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An Atlanta federal judge's dismissal of the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust claims against several pharmaceutical companies that delayed a generic drug's market rollout through a settlement is a setback for the agency's opposition to such deals. Pharmaceutical companies claim the ruling affirms that patent settlements are pro-competitive and pro-consumer. But the FTC's Richard Feinstein says the ruling "underscores the need for a legislative solution."
A lawsuit against SmithKline Beecham over the suicide of 23-year-old Tricia Mason, who ended her life two days after taking the antidepressant Paxil, can go forward, the 7th Circuit ruled this week. In a unanimous decision reversing the lower court, the appeals court said that the drug manufacturer now known as GlaxoSmithKline didn't meet its burden of showing with "clear evidence" that the FDA would have rejected a change in the drug's labeling to warn about the enhanced possibility of suicide in young adults.
We don't know The Snark's identity, but we do know The Snark hails from Atlanta. Reaction to recent snow in Atlanta may have played into regional stereotypes, leading The Snark to discuss certain conceptions about Southern lawyers -- including some that are grounded in reality.
Some women lawyers are angry about law firms' dismissal of a request by the National Association for Law Placement for details about the breakdown of their equity versus nonequity partners. Some believe firms are just protecting billing rates, while others think NALP should push harder.
DLA Piper's U.S. operations report that gross revenue declined nearly 14 percent in 2009, to just over a billion dollars. Revenue per lawyer and profits per equity partner fell only about 5 percent, due to cuts in the firm's lawyer ranks; DLA laid off 101 U.S. associates last year. Firm Chairman Frank Burch said the firm broadly cut its expenses and improved its balance sheet by increasing its reliance on paid-in partner capital, while continuing to attract high-profile laterals.
Securities plaintiffs attorney Patrick Coughlin will soon scale back his duties and take his name off the letterhead at San Diego-based Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins. Coughlin will become of counsel at the end of June and will step down from the executive committee. At the same time, the 180-lawyer firm is promoting Michael Dowd to name partner. By the end of March, the firm will go by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd.
After more than six hours of deliberation, a Philadelphia jury unanimously returned a defense verdict Wednesday in a lawsuit alleging that a hormone replacement therapy drug caused breast cancer in an Indiana woman who died of the disease. The verdict in favor of drugmaker Wyeth came because the jury found a lack of factual causation of Cheryl Foust's disease by her use of the HRT drug Prempro. The defense in the case, however, did not get all of the answers it wanted on the questions presented to the jury.
Prosecutors must produce memos by high-ranking Justice Department officials on the transfers of an accused terrorist because they might explain why he was kept out of the criminal justice system for almost five years, a New York federal judge has ruled. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, in an opinion unsealed Wednesday, ruled on Jan. 21 that the discovery obligations of prosecutors extend to the memos because DOJ officials can rightly be considered part of the "government" within the meaning of Rule 16 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Seyfarth Shaw on Wednesday rolled out more details on how its new merit-based compensation system for associates will work. The new merit levels will be the basis for how much the firm charges clients for associates' legal services, the firm said. The system may be unique in spelling out a link between client billing rates and associate pay, says one consultant. While clients may appreciate knowing what level of service they're paying for, he added that clients may also shy away from hiring the lowest performers.
Lawmakers fired questions Wednesday at two Toyota executives about whether the company's lobbyists are too cozy with government regulators and whether those relationships slowed the response to complaints about the automaker's safety record. The hearing, the second on Capitol Hill this week, also served as a forum for lawmakers to debate proposals related to the U.S. tort system. One Democrat warned Toyota president Akio Toyoda that the automaker should expect significant losses as a result of products liability lawsuits.
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