Law Offices of Mark W. Ford, LLC

Dozen 'Stolen' Taylor Wessing Partners Headed to Nixon Peabody

2nd Circuit Refuses to Boost Milberg's Fees in Nortel Class Action
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has shot down class action law firm Milberg's bid to boost its attorney fees from the settlement of shareholder litigation against Nortel Networks Corp. On appeal, Milberg said the lead plaintiff in the case had consented to an 8.5 percent award -- or about $101 million -- and, citing a 2005 decision by the 3rd Circuit, the firm argued that the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act holds such negotiated fees to be presumptively reasonable.

Convention Cattle Call for Legal Veeps
With the Democrats' convention just days away and the GOP's following soon after, potential vice presidential candidates are the fodder for round-the-clock media speculation. As pundits weigh the relative political merits of each possible second-in-command, eyeing regional flavor, age and religious ties, The Am Law Daily turns instead to an evaluation of their legal resumes. How do they stack up?

The Ugly Side of Big-Firm Divorce
Associates leave big firms every day without fanfare. The automatic deposit of paychecks stops, their names are deleted from firm directories and their computers are reassigned to replacement associates. No biggie. But when an equity partner leaves -- and takes a few others along -- the drama kicks into high gear, says humor columnist The Snark. It's just not that simple to sever the ties that bind true partners to each other. When you mix in the really big bucks, you get a high-profile, scandalous divorce.

Black Hat 2008 Aftermath
The Black Hat 2008 conference was full of up-to-the-minute information on computer security research and vulnerabilities. Consultants Brian Dykstra and Keith Jones look at the news and events from the show, including zero-day exploits and DNS and VPN insecurities.

D.C. Circuit Bolsters State Monitoring of Air Pollution
Ruling against the Environmental Protection Agency and the American Petroleum Institute, a federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a Bush administration rule that restricted states' ability to supplement monitoring requirements of the Clean Air Act. The D.C. Circuit left open the question of whose opinion wins when state authorities and the EPA conflict over whether a given requirement is sufficient to ensure compliance with the Clean Air Act.

Staff Layoffs Reported at Fried Frank
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is reducing administrative staff in New York and Washington. The reductions, which a spokeswoman said were less than 10 percent of 730 staffers firmwide, resulted from the law firm's review of its administrative resources and staffing requirements.

Hedge Fund Founder to Pay Nearly $300 Million
A federal court has ordered the former president and founder of a hedge fund to pay nearly $300 million for defrauding clients. The government had accused Paul Eustace of stealing $200 million from clients of Philadelphia Alternative Asset Management between 2001 and 2005, and creating false account statements, hiking management fees based on false profits and transferring clients' money to himself.

3rd Circuit Revives Mercury-in-Tuna Class Action
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a class action suit against the manufacturer of Chicken-of-the-Sea brand tuna brought by consumers who say they were never warned that excessive consumption could lead to mercury poisoning. The unanimous three-judge panel found that a lower court improperly dismissed the suit on the grounds that it was pre-empted by U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulations.

2nd Circuit Upsets Witness-Tampering Conviction Over Defense Attorney's Potential Conflict
The 2nd Circuit has vacated a witness-tampering conviction on the grounds that the defense lawyer may have been conflicted through his apparent law partner. In appealing his conviction, James Ventry claimed Anthony J. Lana gave ineffective counsel because he was law partners with Thomas J. Eoannou, whose improper advice led to the witness-tampering charge. The court ordered the case remanded for an evidentiary hearing on the nature of the professional relationship between Lana and Eoannou.

Lead Paint Lawyers Ask Rhode Island to Pay Their Court Costs
Six weeks after the Rhode Island Supreme Court freed four paint companies of billions of dollars in liability for lead paint cleanup, lawyers for the companies argued that the state and plaintiffs counsel must cover court fees in the case. Several large teams of Am Law 100 Lawyers and local counsel have clocked time on the matter since Rhode Island became the first state to win a public nuisance claim against the lead paint industry.

Affair With Former Client's Wife Costs Attorney $1.5 Million
A Mississippi attorney must pay $1.5 million for having an affair with a former client's wife. The Supreme Court of Mississippi affirmed a jury verdict finding solo practitioner Ronald Henry Pierce liable to a former client for intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract and alienation of affection. Pierce said he expected an unfavorable outcome because the state high court had denied his bid to present oral argument on appeal. "I knew I was going to get screwed," he said.

Ex Post Facto Clause Error in Trafficking Case Prompts New Trial
A man accused of human trafficking under the guise of a consensual sadomasochistic relationship will get a new trial because of the ex post facto clause to the U.S. Constitution, which bars Congress from passing a law that makes an act a crime that was legal when committed. Glenn Marcus was convicted in the Eastern District of New York of sex trafficking and forced labor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act for forcing a woman into beatings, sex acts and working on his bondage Web site.

MLK Siblings' Fight Continues With New Suit
A lawsuit filed on behalf of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change accuses two of the late civil rights leader's children of misusing their positions as officers and board members of the center for personal gain. The suit appears to be the response of the King Center's chairman, Dexter S. King, to his siblings' claims that he took money from their late mother's estate without authorization and did not provide details about how he is managing their father's estate.

CFIUS and FINSA: Foreign Investment Under the New Exon-Florio
Torys attorneys Timothy Martin and Richard Willoughby discuss proposed regulations released by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and recommend proactive management of the CFIUS approval process in a time of heightened sensitivity to foreign investment review.