Newsline - 10/26/09

• BofA's Outside Counsel Sings Two Different Tunes. Eric Roth, a litigation partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, apparently was telling the Bank of America Corp. leadership one story about how difficult it would be to escape from the merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., while singing quite a different tune to the federal government. On Dec. 19 Roth advised the bank's chief executive, Ken Lewis, and its interim general counsel, Brian Moynihan, on how difficult and financially risky it would be to try to invoke a so-called MAC -- or material adverse change -- clause, which would allow the bank to get out of the merger with Merrill. But another e-mail from associate general counsel Teresa Brenner to Moynihan, sent several hours later and on the same day as Roth's e-mail, says, "Eric made a very strong case as to why there was a MAC" during a conference call with some officials from the Federal Reserve. That's why you pay "beaucoup bucks" to lawyers like those working at Wachtell; so you can have your story spin both ways. Corporate Counsel
  

• Greedy Deputy GC Found Guilty in $12M Fraud - Used For Shopping Spree sand Comestic Surgery. Kate Johns, the former deputy head of legal at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, was paid a salary of 150,000 pounds ($250,000) in her role at the bank. For some, that would be considered a handsome salary, but for others like Johns, that was simply the tip of the iceberg. London's Southwark Crown Court ruled that Johns was guilty of having repeatedly conned colleagues into signing off large sums of money for investment. In total, the bank lost 7.4 million pounds ($12.3 million) as a result of the scam. The money was diverted to struggling Indonesian airline Air Efata, which was owned by her friend Frank Taira-Supit. Johns received personal payoffs from Taira-Supit totaling 1.95 million pounds ($3.2 million), which the court was told she used to fund a luxury lifestyle, including shopping trips, breast surgery and paying off the mortgage on a 1.1 million pound ($1.8 million) north London townhouse. Air Efata went bankrupt last year, after which Taira-Supit committed suicide. Johns' sentence will be handed in December. It's a sad story of greed and betrayal. The Legal Week

• New Kids On The Block: PetSmart Hires New GC Emily Disckinson, and Charter Communications Hires Gregory Doody as new GC. Dickinson, 50,comes to PetSmart from Hannaford Bros. Co., which runs a chain of grocery stores and supermarkets along the Eastern seaboard. (Hannaford is owned by Delhaize Group, which operates supermarkets in Europe.). The St. Louis–based company hired Doody to serve as its chief restructuring officer in March, when Charter filed for a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but Doody originally joined last December to assist with the company's financial restructuring. In May, Doody, who is 44, also accepted the post of general counsel. He replaces former GC Grier Raclin, now Charter's chief administrative officer. Corporate Counsel
  
  
• Want to Know Top 25 In-House Counsels in Asia, Look Here: The ALB has identified 25 of the most outstanding legal counsel in Asia - from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China and India. These lawyers represent the health, real estate, banking, technology, shipping, energy, and consumer good sectors. Some have worked on precedent-setting transactions, while others have quietly built up strong legal teams, ensuring continual compliance of their organization and also influencing the passage of legislation. ABL Legal News.