Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

The only national tenants in Fort Collins' Old Town, according to Les Kaplan, are Pendleton, the Audubon Society and Starbucks.

Two of them are in buildings he owns at College and Mountain avenues, an intersection many call Main and Main.

Kaplan points with pride to the plethora of locally owned restaurants, retailers and offices that give Old Town its flair. Within weeks, his old bank building will bustle with a mix of offices and restaurant.

Greeley-based law firm Otis, Coan & Peters LLC recently signed the final lease in Kaplan's former City Drug building, bringing it to full occupancy.

Otis, Coan & Peters LLC, with offices on Caribou Drive in Fort Collins, plans to move in by Feb. 1 sharing the second floor - formerly the home of Bohemian Cos. - with Premier Employment Screening Services.

The Audubon Society moved in last month, sharing the street level with Ingredient, which plans to open in early December.
The building, which is undergoing extensive exterior and interior renovations to make way for Ingredient, is expected to be completed within a couple of weeks.

All that remains for exterior work, Kaplan said, is an awning on the façade facing College Avenue, a flagpole that will restore a flag to Old Town for the first time in about six decades and an outside railing.

More than 24,300 vehicles per day pass by the building and more than 9,000 people work within a mile of the intersection, which houses Austin's American Grill on the northwest corner, BeauJo's on the northeast and Cache Bank on the southeast.

"The fact that Audubon wants to be downtown means they're looking for unique exposure that they can only get in the most pedestrian area of Fort Collins, which is downtown.

"What they were seeking is a location that would have superior exposure to the public," Kaplan said. "They want people to walk by and walk in so they can explain their mission."

The building has been vacant for more than a year, when City Drug moved a few blocks north to 209 N. College Ave. and the Bohemian Cos. moved into its new headquarters at 262 E. Mountain Ave. in December.

The building generated dozens of showings of the retail and office space, said Nick Christensen of Chrisland Commercial Real Estate Inc., which listed the property.

"Compared to the market as a whole we saw very good interest in that building and location," he said.

Interest in Old Town has been higher than other listings throughout Northern Colorado, said Christensen, who has listings throughout the region.

"Old Town is just a very attractive, authentic location that everyone enjoys and that's driven that market and kept it strong even in a down economy."

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP has added five attorneys to the firm's Labor and Employment practice group: partners Ron Holland and Ellen Bronchetti, and associates Paul Cowie, Elia DeLuca and Jennifer Holly.  The group joins Sheppard Mullin's San Francisco office from Littler Mendelson's San Francisco office. 

"Ron is a one of the top traditional labor lawyers and brings with him an impressive national practice.  We continue to grow cornerstone practice groups like Labor and Employment and expand our capabilities to better serve clients.  Ron and Ellen are a terrific team, and we welcome them to the firm," said Guy Halgren, chairman of Sheppard Mullin.  

"We look forward to joining Sheppard Mullin, a top-notch full service national firm with a strong footprint in San Francisco and throughout California," Holland commented.  "I am impressed with the firm's marquee labor and employment practice, including the firm’s commitment to its continued growth.  I am thrilled to continue practicing with the team, including Ellen who I have practiced with for almost a decade."  

Holland's practice focuses on traditional labor and employment issues in a variety of industries, including trucking, airlines transportation, technology, entertainment, environmental, recycling and solid waste services.  Holland specializes in representing clients in union negotiations, organizing campaigns and unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board.  

Holland also has extensive experience handling wage and hour class actions, employment discrimination and wrongful termination litigation.  He counsels employers to prevent employee-related problems before they become lawsuits by conducting manager and employee training, including ensuring clients' compliance with applicable state and federal labor laws. 

Ms. Bronchetti advises all types of employers, from start-ups to multi-national corporations on all aspects of the employer-employee relationship, including union avoidance, employee classification issues,  wage and hour disputes, discrimination complaints, employee terminations, including mass layoffs.  A significant focus of her practice is identifying and avoiding problems in the workplace before they arise, through compliance audits and development of workplace policies and procedures.

She has represented corporations and small business in union negotiations, organizing campaigns, elections and matters before the National Labor Relations Board and other related administrative agencies.  In addition to her traditional labor experience, she has significant experience defending employers of all sizes in wage and hour class actions and multi-plaintiff suits, including claims involving misclassification of employees (including independent contractors), missed meal and break periods, unlawful deductions from employee pay, and improper record keeping.   In addition, while Ms. Bronchetti has experience litigating cases involving claims arising under state and federal discrimination laws, especially cases arising under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Holland received a J.D. from Fordham University in 1990 and a B.S. from Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1987.  Bronchetti received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 2003 and a B.A. from Boston College in 2000.  Cowie received a Bachelor of Laws from Northumbria University in 2001.  DeLuca received a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2006 and a B.S. from Santa Clara University in 2002.  Holly received a J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2008 and a B.A. from Santa Clara University in 2002.  

Holland and Bronchetti are the latest of nineteen partners to join Sheppard Mullin in 2010.  In August, partners Tom Kaufman, Mike Gallion and Gregg Fisch joined the firm's Los Angeles/Century City office from Seyfarth Shaw, as part of an eight attorney Labor and Employment team.  Other partners joining the Labor and Employment practice group this year include Jim Hays (New York) from Mintz Levin and Rick Kopenhefer (Los Angeles/Century City) from McDermott Will & Emery.  

Sheppard Mullin has 92 attorneys based in its San Francisco office and its Labor and Employment practice group includes 80 attorneys firmwide.  

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Paul E. Kovacs, senior counsel at Armstrong Teasdale, has been named as the “St. Louis Best Lawyers Legal Malpractice Lawyer of the Year” for 2011.

Kovacs concentrates his practice in litigation, primarily in the areas of construction, commercial and products liability. He has tried over 200 cases to a jury verdict and has been involved in some of the largest cases tried in the state of Missouri.

He received his J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1969 and his B.S. and A.A. from Monmouth University in 1964 and 1966 respectively.

After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers designates “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 17th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2011) is based on more than 3.1 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” received particularly high ratings in our surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

About Armstrong Teasdale LLP: Armstrong Teasdale LLP, with nearly 250 lawyers in offices across the U.S. and China, has a demonstrable track record of delivering sophisticated legal advice and exceptional service to a dynamic client base. Whether an issue is local or global, practice area specific or industry related, Armstrong Teasdale provides each client with an invaluable combination of legal resources and practical advice in nearly every area of law. For more information, please visit www.armstrongteasdale.com.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Nationally-recognized law firm Hertz Schram PC today announced the hiring of Christopher H. Tovar, former General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Investment Professionals, Inc., a San Antonio, Texas-based brokerage and investment advisory firm, as a partner in its securities practice.  Along with firm founder Bradley J. Schram, Mr. Tovar will lead Hertz Schram's Securities Team in offering the full range of services to FINRA member broker-dealers, registered investment advisors, individual brokers, insurance agents and corporate officers, including all facets of litigation and arbitration defense, regulatory compliance, firm risk management, and transactional support. 

A University of Michigan Law School graduate, Mr. Tovar began his career in the securities industry as a broker with Morgan Stanley and later with CUNA Brokerage Services, where he learned the business from the ground up in wirehouse and credit union settings.   Mr. Tovar then spent several years at a Houston law firm where he focused on FINRA proceedings involving customer claims, regulatory and employment matters.  In his later work serving broker-dealers and investment advisory firms, he has also dealt extensively with the SEC, FINRA and with state securities and insurance regulators. 

According to Tovar, "Protecting a brokerage's reputation, among its peers in the industry, regulators, potential hires, and investors, is critical to its long-term success and to our success as securities attorneys."  His keen awareness of this point has been refined particularly over the past decade as he worked through two historic market meltdowns, and the aftermath, both as a broker, and as an attorney and risk manager. 

Tovar was attracted to Hertz Schram PC, a firm representing national and regional broker-dealers and investment advisors, as well as the officers of major corporations, throughout the United States since 1979, because of the consistent quality, as well as longevity, of its Securities Team.  "The attorneys at Hertz Schram represent the best brokerages in the industry, working consistently well with them—and with each other—to solve problems." 

The Securities Team also welcomes collaboration with and referrals to and from other attorneys and compliance professionals throughout the United States.

Hertz Schram PC is based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and has maintained its securities practice since it was founded in 1979. 

Hertz Schram PC
 
Bradley J. Schram
 
1760 S. Telegraph Rd., Ste. 300
 
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302-0183
 
(248) 335-5000
 
www.hertzschram.com

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Patent attorney Donald R. Holland, Ph.D., of the law firm Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C., has created a new website that focuses on patent case analysis and analysis of patent practice. The new website, called Patent Vigilance, is at the Internet address http://patentvigilance.com.

Dr. Holland, an attorney in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, established the website “to provide a vigilant analysis of the constantly changing state of patent law as it evolves.” He further indicated that “a two fold approach is taken to accomplish this. First, recent court decisions that have a significant impact on patent law and practice are analyzed in the ‘Case Analysis’ section. These analyses consider what changes in the law are produced by the decisions and how patent practice might be modified to accommodate these changes while still providing patent protection.”

“Also, day-to-day patent practice is evaluated in the ‘Patent Analysis’ section,” Dr. Holland said. “These evaluations provide practical examples of how issues in patent law are dealt with in the prosecution of actual patents. This can illustrate problems that can arise during prosecution as well as the ongoing adaptations to the case law. Consideration is also given to whether the adaptations accomplish what was intended.”

In an interview, Dr. Holland told the St. Louis Business Journal (October 15-21, 2010 edition) that “a lot of blogs will review cases without giving a lot of help or understanding of the case as it applies to your practice. This (website) is more formal. It gives a review of the case and a little analysis of how you need to adapt your practice in lieu of the case.”

Dr. Holland earned a Ph.D. in cell physiology and biochemistry in addition to a law degree. He has nearly 20 years of patent law experience in biotech, chemical and pharmaceutical sciences. He has focused his practice on patent preparation and prosecution and on opinion work including patentability opinions, clearance opinions and due diligence opinions. He also has extensive experience in international and foreign patent prosecution, and in Hatch-Waxman opinion work. Before becoming a patent attorney, Dr. Holland headed a pharmaceutical discovery research lab for many years.

Dr. Holland expects intellectual property attorneys at Gallop, Johnson & Neuman to contribute to Patent Vigilance. He can be reached via email at DHolland@gjn.com.

Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C., a full service law firm of 80 attorneys, has provided legal services to clients in diverse industries since its founding in 1976 and is one of the largest law firms headquartered in St. Louis. The firm also has offices in Washington, D.C. and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The firm serves public corporations; privately-held companies; entrepreneurs and start-up enterprises; individuals and families; trustees and trust beneficiaries; charities; and non-profit entities. The firm’s headquarters are located at 101 South Hanley Road, Suite 1700, in Clayton, Missouri. 

For more information about Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, please contact Lois A. LaDriere at 314.615.6000 or visit the website www.gjn.com.  
Media contact: Jeff Dunlap at 314.993.6925.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Armstrong Teasdale LLP is listed in the 2010 National Law Journal survey “Who Represents Corporate America” as a firm frequently used by General Electric Co. and The Boeing Co. for intellectual property services.

The report, which appears in the September 13th issue, is based on the trade paper’s research of Fortune 100 companies and the law firms they used in 2009.

Earlier this year Intellectual Property Today magazine recognized Armstrong Teasdale as one of the top patent law firms in the country. The March 2010 special issue “Top Patent Firms,” ranked the firm number 72 out of 365 law firms/individuals.

With 379 utility and seven design patents issued in 2009, Armstrong Teasdale was the first St. Louis, Missouri-based firm to be named to the nationwide-list. The firm also has the largest patent practice in St. Louis, according to a 2010 report in the St. Louis Business Journal.

About Armstrong Teasdale LLP: Armstrong Teasdale LLP, with nearly 250 lawyers in offices across the U.S. and China, has a demonstrable track record of delivering sophisticated legal advice and exceptional service to a dynamic client base. Whether an issue is local or global, practice area specific or industry related, Armstrong Teasdale provides each client with an invaluable combination of legal resources and practical advice in nearly every area of law. For more information, please visit www.armstrongteasdale.com.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative is marking two decades of work advancing improvements to laws and legal systems in developing nations around the world. Among its many efforts, ABA ROLI works against systemic rape in Congo, trains judges to handle election disputes in Kyrgyzstan and boosts public attorney effectiveness in the Philippines. 

As part of its 20-year anniversary celebration, ABA ROLI has compiled an online historic retrospective of threats to the rule of law around the world and ROLI projects that successfully respond to those threats. The initiative is active in more than 70 countries in all areas of the world. 

ROLI is also hosting a commemorative fundraising gala on Oct. 14th at 7:30 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel (1127 Connecticut Ave.) that recognizes highly successful programs and outlines the future of rule of law efforts.  Former Chief Justice of South Africa Arthur Chaskalson and Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will be honored with the 2010 Rule of Law Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award, respectively.  

The event is hosted by the ABA ROLI Board and the Gala Honorary Committee. Members of the Gala Honorary Committee expected to attend include ambassadors from Ecuador, Congo, Panama, Ethiopia and Philippines, as well as Sens. John Kerry and Patrick Leahy, and U.S. Reps. Michael Honda and Adam Schiff. Tickets are available online. 

ABA ROLI is a non-profit program grounded in the belief that rule of law promotion is the most effective long-term antidote to the most pressing problems facing the world today, including poverty, conflict, endemic corruption and disregard for human rights. 

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

This distribution list is a service to the news media from the American Bar Association Division for Media Relations and Communication Services.  Your e-mail address will only be used within the ABA and its entities.  We do not sell or rent e-mail addresses to anyone outside the ABA.  To change your e-mail listing or be removed from our distribution lists, please contact the Media Relations Department at 312/988-6171 or abanews@abanet.org.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Armstrong Teasdale LLP announces the addition of attorney Angie Fletcher as an associate in the St. Louis office. Fletcher is a member of the Corporate Services practice group and focuses primarily on securities, corporate governance, and commercial and general business law.

Supporting growing and mature businesses, Fletcher guides clients in securities law compliance, Exchange Act reporting, mergers and acquisitions, internal restructuring and general commercial contracting. She also develops social responsibility programs for businesses and their employees to be better involved in the community.

“Angie shares the firm’s vision of delivering value and innovative service,” says David Braswell, leader of the firm’s Corporate Services practice group. “Her past corporate experience and client relationships will be invaluable as we continue to grow and diversify the practice.”

Previously serving as corporate counsel for a Fortune 500 company in the energy sector and for a leading producer of plastic sheet, compounds and packaging products, Fletcher has the experience and ability to provide practical, cost-effective and business-oriented approaches to her clients when solving routine and complex issues.

Fletcher earned her J.D. with a concentration in Business Transactional Law from Saint Louis University School of Law in 2008. She received her B.A. in history and political science, cum laude, in 2003. Fletcher is licensed in Missouri and a member of The Missouri Bar, The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals.

About Armstrong Teasdale: Armstrong Teasdale LLP, with nearly 235 lawyers in offices across the U.S. and China, has a demonstrable track record of delivering sophisticated legal advice and exceptional service to a dynamic client base. Whether an issue is local or global, practice area specific or industry related, Armstrong Teasdale provides each client with an invaluable combination of legal resources and practical advice in nearly every area of law. For more information, please visit www.armstrongteasdale.com.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

The rankings were devised using the results of surveys sent to 52,480 clients including every Fortune 100 company and 43,900 lawyers. The rankings also incorporate 3.1 million evaluations of 39,372 individual lawyers collected by Best Lawyers in its most recent annual survey.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.