Law Firm News

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Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman Represents Seller in Yahoo's Latest Buy
In the latest acquisition by Yahoo, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP represented the seller, polling site Bix.com. Bix is a popular website that allows users to arrange voting for contests ranging from best photos to karaoke performances. Officially launched in August, the site has attracted more than one million users. Pillsbury has been representing Bix since the inception of the concept in January, 2006.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Representing Bix and working with its talented managers, engineers and directors has been a treat,” said Jeffrey S. Harrell, a Pillsbury partner in Silicon Valley representing Bix on the transaction. “Seeing the Bix concept evolve from an idea to a compelling product through the efforts of the company's employees and advisors at so rapid a pace captures the Silicon Valley experience for me.”

Pillsbury attorneys representing Bix on the deal include Harrell, Jorge del Calvo, Stephanie Y. Hu, C. Brian Wainwright and Cindy V. Schlaefer.

11-17-2006

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Thelen, Reid, Brown, Raysman & Steiner, LLP

City of Los Angeles Ordered to Pay Thelen Reid $1.2 Million in Attorneys' Fees
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a judge in Los Angeles has ordered the City to pay $1.2 million in attorneys' fees after a jury in June rejected claims by the City that a subcontractor had submitted false claims in connection with its work on the Hyperion Waste Water Treatment Plant near LAX.

At a Nov.13 hearing, the court found the City’s false claims case against Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CBI) to be clearly frivolous, and ordered the City of Los Angeles to pay CBI’s attorneys' fees. CBI was represented by a Thelen Reid & Priest LLP trial team led by Los Angeles-based partner Timothy Pierce and associate Kaveh Badiei.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a contractor has recovered its attorneys' fees after defeating a public agency’s charge under the False Claims Act,” Pierce said. “We are hopeful that the result in this case will cause public agencies in California to think twice before automatically asserting a counterclaim for violation of the False Claims Act against contractors seeking to be compensated on public works construction projects.”

CBI was the major subcontractor on a project to upgrade the Hyperion Plant. CBI completed its work in 1997, but has never been paid the remaining $2.2 million it was owed. Although there were no issues with CBI’s work, CBI’s payment claim became entangled in a dispute between the City and the general contractor that went to litigation in 1999. In June, a unanimous jury awarded CBI the full unpaid contract balance and, based on findings by the jury, the court subsequently found the City liable to the contractors for over $18 million of penalties under the California Prompt Payment Statute.

Having successfully defended against the City’s counterclaim, CBI sought recovery of its attorneys' fees under the False Claims Act, which allows a successful defendant to recover its fees if it can demonstrate that the agency’s claims were clearly frivolous.

11-17-2006

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Stoel Rives, LLP

37 Stoel Rives Attorneys Named as Oregon Super Lawyers
Thirty-seven attorneys from the Portland office of Stoel Rives have been chosen by their peers as “Super Lawyers,” an honor bestowed on only about 5% of all lawyers in Oregon. The 2006 Super Lawyers list is the result of 10,000 ballots sent to lawyers across Oregon, asking them to name the best lawyers they have personally observed in action.

Eight Stoel Rives lawyers received special mention in the survey results. Barnes Ellis and Henry Hewitt are among the Top 10 Oregon Super Lawyers. The Top 25 Women Oregon Super Lawyers include Ruth Beyer, Nancy Cowgill, Chris Kitchel and Lois Rosenbaum. Ellis, Hewitt, Kitchel, Tom Page and Steve Walters are in the Top 50 Oregon Super Lawyers list.

11-17-2006

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Ross, Dixon & Bell, LLP

Victory for RDB Client in Case Against D.C. Bar
After a year and a half battle with the DC Bar, RDB lawyers Sally Gere and Erik Pritchard were successful in obtaining retroactive reinstatement to the Bar for their client Michael Sitcov, whose law license was suspended in 2002 for failing to pay his dues, when he did not receive a dues notice. The case was resolved with the aid of a court-appointed mediator, Nancy Lesser, who served in a pro bono capacity.

Sitcov had been a member of the Bar in good standing since April 1980 and did not learn of his suspension until his employer, the Department of Justice, informed him about it in November 2004. He immediately sought reinstatement, but the Bar's procedures allow only for prospective reinstatement, leaving a lengthy period of suspension on Sitcov's record. Because he continued to practice law while unknowingly suspended, Sitcov became the subject of an investigation by the Department's Office of Professional Responsibility into his professional status including whether he was practicing without a license. The Department also advised him that such conduct could result in the loss of his employment and retirement benefits with the federal government, where he had worked for more than 27 years. During those 27 years, Sitcov had never failed to pay his Bar dues nor had he ever been the subject of any disciplinary charges. Indeed, he has served with distinction as lead counsel in many of the government's most significant civil cases. Sitcov filed suit against the Bar in federal court in the District of Columbia in March 2005 alleging, among other things, that his automatic suspension from practice without notice and an opportunity to be heard violated his constitutional rights of due process and equal protection.

"I am glad that my professional reputation has been restored," Sitcov said.

Settlement of this case also benefits other Bar members because, as part of the settlement, the Bar agreed to review its by-laws and procedures for notifying members of annual dues and for imposing automatic suspensions. The Bar will report on its findings to all Bar members. Every year approximately 2700 Bar members are suspended for not paying dues. The Bar's procedures thus have a significant impact on the Bar's membership, which numbers in excess of 79,000 lawyers.

11-17-2006

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Roetzel & Andress A Legal Professional Association

Roetzel & Andress Attorney Joseph D. Zaks Writes for "Inside the Minds" Series
Roetzel & Andress is pleased to announce that Joseph D. Zaks, a Partner in the Naples Office, has authored a chapter in the recently-published book, Inside the Minds™: Best Practices for Structuring Trusts and Estates. Mr. Zaks' contribution, titled "Estate Planning: More than Wills and Trusts," addresses the components and financial implications of trusts and estates laws, the role of the attorney in both the planning process and post-mortem administration, and related issues.

Mr. Zaks focuses his practice on charitable planning, family business succession planning, probate and estate administration, and trust administration. Based in Roetzel & Andress' Naples Office, Mr. Zaks is a member of the firm's Florida Business Services/Real Estate/Trusts & Estates Group.

The Inside the Minds™ series of books, published by Aspatore Books, offers insight into the minds of leading attorneys in today's business and legal worlds.

11-17-2006

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Pepper Hamilton, L.L.P.

William J. Walsh of Pepper Hamilton Serves on NAS Committee Releasing Chemical Weapons Report
Since the late 1980s, William J. Walsh, of counsel in Pepper Hamilton LLP’s Washington Office, has provided pro bono services as a member of a series of National Academies of Science (NAS) committees that provide advice to the United States government on environmental issues. Starting in the late 1990s, he has served on six committees addressing the destruction of chemical weapons (e.g., VX nerve agent, mustard gas and other chemical weapon material), which is required to be completed by 2012.

On Thursday, November 16, 2006, the sixth report from the non-stockpile chemical weapons committee on which Mr. Walsh serves was released publicly and is available on the NAS Web site (www.nas.edu). The report, entitled “'Review of International Technologies for Destruction of Chemical Warfare Materiel,” reviews the state-of-the-art in the destruction of old chemical weapons and assesses the capability of, and regulatory hurdles involved in seeking approve of, a wide range of new technologies.

The report evaluated international technologies for the destruction of non-stockpile chemical materiel. The committee provided an independent scientific and technical evaluation of the international systems, facilities and disposal technologies currently employed or under research and development in countries with inventories of non-stockpile material for treatment and destruction. In addition, the report further defined state-of-the-art technologies for destruction of non-stockpile chemical material worldwide. Finally, the report addressed acceptability to regulators and stakeholders to the extent that the committee judges that significant problematic issues exist or are relevant to the feasibility of implementing such technologies in the United States.

The report found that detonation-type technologies from or used in other countries offered complementary capabilities to the United States Explosion Detonation System (EDS). These newer detonation technologies, which meet overall safety criteria, have higher destruction rate capacity that may be useful for clearing existing U.S. sites where there are large numbers of buried chemical weapons. The report recommends that the U.S. Army select a detonation-type technology for destroying recovered chemical munitions excavated from a large burial site.

The most significant regulatory obstacle to implementation of these destruction technologies is that the procedures for measuring the destruction and removal efficiency, destruction efficiency, or some other metric of performance for detonation-type processes do not appear to have been established in the United States. This gap will seriously hinder future evaluations of such technologies for possible application to non-stockpile operations. Such destruction and removal information is important for both regulators and the public.

11-17-2006

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Ober & Kaler, P.C.

DC Lawyer Steve Smith Named to Sickle Cell Disease Association of America Board
Beltsville resident Steven R. Smith has been elected to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. board of directors.

Upon Mr. Smith's confirmation at SCDAA's annual meeting, Dr. Willarda V. Edwards SCDAA president and COO commented, "We welcome the talent, time and commitment a man of Steven Smith's caliber brings to our national Board. SCDAA looks forward to working with Steve as we address the organization's mission."

A principal in the Washington, DC office of law firm Ober|Kaler, Mr. Smith practices health law focusing on hospital operational and regulatory matters, general corporate, and employment and labor law issues in a health care setting. Mr. Smith was formerly Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Dimensions Health Corporation.

A 2001 graduate of Leadership Washington, Mr. Smith serves on the board of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and is an active member of the American Health Lawyers Association. He regularly participates in Maryland State Bar and Prince George's County Bar association activities.

11-17-2006

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