Paul Elias

December 28, 1999 | Law.com

Three months ago, lawyers litigating the securities class action against Network Associates snickered at Robert Vatuone's application to serve as lead plaintiff in the suit. Vatuone was just a lone investor in the software maker who claimed he lost $30,000 due to Network Associates' alleged financial chicanery. But after a series of rulings by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup and the surprising responses to those orders by institutional investors, Alsup designated Vatuone lead plaintiff.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

September 18, 2006 | Law.com

One winner in the Hewlett-Packard board spying scandal appears to be president and CEO Mark Hurd. He will soon add chairman to his duties, so long as he manages to avoid the mess that has splattered on current chairwoman Patricia Dunn. But some corporate governance experts wonder about consolidating so much power in one person's hands. "This is a big step back for the good corporate government movement," says Kirk O. Hanson, director of Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

August 03, 2009 | Law.com

The lawyers were paid millions of dollars. Ford Motor Co. put behind it a costly lawsuit connected to the Explorer rollover scandal of the 1990s. And the judge closed out a complex case that clogged a California court's overburdened calendar for more than seven years. Everyone seemingly got some tangible benefit -- except for nearly all of the 1 million consumers covered by the class action lawsuit filed in their name. None of the consumers got money, only discount coupons toward new Ford purchases.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

June 30, 1999 | Law.com

Federal Trial Judge Fern Smith is saying goodbye to San Francisco and moving in two weeks to take over the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C. Smith began her legal career at 35 and made partner at the point most attorneys start considering retirement. During her four-year stint as director at the Center, which provides education and resources for federal judges, Smith hopes to emphasize and expand the use of technology in courtrooms.

By Paul Elias

6 minute read

July 08, 1999 | Law.com

Had Irene Giampaoli been acquitted, her defense attorneys would have received $30,000 from the murder victim's $250,000 life insurance policy. But no acquittal, no indemnity for Giampaoli and no lawyer fees. A California judge found last week that that deal constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The fee arrangement motivated the attorneys to put on an all-or-nothing defense instead of angling for a lesser sentence such as manslaughter, the judge concluded.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

September 22, 1999 | Law.com

Leaping headlong into the fray that is the federal probe of public corruption in San Francisco's contracting practices, San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne on Tuesday sued a municipal contractor for fraud and making false claims. Renne accused the contractor, Scott-Norman Mechanical Inc., of lying to city officials to gain minority business certification. A city law gives minority- and women-owned companies significant advantages when it comes to winning city construction contracts.

By Paul Elias

3 minute read

June 17, 1999 | Law.com

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) ended the logjam in the federal judicial confirmation process on Wednesday after apparently striking a bargain with President Clinton. According to Hatch, the president has agreed to nominate conservative Republican Ted Stewart to a Utah district court slot. In exchange, San Francisco labor lawyer Marsha Berzon is expected to be allowed to serve on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

June 03, 1999 | Law.com

With $1.2 billion on the line and a freshman course in chemistry under his belt, a holdout juror has derailed a two-month patent trial over pioneering DNA research. After six days of deliberations, the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked at 8-1 in favor of the University of California, which had sued Genentech Inc. for infringing a lucrative human growth hormone patent with widespread medical applications.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

September 17, 1999 | Law.com

California's state Court of Appeal on Thursday ordered paralegal Elisabeth Saret-Cook to pay appellate specialist Clifford Woosley and his former Los Angeles-based firm $1.4 million in damages and attorneys fees for a campaign of terror that would make Glenn Close's character in Fatal Attraction blush. As the result of a brief but spectacularly failed office romance with Saret-Cook, Woosley lost his $250,000-a-year partnership, his house and 30 pounds. His lawyer calls it a "dreadful case."

By Paul Elias

7 minute read

January 03, 2000 | Law.com

After losing a bid to act as lead counsel in the $3 billion McKesson securities fraud litigation, Milberg Weiss suffers another blow - this time, the loss of key rainmaker Alan Schulman to a competitor. Schulman, viewed by many as second only to William Lerach as the most influential West Coast securities plaintiffs lawyer, attributes his departure to "philosophical differences with Bill Lerach over the direction of the firm."

By Paul Elias

5 minute read