Lawyering

Subscribe to Lawyering via RSS

As a former compliance officer who is now an academic, I’ve been obsessed with the $25 million Varsity Blues college admissions scandal. Compliance officers are always looking for titillating stories for training and illustration purposes, and this one has it all– bribery, Hollywood stars, a BigLaw partner, Instagram influencers, and big name schools. Over fifty people face charges or have already pled guilty, and the fallout will continue for some time. We’ve seen bribery in the university setting before but those cases concerned recruitment of actual athletes. 

Although Operation Varsity Blues concerns elite colleges, it provides a wake up call for all universities and an even better cautionary tale for businesses of all types that think of  bribery as something that happens overseas. As former Justice Department compliance counsel, Hui Chen, wrote, “bribery. . .  is not an act confined by geographies. Like most frauds, it is a product of motive, opportunity, and rationalization. Where there are power and benefits to be traded, there would be bribes.” 

My former colleague and a rising star in the compliance world, AP Capaldo, has some great insights on the scandal in this podcast. I recommend that…

A 2017 opinion related to successor liability just posted to Westlaw.  The case is an EEOC claim “against the Hospital of St. Raphael School of Nurse Anesthesia (“HSR School”) and Anesthesia Associates of New Haven (“AANH”), alleging gender discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . . . .” The plaintiff was seeking to join Yale New Haven Hospital (“YNHH”). MARGARITE CONSOLMAGNO v. HOSPITAL OF ST. RAPHAEL SCHOOL OF NURSE ANESTHESIA and ANESTHESIA ASSOCIATES OF NEW HAVEN, P.C., 3:11CV109 (DJS), 2017 WL 10966446, at *1 (D. Conn. Mar. 27, 2017). 

 
 
Apparently, the HSR School trained nurse anesthetists was owned and run by AANH a Connecticut “professional corporation.”  The plaintiff was in the HSR School for about six months before she was dismissed, she claimed, because of ” gender discrimination and retaliation for reporting a staff member’s inappropriate sexual conduct.” Id. The plaintiff sought to join YNHH because that entity took over running an anesthesia school that had been, in some form, the HSR school.  
 
The successor liability part is rather interesting, though largely devoid of facts from the transaction.  The court ultimately concludes that even though YNHH resumed a similar school,

…

For the past two days, I had the privilege of attending a leadership conference hosted by UT Law’s Institute for Professional Leadership.  I admit to being pretty passionate about leadership literature, training, and cultivation.  Some of that zeal no doubt comes from working with and studying the scholarship of business management.  However, I also have participated in two academic leadership training programs over the past ten years, the Higher Education Resources Service’s HERS Institute and the Southeastern Athletics Conference’s Academic Leadership Development Program.  Both were true eye-openers for me at a time when I was poised to assume a leadership role as our campus faculty senate president.

The conference this week was on developing leadership in lawyers.  It is part of a series of conferences/symposia that a group of law faculty interested in this topic have been convening for a number of years now.  Articles emanating from prior event proceedings are published here and here.   The authors of many of the articles in those law review books have also authored stand-alone books and other works on leadership in the legal profession published elsewhere.

This week’s conference treatments of the topic spanned a wide range, addressing (for instance) the…

A new case from the Southern District of Texas recently appeared, and it is yet another case in which the entity type descriptions are, well, flawed. The case opens: 

Before the Court is the defendant’s, Arnold Development Group, LLC (the “defendant”) motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) and (3) (Dkt. No. 5), the plaintiff’s, Conesco Industries, LTD.; d/b/a DOKA USA, LTD. (the “plaintiff”) response to the defendant’s motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 18) and the defendant’s reply in support of its motion (Dkt. No. 20).
 . . . .
The plaintiff is a New Jersey limited partnership doing business in Texas and throughout the United States. The defendant is a Missouri limited liability corporation.
CONESCO INDUSTRIES, LTD. d/b/a DOKA USA, LTD., Pl., v. ARNOLD DEVELOPMENT GROUP, LLC, Def.., 4:18-CV-02851, 2019 WL 1430112, at *1 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 29, 2019) (emphasis added). 
 
Everybody who reads this blog knew that was coming because I am writing about the case. Arnold Development Group, LLC, is not a limited liability corporation. It is a limited liability company.
 
So, fine, this kind of error is not remarkable, given my numerous posts on the subject.

…

Yoga(Me-WII)

Colleen’s post yesterday–and more specifically the last interview questions she asked (“[H]ow can power yoga be particularly helpful for professors or students?“)–inspired me to write about some work that I have recently done in studying the benefits of mindfulness to lawyers and in lawyering, and more specifically in business lawyering.  Colleen’s entrepreneur yogi noted the obvious benefits of power yoga to physical health.  But she also noted what she termed “clarity of mind.”  More specifically, she said: “I practice yoga to allow time away from devices and work emails, which in turn creates some distance to clear my mind and create clarity in how I want to interact with my environment.”

I do, too.  And I have noticed that it makes a difference in the way I interact with people.  I am not alone.

I recently was challenged by my friends at the Tennessee Bar Association to present an hour of continuing legal education on mindfulness, reflecting on some of what I learned in my yoga instructor training last year and linking it to law practice.  Three of the eight limbs of yoga–asana (poses), pranayama (breath control), and dhyana (object-focused meditation)–are traditional mindfulness practices that I studied in that…

Get this, from a March 15 ruling and order on a motion for summary judgment: 

Greenwich Hotel Limited Partnership [GHLP] is a limited partnership organized under the laws of Connecticut, and is the owner of the Hyatt Regency Greenwich hotel. Answer to First Amended Complaint, dated Dec. 16, 2016 (“Am. Ans.”), ECF NO. 62, at 8. Hyatt Equities, L.L.C. (“Hyatt Equities”) is a limited liability corporation incorporated in Delaware, and is the general partner of Greenwich Hotel Limited Partnership. Id. at 9. The Hyatt Corporation (“Hyatt Corp.”) is a limited liability corporation incorporated in Delaware, and is the agent of Greenwich Hotel Limited Partnership. Id. at 9.

Benavidez v. Greenwich Hotel LP, 3:16-CV-191 (VAB), 2019 WL 1230357, at *1 (D. Conn. Mar. 15, 2019). 
 
Once more, for the people in back: LLCs are “limited liability companies,” not “limited liability corporations.”As such, LLCs are not “incorporated.” LLCs are formed or organized. In addition, corporations are entities that provide shareholders limited liability, but they are generally not referred to as “limited liability corporations” because they might be confused with a separate and distinct entity type, the LLC.  
 
Whenever I read a case with this kind of language,

…

The Business Law Clinic (Clinic) is part of a comprehensive curriculum in transactional law that is comprised of the Clinic, the Business Law Center (Center) and certificate and degree conferring programs. The Clinic, established in 1999, offers students a unique opportunity to develop essential lawyering skills in a professional, interactive environment. Loyola seeks a dynamic Clinic Co-Director/Center Executive Director to work collaboratively with the Clinic Co-Director and the Director of the Business Law Center to provide strategic leadership, teach the Clinic class, supervise student work with clients, and to assist the Center Director in the development of the business and transactional law curriculum, scholarly conferences and programming.

The Co-Director/Executive Director will serve as the Randy L. and Melvin R. Berlin Clinical Professor of Law that is a presumptively renewable long-term contract position with voting privileges within the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Loyola University Chicago School of Law is a student-focused law center inspired by the Jesuit tradition of academic excellence, intellectual openness, and service to others. Our mission is to educate diverse, talented students to be responsible leaders in a rapidly changing, interdependent world, to prepare graduates who will be ethical advocates for justice and the rule of…

I am wading back into a jurisdiction case because when it to LLCs (limited liability companies), I need to. A new case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit showed up on Westlaw.  Here’s how the analysis section begins:

Jurisdiction in this case is found under the diversity statute 28 U.S.C. § 1332. John Kendle is a citizen of Ohio; defendant WHIG Enterprises, LLC is a Florida corporation with its principal place of business in Mississippi; defendant Rx Pro Mississippi is a Mississippi corporation with its principal place of business in Mississippi; defendant Mitchell Chad Barrett is a citizen of Mississippi; defendant Jason Rutland is a citizen of Mississippi. R. 114 (Second Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 3, 5) (Page ID #981–82). Kendle is seeking damages in excess of $75,000. Id. at ¶¶ 50, 54, 58, 64, 71 (Page ID #992–95). The district court issued an order under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that granted final judgment in favor of Mitchell Chad Barrett, and so appellate jurisdiction is proper. R. 170 (Rule 54(b) Order) (Page ID #3021).

Kendle v. Whig Enterprises, LLC, No. 18-3574, 2019 WL 148420, at *3 (6th…

 

 

It’s the  start of a new year and a new semester. As Joan wrote earlier this week, we need to step back and take stock of our mental health. I’m the happiest lawyer I know and have been since I graduated from law school in 1992, but many lawyers and students aren’t so lucky. In fact, I probably spend 25-35% of my time on campus calming students down. Some have normal anxiety that fades as they gain more confidence.  I often recommend that those students read Grit or at least listen to the Ted talk. Others tell me (without my asking) about addictions, clinical depression, and other information that I should not know about. I know enough to refer to them to help. Closer to home, my 22-year old son has lost several friends to suicide. Many of those friends went to the best high schools and colleges in the country and seemed to have bright futures. And as we know, the suicide rate for lawyers is climbing.

Thankfully, the American Bar Association has gathered a number of resources for law students here. Practicing lawyers can find valuable tools for lawyer well-being here and a podcast for lawyers…

To start the New Year, I found a few thoughtful quotes to help me get in a good state of mind. I thought I’d share. Wishing you health, love, and success for 2019. 

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford

“It is difficult, but not impossible, to conduct strictly honest business.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Don’t bargain yourself down before you get to the table.” – Carol Frohlinger

“Goals are dreams with deadlines.” – Diana Scharf Hunt

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Stephen A. Brennan