Author: TSA Press

Which Biglaw firm was ranked #1 in Vault’s 2020 practice area rankings in the area of intellectual property law?

Hint: The firm’s IP bona fides go back a long way — one of the firm’s name partners represented Alexander Graham Bell in over 600 patent cases.

See the answer on the next page.

Daisy Soderberg-Rivkin, who used to work at Google as an in-house content moderator, has written a fascinating piece for the Washington Times, explaining just what a disaster Josh Hawley’s anti-Section 230 bill would be for the internet. As we’ve discussed, Hawley’s bill would require large internet companies to beg the FTC every two years to get a “certificate” granting them Section 230 protections — and they’d only get it if they could convince 4 out of 5 of the FTC Commissioners that their content moderation efforts were “politically neutral.”

Soderberg-Rivkin points out how that will stifle the kind of “clean up” efforts that most everyone — especially folks like Senator Josh Hawley — often claim they want when they complain about all the “bad stuff” on social media. Remember, just before introducing this bill, Hawley was whining about all the bad and dangerous content on social media. Except, under his own damn bill, social media sites would be forced to keep that content up:

Under the Hawley bill, the FTC would audit major platforms’ moderation practices every two years to determine whether those practices were “biased against a political party, political candidate or political viewpoint.” In practice, this would look something like this: A few FTC auditors would walk into a technology company and declare the beginning of the audit. They would comb through tens thousands of removals decisions, looking for those that are “politically biased” — a process that could take, at minimum, weeks to complete.

In the meantime, content moderators would hold back on their take down procedures because no one could really tell them how “politically biased” is interpreted. In other words, disinformation, Nazi propaganda and white supremacist videos would fester on the Internet. If a moderator fails this test, not only would they be fired, but thousands of lawsuits and fines would come tumbling down on the company.

At my former job, I tried to keep in mind that while I had to look at horrific content, thanks to my efforts, many others would not have to. Yet in a world where this bill passes, I would sit down at my same desk, take a deep breath and prepare myself to look at terrorist executions, aftermaths of mass shootings and hatred-motivated violence — but this time, with full knowledge that I had absolutely no control over its distribution.

To some extent, this gets at the weird mental pretzel logic Senators like Hawley keep twisting themselves into. They complain about all the bad stuff online… and think that the way to deal with that is to remove the one law that makes it possible for companies to design plans to moderate away that bad stuff.

Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley’s Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech

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The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt, is a memoir published in 2016 detailing a mother and son’s relationship and includes reflections on their individual and familial successes and failures. In the book, Vanderbilt states, “Death is the price you paid for being born.” This has come true for Vanderbilt, who died on June 17, 2019, at the age of 95.

In addition to CNN correspondent Cooper, Vanderbilt was also survived by sons Leopold Stanislaus Stokowski and Christopher Stokowski. A fourth son, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, predeceased her in 1988. New York State Surrogate’s Court filings have revealed that Vanderbilt left her Manhattan apartment to son, Leopold, and the remainder of her estate to Anderson. Christopher Stokowski, with whom she was reportedly estranged, was not included in the last will and testament.

Vanderbilt’s death and the disposition of her assets is interesting by the nature of the life she led and the monies she and her family held. At the time of her death, she was estimated to have been worth $200 million.  Vanderbilt was the great-great-granddaughter of financier and railroad scion Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1925, when she was less than two years old, her father died, leaving her a trust fund worth approximately $5 million (about $73 million today). As a girl, she was the subject of a custody battle between her mother and aunt which included control of her trust fund. Notably, Vanderbilt made her own fortune in the fashion industry transforming dungarees into designer jeans in the 1970s and 1980s, amongst other fashion items and cosmetics.

The memoir and Anderson Cooper himself, discuss the importance of earning one’s own money, regardless of a family’s wealth. In a 2014 Howard Stern interview, Anderson Cooper stated, “My mom’s made clear to me that there’s no trust fund. There’s none of that.” He further added that he did not believe in inheriting money and that had he felt a “pot of gold” was waiting for him, he would not have been so motivated to succeed. Anderson Cooper is estimated to have a net worth of $100 million.

Court filings seem to reveal that Cooper will inherit the great majority of the Estate although the number reported in the court is around $1.5 million. The court filings, however, may not present the entire picture. It is possible that Vanderbilt executed non-probate documents such as trusts which distribute monies to a host of other individuals or charities. The only assets that will pass via Vanderbilt’s last will and testament are those held in her individual name. Trust funds, accounts with named beneficiaries, life insurance policies, and joint accounts will all transfer upon death to the joint owner, remainderman, or a named beneficiary.

Anderson Cooper is accomplished, respected, and wealthy in his own right. Should his success bar him from enjoying his family’s monetary legacy? Or is it that Anderson’s success is Vanderbilt’s greatest asset, worth more than any piece of property or bank account? If the latter, then Anderson Cooper’s role as beneficiary is his ultimate reward for doing as his mother advised.

Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at cori@robinsonestatelaw.com. 

A rule issued by the Internal Revenue Service opens up the ability for high deductible health plans (HDHP) to cover preventive services and medications prior to meeting the plan deductible.

The move was made in response to an executive order signed last month that was meant to inject more flexibility into how health savings account eligible high deductible health plans could pay for health services critical to management of chronic diseases.

The new rule from IRS changes the classification of many health services and medications meant to treat and manage chronic conditions as preventive care.

These products and services include insulin, ACE inhibitors, inhaled corticosteroids, retinopathy screenings, glucometers, statins and SSRIs. A full list of covered items can be found here.

As healthcare costs have continued to rise many plan sponsors have turned to high deductible health plans as a way to make members most conscious of their health spending.

These are often coupled with a health savings account (HSA), which allows pretax dollars to be saves to be pay for healthcare costs.

By changing the classification of medications and services that manage chronic disease, patients can use their HSA to pay for them, which was previously barred under the tax code.

Between 2007 and 2017, the proportion of employer-based health coverage members with HDHPs with an HSA grew from 4.2 percent to 18.9 percent, according to data from the CDC.

For 2019, the IRS defines a HDHP as one where the deductible is at least $1,350 for an individual or $2,700 for a family. Those numbers go up next year to $1,400 and $2,800, respectively.

The benchmarks can lead to difficult fiscal decisions for patients who are forced to pay high out-of-pocket costs for services or products that may have large clinical impact and downstream cost savings.

Research has repeatedly shown that high deductibles lead patients to forgo high value preventive health services, especially among those who are low-income or have chronic diseases.

“For the first time health savings accounts qualified high deductible health plans will be able to cover essential services that I beg my patients to do,” said Dr. Mark Fendrick, the director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Value Based Insurance Design.

“These include diagnostic tests and high value drugs such as those which treat diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.”

Photo: adventtr, Getty Images

How are lawyers in small firms leveraging technology to compete — and win — in today’s rapidly changing legal landscape?

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I had the relatively rare opportunity of working on two mediations over the past two months which could not have been more different. The first, a fraud case, resulted in a settlement while the second — an intellectual property case — continued on and has since grown even more contentious after the parties failed to settle. While the different outcomes could have been due to an infinite number of factors, the most striking differences between the two mediations had nothing to do with the legal strengths and weaknesses of the respective parties’ positions, nor any typos or blue booking errors in the parties’ mediation statements. Rather, the most striking differences, which proved to be pivotal to the outcome of the mediations, had everything to do with the following factors: (i) the negotiation strategies of the opposing parties’ counsel, and (ii) the abilities of the mediator.

DON’T NEGOTIATE AGAINST YOURSELF, BUT TAKE COUNTER-OFFERS SERIOUSLY

While I won’t attempt to provide an overarching guide to negotiation strategies — as there are entire books on the topic — one crucial point is to not negotiate against yourself, but to not take that truism too far. Both parties at each mediation had clearly internalized the rule not to negotiate against themselves, as no party was willing to make a lower offer if their adversary had failed to accept a prior without a making a counteroffer. The difference between the successful and unsuccessful strategies: one party was willing to consider reasonable counteroffers while the other was not. The party unwilling to move broke the momentum of the mediation, and ultimately led to its termination. While it is ultimately the mediator’s job to convince the parties to move from their respective positions, the parties should be willing to consider reasonable counteroffers in order to make the mediation worthwhile and prevent a waste of everyone’s time and money.

FIND THE RIGHT MEDIATOR FOR EACH CASE

Stating the obvious, a skilled mediator is crucial to a successful mediation. However, choosing the right mediator before the mediation happens is more complicated. Having a mediator who is experienced with the subject matter is important as it lowers the learning curve necessary to be fluent in the subject matter of the mediation, and to perform one of the primary functions of a mediator — explaining the parties’ respective strengths and weaknesses in order to convince the parties to move.

The mediator at the first mediation had honed this skill over many years, and was able to get through to the parties in order to haggle them down from their opening demands and prevent a walkout. In contrast, the mediator presiding over the second mediation was not as close to the facts, and was not able not able to quickly respond when the parties dug in to their respective positions.

All in all, the parties must remember the reasons they came to mediation in the first place — to arrive at a speedy and reasonable resolution of the action, even if that means that neither party walks away completely happy.

David Forrest is an attorney for Balestriere Fariello. He graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in June 2018. David works on all aspects of complex commercial litigation and arbitration from pre-filing investigations to trial and appeals. You can reach him by email at david.a.forrest@balestrierefariello.com.

Over the past decade, Lateral Link has become the prominent player in the legal recruiting industry.

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We understand that hiring and retaining the best legal recruiters requires spreading the wealth.  Not only do you deserve it, but you should demand it.  Lateral Link’s recruiters earn 50-85 percent ABOVE the market.  Also, our Principals partake in real profit sharing.  If you are earning a typical 50 percent without any real upside, you should reconsider your options.

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If you have to define the legal recruiting industry, you would probably say it is a “dog eat dog world.” At Lateral Link, our recruiters find working together and collaborating on searches gives us an edge over our regional or national competition.  If you don’t have access to decision-makers and your brand isn’t opening the door in a meaningful way, why are you bringing more to a platform than what you are giving?  We encourage you to look at the contributions you make.  Is your platform really helping you?

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We know the business aspect is important, but we also like to have a bit of fun at Lateral Link. We believe it is important to bring all of our colleagues together, from across the nation, annually at our company retreats.

Last month, we highlighted Why Legal Recruiting is the Right Career Choice, and today, we are here to tell you why Lateral Link is the right company for you.

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts from Mainspring Legal’s team of expert contributors. Sarkis Adajian manages marketing and business development for Lateral Link.

Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices world-wide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click ::here:: to find out more about us.

It’s not every day that you allegedly catch a judge wring her hands around a courthouse employee’s neck on camera, but when that day comes, you can be sure that the judge in question is going to see her career choked out by the proper disciplinary authorities.

On June 11, Broward Circuit Judge Vegina “Gina” Hawkins was filmed while she allegedly physically assaulted an employee because her afternoon docket wasn’t completed when she expected it that morning. An investigative panel of the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission has recommended that Hawkins be suspended for her “exceptionally inappropriate” behavior. Hawkins claims that she was acting in “jest,” but surveillance footage and witness testimony suggest otherwise.

“After being informed that the papers would be provided to her shortly, Judge Hawkins sought out the employee who was working in another judge’s courtroom,” the filing said. “Entering the courtroom through a secure hallway, Judge Hawkins motioned for the employee to come outside into the hallway. As the employee walks through the doorway, Judge Hawkins placed her hands around his neck and shook him back and forth.”

The video shows Hawkins have a “brief but intense” conversation with the employee after the encounter, the JQC said. …

“The employee involved did not describe the judge’s demeanor that morning as friendly or joking, but described her as ‘extremely upset,’” the filing said. “Another employee who interacted with Judge Hawkins shortly after the incident says Judge Hawkins remarked about the encounter and demonstrated what she did by making a choking motion in the air. This employee described Judge Hawkins’ overall behavior as ‘unnecessarily unprofessional and unpredictable.’”

Hawkins has objected to the JQC’s recommendation of suspension, claiming she wasn’t sure if she actually touched the courthouse employee, but later conceded she had, admitting that “whether she touched him or not, her actions were inappropriate.”

Going so far as to state the incredibly obvious, the JQC noted: “Within the judicial branch, as in civilian life, it is never appropriate for a person in a supervisory position to put their hands around the neck of an employee or subordinate and shake them.”

The JQC has recommended that Hawkins be suspended indefinitely without pay until the investigation into her alleged misconduct is complete.

Video Shows Broward Judge Grabbing Court Employee by Neck [Daily Business Review]

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.