ABUJA, Nigeria, Nov. 16, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today two law firms announce the Business African Connection Protection (BACP) program for business investors considering or currently involved with investment opportunities in Africa. International law firm Robert Peterson & Fields Associates, P.C. and Nigeria-based law firm, Law Office of Roberts & Shoda. The program will be the first cooperative to launch a legal services program to global investors who want to get involved with an investment or business opportunity in Africa. 

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b107b537-561b-4226-aa3a-b15ad5f7f7b4

Over the past two decades, or more since the beginning of the internet-era going mainstream, there have been an epidemic of international scams that range from everything to counterfeit cashier checks, bogus letters of credit and bank guarantees, counterfeit ‘black’ or ‘marked’ dollar bills that require special processing to remove ink or markings, bogus government documents delivered by corrupt government officials (or impostors posing as African government leaders), or the more notorious 419 letter scams.

This press article is definitely not to libel or slander African businesses or trading commerce in Africa. Cary Lee Peterson, a representative at Robert Peterson & Fields Associates says that “the purpose of this new service is to save clients time and money when considering getting involved with an investment opportunity in Africa that have cost hundreds and thousands of victims time and money that can cause irreparable damage and harm to your family or business with no possible recourse to recover or seek justice for the parties that defrauded them; some who aren’t even based in Africa when the initial scam is perpetrated.”

Earlier this year a high profile businessman from New York City, who is a semi-celebrity co-starring in a popular reality TV series, contacted Cary Peterson about some investments that he had made in Ghana and South Africa over the few years. The puzzling part about this client is that he had an American business partner based in Ghana to oversee the investment projects but the alleged fraudsters were ‘pulling the wool over his eyes’, which led his American partner in Manhattan to believe that everything was on the up and up. Much like other investment scams, things went sour the day when the two American investors asked to see the books and withdraw cash equity from their investment that was supposedly active and making revenue for several years prior. Attorney Adeniyi Shoda consulted with the two investors and the next week visited Ghana to investigate the business affairs in Ghana and confirmed the American investor’s ventures in African were all faux. None of the documents, statements, or information they received from their business contacts in Ghana were legitimate. The few thousand of dollars the two American men spent on ACBP saved them $75,000 that their business contact in Ghana said would be required to release of their funds made through their business investment.  

The new anti-fraud solution will help clients investigate a gold mine, gold bullion bars in the D.R. Congo, or diamonds in Equatorial Guinea with supposed ‘Kimberly’ certifications. Nonetheless, a potential investor should take the same precautions as they do when they’re contemplating buying real estate, acquiring a company, or making any type of substantial investment anywhere else in the world — it’s best to contact an attorney.

The ‘Business African Connection’ will cost a client less than $10,000 as opposed to pouring $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000 from your life savings, corporate credit line, or home equity line into a confidence scam that could be an independent grifter using social media to fleece his targets or an international crime ring with fifty to one hundred players that enable the coordination of a complex confidence scheme.

ABOUT LAW OFFICE OF ROBERTS & SHODA

The law firm of thirteen lawyers is licensed to practice law in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other countries of West Africa. One of the services the firm provides is to run due diligence for clients by verifying documents and business proposals with government agencies in Africa. The firm has many years of experience in corporate law has proved invaluable in meeting the needs of our Clients in this respect.

ABOUT ROBERT PETERSON & FIELDS ASSOCIATES, P.C.

The law firm held in U.S. and Micronesia has over thirty legal associates, with branch offices in California, Colorado, Washington D.C., Canada, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and Australia. The firm offers attorney and paralegal services for lobbying, international affairs, governmental law, and elections law. Providing clients with robust advisory and representation with over 11 years in business and 200 years of attorney experience among over 30 attorney associates, collectively.

Contact for Consultation: consultation@rpflegal.com, or visit www.rpflegal.com

Media Contact: Devin Blake – dblake@columnist.com 

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California Civil Rights Law Group and Bryan Schwartz Law have filed a class action lawsuit against Tesla, Inc., on behalf of current and former African-American Employees. Details of the lawsuit can be found in the official Complaint available on the CCRLG website.

Fremont, CA (PRWEB) November 16, 2017

California Civil Rights Law Group and Bryan Schwartz Law have filed a class action lawsuit against Tesla, Inc. on behalf of current and former African-American employees. Details of the lawsuit are available on the official Complaint which can be viewed online at http://www.civilrightsca.com/2017/11/13/tesla-complaint/.

The suit was filed jointly by two Oakland-based civil rights law firms, California Civil Rights Law Group (CCRLG) and Bryan Schwartz Law. Attorneys of both firms are available for media inquiries either via the web link above or by calling (415) 453-4740.

The lawsuit was filed in Alameda County Superior Court under Docket No. RG17882082. A PDF copy of the complaint is available at http://www.civilrightsca.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2017-11-13-Complaint-File-Stamped-Copy.pdf.

About California Civil Rights Law Group

The California Civil Rights Law Group (http://www.civilrightsca.com/), led by prominent trial attorney Larry Organ, is dedicated to furthering the cause of employee civil rights throughout the state. The legal team has made it its priority to provide help to those who need it the most, and specializes in representing plaintiffs in matters involving race, sex and disability harassment, discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination.

About Bryan Schwartz Law

Bryan Schwartz Law (http://www.bryanschwartzlaw.com) is dedicated to continuing the struggle for civil rights and equality of employment opportunity and helping Americans from every background to achieve their highest career potential. The firm has recovered tens of millions of dollars in individual, class, and collective actions involving discrimination and retaliation, harassment, denied disability accommodations, whistleblower reprisal, wage and hour violations, Federal employees’ rights, and severance negotiations.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/11/prweb14916029.htm

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The Charleston, WV, office of Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has earned “Tier 1” rankings for the practice area of Employment Law in the 2018 U.S. News – Best Lawyers^® “Best Law Firms” list.

In addition to firmwide top rankings in three practice areas, Littler earned “Tier 1” rankings in 39 metropolitan markets.

The “Best Law Firms” rankings follow the recently released 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America^© in which more than 200 Littler attorneys were recognized, including Charleston Shareholder Constance H. Weber, who was also named “Lawyer of the Year” in Charleston.

Firms included in the 2018 “Best Law Firms” list are recognized for professional excellence with consistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking indicates a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise. Over 13,000 attorneys provided more than 1 million law firm assessments, and over 7,500 clients provided more than 65,000 evaluations. The entire list of the rankings is available by visiting bestlawfirms.usnews.com.

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ROCKFORD — WilliamsMcCarthy LLP, a full-service Illinois-based law firm with locations in Rockford and Oregon, was recently ranked in the 2018 U.S. News — Best Lawyers Best Law Firms list.

This is the firm’s fourth consecutive year being ranked on the list.
 
WilliamsMcCarthy LLP received the metropolitan tier one ranking in the field of commercial litigation for the Chicago region. The firm’s litigation group concentrates its practice in complex litigation, at both the trial and appellate levels of the federal and state courts throughout the Midwest.
 
For information: bestlawfirms.usnews.com.

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BALTIMORE — In an effort to make the legal profession more diverse, the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is partnering with four large law firms to help reach that goal right as people take their first step toward a legal career.

This fall, 11 first-year students received with financial and professional backing from DLA Piper US LLP, Gallagher Evelius & Jones LLP, Miles & Stockbridge PC and Pessin Katz Law P.A. as part of the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Scholars Initiative.

“We are incredibly grateful to these firms for their leadership in addressing this challenge,” said Dean Donald B. Tobin. “Our profession has talked about the importance of increasing diversity for years. This new collaboration is a significant step toward achieving that goal here in Maryland. I hope every law firm in the state will join us.”

The participating law firms and the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation (through matching funds) have collectively donated $700,000 to launch the program. The money provides scholarships for Diversity Scholars ranging from $5,000 to full tuition for all three years. UM Carey funded the remainder of the scholarships beyond the donated amount, said Heather Foss, assistant dean for development and alumni relations at UM Carey.

“Despite various efforts within the legal industry over a long period of time to diversity our ranks, most would agree that the results haven’t measured up to expectations,” said Guy E. Flynn, the partner-in-charge of DLA Piper’s downtown Baltimore office. “We, as a profession and as individual firms, therefore, have a lot more work to do if we are to achieve and maintain the levels of diversity and inclusion that we expect of ourselves.”

The initiative plans to select annually around 10 first-year students with strong academic records enrolling at UM Carey. The students must also have shown leadership skills and overcome challenges to reach their career goals, the school said.

The first class of Diversity Scholars has students who speak nine languages among them and hail from California, Texas and Maryland.

Among them students is Dominic Gilani, from Dallas. The 23-year-old learned about the diversity initiative when he applied and said it was a key factor in his decision to enroll.

“The fact that this program existed here assured me that the University of Maryland Carey Law School values a wide array of backgrounds, uniqueness, and personal characteristics,” he said.

Besides providing financial support, the participating law firms will give Diversity Scholars individual mentoring with attorneys who are part of the initiative, networking events hosted by the firms and the larger Baltimore legal community and mock interview and skills training.

“If there is a focus on inclusion and equality, not only will there be more successful legal professionals, but these professionals will also enrich the quality of services provided to clients.” said Camille A. Parker, a partner at Gallagher Evelius & Jones and one of the firm’s representatives for the program.

After graduation, Gilani, who is the son of a small business owner, wants to work in private practice and represent small business owners. His larger aspiration is become a judge and “take an objective and factual approach to the economic affairs of small businesses as a judge,” he said.

Law is among the least racially diverse professions in the nation. Eighty-eight percent of lawyers are white. Furthermore, while women make up a third of the profession, only 17 percent are equity partners, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The participating firms have taken steps to increase diversity in-house. In 2015, Miles & Stockbridge started a hiring practice modeled after the National Football League’s “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for each vacant coaching position. Miles & Stockbridge interviews at least one woman, minority or LGBT lawyer for each open position.

The firm has seen a dramatic increase in the diversity of its new hires. In 2016, 48 percent of the firm’s new lawyers were minorities, according to a Daily Record survey of the largest law firms in the state.

That same survey found that Towson-based Pessin Katz Law has one of the highest percentages of women partners in the state, and offers flexible work policies, mentorship and career growth opportunities.

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Information from: The Daily Record of Baltimore, http://www.thedailyrecord.com

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Issues of excellent, ethics and equity raised by council are ones it is deeply immersed in and almost takes for granted

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Chooses document and email management designed for improved professional productivity, advanced security

CHICAGO, Nov. 16, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — iManage, the company dedicated to transforming how professionals work, today announced that Allens – a prestigious global law firm based in Australia, serving 55 of the world’s top 100 companies and more than 75 of Australia’s top 100 companies – has selected iManage for Work Product Management.

/EIN News/ — Allens undertook a strategic review of their technology platform that included input from their people. They were not looking for a simple upgrade; they wanted a fresh approach to engage staff and clients in a mobile world while also improving security and unlocking access to prior work product through advanced search and AI technology.

“When we started our journey of selecting a replacement for our current system, we took a fresh approach with no bias for any vendor,” said Bill Tanner, acting Chief Information Officer, Allens. “During our extensive evaluation of available enterprise-scale products, it became clear to us that iManage offered the most advanced solution for addressing our productivity, mobility and security needs.”

iManage consolidates multiple point applications for managing content, security and knowledge that simplifies the experience for end users and reduces IT complexity.

iManage Work will replace Allens’ existing document management system, bringing a powerful and user-friendly solution for document and email management to more than 1300 users. The firm also selected iManage Mobility to enable staff to access the entire electronic file from any device or location delivering a productivity gain that was not previously possible.

“iManage provides practical options for meeting the security requirements demanded by our clients and, with 25 of the top 30 global firms using iManage today, they are also the most experienced and proven in working with firms of our size,” said Rachel O’Connor, Chief Knowledge Officer, Allens. “Given the quality of the overall user experience that iManage Work 10 offers and the integration with RAVN Systems, we anticipate rapid and broad adoption of iManage throughout the firm. We are delighted to join the iManage community and look forward to a sustaining partnership with a visionary vendor who understands the challenges that large law firms face today.”

iManage partner Phoenix Business Solutions was chosen to assist Allens with the design and delivery of its iManage implementation based on the company’s depth and breadth of expertise as a global information management solutions provider for the professional services industry.

“Leading professional services firms are being challenged to deliver greater value to clients while enhancing their governance and security over critical client work product,” said Dan Carmel, Chief Marketing Officer, iManage. “After its own extensive evaluation, Allens has come to the same conclusion as over 75% of the world’s leading law firms – iManage delivers the features, performance and security to address today’s challenges.”

Follow iManage via:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imanageinc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iManageinc/
Blog: https://imanage.com/blog/
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/imanage
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/imanage

About iManage
iManage transforms how professionals in legal, accounting and financial services get work done by combining the power of artificial intelligence with market leading document and email management. iManage automates routine cognitive tasks, provides powerful insights and streamlines how professionals work, while maintaining the highest level of security and governance over critical client and corporate data. Over one million professionals at over 3,000 organizations in over 65 countries – including more than 2,000 law firms and 500 corporate legal departments – rely on iManage to deliver great client work.

Press Contact Information:
Manjul Gupta
Head of Corporate Communications
iManage
Phone: 669-777-3430
press@imanage.com

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Disruptive law firm Keystone today announced plans for a £50m float to boost its brand and enhance growth prospects.

Founded in 2002, Keystone was one of the first so-called “platform” firms. The company sits as an umbrella, allowing smaller firms to operate out of their own offices but under Keystone’s brand.

Lawyers do not receive a fixed fee from Keystone, instead, the firm passes down between 60 and 75 per cent of fees charged to individual lawyers.

Keystone will be admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) on 27 November, with the IPO raising £15m. The Chancery Lane-headquartered firm had previously eyed £10m of funds but upped its target after original plans were oversubscribed.

The majority of the funds will be used to pay down £9m of debt, with existing shareholders in line for a £5m payout.

Chief executive James Knight said the float would “provide us with the most resilient and stable platform to support our ambitious growth plans long into the future”.

He added:

The UK legal services market is the second largest in the world and I believe the Keystone model is well placed to take advantage of this significant opportunity. I look forward to continuing with our strategy of quality-centric growth, providing a superb standard of legal service to our many clients and delivering value for our shareholders.

Read more: City Moves – who’s switching jobs?

“Ripe for disruption”

Keystone said the £8.8bn mid-market law sector was “is ripe for disruption” with dissatisfied lawyers keen to shun ongoing fee pressure. The firm works across 23 service areas and over 50 industry sectors.

Over the last three financial years, the firm has generated revenue growth of over 20 per cent per annum. Most recently revenues totalled £25.6m generating earnings of £2.1m. The board said it intends to adopt a “progressive dividend policy” that reflects the expectation of future cash flow generation.

Keystone umbrella covers 250 lawyers, with 40 support staff. It converted to an alternative business structure four years ago, supported by a £3.2m cash injection for private equity firm Root Capital.

The 2007 Legal Services Act allows external investment in law firms. Scottish lawyer Gateley was the first to break ranks and float on the stock exchange in 2015. London-based Gordon Dadds listed in August.

Read more: Gateley gets blue chip backing for first UK law firm IPO

Behind the deal – with Panmure Gordon’s Andrew Potts

Who advised? Panmure Gordon were investment bankers, supported by law firm Field Fisher. Squires provided legal support to the company, while RSM Tenon acted as reporting accountants. How long did the deal take? The idea of a float was first considered around nine months ago. But the formal process, which identified the November date, did not start until late summer. Where did negotiations take place? Generally at Keystone’s London offices. But the Potts said the strange thing was there were lots and lots of lawyers. This was to be expected given the company in question, he added. Was it stressful, were there any late nights? Potts said there are always late nights in this kind of work. A big stress was earlier in the summer when Sunderland – Potts’ football team – was relegated from the Premier League. He managed to work off plenty of the stress by preparing for a 10km swimming marathon at the London Aquatics Centre.

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… involvement in around 500 “pass-through” firms. The profits (and losses) of … offering this option to large firms. So-called S-corporations, one type of … . This is partly because high-rolling law firms, hedge funds and consultancies are … obvious: high-earners might masquerade as firms to reduce their taxes. This …
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