BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs' attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to Robert C. Gilbert, a partner in Miami’s Alters, Boldt, Brown, Rash & Culmo, P.A. Mr. Gilbert is seeking class certification in the U.S. Southern District Court in Miami for multiple national cases against eight banks – including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, and Wachovia ... READ MORE

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs' attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to William A. Birdthistle, Assistant Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law who filed an amicus brief for more than 20 law professors supporting the plaintiffs in Jones v. Harris Associates. That 2004 case is now before the Supreme Court. Plaintiffs are challenging the common practice whereby fund advisers ... READ MORE

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs' attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to Chris Hansen, staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group, which scored a major victory on November 2 when the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that its lawsuit challenging patents on human genes can go forward. Association for Molecular Pathology, et ... READ MORE

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs' attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to Won Kim, name partner at Toronto’s Kim Orr Barristers P.C., beneficiary of an October 29 ruling by the Ontario Supreme Court that permits U.S. plaintiffs’ firms a more direct collaborative role with Canadian firms in class actions brought in Canada. The court’s decision allows Milberg LLP to provide Kim ... READ MORE

Each week, Bulletproof Blog features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, with online threats to corporate reputation seemingly multiplying every day, we interview Keith Schilling and Simon Smith of Schillings, one of Britain’s top law firms dedicated to safeguarding the reputations of international corporations, brands, celebrities and high-profile business people. Experts on how the Internet has impacted defamation law in the UK and the U.S., Mr. ... READ MORE

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs’ attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to Victor Sher of San Francisco-based Sher Leff LLP who this month won a landmark $104.7 million judgment against ExxonMobil on behalf of his client, New York City. Exxon was found by a federal jury to have contaminated drinking water wells with the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ... READ MORE

Each week, Bulletproof Blog features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, as the government’s focus on white collar criminal prosecutions intensifies, we interview Bernard Grimm of Cozen O’Connor’s White Collar and Complex Criminal Defense Group. A legal commentator for Fox News, Court TV, and CNN who was recognized as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area by Washingtonian Magazine in 2002, Mr. ... READ MORE

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs’ attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to F. Gerald Maples of F. Gerald Maples, P.A. in New Orleans, who is lead attorney for the plaintiffs in Comer v Murphy Oil. On October 16, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Maples’ clients – 14 victims of Hurricane Katrina – have standing to ... READ MORE

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) FY2008 Performance and Accountability Report, discrimination charges against private employers jumped 15 percent last year to a record-high of 95,402. In light of this disturbing trend – which cost the organizations involved more than $274.1 million in 2008 – companies should do more than just wonder where they sit on the latest diversity in business ranking report. They should also ask themselves how prepared they are to mitigate ... READ MORE

In this regular feature, Bulletproof interviews top plaintiffs’ attorneys for their perspective on the crises likely to affect businesses in the near future. Today we talk to Brad Friedman, New York-based partner with Milberg LLP. The resurgence of that brand-name securities firm – after the notorious legal woes of its predecessor Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman – was underscored in early October when the National Law Journal gave Milberg a top ranking in its eighth annual ... READ MORE