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August 28, 2014
Publication - Intellectual Property, Patents
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August 27, 2014
Press Release
Cozen O’Connor is ranked first in Philadelphia, for the fifth year in a row, and third in the nation in The American Lawyer’s 2014 Mid-Level Associate Satisfaction Survey. The American Lawyer surveys third, fourth and fifth year associates on 12 aspects of job satisfaction. On a scale of 1 to 5, Cozen O’Connor scored a 4.781.
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August 27, 2014
Publication - Appellate
There is a split among the circuits regarding what a whistleblower must plead to survive a motion to dismiss in False Claims Act (FCA) cases. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has now spoken for the first time on the issue. In June, the Third Circuit decided Foglia v. Renal Ventures Management, 754 F.3d 153 (3d Cir. 2014). In its decision, the Third Circuit reversed a district court order granting a motion to dismiss for insufficient detail in the pleadings. In so ruling, the Third Circuit sided with those circuits adopting the less demanding of the competing FCA pleading standards.
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August 26, 2014
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled, ‘’Banning Wearable Tech at Work,’’ Michael Schmidt, vice chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the challenge human resource departments are facing with the evolution and popularity of wearable technology (i.e. Google Glass). Michael says the main HR challenge is to find ''the proper balance between and employee’s reasonable and protected interests in communicating and depicting workplace conditions and the company’s interests in protecting its valid business interests and ensuring they have productive employees during working time.''
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August 25, 2014
News - Health Care & Life Sciences - Health Care & Life Sciences
Raphaely discusses the Affordable Care Act, ACOs and other issues facing in house counsel working in the health care industry.
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August 25, 2014
News - Labor & Employment
In an article titled, ''Secrecy About Salaries May Be On The Wane,’’ Debra Friedman, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the movement toward pay transparency and the potential impact on the workplace. ‘’In today’s world, generally speaking, younger workers share more of their lives publicly,’’ said Debra. ‘’Older workers would consider it private and impolite to ask co-workers what they are being paid.’’ The issue has been gaining momentum, in part due to a push by President Obama, who recently signed several executive orders regarding pay equity and transparency.
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August 22, 2014
Publication - Aviation, Aviation Litigation, Transportation & Trade, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) / Drones - Aviation
The August edition of the Aviation Regulatory Update including updates on extension of comments periods, new enforcement actions, the FAA's legal interpretation prohibiting universities from using their Certificate of Waiver or Authorization to train students to fly drones, new regulations for transportation of lithium cells and batteries, and more.
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August 21, 2014
News
Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor's Labor & Employment Department, discusses the intersection of social media and employment law in an interview with Dr. Jo Anne White.
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August 20, 2014
Publication
In an article published in The Legal Intelligencer, Hayes Hunt, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation Department and Arthur Fritzinger, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the increasing use of the discovery process to leverage favorable settlements and resolutions.
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August 20, 2014
News
Moved by the viral sensation the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Michael Heller and Vince McGuinness have challenged all Cozen O'Connor employees to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Employees at all of Cozen O'Connor’s 23 offices have 24 hours to either donate to ALS (www.alsa.org) or dump a bucket of water on their head (or both). For each employee who accepts the challenge, Michael and Vince will donate $5 to ALS and the firm’s charitable organization will match their donations. Our goal is $20,000.
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August 18, 2014
Publication - Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement
In an article titled, ‘’Compliance Officers Beware: A Firm’s Failure Can Get Personal,” Linda Riefberg and Joseph Dever, members of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the different approaches taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) with respect to individuals acting as Anti-Money Laundering, Legal and Compliance Officers (hereinafter jointly referred to as CCO). The SEC requires as a threshold matter that the CCO had supervisory responsibility over other individuals. FINRA, on the other hand, is satisfied if the individual has supervisory responsibilities over businesses or program areas that had failures even if the person was not an actual supervisor.
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August 18, 2014
Publication - Insurance
In an opinion filed August 5, 2014, the Florida First District Court of Appeal held that under Florida’s unclaimed property law, life insurance proceeds are not “due and payable,” and the dormancy period does not begin to run, until the life insurance company receives proof of the insured’s death and surrender of the policy. The court further held that life insurance companies do not have an affirmative duty under Florida law to search death records to determine whether an insured has died.
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August 18, 2014
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
On July 31, 2014, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department chipped away at the privilege protections available to insurers. In National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania v. TransCanada Energy USA, Inc., 119 A.D.3d 492 (1st Dept. July 31, 2014), the First Department affirmed a 2013 New York County Supreme Court ruling that documents prepared in the ordinary course of an insurer’s investigation as to whether to pay a claim are not privileged — even if these documents are prepared by an attorney.
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August 18, 2014
Publication
In an article titled ''It’s a Dirty World: Internet and Email users Must be Careful About What they Post and Send,'' David Shimkin, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, discusses how courts continue to immunize Internet and email users from defamation liability as long as they do not ''materially contribute'' to the alleged defamation that they host, post, or send.
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August 18, 2014
News
Forty-one Cozen O’Connor lawyers from eight of the firm’s national offices have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2015 (Copyright 2014 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC). Attorneys were selected based on a rigorous peer-review of more than 4.3 million detailed evaluations. The list will be included in publications such as The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York magazine.
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August 18, 2014
News - White Collar Defense & Investigations
In an AP article titled ''Lighter Sentences Sought for Some Business Crimes,'' Barry Boss, co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations Practice Group, discusses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's review of sentencing policies for white collar criminals.
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August 15, 2014
Publication - White Collar Defense & Investigations
In an article published in Today's General Counsel, Stephen Miller, a member of the Commercial Litigation Department, and Brian Kint, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the dispute involving the privileged status of documents created during internal code of business conduct (COBC) investigations conducted by Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. The case serves as a reminder that reasonable jurists can evaluate privilege issues differently and gives examples of how companies can strengthen any assertion of privilege over internal investigation materials.
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August 14, 2014
News - Subrogation & Recovery
David Brisco (Subrogation, San Diego) was voted 2014 Best of the Bar by the San Diego Business Journal. More than 1,000 votes were cast from 146 firms and solo practices throughout the area. Legal professionals throughout the metro area cast votes and were urged to consider not only colleagues at their firms, but also those outside their walls. No one could make the list based solely on votes from others at the same firm. David said, “The best advice I have received as a plaintiff's lawyer is that nobody likes to pay money to someone they don’t like. So not only is it ok to be a lawyer who is nice/professional, but it is in your client’s best interest.”
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August 14, 2014
News
Thomas Wilkinson discusses a federal lawsuit challenging PA rules denying bar admission to attorneys from states lacking reciprocity agreements in Law360.
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August 13, 2014
Publication - Transportation & Logistics Litigation, Transportation & Trade
Two registries of significant interest to shipowners are the registries of the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Liberia. Significantly, insofar as it does not conflict with the statutory laws, each country has adopted the non-statutory general maritime laws of the United States. This gives added certainty to shipowners, particularly those familiar with U.S. maritime laws.
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