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International Law Firm Foley & Lardner LLP Switches to NetDocuments for Global Document Management – American Banking News

January 12, 2011 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

NetDocuments, a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) content management service provider, announced today that the international law firm Foley & Lardner LLP (http://www.foley.com) has selected NetDocuments as its new document management service for its nearly 1,000 attorneys and 21 offices worldwide.

Foley was recognized in 2010 by CIO Magazine (http://www.cio.com) as one of the CIO 100 honorees, given annually to honor the top 100 companies worldwide that demonstrate strategic excellence in developing innovative information technology (IT). In fact, the firm has achieved this prestigious award seven of the past ten years. The firm also was named to the InformationWeek 500 list for five consecutive years for its client-focused technology.

NetDocuments offers global law firms, with their tens of millions of documents, a single, globally-accessible platform for its documents, emails and records, thus eliminating the capital-intensive model of maintaining client and server software, hardware, databases and other system software scattered across offices. Additionally, the NetDocuments service provides firms a very simple, yet secure way to collaborate and share with their clients.

via International Law Firm Foley & Lardner LLP Switches to NetDocuments for Global Document Management – American Banking News.

Filed Under: Tech Bytes Tagged With: American, document, global law firms, LLP, management, service

Insurers Sue Toyota Over Acceleration Claims Costs – WSJ.com

January 4, 2011 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

Seven insurance companies have filed lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp. seeking a minimum of $230,000 to cover the cost of claims paid for accidents related to the unintended acceleration problems identified in Toyota vehicles in the past several years

The insurers filed separate but identical complaints Dec. 30 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming that defects in Toyota vehicles were the cause of the crashes. “Certain of Toyota’s cars and trucks have a defect that causes sudden, uncontrolled acceleration to speeds of up to 100 miles per hour or more,” the complaints allege. “This defect is combined with the operator’s inability to stop the vehicle during such an incidence due to defective electronics and the absence of a fail-safe, such as a brake-override system.”

The lawsuits are similar to one filed by Allstate Corp. three months ago in the same court seeking $3 million in damages. The litigants are American Hardware Mutual Insurance Co., Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., National Surety Corp., American Automobile Insurance Co., Ameriprise Insurance Co., Motorists Mutual Insurance Co. and IDS Property Casualty Insurance Co.

These types of claims “are common between insurers and auto makers. However, Toyota believes that any allegation that a vehicle-based defect is the cause of unintended acceleration in this or any other complaint is completely unfounded and has no basis,” said Celeste Migliore, a Toyota spokeswoman.

via Insurers Sue Toyota Over Acceleration Claims Costs – WSJ.com.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: American, cause, com, insurance, toyota motor corp

American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel Litigation 2010 Special Report: Probing the Mysteries of e-Discovery and Electronically Stored Data | Business Wire

October 23, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel Litigation 2010 special report looks at the thorny issues of e-discovery and electronic data, including recent and inconsistent e-discovery rulings, an account of the Qualcomm lawyers who failed to discover 200,000 electronic pages, and emerging law firm strategies for delivering combined technical and legal expertise. Copies of Litigation 2010 will be available with the November issue of Corporate Counsel, (October 18, 2010) and The American Lawyer (November 1, 2010) and online at www.law.com/jsp/tal/litigation_supplement_fall_2010.jsp.

“Fatal Discovery,” tracks the fate of six Qualcomm lawyers sanctioned for an egregious discovery lapse during the Qualcomm-Broadcom patent fight, after a post-trial search yielded over 200,000 elusive electronic pages. Joseph Rosenblum examines the events leading up to their sanction and final exoneration.

“Should You Friend the Judge?” by Terry Baynes looks at the obstacles of social media in discovery battles, and one judge’s innovative solution when the Federal Stored Communications Act barred a civil subpoena of Facebook. The judge offered to friend the witnesses.

In “Developments,” reporter Victor Li examines the split between federal district judges Shira Scheindlin and Lee Rosenthal, the godmothers of e-discovery. The judges have been shaping the ground rules for e-discovery but are deeply divided when it comes to putting these rules into practice. Scheindlin takes a much tougher line on lawyers who fail to meet e-discovery obligations, while Rosenthal holds that the judicial response to loss of documents should be commensurate with the impact of the loss and whether attorneys acted in bad faith.

In “Who You Gonna Call?” assistant editor Irene Plagianos, looks at the different strategies adopted by law firms to build capacity in an emerging, highly competitive practice area.

via American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel Litigation 2010 Special Report: Probing the Mysteries of e-Discovery and Electronically Stored Data | Business Wire.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: American, american lawyer, Business, Corporate, law, patent fight

Lawyers on Both Sides of the Pond Gear Up for New U.K. Bribery Law | American Lawyer

October 6, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

White-collar criminal lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic are gearing up for the introduction of a new U.K. Bribery Act, which looks set to generate significant work for teams throughout the U.S. when it comes into force next year.

Although the act is primarily designed to tighten the U.K.’s regulatory framework — the first change to the country’s bribery laws in more than a century — its broad jurisdictional reach means that the majority of U.S. public companies are likely to be affected by what experts have described as the world’s most draconian anti-corruption legislation.

“It’s wider ranging even than the [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act],” said Lord Goldsmith QC, the former U.K. attorney general, now head of Debevoise & Plimpton’s European litigation practice. “It’s going to affect all companies with business in the U.K., even if they’re not incorporated here. The enforcement agencies have greater powers and the penalties are much tougher than under previous U.K. law. Boardrooms throughout America and beyond should have this on their agenda.”

Any company that has a U.K. office, that has employees who are U.K. citizens, or that provides any services to a U.K. organization will be subject to the bill, which carries unlimited fines and an increased maximum jail term of 10 years, meaning that U.S. lawyers already advising clients on FCPA violations are likely to face an increased workload and new reporting obligations to the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office.

via Lawyers on Both Sides of the Pond Gear Up for New U.K. Bribery Law.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: Act, American, bribery law, bribery laws, corrupt practices act, litigation practice, New, serious fraud office, Sides, work

ACLU, other groups sue U.S. over border laptop searches – Computerworld

September 7, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) practice of searching laptops and other electronic devices at U.S. borders.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the ACLU, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), challenges a 2008 CBP policy that allows border agents to search electronic devices of any traveler, without suspicion of wrongdoing. In some cases, border agents have copied the contents of the devices or confiscated them. The lawsuit asks the court for an order prohibiting searches of electronic devices at borders without a warrant and probable cause or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

The groups filed the lawsuit to “protect the rights of all Americans to cross the border free from intrusive government searches,” said Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project.

via ACLU, other groups sue U.S. over border laptop searches – Computerworld.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: American, Civil, civil liberties union, criminal defense lawyers, customs and border protection, New, protection, Union

“Foreign Private Issuers”: U.S. Corporations With Exotic Pedigrees

September 5, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

The U.S. is even more of a global capital market than many realize. Not only do foreign companies list on U.S. exchanges but scratch beneath the surface and even ostensibly American companies may be surprisingly exotic. For some of these issuers, their American veneer comes at some cost, reflecting that it is often a matter of necessity, and not subterfuge. The phenomenon of foreign-owned/American incorporated companies has quietly mushroomed and may be headed for its own cottage industry. While the pattern’s by no means exclusive to Israel, this article will focus on companies with Israeli or Chinese pedigrees; in a couple of interesting cases, they’re both.

Israeli companies incorporating in the U.S. today may not recognize themselves tomorrow. For every business that begins as a Pawnbroker’s Exchange, another ends up as a wastewater treatment concern. Software companies somehow evolve into suppliers of body armor. Some companies see the writing on the wall; they fully expect to merge or be acquired and they disclose as much in their filings. Many of these companies appear to leap through a back door into a complex world without appreciating the exacting costs and burdens of public listing.

But who are these companies and what do they do? Chances are they incorporated in Nevada or Delaware in late 2006 or 2007. They may be in the pharmaceutical industry, clean tech, or some kind of defense or law enforcement supply. It’s likely a developmental stage company not yet profitable. It may have already been acquired by a Chinese outfit. More often than not, the business line will have departed—radically—from its initial path.

via “Foreign Private Issuers”: U.S. Corporations With Exotic Pedigrees.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: American, Exotic, matter, s corporations, scratch, surface

Jewel Thomas Suing American Airlines Over Botched O’Hare Landing

September 2, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

A Washington state woman has filed a federal lawsuit claiming negligence against American Airlines stemming from a rocky emergency landing at O’Hare Airport two years ago.

Jewel Thomas of King County Washington, filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court Western District of Washington against American Airlines claiming the emergency landing on Sept. 22, 2008 had her fearing for her life and calling family members to tell them she loved them just in case the landing wound end in disaster.

The suit alleges American Airlines was negligent in failing to exercise the “practical operation” of the plane and failed to provide the passengers with an airplane what was in good mechanical condition.

The suit also claims that a logbook maintained by the airline showed several problems relating to the plane’s power supply.

via Jewel Thomas Suing American Airlines Over Botched O’Hare Landing.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: American, american airlines, emergency, lawsuit, State

Mobile sign language being developed at UW – Computerworld

August 17, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle are building the first mobile devices to effectively transmit American Sign Language via compressed video over a 3G cellular network.

The problem they are trying to solve is optimizing the compressed video for sign language so that it can be transmitted on a 3G network, instead of requiring faster 4G network speeds, according to a report published on the university’s Web site. The engineers have increased image quality around faces and hands used in ASL while still delivering intelligible sign language via video at speeds of 30Kbit/sec.

The engineers on the project are finishing a three-week initial trial of the MobileASL tool on older phones equipped with cameras for video chat, although the software is designed to work on a range of smartphones and other mobile devices.

via Mobile sign language being developed at UW – Computerworld.

Filed Under: Tech Bytes Tagged With: 3g network, American, image, problem, site, Washington

VIDEO: Skype To File for IPO

August 10, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

Internet phone-calling giant Skype has filed regulatory papers for an initial public stock offering of up to $100 million. According to Giga Om and others, Skype will be selling American Depositary Shares that trade on the NASDAQ Global Market. The Associated Press reports Skype did not say when shares would be available or at what price.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: American, IPO, Skype, trade

In London, a New Law Firm Model Arises | The American Lawyer

July 20, 2010 By Global EDD Group Leave a Comment

We read with great interest Monday morning a release about Matthew Hudson, a former partner at SJ Berwin, O’Melveny & Myers and Proskauer Rose who has formed his own firm with seed backing from several private equity funds. Some of those funds plan to take a stake in Hudson’s law firm, MJ Hudson, when the Legal Services Act goes into effect in the U.K. next year, allowing outside investors to take stakes in law firms and firms to offer publicly traded shares. The investment in Hudson’s case will go the other way, too; Hudson is free to buy up positions in the PE funds that will invest in his firm, thereby ensuring that his interests are intertwined completely with theirs.

via In London, a New Law Firm Model Arises.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: American, american lawyer, model, private equity funds, proskauer rose, sj berwin