Kang Haggerty News
Gregory H. Mathews
Henry J. Donner
Kang Haggerty is pleased to announce that Gregory H. Mathews and Henry J. Donner have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2019.
Legal Intelligencer: Should an Arbitrator Determine Arbitrability Where a Claim Is ‘Wholly Groundless’?
While arbitration clauses are often a topic of concern in the consumer context, they can also be a major issue in sophisticated party transactions as well—the agreements where the arbitration clause is the least of everyone’s worries. In these transactions, whether they be in the employment context or otherwise, arbitration clauses are often treated as a throwaway for which a simple copy-and-paste will do. At that forward-looking time, arbitration seems like a sensible method of dispute resolution between two like-minded people, and it is given little emphasis. When the relationships break down later, as they often do, arbitration clauses become a major issue. Too often, one side wants to be in court while the other does not. They argue whether their dispute is subject to arbitration.
Legal Intelligencer: Planning for Summer Vacations or Time Off as a Young Lawyer
by The YL Editorial Board
Edward Kang Featured in ABA’s Meet the Managing Partner Column
In the July 2018 edition of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Today (LPT), Kang Haggerty managing member Edward T. Kang is featured in the Meet the Managing Partner column. LPT, a monthly publication of the ABA’s Law Practice Division, is distributed to nearly 500,000 lawyers and law students across the globe each month, including all members of the ABA. This month’s issue is devoted to the theme of diversity and inclusion. Learn more at www.lawpracticetoday.com.
Legal Intelligencer: Self-Authentication of ESI Under Federal Rule of Evidence 902
In the June 21, 2018 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward Kang, Managing Member of Kang Haggerty, and Kandis Kovalsky, Associate of Kang Haggerty, co-authored “Self-Authentication of ESI Under Federal Rule of Evidence 902.”
In a recent annual Federal Bench Bar Conference in Philadelphia, a U.S. District Court judge warned of the perils of allowing clients to perform their own data and document collection.
In a recent annual Federal Bench Bar Conference in Philadelphia, a U.S. District Court judge warned of the perils of allowing clients to perform their own data and document collection. As the judge wisely pointed out, this can be problematic as the lawyers owe a duty to the court to represent truthfully and accurately. If, for example, a client performed the data collection without proper supervision, the lawyer could not accurately represent that all responsive documents have been collected and produced. The 2015 amendments to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 provide dire consequences for failing to preserve electronically stored information (ESI), including monetary sanctions, dismissal of a claim, judgment in favor of the prejudiced party, suppression of evidence and adverse inference instructions. The recent changes to Federal Rule of Evidence 902, which addresses self-authenticating evidence, and is routinely relied on by civil trial lawyers, raises additional concerns with clients performing their own data collection.
Self-authenticating evidence under Rule 902 is evidence that requires no extrinsic evidence to prove that it is what it purports to be. Common examples of self-authenticating evidence include newspapers, periodicals, signed and sealed public documents, and official publications. While the amendments to Rule 902 were created to address the unnecessary expense and inconvenience associated with having live testimony from multiple witnesses solely to authenticate electronic evidence, they also provide guidance on ESI collection and resolving authentication issues relating to ESI before trial.
Associates Tianna Kalogerakis and Kandis Kovalsky Participate in Law Week 2018
Law Day, as officially recognized by the President of the United States on the first of May each year, is a day to reflect on the importance of law in our society and its role in our country’s foundation. In particular, it is a celebration of the rights and benefits afforded to United States citizens under the Constitution.
This year, the American Bar Association Law Day Theme was “Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom.” The ABA described this year’s theme as follows:
The U.S. Constitution sets out a system of government with distinct and independent branches—Congress, the Presidency, and a Supreme Court. It also defines legislative, executive, and judicial powers and outlines how they interact. These three separate branches share power, and each branch serves as a check on the power of the others. “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” James Madison explained in Federalist 51. Why? Madison believed that the Constitution’s principles of separation of powers and checks and balances preserve political liberty. They provide a framework for freedom. Yet, this framework is not self-executing. We the people must continually act to ensure that our constitutional democracy endures, preserving our liberties and advancing our rights. The Law Day 2018 theme enables us to reflect on the separation of powers as fundamental to our constitutional purpose and to consider how our governmental system is working for ourselves and our posterity.
The Philadelphia Bar Association extends the celebration of Law Day to encompass an entire week. The Young Lawyers Division coordinates programs throughout the city with various schools and communities. These programs include Lawyer for a Day, Fairy-tale Mock Trials, Legal Advice Live, and Lawyers in the Classroom. Continue reading ›
Jacklyn Fetbroyt Announced as Practice Area Committee Co-Chair
Philadelphia, PA (May 23, 2018): On May 21, 2018 Jacklyn Fetbroyt, Founding Member of Kang Haggerty LLC was appointed Co-Chair of the Financial Services Litigation Practice Area Committee (“PAC”) for the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (“NAMWOLF”).
With this position, Jacklyn looks forward to integrating more deeply into the NAMWOLF community, becoming more involved with members of the Financial Services Litigation PAC, and working with her co-chair, Sarah Oquist of the Minneapolis based Sapientia Law Group, PLLC, to grow the PAC in size and presence.
Kang Haggerty LLC joined NAMWOLF, a nonprofit trade association dedicated to promoting diversity in the legal profession, in 2017 along with three of their PACs: Financial Service Litigation, Transaction and Trials.
Legal Intelligencer: Key Points in Negotiating and Preparing Settlement Agreements and Releases
In the May 17, 2018 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward Kang, Managing Member of Kang Haggerty, writes Key Points in Negotiating and Preparing Settlement Agreements and Releases.
With fewer and fewer cases going to trial, lawyers must be competent in settling claims and preparing settlement documents that accurately capture the terms of the settlement. While settlements often bring a sigh of relief from lawyers and their clients, getting from the point of settlement to execution and payment—this article is written from mostly the plaintiff’s perspective—can take months, and sometimes requires court-intervention. This usually happens, as stated in more detail below, when one side wants to renegotiate the material terms of a settlement agreement; and the main reason for seeking to renegotiate is often the other side was not adequately prepared going into and during settlement negotiations. This is particularly true in complicated cases involving multiple parties and claims.
Most litigators, if not all, have negotiated settlements and prepared many settlement documents. And there are many articles written about the “dos and don’ts” of negotiating a settlement or preparing a settlement document. This article focuses on a few additional points for practitioners to consider when negotiating a settlement or preparing a settlement document. Continue reading ›
Kang Haggerty’s Henry Donner recognized as Senior Statesman for Construction Law in 2018 Chambers USA Rankings
Kang Haggerty LLC, a boutique business litigation firm with offices in Philadelphia, PA and Cherry Hill, NJ, congratulates Henry Donner, Of Counsel, for once again being selected among the top ranked construction lawyers in Pennsylvania in the 2018 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
One of only two Senior Statesmen named for the practice area in Pennsylvania, Chambers calls Donner, “A veteran construction lawyer who is called upon for his deep knowledge and keen insights in contract negotiations, design error issues and labor and employment matters.”
Tianna Kalogerakis Joins Kang Haggerty LLC
Philadelphia, PA (May 3, 2018): Kang Haggerty LLC, a business litigation boutique with offices in Philadelphia, PA and Cherry Hill, NJ, is pleased to announce that Tianna K. Kalogerakis has joined the firm as an associate.
Tianna received her J.D. from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, where she also earned a certificate in trial advocacy. She graduated with a B.S. from the University of Florida. Prior to joining Kang Haggerty, Tianna served as a judicial law clerk in both the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (to the Honorable Lillian Harris Ransom).
A native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tianna concentrates her practice on commercial litigation and business disputes such as breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and business torts. She is admitted to the practice of law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.