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Healy Law Firm Receives $20.2M Verdict
Law Firm News |
2007/11/21 18:23
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A Cook County jury recently awarded a total of $20.2 million to three families, whose children were killed in a car accident with a Dean Foods tractor-trailer at an Indiana intersection in case number L016261. Martin Healy, Jr., Daniel Malone, and David Huber of The Healy Law firm represented the estate of the passengers of the car, Diana Kakidas and Adam McDonald. The jury awarded $8 million to each of the families of these two passengers. The family of Christina Chakonas, the driver, was represented by another firm, and was awarded $7 million. Due to the driver's contributory negligence of failure to yield at a stop sign, this settlement was reduced by forty percent, and $4.2 million received.
According to a recording module on the truck, operator Jamie Reeves was driving 9.5 miles over the posted speed limit of 40 mph. It was also claimed that he was over the federally mandated hours of service for the week. All three plaintiffs filed suit against Jaime Reeves, The Alder Group, Inc. and Alco of Wisconsin, Inc., his employers, as well as Dean Foods Company, on whose behalf he was transporting milk at the time of the accident. Dean Foods denied that Reeves was its agent.
At trial, all parties presented expert testimony interpreting event recorders on both the tractor-trailer and the car. The Healy Law Firm contended the event recorders on the tractor-trailer showed the driver of the truck was in fact speeding. The defense argued the event recorder on the car showed that the driver failed to stop at the stop sign, and that the driver of the tractor-trailer was actually traveling under the speed limit prior to the collision.
The Healy Law Firm focuses on representing seriously injured individuals and their families against multi-million dollar corporations and insurance companies. By combining aggressive representation with compassionate client service, the firm offers superior legal counsel to injured parties, working tirelessly to secure fair financial compensation on behalf its injured clients. Among legal professionals and Illinois residents, the attorneys of The Healy Law Firm are recognized as an excellent choice for experienced and proficient legal representation. |
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Reed Smith Enhances Tax Legal Practice
Law Firm News |
2007/11/21 17:49
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The US Law Firm Newswire - Reed Smith, one of the 15 largest law firms in the world, today announced the addition of Michael J. Wynne as a partner in the firm’s State Tax Practice in the Chicago office, effective November 19.
“Michael’s arrival at Reed Smith will greatly enhance our tax capabilities in Chicago and firmwide,” said Michael A. LoVallo, the firm’s Chicago Managing Partner. His many years of experience especially in Illinois tax practice will broaden our expertise in state tax litigation matters.”
Mr. Wynne brings 23 years of experience in state and local tax litigation, planning, policy and regulatory matters. His private practice background includes service as a partner in the law firms of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, and Baker & McKenzie LLP, in each instance leading that firm’s state and local tax practice. Mr. Wynne also served as partner in charge of the Midwest state and local tax services group for the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
According to Lee A. Zoeller, firmwide chair of Reed Smith’s State Tax Practice, “Our State Tax Practice is already among the top five in the country. The addition of Michael moves us closer to our objective of building a state tax practice which provides our clients with the best legal representation in all major jurisdictions. Mike is one of the best state tax lawyers in Illinois and we are looking forward to having him on our team. With over 20 lawyers from coast to coast we can provide state tax representation wherever it is needed.”
A significant part of Mr. Wynne’s experience was gained in government service. He served as General Counsel to the Illinois Department of Revenue, leading the Department’s regulatory, legislative support, and adjudicative functions. He also served as Acting Chief, and previously Deputy Chief, of the Illinois Attorney General’s Revenue Litigation Division, where he participated as, and supervised, trial and appellate counsel for the State in all tax and revenue-related matters.
“A successful multistate tax controversy practice applies intimate knowledge of a particular jurisdiction’s law and its tax administration to the client’s issues, and does so with consistent high quality throughout the country.” said Mr. Wynne. “Reed Smith is building a State Tax Practice that makes that possible and is therefore capable of delivering outstanding results for its clients. I am delighted that I will get to work with other Reed Smith partners who have experiences similar to mine in other major states. I will continue to work in other states, but obviously the greatest contribution to the Reed Smith State Tax Practice will come from building on my long experience and significant work in Illinois.”
Mr. Wynne is a 1984 graduate of the John Marshall Law School and a 1981 graduate of Southern Illinois University. He has served on the Advisory Committee of the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois, the Tax Committee of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, and the State and Local Tax Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association. He is also a former Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Committee and a frequent national speaker and author on tax policy matters.
Since the merger of Reed Smith with Sachnoff & Weaver this past March, 19 lawyers have joined in the Chicago office. The Chicago office is well known for its litigation capabilities, especially in the areas of IP, Financial Services and Insurance Recovery. The office has one of the most sophisticated policyholder practices in the country particularly especially in the area of D&O liability issues. On the corporate side, in Chicago, the firm has a strong private equity practice, lending and real estate practice, and bankruptcy capabilities.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is one of the 15 largest law firms in the world, with more than 1,500 lawyers in 21 offices throughout the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its attorneys provide litigation services in multi-jurisdictional matters and other high stake disputes, deliver regulatory counsel, and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising and media, shipping, international trade and commodities, real estate, manufacturing, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com
U.S.: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Oakland, Princeton, Northern Virginia, Wilmington, Century City, Richmond
Europe: London, Paris, Munich, Birmingham, Greece
Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Dubai |
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Skadden Beefs up Security with Endpoint
Law Firm News |
2007/11/21 17:24
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Endpoint security has given one of the world's largest law firms the ironclad network security it needs to enforce its strict policies while also ensuring that the network and the computers connected to it are safe from attack.
It wasn't always that way at Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom LLP. When the network was put in place in 1992, policies were relatively relaxed. Drives were open to allow end users to write and save to floppy disks and other media. It took only about a week for a virus to get out onto the network.
According to Nancy Lundergan, manager of security and process at Skadden, that one incident led to a re-evaluation of network security.
"We can't have that," she said, adding that by nature the law firm's network is a portal to massive amounts of confidential data, such as case files and other necessary legal information.
But with nearly 5,000 endpoints deployed throughout the network, Lundergan said, Skadden's options for locking things down were somewhat limited. The firm wanted an agentless monitoring and remediation tool to support layered internal security management.
Lundergan said the agentless portion was a must because, with the number of endpoints in use, it would be nearly impossible for Skadden's IT staff to install a client-based software solution on each and every machine.
As it stands, Skadden allows only desktop PCs to access the network. Laptops and notebooks are a no-no. Most of the firm's applications are on Citrix servers, so there are not many applications saved on the actual desktops themselves.
Originally, Skadden looked to network access control (NAC) solutions to make sure that desktops accessing the network were approved and to push devices that were not up to snuff into an Internet-only environment. Lundergan said NAC is currently being implemented in some of Skadden's 22 physical offices and could be in use in many by early next year. But along with NAC, Lundergan wanted an additional layer of endpoint security.
Skadden went with Promisec's Spectator Professional for its clientless endpoint security needs.
"We don't have to worry about deploying it on the machines," Lundergan said. "We can centrally run it. We didn't even look at agent-based solutions."
And with Skadden's "strict" security policy that bars file sharing, Skype, music players and most other types of downloads, being able to scan and monitor the applications that computers are running is a necessity, Lundergan said.
"We want to make sure people aren't using their work machines as jukeboxes," she said. "This is the desktop we have out there, and we make sure machines are doing what they're supposed to do."
Lundergan said she frequently scans the network to see the applications loaded on desktops and what processes they have gone through. She said she can search through registries and follow digital footprints to ensure that security and use policies are followed.
"If I find something, I can isolate it and do a deeper scan," she said.
It's imperative that Skadden be able to identify and fix deviations from its policy without creating a negative impact on the network's performance or integrity, Lundergan added. She can monitor who is on the network and when, ensuring that all software and hardware being used is approved while also making sure that there are no hidden threats inside the network.
Also, she said, since Promisec's solution installs on one server, it offers that agentless, single point of management that the firm's network of Windows-based machines requires.
"It's very important for us to be able to know that our endpoints are secure across the entire enterprise," Lundergan said. |
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Winston & Strawn Settles Claim with GE Rainmaker
Law Firm News |
2007/11/21 17:15
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Winston & Strawn has settled on the eve of trial a lawsuit brought against it by a New York partner who claimed the firm broke a deal to exempt him from "decompression," a policy sharply reducing partners' pay after age 65, writes the New York Law Journal.
Throughout the 1990s, Anthony LoFrisco, 74, was one of the law firm's highest-paid partners, based largely on his close relationship with former General Electric (GE) chairman John "Jack" Welch. According to a 1994 agreement with Chicago-based Winston, LoFrisco was to be paid an amount equal to at least 13% of the firm's GE billings.
That arrangement expired in 2001 but LoFrisco claimed in his 2003 lawsuit that the firm agreed that year to extend the deal and exempt him from decompression. He accused the firm of reneging the following year, with decompression reducing his pay from $2.3m (£1.1m) in 2002 to $350,000 (£170,000) in 2004.
Trial in the matter was scheduled to begin Monday before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman. But the parties said in a joint statement yesterday (20 November) that they reached an “amicable settlement” of the dispute on 10 November. The terms of the settlement are confidential.
As a result of the settlement, the parties stated: "LoFrisco's lawsuit will be dismissed and he will resign from the firm on 26 November, 2007."
Both Winston's lawyer, Philip Forlenza of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, and LoFrisco's lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz of Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason Anello & Bohrer, declined to comment further.
The settlement ends an unusual suit that had drawn much attention to the issue of how firms handle aging rainmakers, many more of whom are now challenging firm policies that envision retirement at age 65 or earlier. In recent years, many firms have shown greater willingness to waive decompression, mandatory retirement or similar policies for older partners still responsible for large amounts of business.
The sensitive issue of how to manage aging partnerships was thrust into the spotlight last month after Sidley Austin agree to pay $27.5m (£13.1m) to settle an age discrimination claim with 32-former partners who were forced to give up equity partner status in 1999. |
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Ringler Kearney Alvarez Announces New Partner
Law Firm News |
2007/11/18 17:03
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Ringler Kearney Alvarez is pleased to announce that Paul G. Szumiak has joined the Firm as a partner, and Richard L. Rosett and C. Jerry Kutner have been announced as Of Counsel. Ringler Kearney Alvarez LLP specializes in high value, highly sophisticated litigation in the areas of class actions, business torts and catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death matters.
The firm deploys its well-honed trial abilities, in-depth legal knowledge, and vast investigative resources to provide tenacious and highly focused representation to every client. Each client is represented by a highly skilled legal team lead by experienced trial attorneys specializing in the specific legal issues surrounding the case. Our courtroom victories and proven results position the firm as leaders in the practice of trial law.
http://www.rkallp.com
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Greenberg Traurig named US Law Firm of the Year
Law Firm News |
2007/11/14 22:43
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Greenberg Traurig, an international law firm with offices in Orlando, was named the USA Law Firm of the Year by Chambers and Partners at a Nov. 8 awards ceremony in London.
The Chambers Global Awards Program honors excellence in legal services in countries around the world. Finalists are determined by independent research carried out during the prior year, with the winning firms selected by a panel that includes international corporate buyers of legal services.
Among the reasons why judges tapped the firm for the honor: Greenberg Traurig's commitment "to providing a broad national and international service to clients," as well as its "track record of working on big-ticket transactions."
Other law firm finalists for this award included: Latham & Watkins LLP, Ropes & Gray LLP, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Hogan & Hartson LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP. In 2006, Greenberg Traurig and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP were selected as runners-up for the award.
"The award is more than a tribute to the commitment to excellence by every member of our team -- it is a tribute to our clients," says Michael Sullivan, co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig's Orlando office.
"On behalf of the Greenberg Traurig team, we thank our clients for this significant accolade," adds Orlando Evora, co-managing shareholder of the Orlando office.
Greenberg Traurig LLP is an international, full-service law firm with more than 1,700 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals in the U.S. and Europe. Florida offices include Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach.
The law firm has 55 attorneys in Orlando.
Since 1969, Chambers and Partners has published The Chambers Guide, which lists the top lawyers in 175 countries. |
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