For many corporate legal departments, budgets are not keeping up with the growing volume of work according to the 2018 Thomson Reuters Legal Tracker LDO Index, a report based on anonymized data from Thomson Reuters Legal Tracker, which includes more than 1200 legal departments, as well as survey responses from 217 legal departments using Legal …
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From Penthouse to Big House: Pharma Bro, Fraud & Forfeiture
Martin “Pharma Bro” Shkreli earned national attention in September 2015 when a company he founded earlier the same year, Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired the drug Daraprim and raised its price from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. That’s an astronomical increase of 5,000%. However, a fraudulent scheme involving three other companies he founded is what landed him …
- June 22, 2018
- Alex Cook
2018 Legal Executive Forum: Law Firm Demographics and the Talent Landscape
With its broader theme of “Culture, Client Service & Law Firm Talent Transformation,” the 2018 Legal Executive Institute Forum featured a panel discussion with “Gen X” law firm executives on the opportunities and challenges of leading firms during a period of major economic and cultural change. The panel’s moderator, Cristina A. Carvalho, managing partner at Arent Fox …
- June 15, 2018
- Alex Cook
2018 Legal Executive Forum: Shining a Light on Law Firm Profitability
The 2018 Legal Executive Forum kicked off with a presentation by Dr. Evan Parker, who explored the use of statistical models to illuminate a law firm’s profitability drivers and differentiators. Parker, managing director of Analytics & Research, LawyerMetrix, provided specific examples for how his company uses data science to help its clients set their “profitability …
- June 14, 2018
- Alex Cook
Bad Medicine: Federal Court Rejects Maryland Drug Price-Gouging Law
A first-of-its-kind Maryland law permitting the state’s attorney general to sue pharmaceutical companies that substantially raise generic drug prices was ruled unconstitutional by a three-judge panel from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Association for Accessible Medicines v. Frosh (887 F.3d 664). The law was passed in April 2017 with bipartisan support as …
- June 13, 2018
- Alex Cook
Federal Claims Court Certifies ACA Insurer Cost-Sharing Reduction Class
In 2017, Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative, a small Wisconsin-based nonprofit health cooperative, filed a putative class action against the federal government alleging that the U.S. had not fully paid the risk corridors program and cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments for some plan years as required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). According the …
- June 11, 2018
- Alex Cook
Thomson Reuters Hosts Sixth Annual “Build-a-Bike” Event
Riding a bike on a hot summer day is a rite of passage. And yet for some children, they may not have a bike to call their own. This is why each year, Thomson Reuters employees gather outside at the company’s Eagan, Minn. campus for a Build-a-Bike event; the bikes they assemble are then donated …
- May 25, 2018
- Alex Cook
Combatting Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession, Part Three
This is part three of a three-piece series on substance abuse in the legal profession. Click here to read part one and here for part two. Treatment and successful return to work Addiction is a chronic disease that can be successfully treated. So why are so many lawyers choosing not to seek treatment or unable to stay sober afterward? …
- May 16, 2018
- Alex Cook
The Verdict Is In: “Smart Collaboration” in Law Firms Paves Way for Success
As early as law school orientation, budding attorneys get their first taste of working in siloes. Don’t share notes, keep your outlines to yourself – sound familiar? However, research from Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession suggests there’s a better way to achieve success in the legal field. In her book entitled Smart …
- May 15, 2018
- Alex Cook
Combatting Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession, Part Two
This is part two of a three-piece series on substance abuse in the legal profession. Click here to read part one. Stay tuned to Legal Current in the coming weeks for posts two and three. Recognizing, preventing and resolving problem behaviors Firms must know how to identify addiction and mental health disorders, and should have …
- May 10, 2018
- Alex Cook