I’m a trial lawyer for injured people and businesses at The Beasley Firm. Founded in 1958, we have recovered over $2 billion for our clients through hundreds of verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million. We’re listed in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News’s Top Lawyers, [...]
The New Divide: Big Law Firms Change But Clients Still Don’t Believe Them
The AmLawDaily reports Study: Law Firms Have "Little or No Interest in Change," CLOs Say: Altman Weil's 2009 Chief Legal Officer Survey received responses from 183 CLOs--about 15 percent of the 1,222 corporate law departments invited to participate. Sixty-two percent of respondents worked for companies with over $2 billion in revenues. ... The study revealed that 25 percent of CLOs surveyed said they were putting a 'high' amount of pressure on their outside panel firms to change "the value proposition in legal service delivery," as opposed to simply cutting costs. Another 37 percent rated the pressure as medium, while 38 ... Continue Reading
Ashcroft v. Iqbal: Not Nearly As Important As You Think
UPDATE III: The most thorough critique I've read of Iqbal is Professor Burbank's Senate testimony, available here (PDF). As an empirical matter, Iqbal has had a significant effect, particularly on constitutional rights plaintiffs: The statistical analysis of 1,039 cases shows that 49% of 12(b)(6) motions were granted (with or without leave to amend) in the cases selected (from May 2005 to August 2009). Further, the rate of granting such motions increased from 46% of motions decided under Conley, to 48% of motions decided under Twombly, to 56% of motions decided under Iqbal. A multinomial logistic regression indicates that under Twombly/Iqbal, the ... Continue Reading
Round-Up On Safford United School District v. Redding, The Ibuprofen Strip-search Case
The American Constitution Society's blog reports: The Supreme Court ruled today that Arizona public school officials violated the constitutional rights of a teenage girl when they searched her for prescription-strength ibuprofen. "The issue here is whether a 13-year-old student's Fourth Amendment right was violated when she was subjected to a search of her bra and underpants by school officials acting on reasonable suspicion that she had brought forbidden prescription and over-the-counter drugs to school," Justice David Souter wrote for the 8-1 majority in Safford Unified School District v. Redding. "Because there were no reasons to suspect the drugs presented a ... Continue Reading
Legal Malpractice Case Sends Dismissed Appeal Back To Appellate Court To Say What It Would Have Done
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Here's how it starts: Nancy Kanter, Esquire ("Kanter") referred a case to Alan B. Epstein, Esquire ("Epstein"). The case involved a claim by a child in the foster system who was abused by her prospective adoptive foster parents (the "Tara M. case"). Kanter had served as a guardian ad litem for the child. When Kanter referred the case to Epstein, he agreed to pay her a referral fee. However, this agreement was not reduced to writing. Subsequently, Epstein joined the firm of Spector Gadon and Rosen, P.C. ("SGR") while he was ... Continue Reading
“The End of Mandatory Arbitration” In Financial Broker-Dealer Contracts
The WSJ Law Blog finds easter eggs for consumers of financial products buried in the proposed financial regulation overhaul: The [not-yet-created Consumer Fraud Protection Agency] should be directed to gather information and study mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer financial services and products contracts to determine to what extent, and in what contexts, they promote fair adjudication and effective redress. If the CFPA determines that mandatory arbitration fails to achieve these goals, it should be required to establish conditions for fair arbitration, or, if necessary, to ban mandatory arbitration clauses in particular contexts, such as mortgage loans. ... Although arbitration may be ... Continue Reading
Never Lie To The Jury: $1.92 Million Verdict Against Woman For 24 MP3s
After four days of trial, and a few hours of deliberations, the AP reports: A federal jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song. Thomas-Rasset's second trial actually turned out worse for her. When a different federal jury heard her case in 2007, it hit Thomas-Rasset with a $222,000 judgment. Under our absurd (and possibly unconstitutional) copyright laws, the award per violation can range from $750 to $150,000, and the jury here roughly split the difference at $80,000 per song, about the same amount as a ... Continue Reading
Newsflash! Big Firm (Saul Ewing) Meets Client Demand, Offers Fixed-Fees
At The Legal Intelligencer: Moving beyond all the talk of alternative fee arrangements, Saul Ewing has put its fixed-fee programs in writing -- on its Web site at least. The firm launched this week its "cost certainty commitment" with two different programs in which either a fixed fee or a cost per-attorney, per-day will be used on specific types of matters the firm identified as lending themselves to such arrangements. ... To start, Saul Ewing is offering a fixed, daily blended rate per attorney for due diligence work for investors, companies looking for capital and venture capital or private equity ... Continue Reading
$4.1 Billion Default Judgment Upheld: 90% of Success is Showing Up
The National Law Journal fills us in on the whopping $4.1 billion wrongful termination arbitration award against an employer that fired an executive without cause, which was recently upheld by a trial court: NLJ: How did this award get so big? MY: It got this way because the defendant, the employer, first of all, apparently had terminated a high-level employee without cause. He [the ousted executive] then sued, and the defendant, who at that time had a lawyer, moved to compel arbitration. At that point, the defendant made some mistakes. It appears the defendant neglected to, or decided not to, ... Continue Reading
“Obama Open to Reining in Medical Suits” – What Does That Mean?
Via Overlawyered, the NYTimes says: In closed-door talks, Mr. Obama has been making the case that reducing malpractice lawsuits — a goal of many doctors and Republicans — can help drive down health care costs, and should be considered as part of any health care overhaul, according to lawmakers of both parties, as well as A.M.A. officials. It is a position that could hurt Mr. Obama with the left wing of his party and with trial lawyers who are major donors to Democratic campaigns. But one Democrat close to the president said Mr. Obama, who wants health legislation to have ... Continue Reading
Why Is A Seriously Injured Lady Suing Sacha Baron Cohen For Only $25k?
The WSJ Law Blog points us to a Gawker reference to an AP article that says: Richelle Olson sued [Sacha Baron Cohen] and NBC Universal on May 22, claiming an incident at a charity bingo tournament that was filmed for the upcoming "Bruno" left her disabled. Olson claims she was severely injured after struggling with Cohen and his film crew at the event, held in Palmdale, Calif., two years ago. The lawsuit states she now needs a wheelchair or cane to move around. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages of more than $25,000. Gawker wonders aloud: We would hope that if this lady ... Continue Reading
