Archive for the Legal Category

Understanding Key Aspects Of Former Top DOJ Lawyer

By on February 14, 2012

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC is thrilled to broadcast the addition of John Kelly, a former top U.S. Department of Justice official, as a partner in the firm’s Compliance and Government Investigations Practice.

Mr. Kelly will become the handling business partner of the company’s brand new Washington, D.C. office. He has extensive experience with complex federal and state investigations and Litigation matters related to healthcare fraud and abuse, the False Claims Act, white collar crime, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and regulatory and compliance issues.

Mr. Kelly joins Bass Berry after a notable track record of service as a criminal law attorney with the Department of Justice, and subsequently as a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP. During his tenure at DOJ, Mr. Kelly supervised investigations and prosecutions in a broad range of healthcare fraud actions nationwide, including criminal law violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, wire and insurance fraud, and anti-money laundering. He served in several prestigious positions including Assistant Chief for Health Care Fraud of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and he led the Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Strike Force. He also served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, where he worked closely with senior leadership within the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Justice, and various federal agencies including HHS-OIG, FBI, and DEA.

“With increasingly significant regulatory and enforcement activity having such direct impact on our clients and the healthcare industry, we saw no better time than now to establish a presence in Washington, DC,” said Keith Simmons, Managing Partner of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC. “We are most fortunate to have John at the helm. He is deservedly regarded as one of the most capable healthcare fraud enforcement and compliance lawyers in the profession.

“The best way to build a practice in Washington is by recruiting the best lawyers in Washington, those who are firmly established and recognized in the marketplace,” added Mr. Simmons. “John brings an insider’s knowledge of the Beltway that will have a direct and beneficial impact on our clients who are so directly affected by legislative and regulatory decisions made at the federal level.”

“It is an honor to now be a part of this prestigious law firm,” said Kelly. “I particularly welcome the opportunity to build on Bass, Berry & Sims’ stellar client base and grow its Compliance and Government Investigations Practice here in Washington.”

About Bass, Berry & Sims

Through a affluent heritage in capital markets activity in the southeast, the firm’s more than 200 attorneys now represent more than 40 public companies and have developed a national healthcare practice from Nashville, the hub of for-profit healthcare. Bass, Berry & Sims has distinguished itself for service to healthcare clients at every level, including service to hospitals, health systems, pharmaceutical companies and outpatient service providers. The healthcare practice, which includes an interdisciplinary team of more than 100 attorneys, provides unsurpassed depth in government investigations and enforcement, compliance, regulatory and operational matters, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures and syndications.

This entry is filed under Legal, Uncategorized.

Picking out No-Fuss Solutions In Criminal Law Firm Addition

By on January 31, 2012

Jones Walker is grateful to declare that Michael W. Magner has joined the company’s New Orleans office of criminal law attorneys as special counsel. Mr. Magner practices in the firm’s Business & Commercial Litigation Practice Group. His training centers on preventive and litigation services for businesses and individuals in corporate and white collar criminal law matters. He additionally represents individuals and businesses related to grand jury and other investigations.

Mr. Magner’s particular experience is in anti-corruption conformity and Litigation matters on both a domestic and international level. He served as a federal prosecutor in New Orleans for 20 years where he was a key member of the team that successfully prosecuted former Louisiana Governor, Edwin Edwards, following a 5 month trial. He was also the lead prosecutor in the Department of Justice‘s long term investigation and prosecution of judicial and related public corruption in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana known as “Operation Wrinkled Robe.” In recognition of his work, Mike was awarded the Department of Justice’s highest award for litigation, the John Marshall Award, as well as the Director’s Award for Superior Performance by a Litigative Team.

Mr. Magner stated, “Joining Jones Walker and being able to work with the Jones Walker white collar team is an exciting opportunity. Their law firm has a number of former U.S. Attorneys and Assistant U.S. Attorneys, all of whom have a stellar reputation in representing clients in the defense of government investigations and prosecutions.”

Mr. Magner has additionally functioned as a director of the U.S. Attorney’s Office‘s Anti-Terrorism/Crisis Response Unit, Organized Crime Strike Force, and Violent Crime Unit, and has tried over 40 jury trials to verdict, in virtually all sections of the United States District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Louisiana. He specialized in long term, complex white collar investigations and trials, including export control, mail and wire fraud, government contract fraud, bribery, money laundering, police misconduct, civil rights violations, and RICO. In 2011, he served as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Advisor to the Kenyan Anti-Corruption Commission (“KACC”) in Nairobi, Kenya, where he was embedded in the KACC’s principal headquarters for nearly two months, and provided training to KACC’s investigators, auditors, and attorneys on corruption compliance, investigative, and prosecution matters. He has also trained foreign judges and prosecutors in Central Asia and Africa and has regularly trained federal prosecutors through the Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute.

Before working with the KACC, Mr. Magner was with the Department of Justice‘s first Counsel for Emergency Management and Crisis Response in the Office of Director, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys in Washington, D.C. for 18 months, where he represented the DOJ at various White House level emergency exercises and planning meetings relating to the federal government’s response to major criminal events, natural disasters, and pandemics. While with DOJ, Mike was also selected as a trained evaluator of other U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country on various substantive legal areas as well as ethics and professionalism.

Mr. Magner obtained his juris doctor certification via Tulane University School of Law, cum laude; and was Managing Editor of The Maritime Lawyer. His Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/International Relations was earned from The George Washington University.

This entry is filed under Legal, Uncategorized.

Methods For 9th Circuit Appeals – Some Thoughts

By on January 28, 2012

The law firm of Lee Tran & Liang has garnered yet another Ninth Circuit appeal; this is its 4th specific triumph in the Ninth Circuit since 2009. On Jan twenty six, this year, the 9th Circuit confirmed a grant of summary judgment that LTL obtained for its client, the opponent in a copyright laws and industry dress legal action. Firm partner Enoch H. Liang – in conjunction with attorney Daniel Taylor – defended Bedrosian’s (in Orange County) and Hirsch Glass Company (in New Jersey) both before the District Court and the Ninth Circuit. The plaintiff was represented by renowned intellectual property boutique Christie Parker & Hale.

As reported in LTL’s June 2010 press release, the District Court granted LTL’s motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff’s trade dress claims in mid-2009. Then, in September 2009, less than 4 days before a jury trial was scheduled to begin, the District Court also dismissed Plaintiff’s 17 copyright claims. In July 2010, Plaintiff appealed to the Ninth Circuit, arguing that the District Court erred in both holding that the scope of Plaintiff’s copyrights were “thin,” and finding that “there is no substantial similarity (much less virtual identity) insofar as the protectable items are concerned as between Plaintiff’s copyrighted products and Defendants’ glass tiles.”

After extensive briefing, on January 13, 2012, LTL Partner Enoch Liang argued the case, defending the District Court’s ruling. Less than 2 weeks after the oral argument, the Ninth Circuit Judges W. Fletcher, Fisher, and Zouhary—issued their unpublished opinion. The Ninth Circuit held that “protection over designs is thin.” The Court further held that the defendants’ designs “are not ‘virtually identical’ to because the streaking effect, color blends, and appearance of randomness in designs are different…”

This verdict reaffirms the importance of a two-pronged methodology in copyright infringement actions. Often, the issue of infringement is determined by the “scope” of the copyright that the court determines as a matter of law. Hence, in litigating copyright matters, plaintiffs should pay particular attention to avoid falling into various limiting doctrines that may limit the scope of their copyrights. Defendants should do the opposite.

Lee Tran & Liang, APLC is a California based law firm focusing exclusively on business litigation. The firm’s partners have practiced at prominent law firms, and are graduates of top law schools including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and Michigan. Primary practice areas, as outlined by the firm itself and every attorney directory, include business disputes (breach of contract, aggrieved investors and professionals, and commercial disputes) intellectual property litigation (patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets), and employment litigation (defense). What sets the firm apart is actually its mission of aligning itself with its clients’ needs, by offering up quite a few innovative payment plans in suitable issues.

This entry is filed under Legal.

Explaining Convenient Phoenix Criminal Law Issues Systems

By on January 19, 2012

During the fresh South Carolina dialogue, Texas governor Rick Perry debated that boundary crossings are near a 40-year low because the high-unemployment Obama economy made the country a less alluring place to go for illegal aliens. Prior to now, migrants captured within the state of Arizona received a bologna sandwich and fruit beverages before being taken once again to Mexico at the identical spot on the very same afternoon, Fisher reported. These days, they will often spend the night time at an immigration detention center next to Phoenix, Az and after a while return to Mexico by means of Del Rio, Tx, just above eight hundred miles off. This document deals with the basic knowledge about criminal law and Phoenix criminal lawyers. As far as the law is concerned, all details written in this article are imprecise in which readeare are reminded that this is not a legitimate legal opinion. In order to attain accurate and complete data it is recommended that you personally speak with your criminal lawyer to fix your problems.

Criminal law is a type of law that deals with the association of the state and the persons within it. A crime therefore is a violation of the rules and regulations created by the sovereign authority. Criminal law codes or penal codes are set of rules and regulations created by the senate and the congress to govern the actions of its constituents. This is the type of law that is strictly being enforced in all countries.

Phoenix Criminal Lawyer Foresight

Phoenix criminal defense attorneys are lawyers who specialize in defending the rights of the accused or the suspect. Even if a number of allegations are present, criminal lawyers frequently presume that you are innocent. The outcome of a criminal case is highly dependent on the capabilities of a criminal defense lawyer. The occupation of defending criminals either innocent or not is one of the most difficult branches of being an attorney since you have to protect a person’s rights despite the fact that other lawyers want to pin your client down.

Criminal law code could be separated nationally or internationally. National criminal law codes highly vary in terms of enforcement from one country to another while international criminal law codes are general laws being followed by all.

The elements of a violated law are composed of the principal suspect, the accessory, the accomplice and the victim. Even if they have different roles, each and every one of them has the right to be treated properly in court. The court of law has the tendency to look out for everybody no matter what you have done which is why Miranda warnings are usually being given to protect suspects. “Sir/Madam you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in the court of law,” is a part of the Miranda warning that should be given to every arrested victim.

Criminal Law Attorneys inside of Phoenix, Az

Everybody must have a little info about their humanitarian privileges. Don’t let other people manipulate you just because you are the suspect. Everybody is considered innocent unless and until proven otherwise in court. If the need arises, immediately call your Defense lawyers.

Disparities with regards to national law are highly versatile because of the different culture each people have in common. Deciding the method of investigation, payment of criminal compensations, making disciplinary action and the like are some of the limited purposes of national law. Monetary compensation for the complainant so the necessary fines or corrective punishment for the defendant is being done in national law.

All of us have the right to call a lawyer no matter what role we are playing in the court of law. Telling all the details to the police as quickly as possible is a common mistake of persons that were considered as suspects. Only two types of law are seen in the court of law and they are the criminal Defense lawyers and the prosecutor lawyers. The outcome of a criminal case is highly dependent on the lawyer that you will be choosing so choose wisely.

Phoenix Criminal Attorney Tips and Hints

Criminal Defense lawyers have the mission of removing charges or minimizing charges that was filed against their client. They meet and address questions to anyone that may be related to your case including the police and other witnesses. Eliciting the positive response of witnesses to testify for the suspect is also a work related duty of a criminal defense lawyer. Negating illegally obtained witnesses so as other evidences are some of the duties being done by criminal Defense lawyers. Preparing the suspect in the court of law is one of the numerous objectives of a Defense lawyer.

Dealing massive harm to the constituents of other countries would be violating the international code just like what Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden did. All forms of terrorism that may enlarge to a war is the main objective to be prevented by international law codes. The protections of overseas workers from one country to another so as the thwarting of weapons of mass destruction are some of the limited agreements being done with regards to international criminal law code.

This entry is filed under Legal.

Methods In Recent Court Conclusions

By on January 14, 2012

With a dispute with Exxon Mobil headed to an international court, the Venezuelan petrol minister stated there is nothing remaining to give. The International Chamber of Commerce a while back instructed Venezuela’s state-controlled petrol producer Petroleos de Venezuela to repay Exxon about $747 , 000, 000 for the 07 seizure of petrol wells in the nation. That’s only about 10 % of just what the business sought, however, and Exxon said it would certainly bring the situation up with the World Bank next month.

The trustee managing the specific liquidation of MF Global Holdings Ltd.’s brokerage house is looking at solutions to recoup extra customer investments, which includes litigation, but stated the magnitude of the shortfall would certainly “substantially affect” the opportunity to make clients 100 %. MF Global declared bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31st, leaving behind a deficiency in clients capital which the trustee forecasts to be about $1.2 billion. The total extent of the shortfall will not be established until the client claim process is finished, explained James Kobak, head attorney for trustee James Giddens.

In the Phillipines, House prosecutors on Thursday instructed senator-judges to summon Chief Justice Renato Corona and people of his relatives to testify in front of the Impeachment Trial along with present records on a minimum of fortyfive real property belongings found to be owned by the Coronas in numerous regions of Metro Manila. In addition to the Chief Justice, the prosecutors also asked for the Impeachment Court, chaired by Senate, Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, to issue separate subpoenas for his spouse, Cristina R. Corona, his daughter Carla Corona-Castillo, son-in-law Constantino Castillo III, Francis R. Corona and Charina R. Corona who are identified as titleholders in the LRA documents made available to the Senate.

In a new court determination, an insurance representative, Ms. Arnold, for Opponent Mutual of Omaha, after ending her long term contract with Opponent, sued for outstanding employee entitlements within the Labor Code. Arnold claimed that the contract she acquired created with Mutual had erroneously categorized her as being an independent contractor, and that within pertinent law she was in actuality a member of staff. Arnold appealed, professing that the trial court erred in concluding that the common law test for employment had been relevant, as opposed to the wider statutory definition of employee under Labor Code section 2750.

This entry is filed under Court Cases, Legal, Uncategorized.