Charles Toutant

May 11, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

In a case of first impression, an Essex County judge has awarded counsel fees during a pending Consumer Fraud Act suit, brought by a couple who claim they were scammed by two foreclosure-rescue companies.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

June 27, 2008 | New Jersey Law Journal

In his first general assignment order, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner has dramatically increased the number of women and minorities in executive judgeships.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

April 12, 2002 | New Jersey Law Journal

A venerable Cherry Hill firm had a longstanding custom of paying its nonlawyer employees extra to bring clients to the firm, the Office of Attorney Ethics charges in a complaint against six former partners. One worker`s "bonuses" allegedly exceeded ,000 a year.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

March 18, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

An Atlantic County judge has denied a request to certify a class action against Merck & Co. on behalf of consumers for their out-of-pocket expenses for the painkiller Vioxx, which was withdrawn from the market in 2004 after a medical study linked it to heart disease.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

March 04, 2011 | Legaltech News

A consumer fraud suit alleging that a deliberately placed "time bomb" caused a law firm's management software to shut down can't proceed as a class action, a federal judge has ruled. Kalow & Springut, an 11-lawyer intellectual property firm, had used software made by Commence Corp. for six years when it stopped working, according to the suit.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

December 19, 2006 | New Jersey Law Journal

A lawyer who threatened a client with criminal prosecution for theft of services and warned her that she might lose her business, her home and her professional license � all to collect an exorbitant fee � should be suspended him from practice, says New Jersey's Disciplinary Review Board.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

November 02, 2006 | National Law Journal

Sills, Cummis, Epstein & Gross has set up shop in Princeton, N.J., tapping into the area's potential for pharmaceutical and medical-device clients and for recruitment of new talent -- especially laterals disaffected with their current firms. The 160-lawyer firm has taken enough office space to accommodate 30 lawyers. Deputy managing partner R. Max Crane says he expects the new office will help lure lawyers at out-of-state firms with branches in the area, who perhaps are looking to make a move.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

January 24, 2005 | New Jersey Law Journal

Construction law is booming, and McCarter & English wants to build it into a core practice area. The Newark-based firm has picked up six construction law partners from Buchanan Ingersoll's New York office, doubling the size of its construction law department. McCarter says the laterals, based in its New York office, will create a cross-disciplinary construction industry practice with experience in the transactional and dispute resolution sides of the field.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

May 25, 2006 | Law.com

While nonequity partnership has transformed the old "up or out" construct at law firms, it's still mainly a bridge to full partnership rather than a final destination. Nonequity partners -- also known as "tier" or "income" partners -- have been a growing breed of big-firm lawyer since the mid-1980s. But the reasons for the hybrid status vary from firm to firm and lawyer to lawyer, as does a tier partner's relative rank. The ambiguities led Edge International's Ed Wesemann to try to quantify the practice.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read

July 06, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

Despite a last-minute spate of confirmations, there are still not enough new state court judges to counter attrition due to retirement over the past 12 months, according to the judiciary's latest general assignment order.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read