ALMResearchBlog

New E-Discovery Blog

As announced by Robert Ambrogi, a new blog, EDD Update, was recently launched by “an esteemed group of e-discovery and legal technology experts,” which is a joint project of ALM’s own Law Technology News and Law.com Legal Technology. Ambrogi cites LTN editor Monica Bay and Law.com Technology editor Sean Doherty in their welcome message: "Our concept of this blog is to provide a venue where we can post breaking news, key verdicts and judicial rulings, articles from Law.com and LTN, vendor press releases, and more -- and most importantly, where our expert authors will offer their fine-honed analysis and comments." Check it out

Surveys: 6th Annual Plaintiffs’ Hot List

According to the editors of National Law Journal’s sixth annual Plaintiffs' Hot List, plaintiffs' attorneys racked up impressive verdicts and settlements in the usual areas like securities fraud and products liability since last year, while exploring fresh ground against self-serving managers and controlling shareholders in corporate deal-making. Hot plaintiff’s firms are not your usual suspects: Berger & Montague; Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz; Bernstein Litowitz; Coughlin Stoia; Grant & Eisenhofer; Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro; Korein Tillery; Labaton Sucharow; Lieff Cabraser; Phillips & Cohen; Schiffrin Barroway; Seeger Weiss; Whatley Drake & Kallas.

ALM Research E-Newsletter: Tech Focus

The October/November issue of the ALM Research e-newsletter, NewsLine, went out today. The focus of this issue is Technology. Technology surveys, technology studies, technology reports. Ratings of products, rankings of law firms, products law firms and legal departments are using, trends in budgets and salaries, trends in purchasing.

If you're not already a subscriber to the newsletter, you can access the current NewsLine by clicking here and you can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking here.

National Law Journal’s Defense Hot List

Just in case you missed it, the National Law Journal published its third annual Defense Hot List this summer. The law firms on the list, according to NLJ, “have done exemplary, cutting-edge defense work.”  Nominations came from readers and were then supplemented with NLJ’s own research. They looked for firms with “overall impressive track records that managed at least one significant defense bench or jury verdict since July 1, 2006.”

Data from this list, as well as NLJ’s annual Plaintiffs Hot List (published in October) is archived in the ALM Research Online database. In spreadsheet format, it becomes part of the Who Represents Corporate America product for 2007, which is updated on an on-going basis throughout the year.

Litigation: Annual Boardroom Guide to Litigation in the 50 States

The American Justice Partnership/Directorship has published its Annual Board Guide to Litigation in the 50 States, noting that its raison d'etre lies in the fact that "most companies fail to accurately account for the total costs of lawsuits and underestimate the importance of a state's liability climate." The ranks states based on their "Tort Liability Index," and provides a description of the legal climate for each state, e.g. Nebraska "enjoys the top ranking for its favorable litigation climate. Its liability laws lead to fair and predictable litigation results. Nebraska law does not allow punitive damages, places limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, has a 10-year statute of repose for product liability lawsuits, and does not allow joint liability for non-economic damages. The Supreme Court is led by a rule-of-law majority and Attorney General Jon Bruning is a staunch defender of the rule of law. Nebraska's liability climate is conducive to growth and job creation."

2007 Defense Hot List

The National Law Journal has just published its third annual 2007 Defense Hot List, a report on law firms that have done “exemplary, cutting-edge defense work.” As the editors note,” the firms on this list lived the kind of drama one doesn't find in a settlement conference.” Firms that made this year’s list include Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Cooley Godward Kronish; Dechert; Kaye Scholer; Kirkland & Ellis; Morrison & Foerster; Paul Weiss; Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Sidley Austin; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges. The report gives details about the cases that earned them a spot on the list.

Survey: Top Litigators

On Monday (June 18) National Law Journal published the winners of their “showcase of litigators at the top of their game.” As editor Steve Fromm puts it, “The 10 finalists were culled from scores of nominations sent from around the United States. Our basic criteria included nominees having at least one significant win — either a bench or jury verdict — within the last 18 months, and a track record of significant wins over the last several years.” The story is available online to subscribers only, though non-subscribers may sign up for a 30-day free trial here.

Notably, though 7 of the 10 top litigators came from NLJ 250 firms (Kaye Scholer, Kirkland & Ellis, Paul, Weiss, Dechert, Winston & Strawn, Steptoe & Johnson, Akin Gump) the other 3 were from much smaller firms: Chicago’s Goldberg Kohn Bell Black Rosenbloom & Moritz; Florida’s Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell; and Dallas’s Sayles Werbner.

Best, Worst Lawsuit Climates

From the Institute for Legal Reform, part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, comes this study of the best and worst lawsuit climates in the U.S. The study found that Delaware has the best legal climate in the country, and West Virginia has the worst. Other top states include Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Maine. Others at the bottom of the list include Louisiana, Alabama, and Illinois. The good news: An analysis of the data over the six years the survey has been conducted indicates an overall improvement in state legal climates. In a number of states, this trend correlates with legal reforms enacted over the same period. 

Leading Lawyers: DC’s Best Business Litigators

ALM Media’s newspaper in Washington, DC, Legal Times, several times a year publishes a list of Leading Lawyers in a particular practice area. The most current is the Leading Business Litigators list and includes lawyers from 10 firms (in alphabetical order – there are no rankings): Arnold & Porter; Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll;  Covington & Burling; Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner; Jenner & Block; Jones Day; Kirkland & Ellis; Latham & Watkins; Steptoe & Johnson; and Zuckerman Spaeder. 

To learn more about Legal Times’ Leading Lawyers series and to nominate, click here. Legal Times plans two more reports this year: communications specialists (nominations due May 11) and international trade lawyers (nominations due July 20).

Litigation’s Rising Stars

The current (January) issue of The American Lawyer features the magazine’s annual look at the world of litigation. After sifting through hundreds of names and weighing individuals' past achievements and potential future performance, they finalized their 2007 "Fab Fifty" list of 50  up-and-coming litigators, all age 45 or under, and all rising stars that the magazine expects to see leading the field in years to come.

The list contains a concentration of appellate, intellectual property, public interest and products liability lawyers. Others have made a mark as criminal defenders or labor lawyers or securities specialists. There’s not enough space here to name every one of the young litigators and/or their firms. However, it was noteworthy that two firms – Latham & Waktins and Sullivan & Cromwell – each had two lawyers who made the list.