For media inquiries, please contact Cecilia Peña-Colon at CPena@PhillipsNizer.com
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Media - Tom Jackson, Chair of the Technology Practice, quoted by Business Travel News in, “Marriott's Plans for Data Protection,” an article highlighting the multinational hotel group’s potential changes to its cybersecurity protocols as a result of a data breach to the reservation system of its subsidiary Starwood Hotels in 2018. | Read here03/08/2019 | Business Travel News
At the time of the announcement of the breach, it was reported that over 300 million customers were potentially affected. Starwood was acquired by Marriott International in 2016.
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Media - Ilene Jaroslaw was featured as one the key players in NPR’s Marketplace broadcast last week. Host Kai Ryssdal is frequently asked: Why didn’t any Wall Street CEOs go to jail after the financial crisis? Ilene gives an in depth look at what happened. | Listen here03/08/2019 | National Public Radio (NPR)
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Article - CoinReport publishes, "The Lost Treasure of Quadriga CX: A Teachable Moment," an article by Patrick Burke, Chair of the Data Technology & Cybersecurity Group | Read here03/01/2019 | CoinReport
Customers of QuadrigaCX, the Canadian virtual currency exchange, have been left in limbo without access to their funds after it was reported the company's founder and CEO Gerald Cotton had passed away leaving no other company executive with the private keys to their accounts.
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Press Release - Phillips Nizer Launches White Collar Criminal Defense Practice with the Addition of Two Former Federal Prosecutors Ilene Jaroslaw and Bradley D. Simon in New York | Read the release02/28/2019
Ilene Jaroslaw, former chief of the General Crimes Section at the EDNY; and Bradley Simon best known for defending numerous prominent individuals in two decades of private practice
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Media - Partner Ilene Jaroslaw comments on the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling which stated criminal defendants have the right to initiate an appeal even after pleading guilty and waiving most of their appeal rights. (Subscription required)02/27/2019 | Law360
"If a criminal defendant instructs his lawyer to file a notice of appeal, a lawyer must do so to protect his client’s rights...It is immaterial whether the lawyer thinks an appeal would be meritless."
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Media/News - Two Former EDNY Prosecutors Join Phillips Nizer to Lead New White-Collar Practice (New York Law Journal, February 27, 2019) (Subscription required)02/27/2019 | New York Law Journal / Law.com
Ilene Jaroslaw and Bradley Simon, two former federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, are joining Phillips Nizer to launch a new white-collar and investigations practice in New York.
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Media - Patrick Burke comments on JPMorgan's new digital currency "JPM Coin" in the article, "JPMorgan’s New Digital Currency: Will Benefits Outweigh Risks?" appearing on Law.com/LegalTech News (Subscription required)02/21/2019 | Law.com / LegalTech News
“One risk is that somehow there’s a glitch in the software and the accounting gets screwed up and people feel like they’ve lost money. And one way that there can be a glitch is if there’s a hack of the system so they need to be very careful about their cybersecurity around the blockchain...Since it’s staying in the bank it’s at much lower risk for money laundering or violation of sanctions. So they’re safer as these things go compared to a cryptocurrency that’s out in the wild.”
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Media - Patrick Burke quoted by Cyber Defense Magazine in, "QuadrigaCX Cryptocurrency Exchange — Password or Death Fail?" about the death of Gerald Cotten, Founder, sole Director, and CEO of QuadrigaCX, the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange. | Read here02/12/2019 | Cyber Defense Magazine
Cotten died in December 2018 reportedly as the only individual with the master password to access the internal server for the exchange. Since the initial reports of Cotten's passing, alarming information has come to light, including alleged missing coins, cash, and other digital assets, and possible fraud.
"It’s one thing to trade your cryptocurrency on an unregulated exchange; it’s another to trust them to store your coins safely for you. If you are not day-trading, you do not need to store your crypto on an exchange. The safest place is with companies that specialize in providing ultra-safe custody for digital assets."
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Media - Law360 quotes Thomas Jackson in "Yahoo Breach Deal's Failure Shows Vagueness Doesn't Pay," highlighting a U.S. District Court refusal to approve a $50 million data breach deal between Yahoo! and its users. (Subscription Required)02/11/2019 | Law360
Excerpt:
"Central to the concerns Judge Koh is raising is why it took 143 attorneys from 32 firms to file a complaint, oppose a stay, oppose a demurrer and file a motion for class action certification, and how that work could conceivably justify an award, on average, of over a million dollars for each of the firms...the court in its decision painted a picture of Yahoo as the poster child for bad behavior...It took particular pains to point out that Yahoo's estimate for settlement purposes of the number of accounts affected was not accurate, as well as other misdeeds, including Yahoo's denial in public filings that it knew anything about unauthorized access to personal data, its withholding of information and its delay, in some cases for a period of years, in notifying users of something it had contemporaneous knowledge of, leaving them in the dark as far as any actions they needed to take to protect themselves against the potential misuse of the compromised data."
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Media - Alan Behr, member of the Intellectual Property Law Practice, has been quoted by IPPro magazine in the article, "Oracle v Rimini: The shifting sands of copyright". | Read here02/08/2019 | IPPro Magazine
The U.S. Supreme Court will resolve a conflict in the Circuits concerning whether the copyright statute's authorization of recovery of “full costs” includes costs, such as expert witness fees, for which recovery is not otherwise authorized under the general statutory provision defining recoverable costs in every federal case. Alan commented on that question and the broader problem of ambiguity and interpretation of a copyright statute dating from 1976—on that he believes is long overdue for overhaul or full replacement.
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Accolade - Alan Behr, Chair of the Fashion Law Practice, and Monica McCabe, Chair of the Intellectual Property Law Practice, selected to the World Trademark Review 2019 (WTR 1000), annual ranking of trademark professionals worldwide. | Read here02/04/2019 | World Trademark Review
As seen in the published directory:
Phillips Nizer colleagues Alan Behr and Monica McCabe both receive great feedback from the market: “Alan is hugely efficient in prosecution as well as in contentious matters and is especially effective in fashion and design cases.” “He has strong European ties, is very easy to communicate with and can move matters forward very fast.” “Extremely quick on her feet, Monica can handle a heavy workload with the utmost professionalism and an eye for detail. That she cares deeply about her clients really shows.” Behr chairs the firm’s fashion practice, while McCabe leads the IP group.
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Article - Recognition of foreign estate fiduciaries and the enforcement of foreign estate determinations within the state of New York (Trusts & Trustees, February 1, 2019)02/01/2019
The purpose of this article is to describe and explain the likely approach that a New York court will take with respect to recognizing the status of fiduciaries appointed under the laws of non-US jurisdictions and the extent to which a New York court will accept and enforce judgments concerning the inheritance of property in accordance with the laws of non-US jurisdictions. We first consider how New York’s approach to these issues must be viewed in the context of New York’s position as a state of the USA. We next consider the ways in which a New York court may assert jurisdiction over the inheritance of property of a decedent who was not domiciled in New York at the time of their death. We then consider the way in which the New York personal property of a foreign decedent may be distributed without court intervention and finally proceed to consider the rules for the administration of the New York property of a foreign decedent where court intervention is necessary and how such property may be distributed, especially when it passes to foreign beneficiaries.
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Media - Thomas Jackson, Chair of the Technology Practice, quoted by Law360 in "Apple's Facebook, Google App Bans Shake Up Privacy Fight." The article reports on Apple's recent block of an internal marketing research app Facebook and Google distributed to consumers, including minors. (Subscription required)02/01/2019 | Law360
Excerpt:
"I don’t regard a teenager — or for that matter an adult — being incentivized to download a 'survey' app based on a statement that trusting the app 'may give' Facebook’s developers 'access to your data' and tapping a 'Trust' button as having given his or her consent."
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Media - Law360 quotes Patrick Burke in, "Google's EU Privacy Fine Sets High Bar For Educating Users," published on January 22, 2019. (Subscription required)01/22/2019 | Law360
“This is a lesson to U.S.-based companies operating across Europe. Unless you want to suffer from disparate enforcement and fines from various European member states’ data protection authorities, your organization should comply with the GDPR’s one-stop-shop mechanism by empowering its subsidiary in its jurisdiction of choice as a true ‘main establishment’ with decision-making power over processing operations across Europe. Google’s delay in so designating its Irish subsidiary may have cost it 50 million euros.”
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Media - Alan Behr, Chair of the Fashion Practice, comments on New York City's new rezoning plan of the historic Garment District | Read the article01/17/2019 | The Commercial Observer
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Press Release - Patrick Burke, Cybersecurity and Cryptocurrency Regulator, Joins Phillips Nizer; Launched Office of Financial Innovation for NYS Department of Financial Services01/15/2019
Led state office overseeing cybersecurity and virtual currency regulations; established practitioner in global data privacy and digital investigations
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Zur Information - Tortious Interference with Contracts (Winter 2018/19) | Published in GermanWinter 2018/19 | Phillips Nizer LLP
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Publication - "Trees have no tongues, but the Lorax has one," a blog post authored by Eileen Millett, partner in our Environmental Law Practice, featured by the American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL).01/08/2019
Last week, in Cowpasture River Preservation Association v. Forest Service a panel of the 4th Fourth Circuit rejected the U.S. Forest Service approval of a pipeline development that would have crossed 21 miles of national forest land, and the Appalachian National Scenic Trial...more
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Media - D/SRUPTION quotes Thomas Jackson in "The Behavioural Data Dilemma: Companies are under pressure to behave with behavioural data" (December 18, 2018)12/18/2018 | D/SRUPTION
Excerpt:
"...Numerous high profile businesses have been criticised for misusing information. Only this month, Google was forced to admit that a bug in the Google+ API had allowed third party app developers to access not only the data of consenting Google+ users, but also of their friends. Google failed to conduct good data practice, which is damning enough. On top of that, the company found out about the bug in March and kept it under wraps until the Wall Street Journal called them out. According to Thomas Jackson, partner at Phillips Nizer LLP and technology law expert, Google hid the discovery to avoid being compared with the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal.
"There are differences, of course...Much of the outrage following the Cambridge Analytica episode resulted from the fact that a personality test was used to collect personal data which, unbeknownst to Facebook users, gave a third party access to their personal information, and was collected for use in a political campaign. In Google’s case, what actual use was made of the data by outside developers, at least at this point, apparently is unknown. Undoubtedly it will prove to be far worse for Google that it chose to cover up what it had learned rather than disclose it in timely fashion and announce what steps it had taken to prevent the problem from occurring in the future.”" -
Media - Alan Behr, member of the Corporate and Intellectual Property Law Practices, quoted and heavily referenced in IPPro The Internet article on Marvel publisher, Stan Lee12/11/2018 | IPPro The Internet
Alan Behr is referenced and quoted heavily in one of December's IPPro The Internet’s features, “A look at Marvel IP: Stan Lee’s passing shook the comic book industry and superhero film industry he inspired, leaving the question: what is the future of Marvel IP?” The legendary American comic-book writer, editor, and publisher, who was executive vice president and publisher of Marvel Comics, passed away on November 12, 2018.
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Media - Monica McCabe, Chair of the Intellectual Property Law Practice, mentioned in Bloomberg Law article highlighting hip hop artist and actor LL Cool J "Rock the Bells" trademark infringement case12/10/2018 | Bloomberg Law
Monica McCabe mentioned in Bloomberg Law article “LL Cool J May Luck Into ‘Rock the Bells’ Rights for Sirius Channel” highlighting a trademark infringement suit filed by hip hop artist and actor, LL Cool J (using his real name James Todd Smith), against a now-defunct concert promotion company Guerilla Union Inc. targeting its Rock the Bells Twitter handle, Facebook page and web domain.
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Media - Thomas Jackson, chair of the technology practice, quoted in an article in TechNewsWorld about Quora data breach | Read the article12/05/2018 | TechNewsWorld
Tom addresses the breach of the Quora question-and-answer website that exposed the names, e-mail addresses, hashed passwords and non-public content of over 100,000 users, including messages and answer sent privately to other users.
"Since this is a knowledge-sharing platform, one of the risks of an incident like this is it could deter people from engaging in that kind of activity, which is productive and useful...In the Quora case, the main issue is going to be the willingness of inviduals to contribute going forward. Will it have a negative effect on postings and new signups?"
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Press Release - Prominent Litigator Richard Kaye joins New York law firm Phillips Nizer12/04/2018
Expanding its team of veteran trial attorneys, Phillips Nizer LLP has added Richard Kaye, a prominent business and real estate litigator, as a partner in the firm’s New York office.
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Press Release - Phillips Nizer is pleased to welcome Richard P. Kaye as a partner in the Litigation Department12/03/2018
The prominent litigator and trial attorney has worked as outside general counsel for numerous companies, and early in his career was a former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney.
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Media - Law360 quotes Thomas Jackson, Chair of Phillips Nizer's Technology Practice, in the article “Ohio's Data Security Law To Test Incentive-Driven Strategy” published on November 21, 201811/21/2018 | Law360
The article concerns the effect of the incentive-based approach taken in the Ohio Data Protection Act on businesses in regulating data privacy and the likelihood that it will succeed in reducing the risk of data breaches exposing personal information. Tom's quote:
Law 360 subscribers, read the article here.While the Ohio Data Protection Act does not alleviate the difficulties in businesses complying with a patchwork of laws that, in some cases, are inconsistent with one another, it does point the way to a more sensible regulatory approach.
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Media - Law360 publishes feature on partner Edward "Ed" Schauder's arrival to the firm; quotes Ed and Marc Landis, managing partner11/14/2018 | Law360
Phillips Nizer's newest attorney, partner Ed Schauder, is the feature of a Law360 article published today. Ed, who practices in corporate and business law, as well as intellectual property, will chair our firm's Sports Law Practice.
Ed's quote:That really excites me, that I’ll be able to offer current clients, prospective clients comprehensive service, but also be helpful to others that are representing people now, and be able to leverage my skill set to offer more services to the firm’s existing clients as well,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m already hitting the ground running.
Marc Landis quote:Ed brings expertise, Ed brings a network of current and former and prospective clients that will benefit not only from the legal services that Ed provides, but that our firm can offer across the board...I’m really excited that Ed will be part of our team. In his first week here, we’ve already seen quickly that there will be great synergies with Ed’s work and the rest of our work.
To read the Law360 article, click here. (Subscription required) -
Press Release - Edward Schauder, Prominent Sports and Business Attorney Joins Phillips Nizer11/13/2018
Corporate Transactional Attorney Known for Protecting and Building Sports and Entertainment Brands
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Media - Thomas Jackson, Chair of the Phillips Nizer's Technology Practice, was quoted in the Law360 article, "House Flip To Boost Privacy Policy Push, Interference Probe" published on November 7, 201811/07/2018 | Law360
The article addresses the effect of the Democratic takeover of the majority in the House of Representatives on privacy and cybersecurity initiatives in Congress. Tom's quote:
Law360 subscribers, read the article here.For the most part, cybersecurity initiatives have been a bipartisan effort...That said, we are likely to see renewed efforts geared towards the passage of legislation to increase federal and state defenses against election meddling. The Secure Elections Act had bipartisan support but didn't get very far.
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U.S. News-Best Lawyers® (2019)11/01/2018 | U.S. News - BestLawyers® (2019)
U.S. News - BestLawyers® recognized Phillips Nizer LLP as one of the nation's "Best Law Firms" for 2019. The annual rankings are presented in three tiers. A total of ten areas of the firm's practice were recognized nationally and in the New York City metropolitan area. The rankings were announced on November 1, 2018.
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Accolade - Thomas Jackson, Chair of the Technology Practice, named to the Mathematics, Computer Science and Cybersecurity Advisory Board at Mercy College.11/01/2018
The board is charged with assessing best practices and market needs in the technology field and offering guidance for the college’s academic programs in aligning curricula with the needs of the private sector. Mercy College is designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
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Media - Entertainment and Intellectual Property Law partner Helene Freeman quoted by Radio+Television Business Report regarding the Music Modernization Act signed into law today.10/11/2018 | Radio+Television Business Report
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Media - Christian Hylton, co-chair of our Land Use and Government Relations Practice, and partner in our Real Estate Practice is quoted in Real Estate Weekly's Democratic primary elections results article, “Election brings upstarts into the fray.”09/19/2018
“It’s hard to say for sure what policy shifts will actually come into play...The influence of some of the people who have been elected with progressive agendas may pull the dialogue in a certain direction, but ultimately they’re going to face roadblocks to implementing some of their policy ideas, especially with the governor and lieutenant governor still in office.”
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Eighteen Phillips Nizer Attorneys Named to the 2018 New York Metro Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists09/13/2018
Attorneys selected represent a cross-section of several practice areas and industry teams.