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Reed Smith Bulks Up in China by Adding a Dewey & LeBoeuf Office
Reed Smith continued expanding in China with the addition of a Beijing office of recently merged Dewey & LeBoeuf. The firm will get two partners and what it calls an additional “team of attorneys and legal professionals” including partners Sharon J. Mann and Hugh T. Scogin Jr. The acquisition follows Reed Smith’s Jan. 1 merger with Richards Butler Hong Kong, which gave the firm 110 lawyers and a license to practice in Beijing. The firm also recently snagged Greenberg Traurig shareholder Jinshu Zhang in L.A.
The Double Edge of Digital Video at Trial
Videos became central to litigants’ trial presentations on whether defendant protesters conspired to inflict emotional distress and intrude on the privacy of a parent attending the funeral of his soldier-son. In the end, the videos made the jury a witness to what took place.
After Absorbing Law Firms, Real Work Begins
National law firms that absorbed midsize Chicago firms last year are remolding them, taking in new partners and dispatching others as they build certain practice areas. For the most part, few firms reported departing attorneys. But a key defection was former Gardner Carton Chairman Harold Kaplan, who left acquiring firm Drinker Biddle for Foley & Lardner. “They’ve got lots of work to do,” Kaplan says. “Getting people onto the same page and getting systems onto the same page is always a lot of effort.”
Sources: FTC Chairwoman to Join Procter & Gamble’s Legal Department
Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras plans to take a plum spot in Procter & Gamble’s legal department, according to antitrust sources. Until recently, the speculation was that she would return to Jones Day, where she had been a partner. Antitrust lawyers expect President Bush to make Commissioner Bill Kovacic the next chairman, though it’s not clear whether he will also try to appoint another commissioner. At this late date in the administration, a nomination could easily run aground.
Supreme Court Could Limit Damages in Exxon Valdez Case
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared unwilling to toss out the $2.5 billion punitive damage award against Exxon Mobil Corp. for the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill 19 years ago. But the justices also seemed to think that $2.5 billion was too much, pointing toward a possible compromise decision that will give partial victories both to the oil company and the class of 32,000 Alaska fishermen and others involved in the case.
Cadwalader Shakes Up Top Management
As it wrestles with an ongoing slump in its core capital markets practice, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has shaken up its top management team. The New York-based law firm announced Wednesday that Robert O. Link, its longtime chairman and managing partner, would relinquish the position of chairman to W. Christopher White, effective March 1. Link will continue to serve as Cadwalader’s managing partner and remain a member of the firm’s six-partner management committee.
Exxon Valdez: oil company tells top court captain was to blame (AFP)
AFP - Oil giant ExxonMobil Wednesday urged the US Supreme Court to cancel a 2.5-billion-dollar compensation award for the huge 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, blaming the ship’s captain for the disaster.
FedEx workers can sue over age bias (AP)
AP - The Supreme Court has decided that employees who claim job discrimination should not suffer because of mistakes made by the federal agency charged with investigating their allegations.
Court meets Wednesday (AP)
AP - The Supreme Court meets Wednesday morning to hand down opinions and hear arguments in a case about the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Court could limit Exxon Valdez damages (AP)
AP - The Supreme Court will consider whether to prevent victims of the Exxon Valdez disaster from collecting a $2.5 billion judgment, nearly 19 years after the tanker dumped 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska waters.