Bruce Conrad Fishelman

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I received news earlier today that attorney Bruce C. Fishelman died on November 25, 2014 of a heart attack (this is one of those times that I'd be glad to have my facts wrong).  My condolences to his family.  Bruce was a partner at the first law firm to employ me.  Many years later, he was a co-sponsor of my application for admission to the bar of the United States Supreme Court. Beneath his gruff exterior was a person who cared deeply about the well-being of others. Sad to say that I won't be pocket dialing Bruce anymore.

Perhaps a name change for a controversial plaintiff-side class action law firm is in the works... (Bumped)

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It appears that attorneys at Initiative Legal Group are starting to appear at a "new" firm named Capstone Law, APC.  But Capstone is in the same building as Initiative Legal Group, so, fishy.  Perhaps its is just a coincidence, but maybe it has something to do with the problems Iniative Legal Group is having in Lofton v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Case No. CGC-11-509502 (see also, Maxon v. Initiative Legal Group APC, App. Ct. Case No. A136626).  Nothing like a change of name to shake off the taint of allegations like those, right?

WHO'S WHO (AND WHERE) OF COMPLEX LITIGATION: Julia Strickland

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Julia Strickland has been selected by the Daily Journal as one of the top 75 Women Litigators in California.  A partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, Ms. Strickland's practice focuses on the defense of class actions and other complex commercial actions.  Her notable accomplishments include a major ruling under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act in Berry v. American Express. Berry held that credit card issuers may not be sued under the statute, and the decision has been interpreted broadly in other cases to hold that transactions for "money or credit" generally -- all lending activity -- are not regulated by the statute.

Of note is the fact that Ms. Strickland began her legal career at Stroock in 1977. In addition to being a member of the Firm's National Executive Committee, she has played a central role in development of the firm's Los Angeles office.

Reference:  May 15, 2008 Press Release

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WHO'S WHO (AND WHERE) OF COMPLEX LITIGATION: Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. targets West Coast

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Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., an AmLaw 100 firm with offices in the U.S. and U.K., continues to expand its West Coast office, located in Palo Alto.  A group of leading patent litigators, formerly of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, have joined the Palo Alto office of Mintz Levin.  "Bryan J. Sinclair and Karineh Khachatourian have joined as Members. Jeffrey M. Ratinoff has joined as Of Counsel. The new group comes to Mintz Levin on the heels of Matthew C. Bernstein and John Giust who joined the firm’s San Diego office from Fish & Richardson last week."  (Mintz Levin, Mintz Levin Continues Its West Coast Expansion with the Addition of Patent Litigators in Palo Alto (April 28, 2008) www.mintz.com.)

Bob Taylor, Managing Member of Mintz Levin's Palo Alto office, said of the move, "Bryan, Karineh and Jeff have handled numerous complex intellectual property matters. Their collective experience adds significantly to this firm’s overall capabilities for handling significant patent matters and other types of complex litigation, both here and internationally."  While the practice area covered by these new additions should primarily concern patenti litigation (which is inherrently complex), it will be interesting to see whether Mintz Levin begins to compete effectively in the broader, congested field of complex litigation in California.

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WHO'S WHO (AND WHERE) OF COMPLEX LITIGATION: Robert Ebe

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In a bid to strengthen its complex and commercial litigation capabilities, Nixon Peabody's San Francisco has lured parter Robert Ebe to the firm from Bingham McCutchen.  According to Nixon Peabody San Francisco managing partner Paul Schrier, Nixon Peabody's “California offices continue to handle more and more complex litigation."  (Lind, Nixon Peabody nabs partner from Bingham (April 16, 2008), www.legalweek.com.)

As this is the first post classified under this category, an explanatory word is in order.  One aspect of complex and class action litigation that The Complex Litigator will endeavor to cover is the personalities that pursue this type of litigation as a practice area.  We hope that, over time, we can provide more comprehensive profiles of complex/class action litigators making news in California.  If you have news of interest in this area, don't hesitate to send a note this way.

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