JD Journal » Philippines

Duane Morris Adds Pair of Attorneys on West Coast

rebneely — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:43:49 +0000

Duane Morris announced recently David A. Charapp has joined the firm as a partner in its San Diego office, in its Corporate Practice Group. In addition, the firm is also pleased to welcome Jarrett Fugh as a partner in its Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. Fugh joins the Real Estate Practice Group.

The addition of Charapp reflects the firm’s growing corporate practice group on the West Coast and nationally, especially in the areas of life sciences and technology. He joins Duane Morris from Foley & Lardner LLP. There, he served as chair of the firm’s Life Sciences Collaborations & Licensing Practice.

Charapp assists life sciences and technology companies with their critical partnering, licensing and financing transactions, as well as significant operational agreements such as those for manufacturing and supply, distribution, and pre-clinical and clinical research. Charapp has significant experience as an in-house attorney, having been associate general counsel at Kosan Biosciences, a biotechnology company acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb, and associate general counsel at Santarus, a specialty biopharmaceutical company.

Charapp earned his J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Boston College Law School.

Duane Morris’ Life Sciences and Biotechnology Group offers clients a wide range of legal services, including intellectual property counsel, securities counsel in connection with private and public equity funding, international trade and tax advice, labor and employment guidance, dispute resolution and litigation service. These are all provided within the framework of their business to address each client’s specific needs.

The addition of Jarrett Fugh reflects the firm’s growing Real Estate Practice Group on the West Coast and nationally. He joins Duane Morris from Winston & Strawn.

Fugh concentrates his practice on real estate and corporate matters, representing clients in the acquisition, financing, development and leasing of real property, with an emphasis on hospitality and resorts. He helps clients in the origination and restructuring of syndicated, mezzanine and securitized loans, as well as in the construction financing of major commercial, residential and hospitality properties. In addition, Fugh advises clients on the formation and structuring of joint ventures for both developers and institutional investors in real estate projects. He also counsels clients on a range of general corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions and financings.

Local and national media have interviewed Fugh with regard to economic trends in the real estate market, particularly those concerning Asian investment in the U.S. real estate markets.

Fugh earned his J.D., cum laude from The George Washington University Law School, where he was a staff member of The George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics.

Duane Morris LLP is a full-service law firm with over 700 attorneys in 24 offices across the United States and around the world. Founded in 1904, the firm is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2011, the Am Law 100 ranked Duane Morris as the 67th largest law firm in the U.S. based on gross revenue.

American Discovery to Hire 100 Attorneys

Erik Even — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:24:59 +0000

Document review and research services provider American Discovery is expanding its Insurance Litigation Practice Area, hiring an additional 100 attorneys for its review offices in the US and the Philippines

The firm will provide dedicated legal teams to support insurance companies in litigation matters. The firm claims it can reduce legal fees for companies by 80%.

American Discovery provides clients with dedicated litigation resources who have extensive experience in US. law, discovery practices, and cost management

American Discovery provides global corporations and law firms with outsourcing of labor-intensive areas of litigation, such as fulfilling discovery requirements, document review, contract management, and litigation support. It is headquartered in Los Angeles; and has an Asia-Pacific headquarters in The Philippines.

Attorney Cannot Be Prosecuted Over Bad Advice

Erik Even — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:47:48 +0000

Defendants Maria Theresa Ramos, left, Rizza Maulion, center and Felix Vinluan are seated in front of their attorneys James Druker, left and Oscar Michelen .

A lawyer facing criminal charges for advising 10 nurses they could quit their jobs at a Long Island, NY nursing facility gave “objectively reasonable” advice and cannot be prosecuted, a Brooklyn appeals panel has ruled.

In a unanimous decision, the Appellate Division, 2nd Department, ruled that District Attorney Thomas J. Spota of Suffolk County must halt his prosecution of attorney Felix Vinluan and his clients.

“We cannot conclude that an attorney who advises a client to take an action that he or she, in good faith, believes to be legal, loses the protection of the First Amendment if his or her advice is later determined to be incorrect,” wrote Justice Randall T. Eng. “Indeed, it would eviscerate the right to give and receive legal counsel with respect to potential criminal liability if an attorney could be charged with conspiracy and solicitation whenever a District Attorney disagreed with that advice.”

The nurses were recruited as a group from the Philippines by SentosaCare, which operates the Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Smithtown, New York.

In April 2006, they left their posts in protest over job conditions. The district attorney accused the nurses of abandoning their patients by leaving their shifts without giving administrators enough notice to find replacements.

They, along with Vinluan, were indicted in March 2007 on 13 counts, including charges of sixth-degree conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child, and endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person.

Vinluan, after hearing the nurses’ complaints about substandard pay, poor living conditions, changes in work shifts and other alleged violations of their contracts, “advised them that they could resign if they wanted to as their contracts were already breached.”

Justice Eng pointed out that the nurses “did not abandon their posts in the middle of their shifts.” Rather they resigned “after the completion of their shifts, when the pediatric patients at Avalon Gardens were under the care of other nurses and staff members.”

Eng also noted that the state Education Department ultimately cleared the nurses of professional misconduct after taking into account that “no children were deprived of nursing care.”

Since prosecutors did not dispute that Vinluan acted in good faith, Eng held, the attorney could not be prosecuted for giving legal advice to commit an act, which, under the circumstances, was not a crime.