Jonathan Mook to present at the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium in Las Vegas

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DiMuroGinsberg is pleased to announce that Jonathan Mook will be presenting at the 21st Annual Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, one of the nation’s leading employment law conference, November 9-11, 2016 in Las Vegas.

Jonathan will be presenting a session on ADA accessibility titled, ADA Accessibility: Current Legal Risks and Practical Solutions for Ensuring that Disabled Applicants and Employees Have Adequate Opportunity to ‘Participate in the Workplace,’ with Director of Assistive Technology, Joseph Martini, from a Perkins School for the Blind. This session will help attendees stay ahead of compliance obligations set by the EEOC and ADA, and maintain a safe and inclusive workplace for all employees.

If you aren’t already familiar with AEIS, it’s a multi-track event, which gives attendees a wide variety of options for enhancing their learning experience. This year’s tracks will focus on four distinct and important areas:

  • Emerging Legal & Compliance Concerns;
  • Red-Hot Regulatory Updates;
  • Security and Risk Management; and
  • Data Analytics and Metrics.

We hope you’ll join Jonathan for this engaging and informative event that’s designed to help you to enhance your advanced practitioner skill set. We are pleased to offer an exclusive discount on conference registration for you. Just use coupon code A16SPEAK, for a $100 discount off this high-level event. Visit the AEIS website to register.

Equity Crowdfunding’s First Report Card

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DiMuroGinsberg attorney, Kendall Almerico, is considered to be one of the top crowdfunding and JOBS Act attorneys in the country. In an article published by Entrepreneur magazine, Kendall reports on the first three months of the recently passed Title III of the JOBS Act and offers encouraging news for entrepreneurs and companies needing to grow their businesses. Title III legalized true equity crowdfunding, allowing startups to raise up to $1 million in capital online, from the general public.

“The early report card is encouraging for Title III and it appears that the law will be a success despite the legal limitations it imposes. If we can just get Congress to fix those remaining issues with the law, most notably removing the unnecessary marketing restrictions, Regulation CF has a chance to fulfill its original promise.”

Read Kendall’s article here.

Kendall’s practice is focused on crowdfunding law, and particularly on equity crowdfunding through Regulation A+, Regulation CF and Regulation D, Section 506(c) private placements under the JOBS Act. If you have any questions about equity crowdfunding or the new law, feel free to reach out to Kendall at KAlmerico@DiMuro.com or call him at 703.684.4333.

The Need for Police Training To Deal With Disabled Individuals

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The recent fatal shooting of a deaf man in North Carolina highlights the critical need for police departments to train their officers on how to communicate with persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, or may have other types of disabilities that interfere with effective communication. An article discussing the tragic incident entitled, “Fatal Shooting of Deaf Man Raises Concerns About Police Training,” appears on the Society for Human Resource Management’s website.

The article quotes DiMuroGinsberg partner, Jonathan R. Mook, about the importance of police departments understanding the needs of persons with disabilities and taking steps to ensure that law enforcement officers are prepared to appropriately deal with individuals who are disabled. According to Jonathan, “in many situations, a tragic outcome could have been prevented if a police officer had received and took to heart training on how to deal with persons with various types of disabilities.”

Click here for full article.

Federal Contractor Pays $500K to Settle OFCCP Claims

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A half-million dollar settlement against a large Virginia employer serves to remind all Virginia federal contractors of the enforcement powers of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), which regulates the employment practices of government contractors.

An article discussing the OFCCP’s recent enforcement action, entitled “OFCCP Settles Race Bias Claims Against Virginia Contractor for $500K,” appears in the August, 2016 issue of the Virginia Employment Law Letter. Jayna’s article highlights the need for all federal contractors to take their non-discrimination obligations seriously. This especially is the case given the OFCCP’s updated rules prohibiting sex discrimination in the workplace. Those rules took effect just last month. With these new sex discrimination regulations in force, federal contractors can expect to receive added scrutiny as part of any OFCCP compliance investigation.

Click here to read Jayna’s article

Nina Ginsberg installed as Second Vice President of the Nation’s Criminal Defense Bar

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On August 13, Nina Ginsberg was sworn in as Second Vice President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association’s 59th annual meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.

Nina has been an active member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for decades. She served three terms on the Board of Directors and served as Secretary and Parliamentarian prior to her recent appointment. She also serves on the Board of NACDL’s Criminal Justice Foundation. Nina has chaired numerous committees and currently serves on the White Collar and National Security Committees. She also has represented NACDL as a Delegate to the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Read press release for a complete list of Nina Ginsberg’s bar activities and the mission of the NACDL.

Five DiMuroGinsberg’s partners to be listed in the 2017 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©.

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The firm is proud to announce that the following attorneys have been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© for their achievement in certain fields of law.

  • Bernard J. DiMuro (Commercial Litigation, and Ethics and Professional Responsibility)
  • Nina J. Ginsberg (Criminal Defense – General Practice and White-Collar)
  • Jonathan R. Mook (Employment Law – Management)
  • C. Thomas Hicks III (Business Organizations including LLCs and Partnerships, Corporate Law, and Real Estate Law)
  • Harvey B. Cohen (Commercial Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs and Defendants)

Congratulations also to Tom Hicks for being listed in Best Lawyers of America for more than 25 years and Harvey Cohen for being listed for more than 20 years.

The Best Lawyers in America selection process involves a rigorous peer-review survey comprising more than 5.5 million confidential evaluations by top attorneys. We are very proud of our attorneys for being recognized by their peers for excellence in their specialties of law.

Supreme Court to Review VA Transgender Bathroom Case

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Transgender individual’s rights have become a headline issue in civil rights law. At the forefront of these often controversial discussions is the Gloucester County School Board case about a transgender high school student’s right to use the bathroom matching his gender identity. This case has spent the last year going back and forth between the U.S. District Court in Norfolk and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, finally making its way to the United States Supreme Court earlier this month. While the case concerns a local school board’s bathroom policy, it’s outcome will likely be felt throughout the Fourth Circuit (including Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and the Carolinas), and perhaps throughout the country, in a wide range of public and professional circumstances.

An article discussing the history of the case, written by DiMuroGinsberg attorney Rachael Loughlin, appears in the July 2016 issue of the Virginia Employment Law Letter and on the Diversity Insight website. Click here to read Rachael’s article.

Ben DiMuro and Jonathan Mook are co-editors of the Virginia Employment Law Letter, a newsletter specifically designed for employers and HR professionals in Virginia. For more information about the Virginia Employment Law Letter or to subscribe, please email Michele Kraftschik.

DiMuroGinsberg Secures Victory for Client in the Federal Circuit

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InvestPic and the inventor, Samir Varma, appealed the PTAB’s decisions in two related re-examination proceedings, one initiated by IBM Corp. and SAS Institute Inc. and the other by SAS alone. The Federal Circuit agreed that the board erred regarding two claim phrases.

For more information on the Court’s ruling, click here.

Virginia Supreme Court upholds Thorsen v. RSPCA

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On June 2, 2016 the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed a $603,409.90 verdict that DiMuroGinsberg obtained for its client in Thorsen v. Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. DiMuroGinsberg, P.C. represented the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in this legal malpractice dispute against Richmond lawyer James Thorsen. In 2003, Mr. Thorsen drafted a will for Alice Louise Cralle Dumville. Ms. Dumville’s intention was for her property to pass to her elderly mother, or if her mother had already died, to the RSPCA. After Ms. Dumville’s death, it was determined by the Chesterfield County Circuit Court that the will had not been written as Ms. Dumville intended and only passed Ms. Dumville’s tangible personal property to the RSPCA instead of her entire estate. DiMuroGinsberg, P.C. represented the RSPCA asserting that the RSPCA was a third party beneficiary of the contract between Ms. Dumville and Mr. Thorsen and was therefore permitting to file a legal malpractice claim against Thorsen and his firm based upon the oral retainer agreement between Thorsen and Ms. Dumville. While permitted in other states, third party actions against attorneys for legal malpractice are rarely, if ever, successful in Virginia.

In a six to one decision, the Virginia Supreme Court found that the RSPCA could maintain its malpractice suit against Thorsen even though the claim was based on an oral contract, finding for the first time in this context that the common law permits such lawsuits by a third party beneficiary. The Court also held that RSPCA had met Virginia’s stringent standard to maintain a third party beneficiary claim in a legal malpractice setting. Indeed, the Court noted that the standard “has proved so difficult that this Court has not seen another such case in the nearly three decades” since setting forth the standard. Finally, the Court rejected Thorsen’s argument that the statute of limitation should have been calculated based upon the date the will was drafted as opposed to the date of Ms. Dumville’s death. The Court explained that a third party beneficiary does not suffer injury until the decedent dies because wills can be changed up until the death of the testator and that a third party beneficiary only has a bare expectancy until that time.

DiMuroGinsberg P.C. attorneys Michael Lieberman and Ben DiMuro represented the RSPCA during the Virginia Supreme Court arguments.

Click here to read Court’s Opinion

Fourth Circuit Ruling Favors Transgender Student

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Public restroom use by transgender individuals has become a highly publicized and controversial issue. Public interest groups, social media, and law makers at all levels of government are weighing in on restroom policies and laws popping up across the country. The situation is no different here in Virginia, where the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of a transgender student seeking to use the school restroom that corresponds with his gender identity. While the case concerns a local school board’s restroom policy, it’s outcome will likely be felt throughout the Fourth Circuit (including Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and the Carolinas) in a wide range of public and professional circumstances.

Click here for the full article about the Fourth Circuit’s ruling