitable
business. Today, 80 percent of the largest law firms in the
U.S., a majority of the largest firms in Europe and more than
400 corporate legal departments rely on iManage. In addition
to WorkSite (document and email management), the HP products
in this transaction include LinkSite (secure file sharing),
Universal Search (enterprise search and analytics) and
WorkSite Records Manager (records and information governance.)
iManage will continue utilizing HP cloud services for its
private and hybrid cloud offerings. The company will also
resell relevant HP products, including TeleForm and HP Process
Automation, and will have ongoing access to other relevant
technology, including HP IDOL. In addition, iManage will
maintain its partnership with HP Managed Print Services for
document process automation solutions based on integrating HP
multifunction devices with WorkSite.
“For us, iManage is much more than a product; it’s a community
that spans our people, partners, customer organizations and
nearly one million users, many of whom have been with us for a
decade or more,” said Araujo. “This buyout allows us to serve
the community we care about with a culture based on listening
and working with customers, developing innovative products and
providing best-in-class services and support.”
Industry Response
“It’s rare in enterprise software to see a management team
with 18 years continuous experience in a market space make the
decision to recommit and go deeper. It says a lot about the
company’s belief in its opportunity, and its confidence in its
product direction and the loyalty of its customers,” said
Melissa Webster, Program Vice President, Content and Digital
Media Technologies at IDC. “iManage’s unwavering focus on
customer needs around managing professional work products,
together with insights gained from extensive interviews with
end users, should enable the company to innovate with fresh
approaches – both for productivity and for security and
governance.”
“This is very exciting news,” said Andy Jurczyk, CIO at
Seyfarth Shaw. “At Seyfarth we constantly look for better ways
to serve our clients, and iManage is key to our business as it
helps our attorneys manage client work product. We believe an
independent iManage will gain industry focus, scale and
agility to drive the innovation we need to deliver legal
services more efficiently, more effectively and more
transparently.”
“We rely on iManage as a best-of-breed solution for electronic
matter management,” said Richard Harris, CIO of Freshfields
Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. “As the provider of one of our
business-critical applications, it is vital that we also have
a close relationship with the iManage team, and we have always
found them exceptional in this regard. We are delighted to see
iManage take this next step in their evolution and look
forward to the renewed focus this will bring to developing the
best possible tools for legal communities.”
“It’s been a pleasure working with such an experienced and
cohesive team that is passionate about client productivity.
Given iManage’s loyal customer base and proven financial
performance, the company is well positioned to drive growth
and innovation within Enterprise Content Management Software,”
said John Smart, Managing Director, BMO Harris Bank. “We are
excited to be the financial partner of choice for what we
believe will be a dynamic Chicago based technology company,
one that is changing how professionals work.”
Key Facts
The management team owns the controlling interest in the
newly independent iManage. HP has no financial interest.
iManage counts among its global customers 1,800 law
firms, including 80 percent of the top 100, and more
than 400 corporate legal departments, 120 government
agencies and 250 financial services firms.
iManage continues to grow; in its last full fiscal year
under HP, iManage added one new customer on average of
every two business days.
The company is profitable and well capitalized through a
financial partnership with Bank of Montreal.
iManage will be headquartered in Chicago, with offices
in Silicon Valley, London and Bangalore.
About iManage
iManage is the leading provider of work product management
solutions for legal, accounting and financial services firms
and the corporate departments they serve worldwide. Every day
iManage helps professionals streamline the creation, sharing,
governance and security of their work product. Nearly 3,000
organizations around the world—including more than 1,800 law
firms—rely on iManage to help them deliver great client work.
Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., iManage is a management-owned
company.
Corporate Legal Operations:
PepsiCo
Configuration
Optimization
LexisNexis Software Solutions will present a complimentary
webinar on enterprise legal management (ELM) using a case
study that shows how a system resent enhanced PepsiCo’s
ebilling efficiency.
The event will be Tuesday, August 18, at 1 p.m. EDT.
Implemented in 2008, the LexisNexis CounselLink enterprise
legal management system was originally configured to align
with the PepsiCo law department’s business unit- based
operations structure. After numerous complaints by internal
staff relating to the processing of invoices, PepsiCo’s
Director of Business Operations, Jerome Walters, recognized
that the company’s CounselLink system needed to be realigned
to reflect the changes that had occurred in the food and
beverage giant’s organizational structure since the
CounselLink implementation.
Register for the webinar.
TCP to Pay $3.9 Million in
Settlement
With
Former
General Counsel
The former general counsel of TCP International Holdings of
Aurora, Ohio, has reached a settlement with the company in her
lawsuit alleging the company’s former CEO of physically
assaulting her, of threatening and bullying her, of damaging
the value of the company for stockholders, and of unethical
and reckless business practices.
TCP, one of the country’s leading LED light bulb
manufacturers, settled the suit brought by Laura Hauser, for
$3.9 million, according to SEC documents filed this week,
according to Cleveland.com.
“Hauser, the company’s general counsel since 2013, sued her
boss, former CEO Ellis Yan, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas
Court in February,” the website reported.
Read the article.
$19.9 Million Jury Verdict in
Houston Securities Fraud Case
A Texas state court jury handed down a $19.9 million verdict
against Canadian stock promoter Robert Kubbernus based upon
findings of fraud and violations of the Texas Securities Act,
according to a report on PRWeb. The verdict included actual
and punitive damages, and after pre-judgment interest and
attorney’s fees and expenses are added, the total judgment
could exceed $25 million. The case, JoAnn Schermerhorn, et al.
v. CenturyLink, Inc. and Robert Kubbernus, et al., was tried
before Judge Michael Landrum of the Harris County District
Court in Cause No. 2010-09675.
New York City-based Samuel Goldman & Associates was retained
by more than 60 investors and shareholders in SkyComm
Technologies Corp., to pursue their claims against Kubbernus
and CenturyLink, the company that turned control of SkyComm
over to him in 2006. SG&A worked with local trial counsel,
Eric Fryar and Christina Richardson, of Houston’s Fryar Law
Firm, and Harold Obstfeld, a New York securities litigator, in
securing the verdict after five and a half years of litigation
and a three week trial.
Read the story.
Real Estate Development and
Construction Contracts: What
You Need to Know
Matthew J.
few items
contracts,
on Drafting
DeVries of Burr & Forman offers a
to think about when drafting
relying on a book titled “Courses
Contracts.”
He quotes author and business attorney Peter Siviglia when he
writes, “the contract will help define: (1) a transaction,
such as the purchase of real estate; (2) a relationship, such
as a partnership, or (3) a combination of both, such as a
partnership to purchase and develop real estate.”
Other subjects include “A contract is a set of instructions,”
and “A contract should include standard provisions.”
Read the article in Lexology.
California
Upholds
Controversial
Arbitration
Clause
Within
Consumer
Contract
After a trial court and intermediate appellate court had ruled
that an arbitration clause in a consumer contract was
unconscionable, the California Supreme Court reversed in a
recent ruling, finding the clause was enforceable in Sanchez
v. Valencia Holding Co., LLC, reports Liz Kramer in Stinson
Leonard Street’s Arbitration Nation.
She wrote: “[T]he court found that because the buyer could not
negotiate the provisions of the sales contract, he had
established ‘some degree of procedural unconscionability.’
(The buyer did not have to prove he tried to negotiate the
arbitration clause.) The court could then address the buyer’s
claims of substantive unconscionability.”
“This decision puts California squarely in the mainstream on
the unconscionability of arbitration agreements,” she
continued. “It also offers very useful guidance for California
courts (or those applying California contract law) facing
future arguments about the unconscionability of arbitration
clauses.”
Read the article.
Munck Wilson Mandala Adds
Attorney Aaron Davidson as
Dallas Partner
Munck
Wilson
Mandala,
the
Dallas-based
technology law firm, announces that litigation
attorney Aaron D. Davidson is joining the firm
as a partner.
In a release, the firm said that Davidson represents both
plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation and
intellectual property disputes, including patent, trademark,
copyright, and trade secret matters. With extensive experience
in life sciences litigation, Davidson also represents
pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in product
liability lawsuits and government investigations. As defense
counsel, he recently defeated a nine-figure patent damages
claim that was featured in Texas Lawyer newspaper (Volterra
Semiconductor Corp. v. Primarion).
“As a firm, two of our primary areas of focus are technology
and trial work,” says William Munck, managing partner of Munck
Wilson Mandala. “Aaron certainly strengthens both areas, and
his skills in the courtroom will greatly benefit our clients.”
Davidson has earned repeated recognition on the annual Texas
Rising Stars list of the state’s top young lawyers based on
his work in intellectual property litigation and business
litigation, representing clients in jurisdictions across the
country. He began his practice at Baker Botts L.L.P. where he
worked as a partner for the last seven years.
Davidson earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law
School and holds a B.A. in Political Science from Taylor
University, graduating magna cum laude.
“Aaron Davidson is an excellent addition to our practice
group,” says Jamil Alibhai, chair of Munck Wilson’s Litigation
Section. “His litigation experience will be a great asset to
the firm and our clients.”
Munck Wilson Mandala is a technology-focused law firm with
offices in Dallas and Marshall, Texas, with an emphasis on
patent, trade secret, trademark and other intellectual
property disputes. According to the release, the firm offers
full-service counsel in the areas of intellectual property
litigation, complex commercial litigation, intellectual
property portfolio development, corporate transactions and
securities, and employment law. Munck Wilson Mandala
represents clients from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies.
Dykema Adds Litigators Lea
Courington
and
R.
Chris
Harvey to Dallas Office
National law firm Dykema has announced the addition of Lea
Courington and R. Chris Harvey, both as senior counsel, to its
Dallas office at Comerica Bank Tower. Prior to joining Dykema,
both Courington and Harvey practiced at the Dallas firm of
Stewart Courington Dugger Dean, PLLC.
Courington focuses her practice on health care, government
investigations and white collar criminal defense, antitrust
and pharmaceutical matters. She defends physicians, hospitals,
health care systems, other healthcare providers, and officers
and directors in False Claims Act and qui tam cases. She also
represents them in parallel criminal and civil governmental
investigations and program integrity inquiries and audits
arising from whistleblower complaints and allegations of
Medicare and Medicaid fraud. A former trial attorney with the
U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, her experience
includes both civil cases and the prosecution and defense of
white collar federal criminal matters.
Courington has successfully defended physicians, nurses,
pharmacists, and other health care providers before their
respective state licensing boards and has extensive experience
in medical staff peer review investigations and proceedings.
She negotiates clinical trial agreements and counsels and
assists clients with disclosure obligations in reimbursement,
overpayment, anti-kickback, and Stark Law matters, as well as
structuring transactions to comply with those statutes.
Courington, who has been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer
each year since 2007, received a J.D. from Duke University
School of Law, and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Southern
Methodist University.
For more than 40 years, Harvey has tried a wide variety of
cases ranging from motion picture antitrust cases to First
Amendment cases to complex products liability actions. He
previously served as the head of the products liability
division at Strasburger & Price. He has extensive experience
in the trial of products liability cases over a wide variety
of products involving catastrophic injuries.
Harvey was selected as a Fellow of the American College of
Trial Lawyers in 1991, has served as Chairman of the Dallas
County Grievance Committee and Chairman of the Disciplinary
Review Committee of the State Bar of Texas, and has also
served on the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas.
Harvey has been recognized by the Best Lawyers in America each
year since 2010, including being listed as the 2013 “Lawyers
of the Year” in Dallas for Product Liability Litigation –
Defendants Product Liability. He received an LL.B. from the
University of Texas Law School, and a B.B.A. from the
University of Texas.
“We are very pleased to welcome both Lea and Chris to our
Healthcare and Litigation practices in Dallas,” said Bill
Finkelstein, Managing Member of Dykema’s Dallas office. “Their
experience handling such a wide variety of matters will make
them valuable resources for the firm and its clients.”
What
Contract
Risks
Hiding in the Cloud?
are
The International Association for Contract &
Commercial Management and Iron Mountain offer
a complimentary on-demand webinar covering the
best ways to manage risk with both licensed
software and SaaS applications and data.
“Eight out of every 10 new applications are being built for
the cloud,” IACCM says on its website.” So, as your
organization moves forward with contracting, how can you
ensure that your applications and data are protected? Unlike
on-premises software, your application and data both reside in
the cloud. If something happens to your provider, you need to
be prepared.”
Attendees will uncover answers to questions such as:
– What can I do proactively to safeguard my company in case
something happens to my SaaS provider?
– How can I mitigate the risk of data loss?
– Are there templates/process documents I can use to evaluate
my risk?
– Which terms and conditions should I include in my contracts?
– What are the best practices to safeguard SaaS applications
and data?
Watch the on-demand webinar.
High-Tech Compliance in the
Digital Age
Epstein Becker Green offers a complimentary on-demand webinar
for employers who need to understand the rapidly evolving
developments in federal and state laws and regulations. The
webinar will help participants determine whether they require
actions today to minimize a company’s legal exposure.
The event covers privacy and security questions when dealing
with employees, fiduciary responsibilities in connection with
plan participant data, and website accessibility.
Presenters are Epstein Becker Green lawyers Michelle Capezza,
Nathaniel M. Glasser, Adam C. Solander and Joshua A. Stein.
Watch the on-demand webinar.
The Importance of Training in
Your
Cyber
Compliance
Program: Webinar
Click 4 Compliance has posted a complimentary on-demand
webinar the frequently overlook vital components of an
effective cybersecurity program, including vendor management,
well-crafted policies and robust procedures and training.
Employees are the first line of defense, the company says, so
regular and proper training remains a critical component for
cybersecurity and data privacy compliance.
The webinar is designed to help participants:
Improve day-to-day security
Reduce the risk of a data breach
Reduce the risk of insider threats
Watch the on-demand webinar.
Contractural
Stabilization
Clauses: Oil Firms Navigate
Price-Related Changes of Law
The oil price crashes of the 1970s led to a wave of
nationalization and changes to petroleum legislation by oil-
producing states. Contractual stabilization clauses could help
international oil companies (IOCs) protect their interests
should the same occur again, reports Pinsent Masons in its
Out-Law.com blog.
“Stabilisation clauses can be an effective tool to improve an
IOC’s negotiating position when dealing with a change in law
affecting the terms of an upstream petroleum contract. It is
important to have the right approach to negotiating
stabilisation clauses to achieve a mutually beneficial
position for the IOC and the host state,” write George Booth,
Niazi Kabalan and Leo Shaw for the firm.
Read the article.
Buchanan Nabs IP Litigators
for Expansion in Philadelphia
Office
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney has announced the addition of two
highly experienced intellectual property attorneys,
shareholder Alfred W. Zaher and counsel Shawn S. Li, Ph.D., to
the firm’s Philadelphia office. The new hires expand
Buchanan’s nationwide IP practice in the northeast corridor.
In a release, the firm said Zaher and Li will focus their
practices on patent and trademark litigation, patent
prosecution, licensing and counseling with a heavy focus on
U.S. and international clients in the biotechnology,
pharmaceutical, chemical, electronics, software and medical
device industries. Both also have extensive experience
advising multinational clients on protecting IP rights in
China.
“Alfred and Shawn bring an expanded offering to Buchanan
adding to our already strong national patent and trademark
litigation and post-grant practices. Their experience in the
Asia Pacific region gives a boost to Buchanan’s expanding
reach, particularly in an emerging market such as China,” said
Matthew L. Schneider, section leader of Buchanan’s IP Section.
“Buchanan provided unique strengths and the feel of an IP
boutique with the broader-based platform of a strong national
general practice firm. We saw this as a tremendous opportunity
not only to grow our IP practice in the US, Europe and China,
but also to expand into corporate and other opportunities not
available at other firms,” said Zaher.
“We were looking for a full-service firm with an international
reach that could support our growing practice particularly in
the biotech and software space, and also provide the expertise
that would allow us to assist our clients in other areas such
as FDA, corporate and immigration. Buchanan has the resources
in place to meet those needs,” said Li.
“We are very excited to have Alfred and Shawn join us here in
Philadelphia. Their practices are a great complement to our
current capabilities, and we are already actively working on
increased client opportunities. They are a welcome part of our
office’s and our firm’s continued growth, both in practice
areas and client base,” said Joseph A. Dougherty, Buchanan’s
CEO-Elect.
Both Zaher and Li join the firm from Novak Druce’s
Philadelphia office and bring a wealth of experience to
Buchanan, the release said.
Zaher, a first-chair litigator, concentrates his practice on
patent, trademark and trade secret litigation, licensing and
counseling. He has experience representing clients before U.S.
courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S.
Copyright Office. Zaher leverages his working relationships
with Chinese officials and law firms to successfully manage
clients’ patent and trademark portfolios in China, including
identifying and prosecuting infringers in the Chinese court
system.
Before entering law, Zaher was a research electrical engineer
with more than 10 years of technical experience at
organizations such as The Boeing Company and Litton
Industries. He earned a law degree from St. John’s University,
engaged in graduate studies in Electrical Engineering at
Drexel University and earned a B.S. degree in Engineering
Science from the City University of New York.
Dr. Li’s comprehensive intellectual property practice involves
developing global protection strategies,
prosecuting U.S. and international patent
drafting and
applications,
representing clients in reexamination proceedings before the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and negotiating and
preparing complex licenses and related agreements. He also
advises clients on issues related to protecting intellectual
property in China.
In addition to gaining experience working for nationally
recognized law firms, Dr. Li has worked as a postdoctoral
research fellow in the department of physiology at the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and as a
graduate research assistant at the Skirball Institute of
Biomolecular Medicine at the New York University School of
Medicine. He earned his law degree from Temple University, a
Ph.D. and M.S. degree in Pharmacology from New York University
and a B.S. degree in Biology from Peking University.
About the Firm
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC has more than 530 attorneys and
government relations professionals practicing throughout the
United States, with an office in Washington, D.C. and in 18
cities across states, including California, Colorado,
Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Arbitrator Exceeded Authority
in Multiple-Party, MultipleContract AAA Arbitration
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling in a vacatur of
arbitral award case, found that an arbitrator exceeded his
authority in a multiple-party, multiple-contract AAA
arbitration by acting in accordance with one arbitration
agreement, but contrary to the arbitrator appointment and
forum selection clauses in other arbitration agreements
involving an intervening party.
Baker & McKenzie associate Eileen Theresa Flynn, writing in an
article posted on Lexology, wrote about PoolRe Ins. Corp. v.
Organizational Strategies, Inc.
“Reviewing the vacatur de novo, the Fifth Circuit agreed that
Ramos acted contrary to the express provisions of the PoolRe
arbitration agreements and affirmed the vacatur decision,”
Flynn wrote.
Read the article.