Lauren Gard

May 25, 2000 | Law.com

Years before Agnes Heyman's parents perished in concentration camps during the Holocaust, her father purchased a life insurance policy from Assicurazioni Generali, an Italian insurance giant. Yet Heyman has never received benefits of any kind from the policy. Fifty-six years later, the 76-year-old San Franciscan is seeking justice. She is one of the plaintiffs filing a class action against Generali.

By Lauren Gard

4 minute read

March 14, 2000 | Law.com

With an eye toward accounting firms, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro has redefined the idea of partnership by combining guaranteed income with partial equity stakes in a way that could reverberate at other law firms.

By Lauren Gard

12 minute read

May 24, 2000 | Law.com

Legal recruiters have been seeing double lately -- but only when it comes to their paychecks. A beneficiary of the supercharged marketplace for lawyers, recruiters are reaping a host of new financial incentives: placement fees topping 40 percent in some cases, bonuses and stock options. Though they are not thrilled about the expense, law firms are also courting recruiters like never before.

By Lauren Gard

9 minute read

March 15, 2000 | Law.com

A California jury returned a multimillion dollar verdict against Ford Motor Co. and a San Francisco-area Ford dealer in a case arising from a 1996 car accident that rendered Richard Raimondi a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic. The jury deliberated for 2 1/2 days in the case, which hinged on whether a defect in Raimondi's 1988 Bronco II or his driving was to blame for the accident. Jurors concluded that Ford was 50 percent at fault and awarded Raimondi $19 million, and $13 million compensatory damages.

By Lauren Gard

3 minute read

May 12, 2000 | Law.com

When Aquacool_2000 badmouthed his bosses on a Yahoo message board, he thought the cloak of anonymity would protect him. But his employers found him out -- and fired him. Now Aquacool_2000 has filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles charging Yahoo with violating his constitutional and contractual rights to privacy when it disclosed information about him to his employers without informing him first.

By Lauren Gard

5 minute read

May 04, 2000 | Law.com

As graduation nears, many San Francisco Bay Area law school students ready themselves to collect six-figure salaries from big firms hungry for freshly minted associates. But some students eagerly anticipate a different kind of posttgraduate experience, one that pads not their pockets but their resumes. They clerk.

By Lauren Gard

7 minute read

November 01, 1999 | Law.com

Monsignor Romelus, the bishop of Jirimie, Haiti, and Father Eustache, a lawyer as well as a priest, came to the U.S. in search of allies in legal education. Romelus and Eustache founded the college of law in Jirimie in 1995. Recently, 26 lawyers graduated in the school's first class. That number is a drop in the bucket compared to the army of graduates American law schools pump out each year, yet for a community previously claiming just three practicing lawyers, an additional 26 is more like a monsoon.

By Lauren Gard

4 minute read

May 08, 2000 | Law.com

Corporations that rely on in-house lawyers to litigate disputes may recover attorneys fees at the prevailing hourly market rate, the California Supreme Court said Monday. In affirming a fee award in PLCM Group v. Drexler based on a $185 per hour rate, the justices rejected arguments that permitting recovery at market rates, rather than on the actual salary and overhead costs incurred, creates a windfall for corporations.

By Lauren Gard

4 minute read

December 09, 1999 | Law.com

According to many, the once-orderly process for applying for federal clerkships has completely broken down. "It's a complete free-for-all," says Boalt Hall professor Stephen Barnett, who served last year as chairman of Boalt's judicial clerkship committee. The problem is causing upheaval in law schools across the country. One thing professors, students and judges agree on is that the stakes are high -- a clerkship could make or break a career.

By Lauren Gard

6 minute read