#Reichman Jorgensen

[mostlysignssomeportents]

SoCal Gas spent millions on astroturf ops to fight climate rules

Today (19 Aug), I'm appearing at the San Diego Union-Tribune Festival of Books. I'm on a 2:30PM panel called "Return From Retirement," followed by a signing:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/festivalofbooks

It's a breathtaking fraud: SoCal Gas, the largest gas company in America, spent millions secretly paying people to oppose California environmental regulations, then illegally stuck its customers with the bill. We Californians were forced to pay to lobby against our own survival:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article277266828.html

The criminal scheme is spelled out in eye-watering detail in a superb investigative report by Joe Rubin and Ari Plachta for the Sacramento Bee, which names the law firms and individual lawyers involved in the scam.

Here's the situation: SoCal Gas is California's private, regulated gas monopoly. They are allowed to lobby, but are legally required to charge their lobbying activities to their shareholders, and are prohibited from raising customer rates to pay for lobbying.

The company spent years secretly violating this rule, in the sleaziest way possible: working with corporate cartels like the California Restaurant Association and BizFed, the monopoly paid BigLaw white-shoe firms to procure people who posed as concerned citizens in order to oppose climate regulations that are essential to the state's very survival.

The bill topped $36 million – and it was illegally charged to its customers, the Californians whose immediate health and long-term survival these efforts opposed. SoCal Gas refuses to disclose the full extent of the spending, as do its lawyer-procurers, who cite legal confidentiality and a First Amendment right to secretly seek to influence policy in their refusal to disclose their profits from this illegal conduct.

The law firms involved are a who's-who of California's most prominent corporate fixers, including Reichman Jorgensen and Holland & Knight. The partners involved have a long rap sheet for anti-climate dirty tricking, most notably Jennifer Hernandez, notorious in climate justice history for an incident where activists claim she posed as one of them, infiltrating a campaign to force corporate despoilers to clean up their pollution in order to sabotage it, while secretly on a wealthy, prominent landowner's payroll.

Hernandez claims to care about the environment and says that her longstanding, corporate-funded, extensive campaigns and lawsuits against state environmental regulations are motivated by concern over their impact on working people. Her firm, Holland & Knight, denies serving SoCal Gas in opposing gas regulations, but it received $594k in ratepayer dollars, and submitted comments opposing the rules on its own behalf. Those comments were nearly identical to the comments submitted by SoCal Gas.

Hernandez also represents an obscure organization called The Two Hundred for Home Ownership in "a flurry of lawsuits" over California Air Resources Board rules on pollution, seeking to overturn the state's landmark climate change regulations.

Two Hundred for Home Ownership was founded by Robert Apodaca, who told the Bee that Hernandez's work for him is pro bono and not funded by SoCal Gas, but his entry into the fray occurred just as SoCalGas was founding an astroturf group called Californians for Fair and Balanced Energy (C4BES), which pretended to be an independent organization, disguising its relationship with SoCal Gas.

Apodaca is also founder of United Latinos Vote, an organization that had been largely dormant for seven years, not receiving any donations, until 2018, when the California Building Industry Association gave it $99k. The CBIA is a large-dollar recipient of donations from SoCal Gas, and its CEO insists that it was not acting on SoCal Gas's behalf when it made its unpredented donation to Apodaca.

The CBIA donation to United Latinos Vote was forerunner to a flood of corporate donations from the likes of Chevron, Marathon and Phillips 66. Shortly after receiving this cash, United Latinos Vote ran a full page ad in the LA Times, accusing the Sierra Club of pushing for anti-gas appliance rules that would harm working class Latino families.

This ad, in turn, featured prominently in advocacy by the SoCal Gas front group C4BES, funded with $29.1m in ratepayer money, which it then spent seeking to link clean appliance rules with anti-Latino racism. A quarter of California's carbon emissions come from home gas use.

SoCal Gas is regulated by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), which tolerated this mounting illegal conduct for many years, even as the company circulated internal memos as early as 2015 discussing its plans to oppose electrification in the state on the basis that it constituted "a significant risk to our business."

But last year, CPUC fined SoCal Gas $10m. Now, CPUC's Public Advocate office has filed a damning, extensive report on SoCal Gas's unlawful conduct, seeking $80m in rate cuts to compensate Californians for the funds misappropriated to protect the company's shareholder interests:

https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M517/K407/517407314.PDF

Additionally, the Public Advocate is demanding $233m in fines for the company's refusal to allow investigators to audit its books and discover the full extent of the fraud.

SoCal Gas is the nation's largest utility, but (incredibly), it's not the dirtiest. That prize goes to Ohio's FirstEnergy, which handed $60m in ratepayer dollars to state politicians in illegal bribes in exchange for coal and nuclear subsidies and cancellation of state climate rules. That scandal led to GOP speaker of the Ohio House Larry Householder being sentenced to 20 years in prison:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_nuclear_bribery_scandal

There is something extraordinarily sleazy about using ratepayers' own money to lobby against their interests. SoCal Gas and its Big Law enablers have funneled millions in Californian's money into campaigns to poison us and boil us alive, and they did it while using workers and racialized people as human shields.

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet to succeed the old, good internet. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/19/cooking-the-books-with-gas/#reichman-jorgensen

Image: Maryland GovPics (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/6635539089/

Jackie (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/79874304@N00/197532792

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[redsnerdden]

US Trademark Office Cancels Marvel, and DC 'Super Hero' Trademarks

US Trademark Office Cancels Marvel, and DC 'Super Hero' Trademarks #comicbooks #comics #DCComics #Marvel

A U.S. Trademark Office tribunal has canceled a set of ‘Super Hero’ Trademarks that were jointly owned by Comic Publishers Marvel and DC at the request of a London-based comic book artist, according to a news report from September 26. The USPTO’s Trial and Appeal Board ruled for S.J. Richold’s Superbabies Ltd after Disney’s Marvel and Warner Bros. DC did not file an answer to Superbabies’…

[roysexton]

How do you stand out in a crowded and competitive market? July 25 National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Lavender Law Conference panel discussion

Honored to be a panelist at next month’s National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Lavender Law Conference in Chicago on Tuesday, July 25. Register/Agenda: https://lgbtqbar.mtiley.com/events/LavLaw23/Agenda.aspx Session description … Accelerating Your Business Development and Marketing Skills Speakers: – Angelica Crisi (Moderator) (Coston Consulting LLC)– Marla Butler (Thompson Hine LLP)– Kate…

[spaceintruderdetector]

Marvel and DC Just Lost the Super Hero Trademark

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has shaken things up in the world of comics today, as a long-held trademark by Marvel Comics and DC Comics has now been canceled. The announcement comes courtesy of law firm Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg (RJLF), who have declared victory over DC and Marvel in a trademark case over the word Super Hero (via Bleeding Cool). The request was granted after DC and Marvel failed to respond to court requests over the challenge to the joint trademark, and now that it's been canceled, RJLF's clients S.J. Richold and Superbabies Limited can now use that term without issue.

Marvel and DC Just Lost the Super Hero Trademark: Here's What That Means (comicbook.com)

[nj-stone]

Cory Doctorow: America's largest gas company, secretly paid millions for people to oppose California climate rules, then illegally stuck its customers with the bill. Californians were forced to pay to lobby *against our survival*: It's breathtaking fraud: @socalgas https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/19/cooking-the-books-with-gas/#reichman-jorgensen

[marymosley]

Patently-O Bits and Bytes by Juvan Bonni

Recent Headlines in the IP World:

Alexandre Tanzi: U.S. and Canada Make Strides in Bloomberg 2019 Innovation Index (Source: Bloomberg)

Iqra Farooq: Computer Program That Could Bypass Patents to Produce Synthetic Drugs (Source: European Pharmaceutical Review) 

Atty. Arthur W. Coviello, Atty. Richard Goldenberg, and Atty. William G. McElwain: United States: Federal Circuit Patent Update (Source: Mondaq)

Collin Woodard: Patent Application Hints At All-Wheel-Drive Ford Mustang Hybrid (Source: Motor Trend)

Source: Motor Trend

Commentary and Journal Articles:

Christopher Reynolds: Is Canada Getting Wise To AI Commercialization, Or Churning Out More Research? (Source: Financial Post)

Atty. Peter Finnie: Why China’s Impressive Patent Rates Don’t Tell The Whole Story (Source: NS Tech)

Dr. Anna Rita Bennato and Prof. Monica Giulietti: Patent Policy Regulation and Public Health (Source: SSRN)

Prof. Colleen V. Chien: Startups and Patent Trolls (Source: SSRN)

New Job Postings on Patently-O:

Intrexon Corporation

Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC)

G&G

Pillsbury

Harrity & Harrity

Seattle Genetics

Perkins Coie LLP–Phoenix, AZ

Roberts Mlotkowski Safran Cole & Calderon, P.C.

Perkins Coie LLP–Seattle, WA

Daly, Crowley, Mofford & Durkee, LLP

Klintworth & Rozenblat IP

Klarquist Sparkman, LLP

Levy & Grandinetti

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

NSIP LAW

Banner & Witcoff

Leydig, Voit & Mayer

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Reichman Jorgensen LLP

Patently-O Bits and Bytes by Juvan Bonni published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

[patentanwalt-reinert]

Recent intellectual property people moves include 13 practitioners from McKool Smith setting up a new litigation boutique Reichman Jorgensen, Nicola Dagg and a team from Allen & Overy joining Kirkland & Ellis in London, and more

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm OFFLINE UNTIL MID-SEPTEMBER, but you can catch me in person at BURNING MAN! On TUESDAY (Aug 27) at 1PM, I'm giving a talk called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE!" at PALENQUE NORTE (7&E). On WEDNESDAY (Aug 28) at NOON, I'm doing a "Talking Caterpillar" Q&A at LIMINAL LABS (830&C).

#20yrsago EFF wins Grokster! Software doesn’t have to be easy for Hollywood to wiretap! https://web.archive.org/web/20041026154633/https://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/20040819_mgm_v_grokster_decision.pdf

#15yrsago Poor design-choices in the Star Wars universe https://web.archive.org/web/20090821185001/http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/2009/08/bad-designs-in-star-wars.php

#15yrsago Computers’ limitations, as seen in 1967 https://web.archive.org/web/20090823020726/http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2009/08/19/computers-their-built-in-limitations/

#15yrsago WMD swag from a chemistry conference https://web.archive.org/web/20090824144536/http://cenblog.org/2009/08/19/wmd-goodie-bag/

#15yrsago Entertainment Weekly ad with a video-screen glued to the pages https://web.archive.org/web/20090821204702/https://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/cbs-embeds-a-video-playing-ad-in-a-print-magazine/

#15yrsago Brutal military dictatorship that backs Fiji Water https://web.archive.org/web/20090816093201/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/fiji-spin-bottle

#15yrsago Sipping Spiders Through a Straw: funny monster lyrics to traditional tunes https://memex.craphound.com/2009/08/19/sipping-spiders-through-a-straw-funny-monster-lyrics-to-traditional-tunes/

#10yrsago Copyright extortion startup wants to hijack your browser until you pay https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-outfit-wants-to-hijack-browsers-until-fine-paid-140816/

#10yrsago Militarized cops: arms dealers bribed Congress to ramboize Barney Fife https://www.motherjones.com/criminal-justice/2014/08/how-defense-industry-made-room-militarized-police-today/

#10yrsago How the US government exerts control over ICANN https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2014/08/government-control-internet-governance-icann-proposes-giving-gac-increased-power-board-decisions/

#5yrsago New Hampshire court to patent troll: it’s not libel when someone calls you a “patent troll” https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/patent-troll-sues-over-patent-troll-label-loses/

#5yrsago An appreciation for Samuel Delany https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/books/samuel-delany-jordy-rosenberg.html

#5yrsago More than 20 Texas cities and towns have been taken hostage by ransomware https://dir.texas.gov/news?id=210

#5yrsago Owner of Phoenix apartment building serves eviction notices to every tenant so he can turn their homes into unlicensed hotel rooms https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-landlord-evicts-tenants-short-term-rental-wanderjaunt-11345084

#5yrsago Ecofascism isn’t new: white supremacy and exterminism have always lurked in the environmental movement https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/15/anti

#5yrsago A cycle of renewal, broken: How Big Tech and Big Media abuse copyright law to slay competition https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/08/cycle-renewal-broken-how-big-tech-and-big-media-abuse-copyright-law-slay

#5yrsago The TSA strip searched a grandmother on Mother’s Day and now says that she’s overreacting because it’s no different from a locker room https://professional-troublemaker.com/2019/08/19/tsa-forced-strip-search-no-more-offensive-than-voluntarily-using-a-locker-room/

#1yrago SoCal Gas spent millions on astroturf ops to fight climate rules https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/19/cooking-the-books-with-gas/#reichman-jorgensen

On SEPTEMBER 24th, I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!!

[roysexton]

And now the pro shots (alas my ruby slippers didn’t make the cut 😅👠). Full album here: https://lnkd.in/gYPS7CfN

Feeling lazy after a whirlwind three days … so cutting and pasting the same description from yesterday. 😁

Damn - this panel rocked! So proud to have been part of this at the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Lavender Law Conference in Chicago. Thank you to Coston Consulting’s Angelica Crisi for assembling us and moderating so beautifully. We had a full house, so engaged with such great questions. It was an honor to be among this crew. Also, thank you, newsPRos’ Jaime Baum, for fueling me up with a great lunch. And much appreciation to my Clark Hill Law colleague Tobias Smith for attending the session, for always being so kind and supportive, and for being a wonderful friend.

Session description …

Accelerating Your Business Development and Marketing Skills

Speakers:

– Angelica Crisi (Moderator) (Coston Consulting LLC)

– Marla Butler ( Thompson Hine LLP )

- Kate Eisenberg ( Mintz )

- M. Frank Francis ( SEVERANCE, BURKO, SPALTER, & MASONE P C )

– Khue Hoang ( Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP )

– Roy Sexton (Clark Hill)

The ongoing disruption in the legal industry has created new opportunities and challenges for lawyers from underrepresented groups. With a potential economic downturn looming, it’s even more critical and timely for diverse lawyers to focus on sharpening their client development and marketing skills.

This interactive panel will provide tips and best practices to help you take your career to the next level as it explores everything from engaging your network to crafting value propositions that differentiate your services and cultivate a powerful brand.

Program participants will hear from legal marketing experts and experienced law firm partners as they share their insights and explore best practices to help you hone your business development and marketing skills. Panel moderators will take a deep dive into the following questions: How do you stand out in a crowded and competitive market? How do build strong connections in your company/firm? How do you unlock and grow your network? What are the keys to growing your business and expanding client relationships? How do you position yourself for success?

#lgbtqcommunity , #lgbtqia , #pride, #lmamkt, #legalmarketing , #businessdevelopment 🏳️‍🌈

[roysexton]

Damn - this panel rocked! So proud to have been part of this at the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Lavender Law Conference in Chicago today. Thank you to Coston Consulting’s Angelica Crisi for assembling us and moderating so beautifully. We had a full house, so engaged with such great questions. It was an honor to be among this crew. Also, thank you, NewsPros’ Jaime Baum, for fueling me up with a great lunch today. And much appreciation to my Clark Hill Law colleague Tobias Smith for attending the session, for always being so kind and supportive, and for being a wonderful friend.

Session description …

Accelerating Your Business Development and Marketing Skills

Speakers:

– Angelica Crisi (Moderator) (Coston Consulting LLC)

– Marla Butler ( Thompson Hine LLP )

- Kate Eisenberg ( Mintz )

- M. Frank Francis ( SEVERANCE, BURKO, SPALTER, & MASONE P C )

– Khue Hoang ( Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP )

– Roy Sexton (Clark Hill)

The ongoing disruption in the legal industry has created new opportunities and challenges for lawyers from underrepresented groups. With a potential economic downturn looming, it’s even more critical and timely for diverse lawyers to focus on sharpening their client development and marketing skills.

This interactive panel will provide tips and best practices to help you take your career to the next level as it explores everything from engaging your network to crafting value propositions that differentiate your services and cultivate a powerful brand.

Program participants will hear from legal marketing experts and experienced law firm partners as they share their insights and explore best practices to help you hone your business development and marketing skills. Panel moderators will take a deep dive into the following questions: How do you stand out in a crowded and competitive market? How do build strong connections in your company/firm? How do you unlock and grow your network? What are the keys to growing your business and expanding client relationships? How do you position yourself for success?

National LGBTQ+ Bar Association , #lgbtqcommunity , #lgbtqia , #pride, #lmamkt, #legalmarketing , #businessdevelopment

[roysexton]

Honored to be a panelist at next month’s National LGBTQ+ Bar Association #LavenderLaw Conference in Chicago on Tuesday, July 25.

Session description …

Accelerating Your Business Development and Marketing Skills

Speakers:

Angelica Crisi (Moderator) (Coston Consulting LLC)

Marla Butler (Thompson Hine LLP)

Kate Eisenberg (Mintz)

Michael Francis (Severance Burko Spalter Masone & Laurette)

Khue Hoang (Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP)

Roy Sexton (Clark Hill Law)

The ongoing disruption in the legal industry has created new opportunities and challenges for lawyers from underrepresented groups. With a potential economic downturn looming, it’s even more critical and timely for diverse lawyers to focus on sharpening their client development and marketing skills. This interactive panel will provide tips and best practices to help you take your career to the next level as it explores everything from engaging your network to crafting value propositions that differentiate your services and cultivate a powerful brand. Program participants will hear from legal marketing experts and experienced law firm partners as they share their insights and explore best practices to help you hone your business development and marketing skills. Panel moderators will take a deep dive into the following questions: How do you stand out in a crowded and competitive market? How do build strong connections in your company/firm? How do you unlock and grow your network? What are the keys to growing your business and expanding client relationships? How do you position yourself for success?

https://lgbtqbar.mtiley.com/events/LavLaw23/Agenda.aspx

#pride #lgbtqia #lgbtqcommunity #law #lawyers #legal #dei #legalmarketing #lmamkt #lma23

[marymosley]

Patently-O Bits and Bytes by Juvan Bonni

Recent Headlines in the IP World:

Alexandre Tanzi: U.S. and Canada Make Strides in Bloomberg 2019 Innovation Index (Source: Bloomberg)

Iqra Farooq: Computer Program That Could Bypass Patents to Produce Synthetic Drugs (Source: European Pharmaceutical Review) 

Atty. Arthur W. Coviello, Atty. Richard Goldenberg, and Atty. William G. McElwain: United States: Federal Circuit Patent Update (Source: Mondaq)

Collin Woodard: Patent Application Hints At All-Wheel-Drive Ford Mustang Hybrid (Source: Motor Trend)

Source: Motor Trend

Commentary and Journal Articles:

Christopher Reynolds: Is Canada Getting Wise To AI Commercialization, Or Churning Out More Research? (Source: Financial Post)

Atty. Peter Finnie: Why China’s Impressive Patent Rates Don’t Tell The Whole Story (Source: NS Tech)

Dr. Anna Rita Bennato and Prof. Monica Giulietti: Patent Policy Regulation and Public Health (Source: SSRN)

Prof. Colleen V. Chien: Startups and Patent Trolls (Source: SSRN)

New Job Postings on Patently-O:

Intrexon Corporation

Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC)

G&G

Pillsbury

Harrity & Harrity

Seattle Genetics

Perkins Coie LLP–Phoenix, AZ

Roberts Mlotkowski Safran Cole & Calderon, P.C.

Perkins Coie LLP–Seattle, WA

Daly, Crowley, Mofford & Durkee, LLP

Klintworth & Rozenblat IP

Klarquist Sparkman, LLP

Levy & Grandinetti

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

NSIP LAW

Banner & Witcoff

Leydig, Voit & Mayer

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Reichman Jorgensen LLP

Patently-O Bits and Bytes by Juvan Bonni published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

[patentanwalt-reinert]

Recent intellectual property people moves include 13 practitioners from McKool Smith setting up a new litigation boutique Reichman Jorgensen, Nicola Dagg and a team from Allen & Overy joining Kirkland & Ellis in London, and more