Mary Swanton

May 31, 2006 | Corporate Counsel

Corporate America has fallen in love with benchmarking. But does it live up to the hype?

By Mary Swanton

24 minute read

May 26, 2006 | Inside Counsel

Seeking to dispel the myth that attorneys with disabilities are less competent or less productive than other attorneys, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new fact sheet on May 23, underscoring how the reasonable accommodation obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to attorneys. The fact sheet...

By Mary Swanton

2 minute read

May 19, 2006 | Inside Counsel

A Miami jury awarded a group of 27 Costa Rican fern farmers $113.5 million on May 17. The jury found E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.'s fungicide Benlate had ruined their crops. DuPont said in a statement that it would appeal the award, which a judge adjusted downward...

By Mary Swanton

1 minute read

May 12, 2006 | Inside Counsel

Former Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. Chairman and CEO Henry Yuen was ordered to pay $22.3 million in civil penalties for his role in a scheme to defraud investors by inflating Gemstar's licensing and advertising revenues. Under the judgment announced May 8, Yuen also will be barred permanently from serving as...

By Mary Swanton

3 minute read

May 05, 2006 | Inside Counsel

Leaders of the new labor union coalition Change to Win sought allies from an unlikely source on April 27 - a ballroom full of corporate counsel, human resources executives and labor and employment attorneys. "Change to Win is not designed to beat up employers, but to change America," Greg Tarpinian,...

By Mary Swanton

7 minute read

April 30, 2006 | Corporate Counsel

Benchmark your spending against the results of the InsideCounsel's DataCert Inc. 9th Annual Report of Corporate Law Departments.

By Mary Swanton

3 minute read

April 30, 2006 | Corporate Counsel

Plaintiffs' attorneys cash in on wage and hour suits by targeting vulnerable companies.

By Mary Swanton

7 minute read

April 21, 2006 | Inside Counsel

The federal government put employers on notice that it will aggressively enforce laws against hiring undocumented workers with a nationwide raid on IFCO Systems on April 19 that included the arrest of seven current and former managers on allegations that the company knowingly employed illegal immigrants. The next day, Homeland...

By Mary Swanton

2 minute read

April 14, 2006 | Inside Counsel

Former Enron GC Jim Derrick defended his relationship with his former law firm, Vinson & Elkins, as he took the stand in the trial of his former bosses Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay April 6. Prosecutors quizzed Derrick at length about the company's response to a memo from Sherron Watkins,...

By Mary Swanton

10 minute read

April 07, 2006 | Inside Counsel

The long-smoldering controversy over business methods patents may flare up again, now that Netflix Inc., is making headlines by suing its movie rental competitor Blockbuster Inc. Netflix, the king of online movie rentals, claims that Blockbuster.com copied Netflix's methods, including the online queue that subscribers use to prioritize films they...

By Mary Swanton

3 minute read