Law.com - In-House Counsel

'Founding Partners' Decision Shows Limits of SEC's Power Over Relief Defendants
Jenner and Block's Michael K. Lowman and Andrew F. Merrick examine SEC v. Founding Partners Capital Mgmt., a recent federal court ruling that significantly curtails the power of the Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue ill-gotten gains from relief defendants in an SEC enforcement action. The ruling is significant for practicing securities lawyers because it confirms that there are important boundaries that circumscribe the SEC's authority to pursue claims against relief defendants.

Network of Small, Midsize Firms Look for Opportunity in Hard Times
Hard times bring opportunities, and the network of small and midsize law firms called Meritas hopes that more general counsel come knocking as their companies look for ways to cut costs. Cost savings isn't the only reason to use one of Meritas' 170 firms, which are based in more than 60 countries (and 49 states). The firms and their clients also tout personal service, geographic reach and quality control.

Two Veteran Lawyers Say Now Is the Time for Fixed Fees
In these troubled economic times, fixed fees for particular legal matters have appeal for law firms and their corporate clients. Ben W. Heineman Jr., former GC for General Electric, and William F. Lee, co-managing partner for WilmerHale, strongly believe that this is an idea whose time has come. Fixed fees provide reduced billing hassles, more predictable cost to the client and more predictable payments to the firm. Heineman and Lee address how to set price with quality and achieve cost and value alignment.

GC Didn't Split Stock Options With Ex-Wife, but That Wasn't Contempt
The general counsel of LoJack Corp. has beaten a contempt judgment, but he still must kick in additional alimony to his ex-wife for money he made in company stock. In a matter of first impression, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts found on Tuesday that Thomas A. Wooters, top in-house counsel for the anti-auto theft company, ran afoul of a divorce judgment when he failed to pay his ex-wife's portion of the $1.2 million that he made from exercising his stock options.

Who Represents America's Biggest Companies ... and How
For years, corporate counsel have been saying that they want to tear up the old model of doing business with their law firms. This year, they may finally start to make good on their threats. The recession is forcing corporate legal departments to rethink the concept of legal services in general. Although most of the same marquee names predominate the top of this year's Who Represents America's Biggest Companies survey, what is changing is the "how," rather than the "who."

Everybody's Getting on Case Against Bad Ads
Highlighting an uptick in advertising litigation, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last week ordered nearly 40 auto dealers to stop running allegedly deceptive ads about the federal "Cash for Clunkers" program. Consumer lawyers say that companies, trapped between the Internet undermining traditional ad venues and the bad economy undercutting sales, are resorting to questionable advertising practices. Defense lawyers say the plaintiffs' bar has painted a target on advertising.

For Litigators, a Different Kind of Recession
A year ago, as the economy began its freefall, corporate law departments were preparing for an all-out assault by plaintiffs. But the early numbers for this recession are showing something quite different. Susan Hackett, GC for the Association of Corporate Counsel, said companies are "looking to apply the least expensive Band-Aid" to their legal problems. "They can't afford litigation. There's a real sense of, 'Make this go away quickly and quietly,'" Hackett said.

Inside the New GM Dealer Agreements
Automakers Chrysler and General Motors changed the history of dealer relations when they stepped through dozens of state laws and regulations and terminated thousands of long-standing dealers through the power of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Now that they have emerged from bankruptcy, history remains to be written on the intriguing issues of whether GM will be able to make its new, bold agreement, heavily weighted in GM's favor, stick in the face of state dealer laws.

In-House Counsel Face New Global Challenges
Although no new claim trends against in-house counsel have emerged in 2009, the atmosphere is polluted with unemployment, liquidity crisis, congressional investigations, collapse of industry giants, massive Ponzi frauds, regulations to "go green," shrinking legal departments, pandemics and an explosion of online modes of communication. Commentator Susan F. Friedman presents topics frequently cited by the in-house bar as affecting how they practice law now and into the sustainable future.