ERISA

Ropes & Gray Sued for Age and Sex Discrimination By Former Partner

By David Lat

On Tuesday, Ropes & Gray was sued in Manhattan federal court by a former partner, Patricia A. Martone. Martone’s lawsuit claims age discrimination, sex discrimination, retaliation, and interference with protected retirement benefits in violation of ERISA (the basis for federal jurisdiction in the S.D.N.Y.).

As you might expect from an ex-Ropes partner, Martone has some high-powered counsel: Anne Vladeck, one of New York’s top labor and employment lawyers, widely regarded as the queen of employment discrimination law. Vladeck famously (and successfully) represented Anucha Browne Sanders in her sexual harassment lawsuit against Isiah Thomas and the Knicks.

Patricia Martone is a veteran intellectual-property litigatrix, a specialist in patent litigation, with almost 40 years of practice under her belt. She made partner at Fish & Neave, the well-known patent law firm, in 1983, and then became a Ropes partner in 2005, when Ropes absorbed Fish. She’s now a partner at Morrison & Foerster, which she joined in October 2010.

Why did she leave Ropes? Let’s have a look at Patricia Martone, and her lawsuit….

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Better Get an Expert

By The People's Therapist

Ed. note: This post is by Will Meyerhofer, a former Sullivan & Cromwell attorney turned psychotherapist. He holds degrees from Harvard, NYU Law, and The Hunter College School of Social Work, and he blogs at The People’s Therapist. His new book, Life is a Brief Opportunity for Joy, is available on Amazon.

I’ve always been awestruck by tax lawyers. They are the dudes.

As a transactional attorney, you can’t make a move without a tax guy. M&A is based on IRS consequences. It’s the tax guy who hands you a chart with boxes and arrows, holding companies and off-shore limited partnerships buying and selling and re-selling and issuing and repurchasing and spinning off. Everything starts there.

Tax lawyers do stuff no one else would attempt. They swagger out the door at 5 pm.

“Don’t start with me. I’m in tax.”

Way back when, I took an advanced tax course in law school – to see if I could roll with the gangstas. I even took it the wrong semester, so instead of JD students, it was tax LLMs snickering at my desperation. I received my lowest grade ever. I also discovered tax law is like higher mathematics: there is no big picture. Tax is not intuitive or guided by overarching principle; it’s a mess of staggering, intimidating complication.

What I’ve come to realize lately, as a therapist working with tax lawyers, is that these seemingly unapproachable superstars are human. And being “the expert” can exact a toll….

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Job of the Week: Employee Benefits in Chicago

By Above the Law

Employee benefits is heating up in the Windy City. We are currently looking to fill a number of employee benefits positions in Chicago, including the latest Job of the Week. Lateral Link has placed five candidates in law firm positions across the country this week alone; you could be next.

Position: Employee Benefits Associate

Location: Chicago, IL

Description: A national firm is looking for a junior to mid-level associate for their Employee Benefits practice. Experience with employee benefits restructuring issues, Title IV, and ERISA is preferred. If you want to work in a group that works on complex front page deals with the corporate and restructuring groups and also does fiduciary work with funds then we have the job for you.

If you are a Lateral Link member, please see position 6428 on the Lateral Link site. If you are not a Lateral Link member, you can sign up for free at www.laterallink.com. Lateral Link is also thrilled to have Katy Lewis return as a Director in our Chicago region. If you are interested in this position or any other positions in Chicago, Illinois or other parts of the Midwest, please contact Katy Lewis directly at klewis@laterallink.com.

How Much Do Retired Wachtell Partners Make?

By David Lat

Wachtell Lipton is one of the nation’s most prestigious and most profitable law firms. The lawyers who work there, especially the partners, are some seriously smart cookies.

So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a former Wachtell partner has gotten the best of his ex-wife in contentious divorce proceedings. Leigh Jones of the National Law Journal reports:

It may have been the result of some crafty legal maneuvering by a Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partner, or it may have simply been part of his tempestuous marriage to a “European Playmate” nearly 30 years his junior. Whatever the reason, the now-retired partner has thwarted a second bid by his ex-wife to invalidate a prenuptial agreement and collect a share of the annual retirement payments that he receives from the firm.

The Appellate Court of Connecticut, in a decision released on Thursday, affirmed a divorce judgment between retired Wachtell partner Peter McKenna, now 72, and Roberta Delente, a one-time model from Brazil who was working for an agency called “European Playmates” when the couple met in 1997. She was 32 at the time.

The divorce judgment left Delente, from whom McKenna sought a divorce less than a year after their wedding in August 1999, with virtually nothing from the marriage.

Let’s cut to the question that everyone is curious about: How big is McKenna’s (retirement) package?

UPDATE: And how hot is Roberta Delente? We’ve added a photo — as well as a link to the appellate court’s opinion, but that’s less exciting — after the jump.

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Small Law Firm Open Thread: ERISA / Employee Benefits Law

By David Lat

erisa lawyers.jpegLet’s push forward with our series of open threads on small law firms in different practice areas. To see what we’ve covered so far, click here and scroll down.
Today’s topic: ERISA LAW. For those of you who aren’t familiar with ERISA, we’ll quote a prior post of ours:

For all of you non-lawyers — or for those of you who sat in the back row in law school — ERISA stands for the “Employee Retirement Income Security Act.” It’s the federal law, originally passed in 1974 and subsequently amended, that governs the administration of pension and employee benefit plans. So yes, it’s pension law.

This area of law may not sound sexy, but it has some sexy practitioners. Back in 2006, we held an ERISA lawyer hotties contest. Feel free to check out the male nominees, the female nominees, and the ultimate winners.
More substantive thoughts on ERISA practice, after the jump.

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Surely Better Than a Daytime Soap

By David Lat

Ted Frank AEI Above the Law.gifThe televised event that we put in a plug for earlier today is now underway, on C-Span. And it’s actually not just a conversation with Ted Frank (at right), much as we’d enjoy that. It’s a full-blown panel discussion, sponsored by AEI, on Watters v. Wachovia Bank, to be argued before the Supreme Court tomorrow.
The topic — preemption of state banking regulation by federal banking law — is technical, complicated, and perhaps dry-seeming to some. But we’re tuned in, and finding it interesting. (Caveat: We may not be the typical viewer. We’re geekily fasincated by preemption, just as we are by ERISA, a statute that frequently raises preemption questions.)
We’re also enjoying the occasional camera shots of the audience. E.g., the woman in Kermit-the-Frog green, who was vigorously scratching her nose (and whose facial expression suggested she was oddly intrigued by the nasal itchiness).
When television cameras are in the room, you really must be on your best behavior.
More observations, after the jump.

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ATL Week in Review

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpg* Our first annual ERISA Hotties Contest is over, and America’s hottest pension and employee benefit lawyers have been crowned. Some other great candidates were passed over; but hey, not everyone can win.
* The new season of Survivor: an exotic Cook Islands setting, interracial conflict — and hot Asian lawyers.
* Practice pointer: When preparing a witness for a deposition, advise him not to drop the F-bomb.
* Wachtell Lipton just doled out midyear bonuses to its lucky (and hard-working) associates.
* Summer associates: still as wild and crazy as ever. And occasionally moronic, too.
* Law firm nicknames: Is your firm on the list?
* Sorry, right-wing gunners: Justice Scalia is done hiring his clerks for October Term 2007.
* Viet Dinh, the Georgetown law prof and former OLP kingpin advising VC god Thomas Perkins in L’Affaire HP, really loves hugs — and nice real estate.
* Outstanding discovery requests: Fashion Victims, Internal Memos, Legal Celebrity Sightings, Skaddenfreude.

ERISA Hotties: A Behind-the-Scenes Look

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpgTwo updates in our post-results coverage of ERISA hotties:
1. We are happy to report that, as requested by one of the winners, tiaras will be provided to the two winning ERISA hotties: Professor Bruce Wolk and Sarah E. Downie.
The tiaras will be furnished courtesy of acclaimed wedding tiara designer Christina Garcia. We will be contacting the winners to find out their shipping information.
2. Check out this hilarious email — which we and dozens of others received as a forwarded message. (We’ve deleted the endless string of email forwards that preceded the original message.)

I will send a serious email later, but first a frivolous one — I am 5 votes down in the ERISA Hottie Contest. The polls close at 1:00 your time. The leader has been sending me some rather snooty emails — it seems she’s ready to count me out and claim the crown.

So, I need to teach this girl a lesson — get your mom and dad to vote! Send the link to anyone good humored enough to help me win!

http://www.abovethelaw.com/2006/09/erisa_hotties_your_female_nomi.php#more

We will leave it to you to guess the identity of the sender — but it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
Earlier: Prior ERISA Hotties coverage

ERISA Hotties: Our Unsolicited Personal Opinions

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpgNow that our ERISA Hotties Contest is over, we can opine on the nominees without injecting bias into the proceedings. So we will. Here’s our own take on the male and female nominees for hottest ERISA lawyer in America.
On the men’s side, we acknowledge Professor Bruce Wolk as a worthy winner — and the boyishly adorable Jordan Backman as a deserving runner-up.
Our personal favorite, though, is the hunky, jaw-droppingly hot Malcolm Slee. In one of his pictures, he has a refined, “model-pretty” look; but in the other pic, he exudes an irresistible, rugged manliness. Such versatility is commendable.
But Malcolm only came in fourth, with 8 percent of the vote. In our humble opinion, he wuz robbed.
If we had to pick another ERISA hunk who didn’t get as many votes as he should have, we’d go with the Solicitor of Labor, Howard Radzely. Radzely got a measly 2 percent of the vote. But consider these after-the-fact testimonials:

“Howard Radzely can ‘solicit’ me any time, day or night!”

“[Howard Radzely] has an Adam’s apple the size of Montana. So if you go for the gawky awkward teenager barely legal look, he’s your man.”

(A “gawky, awkward, barely legal” hottie? Like, say, Phil Alito?)
On the women’s side, we felt that the top two women — Sarah Downie and Jennifer Stojak — merited their high placement. But we think that more votes should have gone to Heather Meade, Jessica Janov, and Rebekah Crawford.
Heather offers up a dark, sultry, Monica-esque beauty, to all who gaze upon her visage. Lisa Rhein — a sharp contrast to Heather, but equally appealing — is a super-cute, perky blonde, straight out of a teen movie. Jessica Janov looks like she’s part of the recent Invasion of the Russian Supermodels. And Rebekah Crawford, as noted in one of her testimonials, channels the screen goddesses of Hollywood’s golden age.
But these are just our opinions. You’ve picked your winning hotties — and they are fully deserving of their titles as the hottest ERISA lawyers in the U.S. of A. Congratulations once again, Professor Wolk and Sarah Downie!

ERISA Hotties: Prizes for the Winners

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpgOur ERISA Hotties Contest has only been over for a day — but some of you miss it already.
Fear not. The contest may be over, but the commentary isn’t. We’ll have a few more posts discussing the competition — including our personal views on which ERISA Hotties should have gotten more lovin’ from the electorate.
After the results were announced, we contacted our two winning hotties — Professor Bruce A. Wolk and Sarah E. Downie — for comment. We haven’t heard back from Professor Wolk yet, but Ms. Downie did have this acceptance speech to deliver:

Hi. That was one hard-fought battle. I would like to profoundly thank everyone who voted for me!

My boyfriend is interested in knowing whether I get a tiara for the victory. I also think that Professor Wolk would look great in a crown of some sort.

We agree wholeheartedly. The only thing cooler than an ERISA professor lounging on the hood of his Camry is an ERISA professor in a tiara lounging on the hood of his Camry.
And hey, guess what? Noted wedding tiara designer Christina Garcia is our cousin-in-law! (She’s married to our first cousin, Jerald Garcia.) We will contact her forthwith about providing tiaras for our winning hotties.
Once again, ATL sends its warmest congratulations to Bruce Wolk and Sarah Downie on their latest professional distinction. Time to update those CVs and résumés!
Christina Garcia: Tiaras of Distinction [official website]
Earlier: Prior ERISA Hotties coverage (scroll down)

ERISA Hotties: The Winners!!!

By David Lat

sarah downie 3.JPGbruce wolk 2.gifWe received dozens of great nominations. We produced slates of twelve hunky men and twelve gorgeous gals — all of whom practice pension and employee benefit law.

Then we opened the polls. The candidates campaigned vigorously. Just as in any self-respecting election, there were allegations of irregularities.

It was a hard-fought battle, especially in the final hours. But we made it through. And three thousand votes later, we have two winners in our first annual ERISA Hotties Contest.
Congratulations to the two hottest ERISA lawyers in America:

PROFESSOR BRUCE A. WOLK

and

SARAH E. DOWNIE !!!

Sarah Downie and Professor Wolk are deserving champions. Downie’s fragile beauty calls to mind Audrey Hepburn — but with arresting, fiery red hair. And Professor Wolk, assuming an odalisque position on the hood of his Camry, proved irresistibly sinuous to the voters. (See photo below.)

As we previously stated, these results are final. Our nation survived the divisive Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore; but we doubt the Republic could survive Stojak v. Downie or Backman v. Wolk. So, in the interest of unity within the ERISA bar, let us all come together to celebrate our glorious winners.

(It’s worth noting, however, that both Downie and Wolk prevailed by significant — albeit not enormous — margins. You can review the final tallies for the men here, and for the women here.)

In closing, we’d like to thank all of you who contributed to make this contest such a fun and successful one: the people who nominated hot ERISA lawyers; the hot ERISA lawyers themselves, many of whom graciously spoke on the record about the race; and, finally, the thousands of voters who made this democratic process work.

And if you enjoyed this contest, please keep reading ATL. More hottie contests are on the way. And to all of you who feel that worthy ERISA hotties were overlooked in this year’s competition, worry not. There’s always next year!

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of ERISA hotties (scroll down)
bruce wolk 3.JPG

Professor Bruce Wolk, America’s hottest male ERISA lawyer. Check out that license plate: ERISA 74!

ERISA Hotties: This Is Exciting!

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpgLess than an hour remains for voting in our ERISA Hotties Contest. And it looks like things are going to be super-close!
On the women’s side, Jennifer Stojak has just edged ahead of Sarah Downie, who had been leading for the entire time until now. Right now they’re separated by fewer than 10 votes.
On the men’s side, Professor Bruce Wolk, who has also led the field since voting started, remains ahead of Jordan Backman — but just barely. Professor Wolk has 33 percent of the vote; Jordan is right behind him, with 31 percent.
Yes, we know: some of you are encountering difficulties in voting, which we regret. But before you email us about them, please read this post, A Note on the Voting, which explains why they are (probably) not within our control.
Thanks! Check back soon for the official results.
(And don’t forget to vote for Legal Eagle Wedding Watch’s “Couple of the Month,” which you can do by clicking here.)

ERISA Hotties: A Note on the Voting

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpgOnly a few hours are left for you to vote in our ERISA Hotties Contest. Per our prior announcement, the voting will end at 1 p.m. today. Click here to vote on the men, and here to vote on the women (if you haven’t done so already).
A number of you have emailed us to report that when you try to vote, you receive an “You’ve already voted’ message, even if it’s the first time you’ve tried voting. Unfortunately, this is a technical issue, and one that lies beyond our control — it’s controlled by Pollhost, which is administering this poll. We made an inquiry to Pollhost about this problem, and we received this explanation:

Users are restricted from voting more than once a combination of IP address and cookies. Sometimes a single office shares an IP address and a user is upset when their co-workers are unable to vote. The way this works is the best possible means available.Pollhost

We regret the inability of the polling software to distinguish between different computers within certain officers. But, as noted, there’s nothing we can do about it…
As we stressed last week, all results are final. Whether we’re talking about ERISA hotties or presidential candidates, this truth should be kept in mind: Our voting system may be imperfect; but it’s the only one we’ve got.
Earlier: Prior ERISA Hotties coverage

Honorary ERISA Hottie: Jim Telfer

By David Lat

jim telfer.jpegAs we mentioned when announcing the nominees, we received many more ERISA hotties than we were able to include in our contest (which ends tomorrow). We also received a number of excellent submissions after the close of nominations. As we explained to those who submitted belated nominations, we adopted a bright-line rule of no late submissions (because including them would require us to redo the poll, and we are lazy).
We would, however, like to single out one ERISA hottie who didn’t make the original slate of nominees, but who received a huge outpouring of after-the-fact support: Jim Telfer, an ERISA partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick. Here are some of the comments we received about him:

I’d like to nominate Jim as hottest ERISA lawyer in America. He’s hot on the inside and out–hilarious, brilliant, fascinating and hip.

I Vote for Jim because he is sexy!!!!!

Good teeth. Great hair.

Check him out–you’ll see. Quite simply the hottest ERISA attorney around.

We regret that we were unable to include the smokin’ hot Mr. Telfer in this year’s contest. But we hereby declare him an “honorary ERISA hottie,” based on the strength of these many testimonials.
We expect ATL’s ERISA Hotties Contest to become a long-running tradition. So, to all you fans of Mr. James Telfer, please keep on reading this site — and when next year rolls around, be sure to send in your (lengthy and timely) raves!
Jim Telfer bio [Orrick]

ERISA Hotties: The Current Standings

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpgJust 24 hours remain in our ERISA Hotties Contest. As we previously announced, we’re closing the polls tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. So if you haven’t done so already, you need to get out there and vote. Click here to vote on the men, and here to vote on the women.
Since our last report, the races have tightened further. Sarah Downie still leads the women’s field, with 25 percent of the vote; but Jennifer Stojak, at 23 percent, is nipping at her Manolo-clad heels. Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Jordan Backman is gaining fast on Professor Bruce Wolk — 28 percent to 30 percent.
All this goes to show that it ain’t over ’til it’s over. We expect both races to come down to the wire. So candidates, you need to make a last-minute push, locating voters with fresh IP addresses who haven’t already cast their ballots.
A message to the field: No litigation, please. All results will be final. Good luck!

ERISA Hotties: A Weekend of Campaigning

By David Lat

erisa beauty queen.jpgThe polls in our ERISA Hotties Contest will remain open throughout the weekend. In fact, as we previously mentioned, they’ll stay open until Tuesday. Click here to vote on the men, and here to vote on the women (if you haven’t done so already).
With a few more days of voting, there’s ample time for laggards to catch up — if they campaign hard enough. Right now, the women’s race is very competitive: Sarah Downie has 29 percent of the vote, but Jennifer Stojak isn’t far behind, with 23 percent. Heather Meade is running third, with 11 percent. At this early stage, the percentage margins aren’t large in absolute numbers: Downie and Stojak are separated by under 20 votes.
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Professor Bruce A. Wolk has driven his Camry — vanity plate “ERISA 74″ — out to an early lead (31 percent). But the good professor’s lead is much narrower than it once was, and Jordan Backman, at 24 percent, is within striking distance. Michael Maricco and Malcolm Slee are running third and fourth, with 13 and 12 percent of the vote, respectively.
We’ve heard back from more of the nominees (a number of them off-the-record, sadly). But Sarah Downie and Jennifer Stojak were willing to comment on the record. Check out their statements, after the jump.

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ERISA Hotties: When the Polls Will Close

By David Lat

erisa lawyers.jpegOur ERISA Hotties Contest is definitely steaming up the windows at pension law offices around the country. Our email inbox is overflowing with ERISA erotica. Apparently, many of you want to engage in some “prohibited transactions” with our bevy of ERISA beauties…
(If you haven’t done so already, you can vote on the ERISA women here, and the ERISA men here. Knock yourselves out!)
We’ve received some emails asking about when the voting will close. The polls will close on Tuesday, September 12, at 1 PM (Eastern time). We’ve chosen this date to allow the candidates some time to campaign (e.g., through blast emails to the entire firm, telephone calls to internet-savvy grandmothers, etc.). We’ve chosen this time to allow West Coast readers to vote one last time when they get into the office that morning.
As we did with the men, we contacted all of the female contestants for comment. We haven’t heard back from them yet, but we’ll let you know if and when we do.
We did hear back from one more of the male candidates, however: the hunky Jordan Backman, currently in second place (but gaining fast on Professor Wolk). Jordan’s gracious, Oscar-ready statement appears after the jump.

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ERISA Hotties: Your Female Nominees

By David Lat

erisa lawyers.jpegWith apologies for the delay, here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: announcement of the female nominees in our first annual ERISA Lawyer Hotties Contest. (You can review and vote upon the male nominees here.)
We originally planned on having ten women as finalists. But as we did with the men, due to the strength of the field, we decided to go up to a dozen.
(You know what that means… pictorial calendars!!! A commenter suggests the proceeds could go to charity. How about the woefully underfunded PBGC?)
As we did with the men, we picked our twelve female finalists based on (1) their photographs and (2) reader testimonials about them. We apologize to all of you who took the time to nominate an ERISA attorney who doesn’t appear here. Given the large field of ERISA babes, making the final cut wasn’t easy.
Review the pictures and testimonials for the female finalists — and cast your vote for America’s Hottest Female ERISA Lawyer — after the jump.

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ERISA Hotties: Messages from Your Male Nominees

By David Lat

erisa lawyers.jpegOur ERISA Hotties Contest is in full swing (at least on the male side; female nominees coming soon). To review the field and cast your vote, click here.
Last night, like the responsible journalists that we are, we contacted all of the nominated male hotties for comment:

Dear ERISA lawyer:

Congratulations. You have been selected as a finalist in Above the Law’s first annual “ERISA Hottie Contest,” our quest to find the most attractive pension-and-employee-benefit attorneys in the United States. You can check out the contest here:

http://www.abovethelaw.com/2006/09/erisa_hotties_your_male_nomine_1.php

If you would like to comment on this honor, or if you have a “campaign message” you would like to disseminate, please let us know, and we will communicate it to the public. If you have no comment, that’s fine as well. But please be advised that we cannot accept requests to be withdrawn from the competition.

Thank you for your time and kind consideration. Good luck!

Best regards,
David Lat

We’re still waiting to hear back from most of the competitors, but we’ve already received responses from two of them: Michael Maricco and Professor Bruce A. Wolk. Check out what they had to say, after the jump.

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ERISA Hotties: Your Male Nominees

By David Lat

erisa lawyers.jpegThis was absolutely agonizing; but after hours of deliberation, we managed to do it. We reviewed the male side of the field in our ERISA Lawyer Hotties Contest, then painstakingly winnowed it down to twelve deserving finalists. (Yes, we previously said we’d have ten finalists. But picking even a dozen, from so many worthy competitors, was nearly impossible.)

Our decisions were based on (1) photographs of the nominees, and (2) reader testimonials about them. In order to make the final cut, a nominee needed an appealing picture and a strong testimonial. We also gave priority to attorneys who work primarily on pension and employee benefit law, as opposed to ones whose practice involves the field only tangentially.

The female finalists will follow tomorrow. For now, check out the pictures and testimonials for the male finalists — and cast your vote for America’s Hottest Male ERISA Lawyer — after the jump (click on the “continue reading” link).

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