Quantcast

Advocate’s View: No employment at-will exception for compliance officer

By Paul L. Leclair
POSTED: May 16, 2012
Tags:

The employment at-will doctrine withstood another challenge. Last week on May 8, the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the First Department and rendered a decision refusing to create an employment at-will exception for a corporate compliance officer who complained of security trade irregularities to the security firm’s principal, Sullivan v. Harnisch, 2012 NY Lexis [...]

Advocate’s View: Fundamentals of international service of process

By John C. Nutter
POSTED: April 19, 2012
Tags:

When faced with a foreign defendant who refuses to accept service of process voluntarily, counsel for the plaintiff must navigate the various paths available for effecting proper service abroad. The road to achieving proper service is fraught with numerous possible pitfalls and is made more difficult by splits of authority among New York and federal [...]

Advocate’s View: Play it safe by issuing a written litigation hold notice

By Jeremy M. Sher
POSTED: March 14, 2012
Tags:

At deposition, opposing counsel abruptly asks your client whether his company circulated a litigation hold notice to its employees. “I instructed everyone to preserve their documents,” he responds. “Did anyone put that instruction in writing?” asks opposing counsel. Based on this line of inquiry, opposing counsel is probably familiar with Judge Shira Scheindlin’s Pension Committee [...]

Advocate’s View: COA sends long arm jurisdiction to the dogs

By Mary Jo S. Korona
POSTED: February 15, 2012
Tags:

The task of construing long arm jurisdiction under CPLR §302 (a)(1)-(4) is enough to send most practitioners to the nearest vending machine for chocolate and soda. The task becomes more mind-numbing where the analysis involves a claim for defamation. In such circumstances, the out-of-state utterer receives an added layer of protection as defamation of character [...]

Advocate’s View: Personal injury plaintiff non-recourse loans – The issues

By Laurie A. Giordano
POSTED: January 18, 2012
Tags:

Many plaintiffs’ personal injury attorneys face the situation of a client seeking a non-recourse loan from a private lending company while a personal injury case is pending. In the United States, the lawsuit cash advance and loan industry is worth $100 million a year. Such loans raise serious concerns for the practitioner representing the plaintiff. [...]

Advocate’s View: Madoff and fraud claims against third parties

By Steven E. Cole
POSTED: October 19, 2011
Tags:

By now, everyone has heard of Bernard Madoff, the investment fund manager who managed to operate a massive Ponzi scheme for more than 20 years without detection. It is alleged that for years, Madoff engaged in virtually no trading for his investment clients, and kept entirely fictitious records of investments, profits and losses.

Advocate’s View: Discordant rhythms in Rules of Professional Conduct (access required)

By Mary Jo S. Korona
POSTED: June 16, 2011
Tags:

Jazz musicians will tell you that one of the keys to jazz is the polyrhythm, which is the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms. The outcome can be pure music magic, as evidenced by the many wonderful jazz musicians who have appeared at this year’s Rochester International Jazz Fest.

Advocate’s View: COA gives guidance on common law duties (access required)

By Steven E. Cole
POSTED: May 19, 2011
Tags:

In a previous article, I wrote that the New York Court of Appeals had been presented with an opportunity to limit or abandon the so-called Mohawk doctrine. In Bessemer Trust Co, N.A. v. Branin, the court of appeals addressed the implied covenant, under common law …

Upstate man convicted in shooting that killed 4

By The Associated Press
POSTED: April 1, 2011
Tags: , , , , ,

BUFFALO — A Buffalo man was convicted Thursday on charges he opened fire outside a downtown restaurant over the summer, killing four and wounding four others, a verdict that a victim’s relative said was “like a weight was lifted.”

Advocate’s View: Are amendments really ever freely given? (access required)

By John C. Nutter
POSTED: March 16, 2011
Tags:

Unilaterally amending a pleading early in a lawsuit is one of the rare freebies for a “do-over” that the law provides. When a party is in New York state court, it can amend its pleading as a matter of right within 20 days after service of the pleading or after service of a pleading responding to it.

Advocate’s View: Attorney fee applications and Dante’s ‘Inferno’ (access required)

By Paul L. Leclair
POSTED: January 20, 2011
Tags:

Making an attorney fee application causes me considerable angst. Even though the application comes on the heels of a successful outcome, it is too personal. While the primary litigation is certainly a test of an attorney’s substantive knowledge, experience and strategic acumen …

Advocate’s View: End-of-year ruminations for litigators (access required)

By Mary Jo S. Korona
POSTED: December 16, 2010
Tags:

At the risk of dating myself, consider the famous quote from Walt Kelly’s cartoon strip, “Pogo,” in which the character observes: “We have met the enemy and he is us,” in connection with an end of year introspection about the innumerable tasks …

Next Page »