The Legal Intelligencer Blog

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Wednesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is the state Supreme Court sending the voter ID case back to the Commonwealth Court. As reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes, challengers to the law won a round yesterday when the justices filed a per curiam order vacating the Commonwealth Court’s decision not to issue a preliminary injunction last month. The state must now prove that nobody will be disenfranchised by the law.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that complaints about priest sexual abuse claim that Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young assisted the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in efforts to conceal sexual misconduct by its clergy. The firm is not a named defendant in the eight civil lawsuits that were filed.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Zack Needles writes that a Connecticut insurer has sued Chartwell Law Offices, seeking a declaratory judgment that it does not have a duty to indemnify the firm against malpractice claims tied to the Bridgeport fire.

In more Regional News on Page 3, a New Jersey firm has been sued over the failed use of an involuntary Chapter 7 petition.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In this week’s GC Mid-Atlantic column on Page 5, Steven D. Usdin and Nella M. Bloom write about a general counsel’s role in a financially distressed company.

In an E-Discovery column on Page 7, Alice E. Burns writes about using predictive coding as another tool in the arsenal.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Monday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is the chief justice suspending indicted Traffic Court Judge Robert Mulgrew on an emergency basis Friday. As reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes, Mulgrew is suspended from all official duties and assignments until further notice and the issue of his pay will be in front of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Zack Needles writes that defense firm Swartz Campbell has sued Chartwell Law Offices for poaching lawyers and clients from its Fort Myers, Fla., office. The suit alleges “improper interference with and destruction of” Swartz Campbell’s business interests, client relationships and partnership agreements.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that insider information passed between two members of Alcoholics Anonymous is sufficient to sustain allegations that one of them violated the Securities Exchange Act, a federal judge has ruled.

In more Regional News on Page 3, reporter Gina Passarella writes that Rutgers School of Law-Camden is looking to rebuild after its merger talks with Rowan University.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In a Litigation column on Page 5, Charles F. Forer writes about alternate dispute resolution and being careful when working with experts.

In the Law Technology News page, Adam Losey writes about using technology to get ahead.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal and Pa. Law Weekly

Welcome to your Tuesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer, which also includes this week’s edition of Pennsylvania Law Weekly. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Today’s paper also features this year’s First-Year Associates supplement, including articles about office etiquette for new associates, the need for formal mentoring and results from a survey conducted by The Legal.

The top story in today’s Legal is the fourth in reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel’s products liability series. In the latest article, she writes that federal pre-emption and direct-to-consumer marketing are the next frontier in pharmaceutical law. Products liability attorneys are continuing to struggle with what state-law pharmaceutical and medical device claims are likely to survive federal pre-emption.

Also above the fold on Page 1, Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that a diet drug claim involving delayed injury has survived. A federal judge has said it is up to a jury to decide whether diet drugs caused a South Carolina woman’s likely fatal pulmonary hypertension to surface 11 years after she stopped taking the drugs.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporters Zack Needles and Gina Passarella write that firms are having a tough time searching for junior transactional lawyers, a group that was affected by the economy’s nosedive in 2008, when large firms shifted young associates away from sluggish transactional practices.

In more Regional News on Page 3, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that the reorganized successor to the former Penn Central Transportation Co. must pay a $15 million judgment against the original railroad company, which filed for bankruptcy in 1970.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sibling publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In an Antitrust Law column on Page 5, Carl W. Hittinger and John D. Huh write that the FTC is recalibrating its sights on the disgorgement of profits.

In a Business of Law column on Page 7, Frank Michael D’Amore writes about law firm economics and what clients really want.

Today’s lead story in PLW is the Judicial Conduct Board issuing significantly more letters of caution in 2011 than the previous year. As reporter Ben Present writes, the JCB issued 35 such letters, which it intended to be a “wake-up call.”

Below the fold on Page 1, Gina Passarella writes that a car’s black box can’t be suppressed in an accident trial, as a Lehigh County judge has ruled. The defendant in the case argued there was no probable cause in the investigating officer’s affidavit for the issuance of a warrant, and therefore wanted the data recorder suppressed.

On Page 3, Zack Needles writes that the state Supreme Court has ruled that decisions of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records may be subject to challenges over whether records are disclosable under the Right-to-Know Law.

There’s much more inside this week’s PLW, including Samuel C. Stretton’s Ethics Forum, in which he writes about lawyers making clear what information is privileged; Leonard Deutchman’s Cyberlaw column on cost-shifting in e-discovery; and Scott A. Coffina’s Constitutional Law column on the winding road of Pennsylvania’s voter ID litigation.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Manko Gold Opens Central Pa. Office Despite Region’s Drilling Lull

By Zack Needles
Of the Legal Staff

Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based environmental, energy and land use firm Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox has opened a new office in Williamsport, Pa., with an eye toward better serving its North Central Pennsylvania client base, which has grown in conjunction with the rise of the natural gas industry in the region.

While oil and gas operations in the region have been active since the Marcellus Shale play began picking up steam a few years ago, the decision to open in North Central Pennsylvania comes at a time when many companies are moving their rigs to Southwestern Pennsylvania and Ohio, where there exists more valuable “wet” gas – a combination of methane and other components such as propane, benzenes and ethane.

Northern Pennsylvania, meanwhile, has a higher concentration of “dry” gas, which is almost pure methane and, as a result, is currently worth less on the market than wet gas.

But firm partner Marc E. Gold said that while the firm is well aware of current market trends, there’s still plenty of work to be done in Central Pennsylvania involving development stemming from the oil and gas industry.

According to Gold, the firm has recently been involved in several brownfields redevelopment projects in which land in the region has been prepared for the construction of office buildings to serve the oil and gas industry.

Meanwhile, the transportation and housing industries in the region have also experienced a spike recently as a result of the oil and gas industry.

“If you look at any statistics from the Chamber of Commerce for Williamsport, you can see it’s just been a booming area,” Gold said, adding, “While we’d love for it to be vibrant and for the natural gas industry to be chugging along [in the region], if, for the moment, it’s not, that doesn’t deter us from thinking we can open a practice up there.”

Although, at least for the time being, there will be no lawyers stationed in the office on a full-time basis, Gold said he and his Manko Gold partners Todd D. Kantorczyk, Jonathan E. Rinde, Michael M. Meloy and Michael C. Gross will be splitting their time between Williamsport and Bala Cynwyd.

Gold said the firm would not rule out the possibility of adding full-time attorneys to the office, but its immediate goal is to establish a presence in the region and to serve its existing clients there.

“We have clients in the area – both natural gas clients and other clients – and, given the activity up in that region, we thought it was better to be closer to where the business is,” Gold said, adding that the firm also wanted to be near the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Northcentral Regional Office, which is based in Williamsport.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Wednesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is a federal judge in Philadelphia ruling that the Department of Labor has the authority to set the rules governing the amount that foreign guest workers will be paid. As reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes, the ruling comes in a case that could cost employers $847 million.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Gina Passarella writes that Littler Mendelson has named Philadelphia lawyer Thomas Bender as its co-president, along with San Diego shareholder Jeremy Roth.

Below the fold on Page 1, Gina Passarella writes that, in upholding the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s award of a Category 3 gaming license to Woodlands Fayette, some justices of the state Supreme Court addressed the board’s practices and an investigating grand jury’s report questioning the board’s operations.

In more Regional News on Page 3, reporter Zack Needles writes that Swartz Campbell has sued Chartwell Law Offices in part over a recent lateral move that resulted in the closing of Swartz Campbell’s Fort Myers, Fla., office and the opening of an office in the same city for Chartwell.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In this week’s GC Mid-Atlantic column on Page 5, Andrew J. DeFalco writes about the application of attorney-client privilege to email strings.

In a White-Collar Law column on Page 7, Peter D. Hardy and Abraham Rein write about the protocol for discovery of electronic data in criminal cases.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Wednesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is a $90.3 million future damages award being vacated in a coal mining contract dispute because the trial judge calculated the damages based upon the market price of coal from when the case went to trial. As reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes, a three-judge Superior Court panel said the damages should be based upon the market price when the aggrieved party learned of the repudiation, which should have been when the plaintiffs learned the contract was going to be repudiated, rather than the day of trial.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been sued by Delaware County, on behalf of all 67 counties in the state, claiming that neither has paid real property transfer taxes to the counties.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Zack Needles writes that five lawyers have left Nelson Levine de Luca & Hamilton to form their own insurance and liability defense boutique. Former partners William F. Stewart, Cynthia L. Bernstiel and Cathleen Kelly Rebar have opened Bernstiel Rebar, with offices in Blue Bell, Pa., Princeton, N.J., and New York City.

In more Regional News on Page 3, the Third Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a Fair Labor Standards Act suit against Wal-Mart.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In this week’s GC Mid-Atlantic column on Page 5, Aaron L. Peskin writes about predictive coding and the impact it can have on the discovery process.

In a Business of Law column on Page 7, Debra L. Bruce writes about how systematizing can help optimize your legal practice.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Thursday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is a look at Saul Ewing’s firm financials. As reporter Zack Needles writes, the firm’s revenue inched up, about 0.8 percent, and its profits per partner dipped 3 percent last year.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Gina Passarella writes that Dechert has opened a Chicago office with a trio of securities lawyers from Katten Muchin.

Also below the fold on Page 1, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that Monsignor William J. Lynn took the stand in his own defense yesterday. Lynn is charged with endangering two men who testified they were sexually abused by two priests as youths.

In more Regional News on Page 3, Zack Needles writes that Penn State has announced Stephen S. Dunham as its new general counsel. Dunham has been vice president and general counsel of Johns Hopkins University.

Also on Page 3, reporter Ben Present writes that the state Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that exposure to one fiber of asbestos is not tantamount to a lot.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In a Bankruptcy Update on Page 5, Andrew C. Kassner and Joseph N. Argentina Jr. write about avoidance actions against seller void purchased bankruptcy claims.

In this week’s Young Lawyer column on Page 7, Susan Morse writes about the perils of overlawyering and underlawyering.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Monday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is the next in our series of firm financials, this time taking a look at Fox Rothschild. As reporter Zack Needles writes, the firm increased revenue by 7.3 percent and profits per equity partner by 3.5 percent.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that the state Supreme Court directed excess class action funds to the IOLTA board. As such, Pennsylvania will become the sixth state in the country to require cy pres funds left over from settlements to be used for legal aid providers or other nonprofits.

Also below the fold on Page 1, reporter Ben Present writes that the Pennsylvania Bar Association has created a task force to take a closer look at the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct.

In more Regional News on Page 3, Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that a Lehigh County jury has awarded a man and his wife $2 million in noneconomic damages because the man has double vision and other eye injuries in the aftermath of a sinus surgery gone wrong.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In an Insight on Diversity column on Page 5, Elisa N. Bramble writes about establishing lasting connections for diverse law students.

On the Law Technology News page are two articles: How to build a better webinar presentation and an e-discovery course that offers “in the trenches” lessons for students.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Friday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor hearing arguments yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that centered on an opinion she joined while sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986. As reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes, O’Connor, sitting by designation, and a three-judge panel heard arguments in a class action suit brought against title insurers in New Jersey that echoed the Supreme Court’s 1986 decision in Square D v. Niagara Frontier Tariff Bureau.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Jacqueline F. Allen heard arguments over the norms of writing a letter to an expert’s employer. A defense attorney in the case sent a letter to the employer of a medical malpractice plaintiff’s expert, but said she should not be sanctioned because lawyers frequently discuss local physicians who testify as experts, especially if they “go out there and espouse a new standard of care.”

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Zack Needles writes that Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman has picked up a two-member construction boutique, Byler & Blaker, for its Philadelphia office.

In more Regional News on Page 3, Saranac Hale Spencer writes that challengers to federal laws requiring pornography producers to keep lists of their actors won their big to seek further discovery following a ruling the Third Circuit.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In an Asset Management column on Page 5, Mark L. Silow writes about taxpayers receiving tax-exempt interest on a settlement in the case of DeNaples v. Commissioner.

In a Health Care Law column on Page 7, Vasilios J. Kalogredis and Karilynn Bayus analyze CMS’s proposed rule on reporting and returning overpayments.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Wednesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Today’s top story is a continuation of our series on firm financials, this time taking a look at Duane Morris, which grew revenue and saw profits per equity partner rise 3.2 percent in 2011. As reporter Zack Needles writes, the firm’s growth largely came from its active practice areas, particularly a broad-based intellectual property practice.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia asserted its attorney-client privilege regarding 12 documents that Monsignor William J. Lynn wants to subpoena in the criminal case against him. Attorneys for the archdiocese had said in January that it might assert attorney-client privilege that can’t be waived, even if Lynn waives his own privilege.

Also below the fold on Page 1, reporter Gina Passarella writes about a survey taken by Altman Weil that shows managing partners find their practice group leadership to be lagging.

In more Regional News on Page 3, Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that several mortgage lenders are appealing a ruling in a trio of cases that their foreclosure notices were deficient, and are now seeking reargument. A three-judge panel said in all three cases that the lenders failed to comply with the Homeowner’s Emergency Mortgage Act.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

As it is Wednesday, this week’s GC Mid-Atlantic column is on Page 5, as Madeline M. Sherry and Stephen J. Finley Jr. write about the long and winding road of Pennsylvania privilege law, and how best to navigate through recent decisions declaring privilege a “two-way street” in the state.

In an Employment Law column on Page 7, Michael P. Maslanka of Legal affiliate Texas Lawyer writes about 10 lessons learned from 30 years working in the legal profession.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.