Legal Pad

Hanson Bridgett Lands a Boatload of Work

[Petra Pasternak]

Hanson Bridgett will be handling a wide roster of legal matters for the America’s Cup Event Authority as the organization preps for the 34th America’s Cup World Series, to be held in San Francisco in 2013.

The series includes a number of regattas that start this year in Cascais, Portugal, with stops in Plymouth, England, and San Diego before culminating in S.F.

As the official law firm for the Cup, Hanson Bridgett will provide legal counsel on issues ranging from sponsorship agreements and security relationships to jurisdictional agreements with local counties and authorities over the use of the Bay.

The three-year contract is based on an alternative fee arrangement. Firm Managing Partner Andrew Giacomini said it’s easily one of the firm’s biggest projects.

“We have larger clients and larger projects,” Giacomini said, “but as a single project, this may be the largest we have in terms of scope.”

Gawker Lawyers Up in SF to Fight Found iPhone Case

[Zusha Elinson]

Police seized computers from a Gawker editor’s house Friday in order to figure out how the blog got its hands on Steve Jobs’ precious next generation iPhone.

Gawker has hired Tom Burke — a first amendment specialist from Davis Wright & Tremaine in SF — to work on the case. The blog takes the position that Jason Chen, the editor who got a hold of the iPhone, is protected by journalist shield laws. Gawker COO Gaby Darbyshire had this to say on her Twitter feed today:

“We raised our objections over the weekend and met in person with the authorities today. They're reviewing the shield law issue.”

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, one of Gawker’s blogs, Gizmodo, posted a bunch of stuff last week about the next-generation iPhone that it bought for $5,000 from someone who “found” it at a bar in Redwood City.

Gizmodo gave it back to Apple. But as the search warrant shows, San Mateo authorities aren’t done investigating.

New Firm Costs: Four Perspectives

[Petra Pasternak]

You still need money to launch a firm, but you don’t have to spend a fortune on it.

A recent Recorder roundtable in San Francisco brought together a group of entrepreneurial attorneys to discuss their beginnings and share tips on how to build a small firm.

Some take the no-frills approach. When Daralyn Durie and a number of her colleagues left Keker & Van Nest last February to open Durie Tangri, the group opted for not-so-glamorous temporary space.

Law Firm's Former Bookkeeper Sentenced

Two recent developments in law firm/lawyer embezzlement news …

A former bookkeeper at San Francisco medical malpractice and personal injury firm Bostwick, Peterson & Mitchell was sentenced just before Christmas for helping himself to $9 million of the firm’s funds over about nine years.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin sentenced the former bookkeeper, Richard Thomas, to 10 years in state prison. He’ll also have to pay $8.7 million in restitution.

When audits are really helpful, after the jump ...

You Can Probably Even Specialize in Pirate Litigation

When pirates attack, can seamen sue?

The Maersk Alabama was attacked again yesterday off the coast of Somalia –- Somali pirates had first targeted the ship last Spring in a dramatic attack ended by U.S. Navy snipers. This latest, of course, generated mention of a lawsuit former crew members filed against the company in a Texas court over the spring attack, reportedly accusing Maersk of negligence in sending the crew into pirate territory with inadequate protection.

“Obviously she’s a hot target,” one of the former crew members told the Associated Press. “The bad guys were laying in wait for her.”

San Francisco maritime attorney Edward Bull III said his firm, Brodsky, Micklow, Bull & Weiss (which carries the best tagline ever: “Lawyers Worth Their Salt”), employed a similar legal theory on a case that resolved about 18 months ago.

Shiver me timbers, looks like more litigation work on the horizon, after the jump ...

Are Folger Levin and Crowell & Moring Talking Merger?

The streets are buzzing with word that San Francisco’s Folger Levin & Kahn is in advanced merger talks with Crowell & Moring, a Washington, D.C.-based firm with more than 450 lawyers.

We have yet to get confirmation from the firms that they are talking, but knowledgeable sources outside the firms have been hearing about it. Crowell & Moring partners we reached said our questions would best be answered by the press department or the firm’s chairman, Kent Gardiner, who hasn’t gotten back to us. A Crowell D.C. spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied talks. Folger lawyers, including the name partners and managing partner, have been mum.

One lawyer familiar with Folger, who believed it was a done deal, said word had first leaked out about a month ago. Now, that lawyer said, there appears to be turmoil inside Folger. Lawyers there are split between those who see the possibilities of joining a bigger firm with offices as far as Brussels and London and those who feel their best opportunities lie in striking out on their own.

Another lawyer on the outside said the mood seems to have shifted inside the firm. “I think people are sad.” Some are looking for other opportunities, the lawyer said.

If the deal does go through, observers say it would signal a change of heart on the part of Folger Levin, which has remained independent as suitors looked for S.F. merger partners.

We go over the practice area overlaps, after the jump ... 

Duane Morris Moves ... But Not Much

Duane Morris has sort of moved. While Legal Pad recently moved half a block and got all new phone numbers and email addresses, the Philly firm’s San Francisco office has only shifted floors, to a new suite number at Spear Tower in San Francisco. The reception area, previously on the 20th floor, will now be located on the 22nd floor, and some attorneys have moved floors. Phones and email remain the same, meaning 56 attorney’s business cards did not just become totally invalid.

The office will have the same number of floors, but now they’ll all be contiguous, and we’re told that a shortage of conference space has been rectified.

San Francisco managing partner Joe Burton said the lease had come due and they renegotiated to take over different floors. Since the move involved signing a new 10-year lease in the middle of this economy, we figure the firm probably got a good deal.

— Amanda Royal
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Trendspotting: Another State Official Suing Over More Budget Stuff, To The Tune Of $1B

In another example of state officials suing to halt drastic budget decisions, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced today he’s filing a lawsuit to stop the $1 billion sale of assets in a state-run workers’ compensation insurance fund. A spokesman for Poizner's department said they've retained Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin. He added that they chose Howard Rice because of Steven Mayer, director of the firm’s litigation department, and his experience litigating public official matters in state courts.

“The pilfering of funds used to pay the claims of injured workers to instead help fill the state budget gap is both unconscionable and unconstitutional,” Poizner said in a news release. It’s unconstitutional, he added, because the Legislature is required to establish a whole workers’ compensation system, keeping the State Compensation Insurance Fund –- an insurer of last resort for employers in dangerous fields –- self-supporting.

Poizner expects to file the lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court. The defendants are Finance Director Michael Genest and State Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

—  Kate Moser

Shartsis Friese Wins Suit Over Its Own Retirement Plan

The crew at Shartsis Friese is hitting the bars tonight -- with much to celebrate.

This afternoon, a federal jury in San Francisco handed the firm a win against its retirement company, JP Morgan. The trial started June 8.

“We just got the verdict,” partner Frank Cialone said over the telephone on his way out of the courthouse this afternoon. Cialone, who represented his own firm, said the jury awarded the $1.3 million the firm had asked for in damages. With pre-judgment interest, it will amount to $1.5 million, Cialone said.

In the litigation, the firm had claimed that its plan contributions didn't meet IRS rules because of bad advice from its outside benefits consultant, and that it had to spend more than $1 million to bring the fund back into compliance.

“We got everything we asked for,” firm chief Art Shartsis said.

Oh, and today they’re also celebrating that it’s been 34 years since the firm’s founding. “What a fun anniversary present,” Shartsis said.

JP Morgan's counsel, Connie Anderson of the Los Angeles-based Klinedinst firm, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail, but we’ll update this if we hear back.

—  Petra Pasternak

Former Bronsonites Party Like Its 1999

It happens every year, on the last Friday of April. Former partners, associates and staff of Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon come together from all parts of California — and this year, Europe — to celebrate their late and beloved law firm.

"We're like the swallows in Capistrano," said ex-partner Richard Stratton, whose current firm, Hanson Bridgett, housed this year's reunion.

"Some of us left [Bronson] in the late '80s, and we all come back every year," said Margaret Alice Seltzer, now of the Seltzer Law Group.

Upward of 100 people turned out for the 10th anniversary, and they had a little extra to celebrate this year. About six months ago the firm completed its wind-down and, in typical Bronson fashion, it was a collegial affair. No partner lawsuits, no creditor litigation, no employee class actions, not even a bankruptcy filing, partners said. In the end the firm even wound up paying back some capital to partners last fall.

"We paid off more debt than we ever thought we would. We paid out more capital than we ever thought we would," said Richard Ardoin, a member of the wind-down committee who now practices at McKesson Corp. Former partners Michele Trausch and Paul Sanner and consultant Machelle Burkstrand also served on the committee.

Wind-down committee (from left): Sanner, Burkstrand, Ardoin and Trausch.

Bronson was founded in 1918 and in its heyday numbered 180 lawyers and boasted one of the state's top litigation practices. The firm dissolved April 30, 1999, following a long series of defections.

Ardoin was one of at least six former managing partners at this year's reunion, along with Terrence Ponsford, Charles Legge, Alexander Brainerd, Gilmore Diekmann and James Krieg. Former partner Edwin Green, 73 and described as one of the firm's great trial mentors, flew in from his home in Roquecor, France.

"Bronson was a special place," sighed Ardoin. "It'll never happen again."

— Scott Graham