A cross-section of law firm leaders comment on the current state of litigation, remote training, building cohesive and collaborative multidisciplinary teams, leveraging technology to enhance litigation processes and outcomes, and looking at the practice of law in the next decade.
Copyright lawsuit filings declined significantly over the last two years, according to a new report by Lex Machina, which found that overall cases had dipped from a 2018 peak that was driven primarily by surges in file-sharing litigation.
Parties holding potential claims against non-debtor third parties that are arguably "related to" the bankruptcy estate must weigh the risks and benefits of actively prosecuting such claims. The mere fact that a bankruptcy trustee could pursue such claims as property of the bankruptcy estate under Section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code will not be enough to argue that such claims are conclusively barred by the automatic stay.
Landlords and commercial tenants have proven savvy and mutually symbiotic. These entities learned quick lessons during the pandemic to sustain the landlord-tenant relationship on adjusted footing or otherwise to provide an agreeable runway for a lease exit minimizing the damage to landlords and tenants. Three workout trends reflect this changing landscape that "we are all in this together."
Likening his client's claim to that of an athlete with a monetizable image, an attorney representing TV reporter Karen Hepp, who is suing social media websites over misuse of her likeness, recently argued to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that the case should fit a narrow exception to a federal law that bars suits against online content providers.
What provisions in a subordination agreement can be enforced, and can the subordinated creditor participate in the reorganization process if there is no prospect it will receive any distribution as a result of being subordinated?
The Justice Department has confirmed it is looking to develop new policies surrounding how standard-essential patents might be used as tools for anticompetitive practices. The change in policy will mean big business for law firms that can combine highly technical IP advice with their antitrust and litigation practices.
“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.
