Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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25383 matches |  14071-14077 displayed

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Varnum LLP

Baker Joins Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP
Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP attorney Christopher P. Baker has joined the firm's Real Estate Practice Group as Counsel.

Baker's practice focuses on alcohol and beverage control, banking, real estate and business law. He has significant experience representing resorts, hotels, restaurants, retail, and casino operators in all areas of alcoholic beverage regulatory matters, including licensing and enforcement, and is well versed with the wholesale, distributor and importer regulations under the Michigan Liquor Control Code.

Previous to Varnum, Baker was a partner at Sullivan, Ward, Asher & Patton, P.C. in the Business Law section of the firm.

Baker is the founding chairman of the Alcoholic Beverage and Hospitality Sub-Committee of the Business Section of the state bar, and he is an active member of both the Real Estate Ownership and Investment Entities and the Mortgages and Related Security- Devices Sub-Committees of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of Michigan.

In addition, Baker is a member of the American Bar Association, National License Beverage Association, ABA Entertainment and Sport Industries Forum, and the Academy of Hospitality Industry Attorneys.

12-01-2006

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Tonkon Torp LLP

Tonkon Torp Announces Four New Partners
Tonkon Torp LLP has elected four attorneys to the partnership. They practice in a range of areas including labor and employment, real estate and land use, and commercial litigation.

Sonja L. Henning’s practice focuses on labor and employment law. Henning's litigation experience encompasses all areas of employment law including discrimination, harassment and retaliation. She provides advice and counsel on issues ranging from workplace policies to terminations and severance agreements. Before joining Tonkon Torp, she was general counsel at lucy.com. Henning was a professional athlete in the Women’s National Basketball Association and the American Basketball League, and served as president of the WNBA Players Association from 2001 to 2003. A graduate of Duke Law School, she currently serves on the board of Portland Public Schools.

Litigator Steven D. Olson’s practice emphasizes labor and employment law. He has represented employers and individuals before federal and state courts, in arbitrations and mediations on matters ranging from gender discrimination and sexual harassment to breach of noncompete agreements. In addition to labor and employment matters, his litigation experience includes product liability, securities, corporate governance and business torts. Olson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School.

David J. Petersen practices in Tonkon Torp’s real estate and land use practice group. He focuses on land use and local government law as well as representing clients in real estate purchase and sale transactions, commercial leasing and wind energy development. Petersen graduated Order of the Coif from University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law School and practiced land use law in California before joining Tonkon Torp in 2003.

Robyn Ridler Aoyagi practices commercial litigation with an emphasis on appellate law. A cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Aoyagi clerked for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals prior to joining Tonkon Torp. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Oregon Supreme Court. In her appellate work, Aoyagi has experience in securities litigation and contract disputes.

12-01-2006

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Saul Ewing, LLP

Kent-Smith Comments on Northeast Properties
Henry Kent-Smith, a Partner in Real Estate Department in the Princeton office, commented on real estate development in highly populated places, such as the Northeast region of the country.

Building in the Northeast has proven to be difficult for developers. High labor and land costs and extensive approval processes have made developing in the Northeast more time consuming and expensive than in other places in the United States.

For example, it takes three to five years to complete a development in the Northeast, compared to two years in other parts of the country. The Northeast also has the highest population density in the country, as well as the highest household incomes. Although properties in the Northeast are appealing investment opportunities, they seldom go on the market, forcing developers to build.

"With so many people in such a small area, the likelihood of litigation is always out there.

12-01-2006

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Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

Sutherland’s Elbert P. Tuttle Courtroom Opens With Full Courtroom Features and State-of-the-Art Technology
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP announces the opening of the new Elbert P. Tuttle Courtroom, located in the firm’s Atlanta office.

The state-of-the-art courtroom, complete with a jury box, judges’ chambers and jury rooms, will give Sutherland’s lawyers and clients a competitive edge, including the opportunity to refine their advocacy skills in a traditional courtroom setting. The resources invested in the courtroom are but the latest evidence of Sutherland’s ongoing commitment to professional development.

“We are excited to open our new courtroom, which is one of the most advanced in the Southeast,” said Litigation Practice Group Leader John A. Chandler. “Just as pilots use flight simulators to prepare for takeoff, our attorneys will be able to utilize this new space to hone their courtroom skills.”

Designed to respond and adapt to emerging trends, the space boasts the latest features in courtroom technology. This technology was provided by United Technology Service, Inc. of Cumming, Ga. Digital evidence presentation systems serve as the technology control center of the courtroom, supporting real-time reporting, videoconferencing, web-access and total evidence presentation capabilities. Another unique component of the courtroom is its ability to mimic the layout of most state and federal courts, serving as a unique tool for trial preparation sessions, training and seminars. The courtroom will be further utilized as a resource for local mock trial and moot court teams.

Courtroom namesake Elbert P. Tuttle, one of the firm’s founding attorneys, served on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1954 to 1968. Judge Tuttle’s bold and courageous rulings during his years on the bench exercised great influence during the Civil Rights Era, improving American society for future generations.

“Judge Tuttle was the model professional, setting a valuable standard that continues to inspire Sutherland attorneys to this day,” noted Managing Partner Mark D. Wasserman. “His legacy of courage and commitment is the foundation of our firm and the Elbert P. Tuttle Courtroom is the embodiment of those principles.”

A dedication ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, December 1. Keynote speaker is Anne S. Emanuel, Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Georgia State University. Emanuel, who clerked for Judge Tuttle in 1975–1976, is the author of an upcoming biography profiling Judge Tuttle.

12-01-2006

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Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP

SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER HONORS STEVE O'DAY
Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (SGR) and The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is pleased to announce that Steve O’Day, a leading environmental lawyer for more than 27 years, was honored with the 2006 James S. Dockery, Jr. Southern Environmental Leadership Award during its annual board meeting on November 10. This prestigious recognition is given to an individual who exemplifies exceptional commitment to the environment, helping to conserve natural resources and promote public awareness in the South.

Mr. O'Day is a partner with SGR, and is head of the firm’s Environmental Law Practice. In addition to serving on SELC’s Board of Trustees and as senior litigation counsel for the organization, he is a trustee of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, and past trustee of The Georgia Conservancy. Mr. O’Day has also served on the Georgia Quality Growth Partnership, an advisory committee to the Georgia Hazardous Waste Management Authority, an advisory committee to Georgia’s Rivercare 2000, as Chairman of the Environmental Advisory Committee for Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor from 1990-1998, and is a member of Leadership Atlanta. He also is a part-time instructor at Georgia Tech.

“I am extremely honored to receive this award in honor of Jim Dockery, one of the South’s premier environmental stewards, from an organization of the caliber of SELC,” said Mr. O’Day. “I am pleased to be recognized for past contributions; and the award causes me to rededicate myself to the cause of protecting our precious natural resources not only for our own use, but for our children and generations to come.”

SELC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental advocacy organization that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this fall. For two decades, SELC has informed, implemented and enforced law and policy to protect the Southeast’s environment and health.

“We are delighted to honor Steve O’Day with this award,” says Rick Middleton, SELC’s Founder and Executive Director. “His work and perseverance have helped protect some of the South’s most precious resources. Southerners are fortunate to have such a dedicated friend working to ensure that our natural heritage will be passed down to our future generations.”

SELC addresses the most pressing issues that impact the South’s air and water, mountains, forests, coast, rural lands and special places across six states: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Over the last two decades, SELC has worked in collaboration with more than 100 local, state and national partner groups and handled about 500 projects and cases with significant success.

The Southern Environmental Leadership Award was created in honor of SELC’s co-founder and former board chair, Jim Dockery. Until his death in 1994, Mr. Dockery’s noted environmental leadership helped protect tens of millions of acres of mountain wilderness around the nation. His contributions to the southeast region are remembered annually by this leadership award.

The 2005 award recipient was Wendy Allen Jackson, Executive Director of the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust.

While serving as the chairman of Smith, Gambrell & Russell’s environmental law practice, and with the blessing of the firm, Mr. O'Day has been heavily involved in legal work for leading environmental groups throughout his career. His work has included litigation to force the establishment in Georgia of some of the strongest protections in the country against the runoff of polluted stormwater from constructions sites; precedent-setting lawsuits preventing degradation of high quality waters like Lake Lanier, and precedent-setting lawsuits enforcing requirements for environmentally sound waste management planning and waste disposal. Working with SELC, Mr. O’Day recently overturned a permit for a massive housing and marina development just 3 miles from one of Georgia’s crown jewels, the Cumberland Island National Seashore, because of the potential impacts on rare species such as right whales and manatees that use the waters near the proposed development. Mr. O’Day’s past work with SELC has included enforcement of legal protections against unsound development of small islands in Georgia’s coastal marshlands called marsh hammocks; fights against billboard proliferation along the South’s roads; and protection of Cumberland Island against erosion and other impacts from a proposed re-routing of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Mr. O'Day studied Civil Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and earned a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in political science from Furman University in 1976. He received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1979, where he served as Chairman of the Harvard Environmental Law Society.

Mr. O’Day has been named as a “Georgia Super Lawyer” in environmental law since the inception of that list, by Atlanta Magazine and Law & Politics Media, Inc. He has also been named by Chambers USA as one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” in environmental law, again since the inception of that publication, and as a Best Environmental Lawyer in Corporate Counsel magazine.

Additionally, Mr. O'Day is very active in the state of Georgia, having served as Chairman of the Environmental Advisory Council for Georgia's Lieutenant Governor for eight years, and on an advisory committee to the Georgia Pollution Prevention Assistance Division and the Governor's Rivercare 2000 Task Force. He served on the State of Georgia's Solid Waste Planning Task Force and on the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's Water Quality Task Force and as Chairman of the Solid Waste Task Force. He led the Environmental Collaborative of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s award-winning Vision 2020 long term planning effort.

Mr. O'Day has served as Vice Chairman of the Environmental Law Section of the Georgia Bar, and is active in the Litigation, Environment, Energy and Resources, and Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Sections of the American Bar Association.

12-01-2006

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Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler

Raising the Bar: "It's December 1st -- Welcome to the New Age of Discovery"
Whether you’ve noticed it or not, today is a landmark day for litigators. After much discussion in the legal community, the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect. Included — and arguably overdue — are changes to address discovery in the digital age.

In view of the new rules and the explosion of e-discovery case law that has preceded them, those of us who are not yet e-literate must become so immediately, as nearly every client today has a hard drive, an e-mail account, and a PDA. While the subject of e-discovery can fill volumes, we offer four key points for tackling discovery challenges in the electronic era.

12-01-2006

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Saul Ewing, LLP

Friedman Says Outcome of Maryland Same Sex Marriage Case Is Difficult to Predict
Dan Friedman, Special Counsel in the Litigation Department in the Baltimore office and author of The Maryland Constitution: A Reference Guide, commented on an upcoming ruling that will determine if the Maryland Constitution allows same-sex couples to legally wed.

Nine same-sex couples filed a lawsuit in 2004, challenging a state law that banned same-sex marriage. They hope the Maryland Court of Appeals will decide in their favor, providing full and equal marriage rights. The appeals court will decide whether to uphold or overturn the lower court's decision from earlier this year that rejected a 1973 state law that allowed marriage for opposite-sex couples only.

Mr. Friedman and Robin Leone, an Associate in the Litigation Department in the Baltimore office, served as counsel to an amicus group of 58 law professors urging the Court of Appeals to uphold the trial court's decision that the restrictive marriage statute is unconstitutional.

"This court is not ideologically driven," Mr. Friedman said. "It is difficult to predict how they will rule on this case. It’s a wild card issue." He added that the majority of the judges are liberal to moderate and are supportive on civil rights matters.

12-01-2006

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