LJN Newsletters

The health care industry continues to hold great potential for private equity (PE) firms, but it also carries with it significant risks and potential exposure to liability. As the pressure to find opportunities has increased, there appears to be a greater appetite for riskier investments including into portfolio companies that experienced or are experiencing compliance challenges.

The Appellate Division, Second Department, recently decided Long Island Pine Barrens Society, Inc. v. Suffolk County Legislature, an important case that pitted the interests of farmers and conservationists against a local advocacy group focused on open space and water quality.

The California Court of Appeal created some First Amendment breathing room for the creators of docudramas — at the expense of legendary actress Olivia de Havilland — when the court ordered her suit against FX Networks over its Emmy Award-winning miniseries Feud be stricken under California's anti-SLAPP law, even if it did play a little fast-and-loose with de Havilland's character.

Growing the top line requires a systematic approach that maximizes your available time and focuses you on the best opportunities. With greater clarity, you can be assertive in the pursuit of your financial objectives. With sustained focus on financial metrics, you stay in control of your book of business.

On March 27, 2018, in Oracle America, Inc. v. Google LLC, the Federal Circuit overturned a jury verdict in favor of Google from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In doing so, the court revived Oracle's claim that Google's use of Oracle's open-source Java language code did not constitute “fair use.”

Most firms have extensive cybersecurity measures in place, but emerging or unclear regulatory requirements embroil them in a never-ending cycle of evaluation, best-practices review, and implementation. Firms don't just need to have their own systems secured; a responsible firm must also reduce the risk of breach at their third-party vendors. As cloud service providers become commonplace, so too does a firm's responsibility to ensure their vendors are managing risk appropriately.

Despite all the strategic planning CMOs may devote to individual attorney coaching and training, it is often not enough to support the lawyer client in connecting the dots of relationship building, reputation enhancing and contact management over the course of a career to make a remarkable difference.

Part One of a Two-Part Article

In Honeycutt v. United States, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that a federal criminal forfeiture statute permits joint and several liability for criminal asset forfeiture judgments, thereby protecting defendants who were only marginally culpable for a larger offense.