Category: News Feeds

Jim Gorman doesn’t need to let anyone go this holiday season. Morgan Stanley’s still No. 1 in trading. It bested estimates in the third quarter. Shares are up 25% this year.

In spite of all that, Gorman feels uneasy. Brexit, Trump, macroeconomic concerns, a general malaise, a certain sense of ennui. Jim Gorman doesn’t know that any of that will turn out, or turn out badly for the (other) House of Morgan. But he’d sure feel a lot better if he weren’t paying 2% of you going forward. So, he’s, uh, not gonna. Merry Christmas.

Parliament Will Sit This Week, Starting Today, 10th December

This bulletin outlines the programme for this week’s sittings.  First, however, is a paragraph that had to be omitted from Bill Watch 67/2019 of 6th December [link] to avoid undue length.

Non-Adverse PLC Reports on Bills Announced Last Week

On 3rd and 5th December the Speaker announced receipt of non-adverse reports by the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC]  on the following Bills:

3rd December

Freedom of Information Bill

Marriages Bill

International Treaties Bill

5th December

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill

Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Bill

Constitutional Court Bill.

Coming up In the National Assembly

Fast-tracking

In the National Assembly fast-track procedure will continue to apply to:

• what is left for it to do on the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Bill and Coroner’s Office Bill [see below]; and
• the completion of the ongoing Budget Debate, to consideration of the Estimates of Expenditure and to the passing of the related Finance (No. 3) Bill and the Appropriation (2020) Bill.

The resolution authorising fast-track procedure was approved by the National Assembly on 28th November.   So far, however, no late-night [after 7 pm] sittings or Friday sittings have been considered necessary; this week may be different.

Budget Business

Both the Finance (No. 3) Bill  [link] and the Appropriation (2020) Bill [link] were gazetted on Friday 6th December and are available for downloading on the Veritas website.  Depending on progress made in the Budget debate and on the Estimates of Expenditure, the National Assembly could finish both Bills this week.

Continuation of the Budget Debate is listed as item 2 on the National Assembly Order Paper for 10th November.  This is the opportunity for individual MPs to make their contributions to the debate; the first few MPs did so on 5th December, following the presentation of reports from all Portfolio Committees.  At the end of the debate, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development will reply to points made by the committees and MPs.  The House will then vote on the Minister’s Budget motion seeking permission to introduce the Finance (No. 3) Bill.

Next, as item 3, comes consideration of the Estimates of Expenditure, for which the whole House will as sit as a committee called the Committee of Supply.  Each vote will be considered in turn.  If the Estimates are approved, the Appropriation (2020) Bill will be introduced by the Minister.  If MPs insist on amendments to the Estimates, corresponding amendments will have to be made to this Bill during the Committee Stage.

Bills

Coroner’s Office Bill

This Bill was amended during the Committee Stage on Thursday 5th December.  The amendments were referred to the PLC for its report on their constitutionality.   As the fast-track procedure is applicable, a prompt report is expected from the PLC today.  The Bill, therefore, has a good chance of reaching the Senate in time to be dealt with this week.
Note: The amendments were not extensive.   Only clauses 7 and 14 of the Bill were affected.  The effect of the amendments is to provide for up to three family members of a deceased (or their representatives) to inspect the scene of death; to allow the family members to choose a medical practitioner to represent them at a post-mortem; and to impose a three-month time-limit on the publication of inquest findings.  An annotated version of the Bill showing the amendments is available on the Veritas website [link].

Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Bill

Assuming a non-adverse report on the amendment made last week by the Senate see [Bill Watch 67/2019 [link]] and a Third Reading by Senators of the Bill as thus amended, this Bill will come back to the National Assembly for final approval.  If this approval is given, the Bill will have been passed by Parliament and can then be sent to the President for assent and gazetting as law.

Freedom of Information Bill [link]

On 5th December, on the strength of the PLC’s non-adverse report on the Bill [see above], the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs started the Second Reading stage of this Bill by outlining its purpose.  The House then adjourned for the weekend.  Continuation of this stage depends on presentation of the Portfolio Committee report on the Bill by the committee chairperson, who was not available at the time.  Unlike the Coroner’s Office Bill, this Bill was not mentioned in the fast-tracking resolution approved by the National Assembly on 28th November.

Other Bills listed for commencement of Second Reading Stage

Marriages Bill

International Treaties Bill

Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Bill

Constitutional Court Bill

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill.

Privileges Committee Report on MPs Allegedly Soliciting Bribes

Item 1 on the Order Paper is the adjourned debate Senator Chief Charumbira’s take-note motion of 4th December on the report of the Privileges Committee he chaired into allegations that four MPs on the Mines Portfolio Committee had solicited a bribe from a company seeking mining rights; see Bill Watch 67/2019 for details summarised the report’s findings [insufficient evidence to prove breach of privilege or contempt of Parliament] and recommended disciplinary action for conduct creating an impression of impropriety.  If, however, MPs consider it more important to get on with Budget business and Bills than with this motion, they may choose to do so.

Coming up in the Senate

Bills

There are no Bills on the Senate’s Order Paper for today.  Senators are waiting for Bills to be transmitted from the National Assembly.

Coroner’s Office Bill [link]

As mentioned above, this slightly amended Bill is nearing the end of its passage through the National Assembly, and is likely to reach the Senate today or tomorrow.

The two Budget Bills

Depending on progress made by the National Assembly, the Finance (No. 3) Bill  [link] and the Appropriation (2020) Bill [link] could reach the Senate this week.

Freedom of Information Bill [link]

This Bill is the least likely to reach the Senate this week.

Motions

While waiting for Bills to come up from the National Assembly, Senators will continue with adjourned debates on­ the motion in reply to the Presidential Speech of 1st November at the opening of the present Parliamentary session [the State of the Nation Address]; the report of the delegation to the Pan-African Parliament High Level Summit on HIV and Health Financing in Africa [July 2019]; the report of the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development on the plight of people with disabilities, and challenges faced by women and girls with disabilities in Zimbabwe; and the motion calling for unconditional and immediate removal of the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

Bills Awaiting PLC Reports

Having submitted non-adverse reports on several Bills in the last ten days – see above and in Bill Watch 67/2019 [link] – the PLC has only two outstanding reports to deliver to the National Assembly, on the Amendments to the Coroner’s Office Bill [link] and on the Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill, which has been with them since its First Reading on 12th November.

Forest Amendment Bill Just Gazetted

The Forest Amendment Bill, HB 16, 2019 [link] was gazetted on Friday 6th December.  It proposes introducing mandatory prison sentences for lighting fires in State or private forests, and increasing penalties for other offences designated “major offences” by the Forest Act; there are other measures also, for instance, to decentralise to forestry and environmental officers such matters as the adequacy of fireguards.  The Bill also includes provisions designed to  ensure the Forestry Commission Board includes persons with special qualifications in forestry, environmental planning and management and ecology and that its membership and the staffing of the Commission is gender-balanced.  At first glance, the Bill appears to be marred by unacceptably vague, general and ungrammatical language.

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Post published in: Featured

10.12.2019
15:17

by Nehanda TV

Emotional Zim doctors pray for dying patients as hospitals runs out of drugs – VIDEO

* A GOP lawyer brought files to an impeachment hearing yesterday in grocery bags. Pretty sure the bags weren’t from Whole Foods… [New York Post]

* A lawyer is saying that booze led him to swindle elderly clients out of millions. Sounds like this attorney is taking his defense from Jamie Foxx. [Albany Times Union]

* The Supreme Court has declined to review a Kentucky law that requires doctors to play the sound of a fetal heartbeat to individuals seeking abortions. [Slate]

* Attorney General Barr has rescheduled a Justice Department holiday party that was to occur at the Trump International Hotel in DC. I guess my invitation got lost in the mail… [Washington Post]

* An appellate court seemed skeptical Monday about an Emoluments Clause lawsuit filed against President Trump. [NPR]

* A mistrial has been declared in a murder case after the defense lawyer was struck by a car. Hopefully, this does not give criminal defendants any ideas. [Boston Globe]

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Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Monetary Policy Committee plans to “reject the majority of debts” owed to institutions, a move it hopes will save the southern African nation much-needed foreign currency, Eddie Cross, a member of the committee, said.

The country is unable to pay for adequate fuel and wheat imports.

“We will ask that a haircut be taken by creditors,” said Cross in a December 5 interview in the capital, Harare.

Tlali Tlali, a spokesman for SAA, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In February, the central bank took over $1.2bn (R17.49bn) of legacy debt when it dropped the 1:1 parity between its currency and the US dollar. The Zimbabwe dollar now trades at 16.42 to the greenback.

Cross put the legacy debt at $2.6bn, more than double the central bank’s previously stated figure. He didn’t provide further details.

His comments on legacy debt echo similar views made last month by George Guvamatanga, the permanent secretary in the finance ministry, that institutions owed legacy debt should consider writing down some of the amount.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) in July said foreign airlines were owed $196m by the southern African nation.

Post published in: Featured

Findings from the 12th Annual Law Department Operations Survey – Webinar

Findings from the 12th Annual Law Department Operations Survey – Webinar

BLICKSTEIN GROUP & ABOVE THE LAW

What fictional lawyer once said, “I’ve argued in front of every judge in this state. Often as a lawyer.”?

Hint: The TV attorney, of questionable legal skill, also once noted: “Don’t you worry. I watched Matlock in a bar last night. The sound wasn’t on, but I think I got the gist of it.”

See the answer on the next page.

The Milbank compensation scale isn’t just for Biglaw firms. Elite litigation boutiques are more than happy to show their associates the money. Now that we’re a full month into bonus season, we’ve already seen boutique firms that have either matched or exceeded the current market compensation dictated by Milbank and affirmed by Cravath.

Today, we’ve received word on yet another boutique firm that will be paying big-time bonuses to its associates. The firm in question is Greenberg Gross, which is doing a straight Milbank match. Bonuses at Greenberg Gross will be paid to associates on January 15, 2020. In case you’ve somehow managed to forget, this is what the 2019 bonus scale looks like:

Class of 2019 – $15,000 (pro-rated)
Class of 2018 – $15,000
Class of 2017 – $25,000
Class of 2016 – $50,000
Class of 2015 – $65,000
Class of 2014 – $80,000
Class of 2013 – $90,000
Class of 2012 and senior – $100,000

If you recall, back in 2017, Greenberg Gross was beating the market on bonuses. This time around, the firm is offering additional bonus cash to associates based on “extraordinary performance.” As noted in the bonus memo, congratulations to everyone at the firm for their “magnificent work and dedication.”

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Greenberg Gross.)

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for all of your help!

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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.

Honestly, I don’t even know what the hell that was.

The House Judiciary Committee is holding impeachment hearings today, arguably to consider whether to bring impeachment charges against President Donald Trump. Heading into today, I was led to believe that the point was to bring in witnesses, significantly House Intelligence Committee lawyer Daniel Goldman, to explain the 300-page “Schiff report” that details the impeachable offenses committed by Trump.

If there was a legal point behind today’s hearing, it was unclear and useless. If there was a political point for the hearings, the Republican minority quickly ruined it. Their entire game, led by Republican Doug Collins, has been to scream, obfuscate, and make the hearings seems disorderly with useless and disingenuous parliamentary procedures.

For the most part, the Republican “strategy” has worked. I mean, to the extent that knocking over other people’s Legos at playtime is a “strategy.” The Republicans are fighting a guerrilla war here — they don’t have to “win” any ground, they just have to harass and frustrate the opposition. Doug Collins, Louie Gohmert, Jim Sensenbrenner, and the objectively detestable Matt Gaetz: Their interruptions and protestations are just designed to cast aspersions on anybody or anything that is not Donald Trump.

In response, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler has, like, a gavel. He bangs it sometimes. He asks that Republicans stop their shenanigans, but doesn’t have a lot of power to make them stop. When Republicans like Devin Nunes tried to pull this crap on the House Intelligence Committee, Chairman Adam Schiff was ready with an encyclopedic knowledge of the rules, able to recite them from memory, and able to calmly punt misbehaving Republicans into the Sun.

Nadler doesn’t have anywhere approaching Schiff’s command of the proceedings. Nadler knows the objections are baseless, but sometimes he lets them talk, sometimes not. Most often he starts to overtalk them, only to later decide or be told that he has to let them actually make their objections on the record, then proceed to a tabling vote, during which the Republicans always ask for the entire roll call.

Nadler also did a weird thing with House Judiciary counsel Barry Berke. Both Nadler and Collins had opening statements. Then both were allowed to to cede their first 30 minutes of “questioning” to counsel. The counsels’ statements were in lieu of statements from the committee chairs and ranking member. Normally, you’d see such statements made from the dais, but Nadler had Berke (and Republican Counsel Stephen Castor) speak from the witness table. This lead to some confusion — confusion that Republicans on the committee had no reason to be confused about in good faith, but viewers at home might have — about whether Berke and Castor were “witnesses” (they were not), or making opening statements for the committee (they were).

THEN, the committee called witnesses. It was decided that the witnesses for today’s (whatever the hell this was) hearing were to be the lawyers who prepared the House Intelligence reports. For Republicans, that was Steve Castor, so Castor just stayed right where he was when it was time for “witnesses.” But for Democrats, the House Intelligence lawyer was Dan Goldman. So Goldman replaced Berke at the witness table. BUT THEN, the Committee decided to let their opening questions be handled by counsel. Republicans chose George Mason Law graduate Ashley Hurt Callen for their time, but Democrats choose… Barry Berke. For questioning, Berke was back up on the dais.

Technically, Berke was performing the same role, speaking and questioning on behalf of Committee Chairman Nadler, both times, from both different positions. But the confusion allowed Republicans to pitch an actual fit throughout.

That’s the thing about fighting asymmetrical wars. Republicans have no arguments, but when you give them something to argue about, they’re going to throw up histrionics to the fullest extent. Schiff handled it with the calm and relative smoothness of a veteran parent who is used to baby Republicans spreading Gerber’s all over the dining room. Nadler handled it like a manager who is exasperated that kids started a food fight in his restaurant.

Whatever, none of it matters. Democrats are going to impeach. Republicans are going to cry foul on state-run propaganda TV. Nothing actually happened today. The toilet has already been flushed. Today was just another swirl around the bowl for American democracy.

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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

Three weeks ago, we invited readers to vote to select the 15 legal technology startups that will get to participate in the fourth-annual Startup Alley at the American Bar Association’s TECHSHOW conference, which is Feb. 26 to 29, 2020, in Chicago. Vote you did. Voting ended Friday night and we received a total of 38,715 votes.

We are now pleased to announce the winners. These 15 startups will be provided space at a steeply discounted cost to exhibit their product or service in the special Startup Alley located within TECHSHOW’s exhibit hall. In addition, each startup will face off in an opening night pitch competition judged by an audience of TECHSHOW attendees. The winner of the pitch competition wins a package of marketing and advertising prizes, including a free both at the 2021 TECHSHOW.

Here are the winners in order of their vote tallies. Descriptions were provided by each company. The full ballot with more details on each company is here.

1. Woodpecker. Woodpecker is an AI-enabled legal document automation platform that helps lawyers get back to doing what they love. Our platform enables firms to automatically turn frequently used legal documents into standardized “smart-templates,” all from the comfort of Microsoft Word with no implementation or training overhead.
2. FirmTRAK. FirmTRAK seamlessly integrates with your practice management system and other strategic vendors, automatically generating diagnostic and predictive KPI visualizations designed to accelerate performance, increase efficiencies and drive profits.
3. Proxy. NMBL Technologies was founded by a diverse group of Am Law 100 lawyers and technologists. We recently released our first product, Proxy. Proxy is a cloud-based legal workflow management tool that supports the more effective adoption of legal operations concepts. Proxy optimizes four key day-to-day legal functions: (1) organizing and managing legal tasks; (2) delegation and status tracking; (3) visual prioritization; and (4) effective reporting and search.
4. LawCo. LawCo was developed to efficiently and ethically solve the access to justice problem by creating a way to connect live leads to lawyers instantly. LawCo’s platform matches people in need of legal help with lawyers on-demand, in real-time, and at no connecting cost to the consumer. With no monthly commitment fee to the attorney and no lengthy sales pitch, we built LawCo for small firms and solo lawyers, seeking to cost-effectively and rapidly build their books of business.
5. Lawgood. Lawgood is a web app that makes it easy for lawyers to draft and review contracts by allowing them to adjust important clause language with the push of a button and tap into crowdsourced best practices and trends.
6. Josef. Josef is a legal automation platform that enables lawyers and legal teams to create and launch their own conversational bots. Lawyers have already built more than 5,000 automation tools on the platform to streamline processes, improve client experience and eliminate repetitive tasks. Bots built on Josef automate lawyer-client interactions, draft documents and provide legal guidance and advice.
7. DueCourse. DueCourse is a learning platform that empowers attorneys to take control of their career by helping them map and advance their professional development through personalized learning. We’re building an adaptive learning platform that designs personalized development paths, allows lawyers and professional development teams to track their progress, and pushes incremental, custom content that encourages consistent learning and professional growth.
8. Justice For Me. Justice for Me (JFM) exists to close the justice gap. JFM removes the financial obstacles that prevent clients and attorneys from connecting, by using technology and a network of lawyers and financial partners that work with clients who cannot afford traditional legal representation. We provide a line of credit that gives clients affordable monthly payments and we pay attorneys quickly and directly, simplifying billing and collections. We enable customers and attorneys to focus on outcomes.
9. SimplyConvert. SimplyConvert is the first automated intake legal case qualification platform powered by an “all-knowing” AI chatbot. Casey, our chatbot, is currently versed in the legal criteria of 50 practice areas/litigations and her knowledge has no limit. Casey is also backed by a robust CRM that automates the entire legal intake process from initial conversation to signed contract, resulting in increased efficiency and conversion rates on signed cases.
10. Discovery Genie. Discovery Genie solves the document production problem facing 750,000+ lawyers and paralegals litigating cases involving 35,000 pages or less: reviewing, producing, organizing and indexing emails, attachments and efiles. The Genie’s lawyer-designed system automates conversion to PDF, Bates numbering, privilege-log generation, and more, saving 75-90% of the time, cost and tedium of using Acrobat — but without the overkill costs and complexity of an e-discovery system. No IT department needed.
11. Intaker. Intaker uses artificial intelligence to capture and qualify prospective clients for consumer law firms on autopilot and 24/7; saving attorneys time, money and frustration.
12. Parley Pro. Parley Pro is the contract management platform that automates documents and workflows around them. It is the only solution that enables real-time, multi-party contract negotiation powered by our proprietary, modular product design and architecture. This approach provides unprecedented visibility into a contract at a clause level. In addition, Parley Pro maintains a detailed audit trail for all contract changes throughout negotiations and after, preserving the history of all negotiations.
13. ECFX. ECFX is a one-stop, enterprise-class solution for electronic court filing (ECF). ECF is a time-consuming and complex process that varies from court to court. ECFX solves this problem by providing a SaaS B2B platform that automates the processing of receipts of service and the filing of documents with the court with firmware administration and control. ECFX obtains huge efficiencies and cost savings for the firm, eliminates the risk of missed receipts, and reduces filing rejections.
14. Billseye. Say for instance you’re working out, running an errand, or picking up your daughter from daycare and you receive a call from an important client. Do you stop what you are doing to document the call? I bet you’re too busy to stop and you end up losing hours of billable time as a result. This dilemma can be solved with one touch. Download Billseye for automatic, real-time call tracking, documenting, and billing solutions that can integrate into your existing case management software.
15. Knovi. Knovi was created by attorneys for attorneys to ease their caseload and bring an influx of valuable leads. Using artificial intelligence, Knovi matches clients with the right legal representation. Knovi then streamlines client communications with messaging and video chat capabilities, all the way from inquiry to settlement. An intuitive, built-in CRM documents the case from start to finish, so attorneys can focus on what truly matters: their client’s case.

Note to winners: You will be receiving emails from us with more details and event logistics.

Congratulations to all!

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Robert Ambrogi is a Massachusetts lawyer and journalist who has been covering legal technology and the web for more than 20 years, primarily through his blog LawSites.com. Former editor-in-chief of several legal newspapers, he is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and an inaugural Fastcase 50 honoree. He can be reached by email at ambrogi@gmail.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@BobAmbrogi).