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The Dangers Of Electronic Discovery
As has been widely publicized, on May 16 a Florida state court jury awarded $604.3 million in compensatory damages and later an additional $850 million in punitive damages to Coleman Holdings Inc., the camping-gear maker formerly owned by billionaire investor Ronald Perelman, in Coleman's fraud suit against powerhouse investment banker Morgan Stanley & Co. The verdict was notable not only because of its size, but also because of how it came about.
Shortly before the trial, after nearly 2 years of litigation, Judge Elizabeth Maass issued a partial default judgment against Morgan Stanley for what she characterized as a repeated failure to produce e-mails requested by Perelman during discovery. Judge Maass indicated that she would affirmatively instruct the jury to assume that Morgan Stanley had participated in a fraud. At the beginning of the trial, Judge Maass did exactly that; telling the jury that it was to assume that “Morgan Stanley participated in a scheme to mislead (Coleman) and others and to cover up massive fraud.” Though Perelman still needed to prove that he relied on Morgan Stanley, the judge's extraordinary instruction rendered an adverse verdict against Morgan Stanley a fait accompli.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.