Category: News Feeds

* A class action about Xbox controllers that allegedly “drift” has been beefed up. I used to blame controllers when I lost at GoldenEye as a kid… [Video Games Chronicle]

* Andrew Cuomo apparently has “no interest in going to Washington” to become Attorney General if Joe Biden is elected president. [Fox News]

* A Connecticut lawyer, who served time in federal prison for fraud, is seeking reinstatement to the Connecticut Bar. [CT Post]

* Law School Transparency is hosting an event on the future of the bar exam that you should all check out! [Law School Transparency]

* A black man, who was allegedly led through Galveston, Texas by a white police officer on horseback, is suing the city for $1 million. [CNN]

* The Florida Bar says a lawyer acted so poorly, the judge had to “resort to a discipline strategy typically reserved to parents separating bickering siblings.” This sounds like so many depositions I’ve attended… [Daily Business Review]

---

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.

Given the highly sensitive data that Biglaw firms deal with on an everyday basis, cybersecurity is of the utmost importance — especially during unprecedented times like these when entire firms are doing work remotely. Unfortunately, it looks like an international law firm now finds itself in a sticky situation thanks to a widespread ransomware attack.

Sources tell us that Seyfarth — an Am Law 100 firm that took in $717,370,000 in gross revenue in 2019 — has been impacted by a malicious cybersecurity incident. We understand that no one at the firm is able to access their email accounts at this time. The firm, which offers cybersecurity, data privacy, and compliance advice to its clients, has posted a statement about the attack on its website:

On Saturday, October 10, 2020, Seyfarth was the victim of a sophisticated and aggressive malware attack that appears to be ransomware. We understand that a number of other entities were simultaneously hit with this same attack. Our monitoring systems detected the unauthorized activity, and our IT team acted quickly to prevent its spread and protect our systems. We have found no evidence that any of our client or firm data were accessed or removed. However, many of our systems were encrypted, and we have shut them down as a precautionary measure.

Our clients remain our top priority, and we will continue to do everything necessary to protect their confidential information and continue to serve them. We are coordinating with the FBI and are working around the clock to bring our systems back online as quickly and safely as possible.

While our phone system has not been affected, you can get a message to us by clicking on this Contact Form if you are having difficulty reaching us. We will also provide updates on our website and share information as it becomes available.

Biglaw firms are charged with maintaining their clients’ data in the strictest of confidence, so it’s no surprise that this statement focuses on that aspect of the breach.

From this initial information, it seems like Seyfarth is faring much better than other Biglaw firms when it comes to cybersecurity. Back in 2017, DLA Piper was “paralyzed” by a ransomware attack, and law firms continue to be vulnerable to cyber threats. As noted in a legal update written by Seyfarth partners, “Vigilance now will prevent misery in the future.” Thankfully, the firm seems to have taken its own advice.

---

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.

Ed. note: In honor of Columbus Day (and Canadian Thanksgiving), Above the Law will be on a reduced publication schedule. We’ll be back in full force tomorrow.

* A California family is being sued by an animal rights group for allegedly mistreating their cows. Maybe the farmers were lactose intolerant… Bet they’ll file a “moo”tion to dismiss…(I can go all day!). [My Valley News]

* A veteran Oregon attorney has surrendered his law license amid allegations of theft and other illicit conduct. [Oregonian]

* A woman has been charged with damaging the car of a lawyer representing a former cop allegedly involved in the death of George Floyd. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

* A federal judge has dismissed the Trump Campaign’s lawsuit concerning election procedures in Pennsylvania. [AP]

* An ethics board has approved of a New York lawyer withdrawing from a representation involving a court appearance out of fear of contracting COVID-19. [Bloomberg Law]

* A woman was cited over the weekend for allegedly drunk driving at over four times the legal limit and crashing into a bridge causing a traffic nightmare. Maybe she’ll get four times the normal punishment… [Fox News]

---

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.

Rolling into WEEK FOUR of Lawyer Forward’s series exploring how lawyers can transform themselves into “known experts” in 90 days. This week’s episodes include “What’s the Problem?”, “Storytelling Basics” and more.

Make sure you take advantage of the show’s Q&A feature. You can ask Mike questions about the latest episode and he’ll answer at the end of the next episode. Just submit your question in the form at the bottom of this post.

Additional Lawyer Forward Known Expert resources

Dan Loeb has, in a sense, come home. Like a minor superhero in a Marvel Comics Universe film, his transformation is both complete and, in a cinematic way, that journey has brought him full circle.

Seven years ago, the Third Point chief had forgotten his roots. He’d been in New York too long, become too focused on vulgar matters like making as much money as possible, perhaps a bit too enamored of his own rhetorical and persuasive abilities to force companies to do what they didn’t want to do but which he wanted them to do. And thus, this child of Los Angeles had decided that the pictures business was a mug’s game best gotten out of as quickly and completely as possible.

---

Olga V. Mack is the CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She founded the Women Serve on Boards movement that advocates for women to participate on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. She authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat and Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security. You can follow Olga on Twitter @olgavmack.

A week or so ago, the head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Andrei Iancu, who has been an extreme patent maximalist over the years, insisted that there was simply no evidence that patents hold back COVID treatments. This is a debate we’ve been having over the past few months. We’ve seen some aggressive actions by patent holders, and the usual crew of patent system supporters claiming, without evidence that no one would create a vaccine without much longer patent terms.

Iancu was questioned about how patents might hold back life-saving innovation and he brushed it off like this was a crazy question:

Iancu said while it is necessary to ensure that critical treatments are widely available to the public, intellectual property rights “must always be respected,” especially during crises like COVID-19.

Without adequate protections, Iancu warned that companies would lack incentive to invest substantial time and money in developing treatments for the next global health crisis.

Again, that makes no sense. The “incentive” to invest is in the demand for the product itself. Governments around the world are going to pay for any vaccine because it’s necessary and the boost to any economy is going to be well worth making the developers of a vaccine very, very wealthy.

Iancu also shot down the idea that patents might be used to limit access to a vaccine:

Dorian Daley, who asked the agency director to address concerns that intellectual property relating to COVID-19 might “create a barrier to access that would be problematic.”

“Where is the evidence of that?” Iancu countered, though he noted that the U.S. has “tools at its disposal” — such as the “march-in” rights under the Bayh-Dole Act, which allows the government to invoke rarely used powers to override patents — in the event that additional access is needed.

Of course, historically, the pharma industry flips out any time anyone mentions march-in rights, which is why the government basically never ever uses them.

But just to highlight how ridiculous Iancu’s statements were, just days later, Pfizer, Regeneron, and BioNTech — all working on COVID treatments (including the antibody cocktail that President Trump took from Regeneron) — were all sued for patent infringement for their COVID treatments.

Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals filed two lawsuits against the three drugmakers on Monday. The San Diego firm alleges that Pfizer and BioNTech, with its investigational COVID-19 vaccine BNT162, and Regeneron’s REGN-COV2, were developed using Allele’s mNeonGreen fluorescent protein without the company’s permission.

So, it certainly appears that patents are getting in the way of some COVID-19 treatments.

And then to make an even stronger point, pharma company Moderna — which had been facing a ton of questions about how its patents might delay COVID-19 treatment — has announced that it will voluntarily agree not to enforce the patents during the pandemic.

Moderna Inc. said it wouldn’t enforce its patents related to Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic, in an effort to not deter other companies and researchers from making similar shots.

“While the pandemic continues, Moderna will not enforce our Covid-19 related patents against those making vaccines intended to combat the pandemic,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.

This is a welcome surprise, but it still underlines two key points: yes, absolutely patents can and will get in the way of important life-saving innovations, and the idea that these companies “need” patents to develop these drugs is clearly bogus. Indeed, as KEI points out in a blog post about Moderna’s statement, it’s good to see the company admit that even after the pandemic is over, its patents may get in the way of important life-saving innovation, and pledges to make sure that it will be more open to licensing its patents after the pandemic:

It is notable that Moderna has addressed both the pandemic and the post pandemic period, stating “to eliminate any perceived IP barriers to vaccine development during the pandemic period, upon request we are also willing to license our intellectual property for COVID-19 vaccines to others for the post pandemic period.”

The key point: even if Iancu pretends otherwise, people actually in the space know that patents can and will get in the way of life-saving innovation, rather than acting as an important incentive.

It’s long past the time we recognized how damaging patents are for innovation in many different industries, including pharma, and having a Patent Office boss who simply denies reality is fundamentally unhelpful and anti-innovation.

U.S. Patent Boss Says No Evidence Of Patents Holding Back COVID Treatments, Days Before Pharma Firms Prove He’s Wrong

More Law-Related Stories From Techdirt:

ICE Spent Your Tax Dollars Dragging A Journalist Through The Internet Sewer Over A Mistake She Apologized For
League Of California Cities Want Congress To Change Section 230… To Let Cops Spy On Everyone Using Social Media
Devin Nunes Asks Appeals Court To Invalidate Bedrock Supreme Court 1st Amendment Ruling

Bankruptcy lawyers who are living at work while working from home will likely remain swamped for the foreseeable future, according to data released this week. 

The legal services firm Epiq reported on Monday that in September 2020, new commercial Chapter 11 filings increased 78% versus September 2019, and that the first nine months of 2020 had one-third more filings than there were in the same period of the prior year. 

Epiq’s managing director of corporate restructuring, Deirdre O’Connor, adds some context in a statement:

“After a slower August, we see an increase in Chapter 11 filings in September both month over month and year over year. These commercial filings are primarily small businesses that do not have access to capital or stimulus. Unfortunately, those bankruptcies will continue to rise in the current economic environment. For the largest companies, opportunistic investors are providing much needed capital to supplement the lending capabilities of more constrained traditional banks. However, the most over-leveraged distressed companies could succumb to a formal restructuring due to lack of credit support and overall sector decline.”

Monday also saw the launch of the Leopard Law Firm Index, a law firm rating tool that provides some insight into lateral hiring and other trends in practice areas including bankruptcy.

As law firms compete for this prized talent pool, the Leopard Index reveals that Cozen O’Connor is leading the Am Law 200 in one key metric, bringing on eight bankruptcy lateral partners in the past 12 months. 

It’s probably safe to say the new additions have hit the ground running.

Chapter 11 U.S. Commercial Bankruptcy Filings up 78% in September [Epiq]
The Leopard Law Firm Index [Leopard Data Solutions]

---

Jeremy Barker is the director of content marketing for Breaking Media. Please feel free to email him with questions or comments and to connect on LinkedIn. 

“And I got pressure on me / Seven days a week, it’s game seven on me / Life will test you out, you live through that, that’s testimony” — Big Sean

This week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Anjie Vichayanonda, Founder of Leg Up Legal, whose mission is to disrupt and revitalize the legal industry pipeline by providing meaningful mentorship to everyone.

During her years of practicing law, she learned how important it is to have good mentorship and sponsorship in your legal career. While she has been fortunate to have some wonderful and amazing mentors throughout her career, she realized that many others have not been so fortunate. So she set out to help prospective and current law students find good mentors and guidance early on before they embark on their career paths so that they develop the skills to get the right start.

As an attorney turned entrepreneur, first-generation Asian-American, intellectual property lawyer, and career coach, Vichayanonda has a trove of career and life experiences she leverages to help others on their legal career trajectories. Her energy and passion are contagious, and she will no doubt mentor countless students and inspire the next generation of attorneys and young professionals.

Without further ado, here is a (lightly edited and condensed) write-up of our conversation:

Renwei Chung: Can you share with us a little bit about your background and career path?

Anjie Vichayanonda: I am a first-generation Asian-American lawyer. My parents are immigrants from Thailand and both engineers. I didn’t know any lawyers personally when I decided to go to law school, so I tried to seek out advice from lawyers about what law school I should go to, what type of law I should practice, and what actual steps I needed to take to become a lawyer.

I cold-called over 50 lawyers to try to learn about their career paths. I only was able to connect with three lawyers, but luckily, one took me under his wing and became my mentor. He introduced me to dozens of other lawyers, and helped me decide which law school to attend and what type of practice area to focus on.

I graduated from the University of New Hampshire School of Law and practiced trademark and copyright law for five years before launching Leg Up Legal.

RC: What motivated you to start Leg Up Legal and what are you focused on during these crazy times?

AV: My first mentor taught me how to connect with lawyers on a meaningful level and build long-term professional relationships. He taught me how to “walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk” and ask the right questions. I realized how difficult it was for prospective and current law students to build up the courage to speak with lawyers and learn how to follow-up with lawyers to keep their relationships going.

Throughout my career, I mentored other young lawyers and law students to pay forward the kindness that I had received from my mentors. I watched my mentees struggle with many of the same questions and issues that I did. I realized that there still was not a good way for prospective law students to meet lawyers on a large scale or learn how to interact with them. So, I built the Leg Up Legal mentoring platform for prospective law students to connect with lawyers and learn how to build their first professional relationships.

RC: I came across your profile through a LinkedIn post and you seem to be very intentional in how you leverage social media. Any advice for fellow attorneys interested in creating engaging content?

AV: Thank you! Here’s my tips and tools:

• Use a content scheduler. I plan out and schedule my social media for the week on Saturdays. It helps you post consistently and at peak engagement times no matter your availability.
• One of my attorney friends recommended Shield for Google Chrome and I love it. It’s easy to see the performance of all posts at a glance. You can see what type of content performs well so that you can focus on creating that type of content.
• Hashtags on LinkedIn are really underutilized. You can use up to three hashtags in a post. If you’re going to create branded hashtags, you need to tell people how to use it. “Follow the hashtag #________ for tips on …” Putting that call to action in the post makes it way more likely that people will follow it and come to rely on it.

RC: We talked about being first in our families to pursue the law in our initial chat. What surprised you most about your time at law school or working at a law firm?

AV: My goodness, what didn’t surprise me is probably a much shorter list. What surprised me is how little most students understood about what the practice of law really is all about before they decided to pursue law school.

Law school doesn’t give you much time to do career exploration, and you have to start applying for summer internships and jobs a lot sooner than you think so you should really take some time before law school to connect with a lot of legal professionals and get an idea of what practice areas interest you.

You can go through every gateway to becoming a lawyer — taking the LSAT, attending law school itself, and taking the bar exam — and still have no idea what the actual practice of law is like if you don’t seek out opportunities to really talk to lawyers about what they do. You have to drive your own career exploration, and you have to start as early as possible.

RC: Much is written about the lack of diversity at law schools and law firms. What are your thoughts on this issue?

AV: The lack of diversity is a systemic issue that begins long before law school. If you want to meaningfully improve diversity in our profession, it is not enough to start diversity initiatives at the law school level. You need to start at the undergraduate level or even before.

Many law firms and legal employers invest in “pipeline” programs at the law school level, including internship, fellowship, and mentoring programs for diverse students, but these programs only help the lucky few who make it into law school in the first place.

Thousands of worthy diverse candidates get left behind at the gates. If you want to improve diversity in the profession, you have to help diverse prospective law students develop an interest in law, nurture it with mentorship, and give them access to affordable LSAT prep and law school application prep if you want them to even make it into law school.

RC: You have a very impressive bench of Advisors at Leg Up Legal. We actually featured Caren Lock on ATL before. How do you choose your advisors and what type of relationship do you have with them?

AV: Caren is wonderful. She has known me the longest, and I met her through my first mentor so she’s seen my career evolve all the way from before law school to now. When I dove into the world of entrepreneurship, I knew right away that I was out of my element.

While being a lawyer and having a past career in marketing helped me in many aspects of building my business, I knew I needed a team of people who were experienced in many other areas to help guide me and Leg Up Legal. I chose my advisors because they all had experiences working with our three distinct types of customers: undergraduate universities, legal employers (and associations), and individual college students.

We have individual and group meetings to exchange ideas. They help me stay grounded, provide feedback and strategy, facilitate introductions, and some even participate as mentors in our mentoring program.

RC: COVID-19 has taught, and continues to teach, our society a bunch of lessons. What have you learned during this pandemic era?

AV: Relationships and human connection are vital during tough times. Now more than ever, we’ve seen students reaching out for guidance and emotional support. Having people to support you makes all the difference when you encounter difficulties and challenges. We started hosting a bunch of free events on Zoom to allow prelaw students, current law students, and lawyers to connect with each other and bond.

You can create real, lasting friendships and meaningful mentoring relationships through virtual mediums. I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes. We hosted a huge two-week virtual legal career boot camp in September for incoming law students, and I watched people have the most frank and emotional conversations during that event. And I’ve seen it happen time and time again in our virtual events and through our virtual mentoring program.

You have to get over the initial mindset that online interactions are just less personal. They don’t have to be. If you don’t believe me, come hang out on one of our events, and you’ll see.

RC: It was great chatting with you. Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience?

AV: We host a bi-weekly Virtual Happy Hour for ALL prelaw students, current law students, and lawyers to help create new networking opportunities and the registration links for those are included in the Weekly Zoom Meetup emails. We’ve had law students and lawyers from all around the U.S. attend. Register for the bi-weekly happy hour here.

For one-on-one networking and informational interviews, join our LinkedIn group, the Leg Up Legal Virtual Coffee Club. If you join the group, you can set up one-on-one virtual coffee chats with prospective law students, current law students, and attorneys.

Lastly, feel free to connect with me on:

On behalf of everyone here at Above the Law, I would like to thank Anjie Vichayanonda for taking the time to share her story with our audience. We look forward to following her successes and wish her continued achievements in her career.

---

Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn.