In a way, a merger is like a marriage. It’s a union of separate beings contributing to a common goal. After the honeymoon, they will face new challenges but the successful ones will continue for many years. So why are some mergers more like bad marriages? Maybe they forgot that successful unions take some time and definitely take more work. Below is a checklist to ensure successful reorganization after a merger....
A Superior Court in California has just penned off on a settlement that requires Christian Mingle to accommodate LGBT singles who use the site. Now, people visiting ChristianMingle.com aren’t restricted to searching for a partner of the opposite sex; they can now search for same-sex matches. This will surely not be the last word on what will become part of the “religious freedom” movement. Class Action Lawsuit Trouble originally began for Sparks (the company that owns Christian Mingle, JDate, and other faith-based singles sites) when two gay men noticed that the site did not allow them to search for singles of the same sex....
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (“WARF”) holds U.S. Patent No. 7,019,913 ("‘913"), which discloses “a purified preparation of primate embryonic stem cells.” Consumer Watchdog, a “nonprofit organization dedicated to providing an effective voice for taxpayers and consumers in an era when special interests dominate public discourse, government and politics,” sought inter partes reexamination of Patent ‘913 in 2006. When it the group was unsuccessful in the reexamination, it appealed to the Federal Circuit....
Remember when the D.C. Circuit overturned Osama bin Laden’s driver’s conviction for material support of terrorism last October? It seems that wasn’t the appellate court’s final word on the issue. Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit agreed to reconsider its take on Military Commissions Act convictions en banc in Ali Hamza Ahmad al Bahlul v. USA, a case involving Osama bin Laden’s personal and media director. Tuesday’s order stems from a January panel ruling that the military tribunal that convicted Ali Hamza Ahmad Al Bahlul of conspiracy in 2007 erred because a Guantanamo prisoner could not be convicted of conspiracy unless his crime took place after 2006, Jurist’s Paper Chase reports....
Former Seattle Sonic Robert Swift lost his home to foreclosure last year, but he didn’t move out. With the new owners ready to move in, there was some speculation as to how authorities would get the seven-footer out of his mansion. This was especially worrisome given reports that Swift kept a large cache of weapons and alcohol. This past weekend, though, Swift quietly moved out. The home’s new owners say they were shocked by what he left behind, reports Seattle’s KOMO-TV....
Normally not a hotbed of dramatic happenings, the Federal Circuit has been on fire lately. Two recent cases are sure to keep the Federal Circuit anything but quiet. Starr International Company v. U.S. Maurice “Hank” Greenberg was AIG’s leader for four decades, and his company Starr International Co., was AIG’s largest shareholder with a 12% stake, reports Reuters. Claiming the government short-changed AIG shareholders in the 2008 government bailout, Starr sought to depose Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke....
Two men, one a retired police detective and one a former NFL linebacker, are both coming out of retirement to be back in the news. However, only the detective is going to be in any way pleased about it. Retired Newport Beach Detective Thomas Voth will be preparing for the murder trial of former Colts and Patriots linebacker Eric Naposki and his former girlfriend, Nanette Packard McNeal. The two have been charged with murder in the 1994 killing of Los Angeles businessman Bill McLaughlin....
There’s just something about rooting for an underdog that can be really satisfying. Especially when the underdog wins. The 31-17 win in Superbowl 2010 by the first-time Superbowl attendees, New Orleans Saints, over the Indiana Colts single-handedly supplied a dose of unique satisfaction. And the thrill of the unlikely win extended beyond the population of the home state to the nation that watched as levies gave way and water flooded the city of New Orleans under the power of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, claiming lives, livelihoods, and making the Superdome the largest makeshift shelter in the country–connecting the Saints with their fans in an unimaginable way....
So where did this wave – law schools accepting the GRE instead of the LSAT – come from? It started last year with James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. The announcement rocked legal educators like sailors on a ship; they were unsteady but also excited about a change in the weather. When Harvard Law School jumped in this year, the swell quickly picked up. With two more law schools diving in the same week, suddenly everybody wants to ride the GRE wave....
We all want to celebrate Halloween in our own way. And for some of us, that means thousands of dollars in scary costumes and spooky decorations. That’s all well and good, as long as we’re actually paying for it. But a New Mexico couple went on a Halloween shopping spree, all with stolen credit card numbers. And they would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for some sharp costume shop employees....
An amazing story unfolded last week in San Francisco. Victor Rodriguez, a twenty-year-old inmate, was released from San Francisco County Jail last Wednesday – on accident! After a few days on the lam and after the story started getting press, Mr. Rodriguez did turn himself in to authorities. Apparently, the accident that provided Rodriguez with the free pass occurred when the court clerk erroneously dismissed all charges. That clerk better have a V8 next time....
Equity partnership used to be the only top position an associate could aspire to. Now, as more firms try to restructure and create a new partnership model, some are offering a nonequity partnership track that is separate from the equity track. In some cases, associates are offered one track or another when it comes time for a promotion. In other cases, the firm hires certain associates on the nonequity track and others on the traditional equity track....
A few years ago, Kathleen Kane was a legal star. She started her career at Post and Schell, one of Philadelphia’s elite firms, went on to become a successful assistant district attorney, and then became the first woman elected as the state’s attorney general. She was, as the New York Times recently described her, “one of the most powerful women in Pennsylvania.” That is, until she was caught in a series of scandals involving everything from her illicit leaks, to state Supreme Court justices’ pornographic emails....
A mailroom supervisor at the Manhattan law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft with a penchant for erotic poems was slapped with a sexual-harassment lawsuit. He balked at Thorpe’s allegations, calling them “very frivolous.” (Not just frivolous, very frivolous.) Turner claims he’s just a misunderstood minstrel. Especially creepy, the poem was laminated and decorated with a picture of a man kissing a woman who resembles Thorpe, court documents say. When Thorpe, who is married, rebuffed his advances, she says she experienced workplace retaliation....
Florida man Jorge Daniel Silva, 22, orchestrated a fantasy that some men only dream of: a threesome with his wife and another woman. The sexual rendezvous, however, hit a snag. No, it wasn’t because his wife or the other woman backed out at the last minute. And, it wasn’t because Silva neglected to pick up some romantic necessities like candles or rose petals. Silva was so jealous when he saw his wife kissing the other woman that he threw multiple TVs at her....
Married couples can often drive each other crazy, but this married couple won’t be legally driving anywhere in Florida. Daniel and Scott Wall-DeSousa were married in New York last December and had their names legally changed to a hyphenated form of their original surnames. But, as the Orlando Sentinel reports, when the Palm Bay, Florida, couple obtained drivers’ licenses with their new married names, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles canceled them....
Ex-New York Giants linebacker Michael Boley was reportedly arrested for child abuse back in February – three days after he was cut by the team. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who didn’t know about this so-called “secret” child-abuse arrest, which happened on the DL. Boley was arrested for physically (not sexually) abusing his 5-year-old son, reports TMZ. But Michael Boley’s no-longer-secret child abuse case isn’t going to trial, as the ex-NFL star has apparently struck a plea deal with prosecutors....
NFL star Michael Vick’s younger brother Marcus is in jail in Newport News, Va., on a contempt charge for failing to appear in court. Marcus Vick, 27, was initially charged in 2010 with driving on a suspended license, the local Daily Press reports. The younger Vick, a former standout quarterback at Virginia Tech, failed to appear in court – twice – to answer that charge, the paper said. So a judge held Marcus Vick in contempt....
A New Hampshire woman recently learned the hard way that state police don’t consider rescuing baby ducklings worthy of the “emergency” status required for stopping on the state’s highway medians. Hallie Bibeau, 33, of Newfields, was driving on New Hampshire’s Route 101 when she saw a mother duck and a group of ducklings trying to cross the road. Bibeau slammed on her brakes and pulled to the side, but the mother and several of the ducklings were hit by another car, reports Manchester’s WMUR-TV....
The NFL will not receive TV broadcast fees if games are not played next season. A District Court judge has overruled the earlier decision that had ruled in favor of the NFL. Turns out, the union was correct in its argument that the NFL intentionally sacrificed long-term profits, which they have an obligation to both maximize and share with the NFL players union, U.S. District Judge David Doty ruled, the Los Angeles Times reports....
