DES MOINES, Iowa (CN) – Governor Kim Reynolds appointed a Des Moines lawyer to a vacancy on the Iowa Supreme Court Friday, her fourth appointment to the seven-member court in the past two years as a result of retirements and deaths of members of the state’s top appellate court. “Matt is a talented, smart, and astute lawyer with deep Iowa roots,” the Republican governor said of Matthew McDermott in a statement released Friday. “His commitment to the rule of law and passion for service will now benefit all Iowans as he joins the Iowa Supreme Court.” McDermott, 42, is an attorney and shareholder in the Des Moines firm of Belin McCormick. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa where he...
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DES MOINES — Iowa’s Republican governor on Friday appointed a West Des Moines lawyer with longtime ties to the state GOP as the newest Iowa Supreme Court justice. Gov. Kim Reynolds named Matthew McDermott, 42, to fill the vacancy left when former Justice David Wiggins, a Democratic appointee, retired last month. McDermott is Reynolds’ fourth appointment to the state Supreme Court. McDermott was the lead lawyer defending the state in a contentious lawsuit filed by a labor union challenging a 2017 Republican-backed law that significantly reduced Iowa’s public employee collective bargaining rights. McDermott’s team won the lawsuit and a subsequent appeal to...
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Global giant adopted similar measures during 2008-9 financial crisis Norton Rose Fulbright’s London office Norton Rose Fulbright has asked its lawyers to drop down to a four-day working week in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in a move reminiscent of its response to the financial crisis more than a decade ago. The global giant confirmed “eligible personal” may be asked to work reduced hours and take a 20% pay cut in “pre-emptive action” to protect jobs and revenues throughout the virus crisis. Those on lower salaries may also see a reduction in their working week by 20% but on pay reductions of between 5% and 20%. Over 75% of staff need to volunteer for the...
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Law360 (April 3, 2020, 3:34 PM EDT) -- We are in uncharted waters right now with the outbreak of COVID-19. Law firms and other businesses are trying to function in a volatile and rapidly changing environment, including adapting to its employees working remotely for the first time. Most of our contact both professionally and personally will be done online for the foreseeable future. So how do you market your firm and lawyers during this time? The answer is online. As so many of us have been forced to isolate and much of the world is on a temporary shutdown, we will be depending on social media more than ever to connect with others, and using online resources to conduct business and network....
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In this Aug. 17, 2011, file photo, a correctional officer works at one of the housing units at Pelican Bay State Prison near Crescent City, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) (CN) – California’s overcrowded state prisons are ripe for a devastating coronavirus outbreak, lawyers for inmates told a panel of three judges considering a motion for the emergency release of thousands of medically high-risk prisoners. “The conditions in the prisons are a tinderbox and will remain a tinderbox unless this court acts,” said attorney Donald Specter with the Prison Law Office on Thursday. “The overcrowding in our prisons is literally a matter of life and death.” The long-running court...
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GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — A veteran lawyer for the federal government has been selected to oversee Grand Canyon National Park — a rare appointment of someone who did not move up through the ranks of the National Park Service. Edward Keable currently serves as the assistant solicitor of general law for the Interior Department's Office of the Solicitor. He is expected to assume his new post as Grand Canyon superintendent in the next 60 days, the Park Service announced Friday. Keable replaces Christine Lehnertz, who resigned as the park’s superintendent in early 2019 after being cleared of allegations she created a hostile workplace. Others have filled the role...
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The inaugural Pandemic Lawyer of the Week Award goes to the solicitor who has called for unhappily married business owners to divorce their partners during the coronavirus lockdown so they can take advantage of the tanking economy. The tip was provided by a partner at McAlister Family Law, in an article headed 'Business Matters: Is there ever a good time to get divorced?' If you thought the answer was, "It certainly isn't while I have to continue living with them in isolation", you'd be wrong. The partner advised astute UK business owners to jettison their increasingly unbearable spouses right this instant. "You may well achieve a more advantageous settlement if you divorce now than if you...
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