What do you think of when someone says Delaware? For many people, one word comes to mind: business. That’s where numerous companies are incorporated. If they didn’t already have “First State” on their license plate (Delaware was first to sign the U.S. Constitution), they could just print “The Business State” and people would know where they’re from. 
Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: Delaware’s Lawsuit Climate Gets Chillier

Article by  Rebecca Love Kourlis & Brittany Kauffman / The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)

Americans deserve a legal system that can resolve disputes fairly, promptly and cost-effectively. But the truth is that runaway costs, delays and complexity are denying people justice and undermining public confidence in our legal system. Recognizing that this must change, in July 2016 the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) adopted a resolution endorsing 13 recommendations designed to secure the fair, speedy and inexpensive resolution of civil cases in state courts.
Continue Reading Civil Justice Reformers Aim to Modernize State Courts: Leaders call for states to implement 13 recommendations

Interview with Jordan Thomas / Labaton Sucharow LLP

For six years Jordan Thomas has led the whistleblower representation practice at Labaton Sucharow LLP, which specializes in SEC cases. Thomas, a former assistant director in the SEC’s Enforcement Division, has worked as the practice’s sole partner, “borrowing” associates from the firm to help. But in May, as talk of the new administration’s desire to dismantle Dodd-Frank continued to swirl, Thomas made a startling announcement. He had just hired three partners to boost the practice to another level. The new hires were Steven Durham, former chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.; Timothy Warren, former associate director in the SEC’s Enforcement Division; and Robert Wilson, former deputy assistant director in the Enforcement Division. We couldn’t help but wonder: Why three, and why now? The interview has been edited for style and length.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: Doubling Down on Whistleblowers – Labaton discounts the supposed demise of Dodd-Frank

By David Hechler

 When a group of regulators and in-house lawyers got together on April 3, the subject of cooperation came up frequently during their conversation. Nineteen months after the Yates Memorandum, the topic was still very much on their minds.
Continue Reading Conversing (and Cooperating) with the Regulators: A panel discussion veers from Yates to ‘macho litigators’

By David Hechler, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

The Civil Justice Playbook sometimes cribs its best material from the Criminal Justice Playbook. What follows is a prime example.

In early February, the fraud section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division posted a seven-page document that nobody seemed to notice. It’s called Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs [https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/page/file/937501/download] [or bit.ly/2lEphmk], and it’s no wonder it glided under the radar. DOJ posted 89 press releases on its site in February, but there wasn’t one about this. (Maybe the authors should have asked the president to tweet about it.)Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: DOJ’s Missed Guidance:Corporate compliance programs would do well to take a long look

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

There’s a new sheriff in lawsuit land.

Displacing California, ranked as the top Judicial Hellhole three of the last four years, is the city of St. Louis, Missouri, which topped the annual Judicial Hellholes report released last month by the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF). The #1 ranking in the report, now in its 15th year, capped an amazing rise that saw the Missouri Supreme Court break into the ranking at #6 three years ago, the state of Missouri hit #4 the last year, and the Gateway City soar – or should we say sink – to the top slot in the 2016-17 report.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: Hail the New Litigation Hell

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

To hear him tell it, Christopher Bogart, co-founder and CEO of Burford Capital, the world’s largest publicly traded provider of litigation and specialty finance to the legal industry, fell into litigation funding. Look at his resume, however, and it seems inevitable.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: This Idea Makes Dollars & Sense

By: Thomas J. Sabatino Jr., Aetna

The Sabatino Advocate Award, created by the Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute, goes to a male general counsel who champions women throughout his career. Below, the man for whom the award is named, Thomas J. Sabatino Jr., executive vice president and general counsel of Aetna Inc., discusses the award, his passion for promoting women to senior in-house roles, and the inaugural recipient, Craig Glidden, executive vice president and general counsel of General Motors, who was honored last month at the Horizon Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C. His remarks have been edited for length and style.
Continue Reading A Seat – and Voice – at the Table: Leaders make sure women’s voices do not fall on deaf male ears

By: Angela H. Zimmern

Every firm these days seems to be talking the legal project management talk. McGuireWoods, however, walks the walk – and does so in a manner that clients embrace. The firm eschews a one-size-fits-all approach for a more nuanced, attorney-driven LPM program that is winning fans inside the firm and out. Below, Angela H. Zimmern, one of the architects of the effort, discusses how to win over transactional lawyers and ever-skeptical litigators alike. Her remarks have been edited for length and style.
Continue Reading One LPM Size Does Not Fit All: A nuanced approach that begins and ends with the client’s goals is the surest path to success

By: Meredith Moore, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

Workplace diversity has become an increasingly important topic over the past several years. With more organizations recognizing the need and importance of investing in diversity and inclusion, some are launching new programs and initiatives. For example, within the past few months, Starbucks launched its Upstanders campaign, which is its first original content series, aiming to inspire people to engage in acts of compassion, citizenship and civility. In order to explore the important topic of workplace inclusion, we sat down with Weil Global Diversity and Social Responsibility Director Meredith Moore to discuss Weil’s own Upstander program, which the firm launched in November 2015. Her remarks have been edited for length and style.
Continue Reading Upstanding Allies in Diversity: Taking its inclusive approach to new heights, Weil actively engages employees – and clients – in its program’s efforts