JD Journal » Massachusetts

Morning Roundup

joshua — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:57:22 +0000

Good morning! Today is Friday, May 14th. Here’s a quick look back at yesterday’s stories.

Bryan Cave and Venable Add A Partner Apiece…

More And More Firms Consider Alternative Fee Structures…

Massachusetts Home To Many Cutting Edge IP Law Firms…

U.S. Citizens Association Files Suit to Repeal ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’…

List Of Top Corporate Law Firms Released…

DiversityBusiness.com Selects Rutherford & Christie as one of “Top 50 Women Owned Businesses in Georgia”…

Massachusetts Home To Many Cutting Edge IP Law Firms

eric — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:10:43 +0000

Massachusetts has long since moved its economy toward tech and information based industries. The same holds true for its legal sector with its booming Intellectual Property practices, according to Mass High Tech, the Journal of New England Technology. It makes sense that an economy founded on tech would stimulate the growth of its firms focus on the ideas behind innovation and host some of the largest IP firms in the nation.

IP lawyers are a special breed, often having advanced degrees in engineering and other areas of advanced sciences. The MHT article highlights Nathan Edwards, and the Cambridge firm of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP. Edwards is a PhD in biological sciences and a “new breed of technology lawyer”.

At the article’s center is the tech sector’s potential to be one of the driving forces in the next evolution of IP firms across the country. “‘In the past, IP was not given nearly the consideration it is now,’” said McDermott Will & Emery partner, Leigh Martinson, who was interviewed for NMT article. “‘Now it’s the core of the business. It used to be ‘just get me a patent.’ Now it’s ‘Get me a patent that’s going to allow me to leverage relationships and compete.’ That’s exciting.’”

The posting lists the top ten IP firms in the greater Boston area as well, a list which includes Goodwin Procter, WilmerHale and Fish & Richardson.

Morning Roundup

sara — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:54:55 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Tuesday, April 6, and here’s a look back at yesterday’s news…

Southeast Michigan law firms log thousands of non-billable hours over health care reform…

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens nears retirement…

The National Law Journal releases it’s annual Appellate Hot List…

Jackson Lewis adds two partners to its Denver office…

Massachusetts enacts a law requiring businesses to have a written security plan in place for handling client’s personal data…

Littler Mendelson opens a new office in Lexington, Kentucky…

A new initiative slated to appear on California ballots in November seeks to delay a law from 2006 enacting greenhouse gas emission cuts…

David W. Ogden rejoins WilmerHale after working at the Justice Department for a year…

Toyota may face enormous civil penalties for failing to report defects in their brakes within the required period of time…

Personal Data Law Makes Businesses Shy

julie — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:12:12 +0000

Last month in Massachusetts, a new law went into effect that was passed back in 2007. The law says that all businesses that have personal data on MA residents need to have a written data security plan in place. An article on BusinessInsurance.com reports, “Massachusetts passed the law in response to data breaches by retailers, including Framingham, Mass.-based TJX Cos. Inc., which revealed in 2007 that hackers had obtained millions of its customers’ credit and debit card and driver’s license information.”

Previously, and in other states, what would happen is that once there was a data breach, then a company would have to take steps to correct the situation. This new law is more preemptive in nature, aiming to protect MA residents before they are victimized. Makes sense. However, it has the potential to cause huge legal problems for companies who are not in compliance. The law allows for a $5000 fine for businesses who are not prepared, but the law is unclear about whether that fine is per incident or per client who is victimized.

Gay Divorce Denied

julie — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:56:01 +0000

Carole Ann Kern and Robin Lynn Taney, a lesbian couple who wed in Massachusetts in 2009, filed for divorce recently in Pennsylvania. Berks County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott E. Lash denied the divorce based on the fact that Pennsylvania does not recognize the marriage in the first place. The couple would have filed back in Massachusetts where the same-sex marriage was granted, but there is a one year residency requirement for filing for divorce there. The couple’s only recourse at this point is to have the court declare their marriage void.

The judge’s opinion in this case as reported by Law.com says that Pennsylvania’s law ”represents a reasonable protection and a proper and lawful exercise of the police power of the Commonwealth, which is available to preserve the public health, safety, welfare, and morals of its citizens.”

This is not the first time that same-sex divorce has come up. Other couples who were married in Massachusetts have been seeking divorces in their home states for a few years already. Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly were married in Massachusetts in 2004 and recently filed for divorce in Texas. Naylor and Daly have a four year old son. The question of voiding the marriage came up in the Texas court as well, but District Judge Scott Jenkins granted the divorce citing the full faith and credit clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Morning Roundup

sara — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:55:22 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Wednesday, February 24, and here’s a look back at yesterday’s stories…

Curtis Mallet reports an increase in profits and revenues in 2009…

Revenue is down and profits are up at Patton Boggs…

Arnold & Porter report that revenue and profits increase…

Honolulu law firms are the target of an email scam…

Revenue and profits fall at Munger, Tolles…

Maryland courtrooms will ban electronic devices….

Christopher J. Austin joins Goodwin Procter’s Boston office…

Jonathan Guest joins McCarter & English’s Boston office…

DLA Piper increases their presence in Turkey…

Massachusetts challenges the Defense of Marriage Act…

The University of Maryland investigates payments to former law school dean Karen Rothenberg…

Sam Buffone leaves Ropes & Gray for BuckleySandler…

Revenue and profits increase at Crowell & Moring…

Alice Thomas earns her law degree at age 79…

Cannabis shops fight legal action in Los Angeles…

Massachusetts Challenges Defense of Marriage Act

sara — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:33:59 +0000

Attorney General Martha Coakley of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit in July of 2009 challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. The state argues that the law forces Massachusetts, the first in the country to legalize gay marriage, to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. Coakley filed papers in US District Court on Thursday asking a judge to deem the law unconstitutional without holding a trial on the lawsuit.

Coakley argues that the regulation of marriage has traditionally been left to the states and that a conflict exists between federal laws treating heterosexual and homosexual couples differently and Massachusetts law. For example differences exist when determining Medicaid benefits and when determining whether a spouse of a veteran can be buried in a Massachusetts veteran’s cemetery.

Coakley said the law forces her state, “to engage in invidious discrimination against its own citizens in order to receive and retain federal funds in connection with two joint federal-state programs…Massachusetts cannot receive or retain federal funds if it gives same-sex and different-sex spouses equal treatment, namely by authorizing the burial of a same-sex spouse in a federally funded veterans’ cemetery and by recognizing the marriages of same-sex spouses in assessing eligibility for Medicaid health benefits.”

Coakley made the filing in response to a U.S. Justice Department motion to dismiss the lawsuit and to support Coakley’s request to declare the law unconstitutional without holding a trial. The Obama Administration had acknowledged the discriminatory nature of the law and wants Congress to repeal it but the Justice Department says it has an obligation to defend laws enacted by Congress. The Department argues that there is no fundamental right to marriage-based federal benefits in asking for a dismissal of the Massachusetts lawsuit.

UMass Law School Approved by MA Board of Higher Education

sara — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:04:33 +0000

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education has approved a plan to open the first public law school in the state. The school is set to enroll students for the fall semester. UMass Dartmouth will acquire the private Southern New England School of Law, which is donating its campus and assets to the state. The new law school will focus on public service law with a curriculum in civil and human rights, legal support for operating businesses, community law practice, and economic justice.

UMass Dartmouth chancellor Jean MacCormack said the public law school would operate without taxpayer funds and eventually funnel millions into UMass Dartmouth and the state through expanded enrollment. It is estimated that the school would grow from 235 students to 559 by 2017. The school will charge $23,500 a year for ins-state tuition and $31,000 for out of state tuition. UMass Dartmouth wants to create a program to give students enrolled in any UMass campus the opportunity to earn an accelerated law degree. In this program a student would complete their undergraduate studies in three years and begin their first year of law school during their senior year.

Three private law schools in the state were strenuously opposed to the plan.

Former Massachusetts AG Opposes UMass Law School Proposal

sara — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:22:43 +0000

Former Attorney General of Massachusetts Thomas F. Reilly opposes a plan by the University of Massachusetts to open a law school. UMass wants to open a school without funding from taxpayer dollars by relying on mandatory student fees. Up to 87% of a prospective law student’s bill would be listed as “mandatory fees”. Reilly believes this method of funding violates the state constitution because the fees would pay directly for the schools core academic programs.

Reilly submitted his opinion to the Higher Education Commissioner Richard M. Freeland on behalf of the New England School of Law, one of three private law schools in the state opposed to a public law school. Reilly has been retained by the New England School of Law for an undisclosed amount of money to review UMass’s proposal.

Massachusetts’s state constitution requires that all tuition be remitted to the state, and according to Reilly, UMass’s proposal would “abuse” the exception allowing universities to retain student fees. According to Robert Connolly, spokesman for the UMass system, all 29 public college campuses function financially in this manner, with “fees” outweighing tuition. The Board of Higher Education is set to vote on the plan February 2. If it is approved, UMass-Dartmouth will begin enrolling students in the fall.

Ethics Concerns Scuttle Massachussetts Clerkship Plan

joshua — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:45:42 +0000

It seemed like a match made in heaven – thanks to a struggling economy, Massachusetts was unable to fill all of the judicial clerkships for the year, and there is a growing number of deferred associates in Massachusetts being paid a stipend but with no work to do. Why not pair them up? Massachusetts planned to do just that, with the blessings of the firms paying the stipends. But after an undisclosed letter from the state ethics commission reached Robert Mulligan, who is the chief justice for administration and management of the trial courts, Massachusetts has dropped the idea due to ethical concerns. Even with a proposed double blind system preventing judges from knowing which firms had donated deferred associates or who their clerks were paid by, concerns over favor currying and influence were enough to shut the idea down.

Unfortunately, this leaves the state’s court system short about 50 clerks and the state can’t afford to hire them.

Bromberg & Sunstein Partners Leave Over Merger Decision

Erik Even — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:23:12 +0000

A co-founder and a partner at Boston’s Bromberg & Sunstein have left over the firm’s decision not to merge with a larger firm.

Co-founder Lee C. Bromberg and partner Erik P. Belt resigned from the firm this week; they were the only two of 18 partners to vote for joining and unnamed, larger firm.

Bromberg is one of three lawyers who co-founded the firm in 1979. The IP boutique will now be called Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers.

Boston, Massachusetts’ Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers represents clients in a range of industries, including financial services, pharmaceutical, computer, semiconductor, electronics and consumer products. It employs 32 lawyers.

Harvard Law Reduces Summer Job Requirement

Erik Even — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:20:52 +0000

Most students receiving financial aid from Harvard Law School are required to work for 10 weeks over the summer, the traditional length of a major law firm summer program. But this year, many students have seen their summer jobs reduced, or cut entirely, by law firms.

Initially, the school said these students would still need to complete these work weeks, or risk losing their financial aid; although students who could not find work could appeal at the end of the summer.

But now the school has officially reduced the period of required work to eight weeks. The school initially resisted, unsure it could afford the change.

But after learning how many students were impacted by summer job reductions, Harvard Law reduced the requirement.

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the United States’ oldest law school in continuous operation. It is home to the largest academic law library in the world. HLS is typically ranked in the top three law schools in the nation, and is currently listed as the second best law school in the United States by US News and World Report, behind only Yale Law School.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Okays Deferred Associates as Interns

Erik Even — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:31:24 +0000

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Committee on Judicial Ethics has signed off on a proposal that would allow deferred law-firm associates to work for the Trial Court as “volunteer interns,” while on the payroll of their firms.

The CJE concluded that Trial Court judges could maintain their impartiality by using a double blind system to select and manage the law clerks. Judges would not know who the employer of each clerk was, reducing the appearance that firms could exert influence over the judge.

In May the Massachusetts Trial Court rescinded offers to 25 incoming court clerks. It is expected to hold layoffs next week.

Foley & Lardner Adds Lowrie Lando IP Team

Erik Even — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:43:09 +0000

Foley & Lardner has brought on three intellectual property lawyers for its Boston office.

Matthew B. Lowrie and Aaron W. Moore join as partners in the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice; Robert J. Silverman joins as senior counsel.

Lowrie was a founding partner of Lowrie, Lando & Anastasi, where Moore and Silverman were also partners.

Foley & Lardner’s intellectual property practice has nearly 240 attorneys.

Foley & Lardner LLP is an international general practice law firm started in 1842 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It employs 1,000 attorneys, and is the 24th largest firm in the United States.

Massachusetts Superior Court Fires Clerks Before They Begin

Erik Even — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:30:00 +0000

The Massachusetts Superior Court has informed 25 3Ls they will not be hired after all as court clerks.

It appears that the decision to rescind the job offers was made last Fall, when the courts instituted a hiring freeze; but those affected are only being informed now.

The court says the hirings were always contingent on funding, and that the wording on the original offers was conditional.

Edwards Angell Lays Off 25 Attorneys, 35 Staffers

Erik Even — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:22:47 +0000

Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge has announced today the layoffs of 25 lawyers and 35 staff. That’s roughly 15% of the firm’s workforce.

From the firm’s statement:

Today we will inform about 25 lawyers and 35 staff that their employment with the Firm is ended, and will offer them severance arrangements similar to those offered by the many other firms that have also made these difficult decisions.

Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP is an American law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm is number 97 on the list of the world’s largest law firms by 2006 revenue. The firm was formed by the 2005 merger of Edwards & Angell LLP and Palmer & Dodge LLP.

Dwyer & Collera Hires Former State Chief Justice

Erik Even — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:04:28 +0000

Law firm Dwyer & Collora has hired Judge Christopher J. Armstrong, the former chief justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Armstrong will practice in the Boston-based firm’s expanding appellate practice.

Armstrong served as chief justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court from 2000 until 2006. He was appointed to the Appeals Court in 1972 by Governor Francis W. Sargent, and authored 1,682 decisions over the course of his 36 years on the bench.

Dwyer & Collora, which has about 25 lawyers in Boston, specializes in white collar crime.

Massachusetts Lawyers Expect to Make Less This Year

Erik Even — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:52:12 +0000

Nearly 79% of Massachusetts Bar Association members who responded to an online survey believe the economic downturn will affect the entire legal profession, and about 49% expect to earn less this year than last year.

The results are based on a 13-question survey e-mailed to members in December.

About 51% expect the downturn to last until 2010, while roughly 18% anticipate the tough times to extend into 2011.

The bar association reported that most survey respondents have been practicing law for more than two decades, and earn between $100,000 and $200,000. Just over one-half of the respondents work for a firm with fewer than 25 lawyers, while about 30% are solo practitioners.

Pierce Atwood Lets Go 7 Attorneys, 14 Staff

Erik Even — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:20:23 +0000

Pierce Atwood, the largest law firm in Maine, laid off 21 employees last week, including seven attorneys and 14 staff members, according to Gloria Pinza, the law firm’s managing partner.

The laid-off attorneys were based in the firm’s Portland, Maine and Portsmouth, New Hampshire offices. The 14 staff members were in its Portland, Portsmouth and Augusta, Maine offices.

Pinza said the law firm is hiring three new attorneys at its Boston office in February, and that in March it will open a new office in Providence, Rhode Island, with two new attorneys. Despite the economic climate, Pinza said the law firm sees some opportunities to grow in those markets.

Pierce Atwood also maintains offices in Concord, New Hampshire; Stockholm, Sweden; and Washington, DC.