Bingham ConsultingNewsroom – Archive
Team Represents Dannon in Settlement, Investigation
December 2010 — Bingham Consulting, led by principals Tim Shea and Nick Gess and senior consultant Sarah Reznek, and Bingham partner Bruce Friedman represented Dannon as national counsel in negotiating a $21 million multistate settlement with attorneys general from 39 states as well as the separate settlement of a parallel investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The multistate investigation, which was led by Oregon and Tennessee, involved allegations that Dannon’s claims about the health benefits of its Activia yogurt and DanActive dairy drink products were unsubstantiated. The parallel FTC investigation involved allegations of deceptive advertising related to claims made about the health benefits of Activia and DanActive.
Merrill Elected Co-Chair of Attorneys General Emeritus
March 1, 2010 — At the recent meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General, Gov. Stephen Merrill, Bingham Consulting president, was elected co-chair of the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus (SAGE). Merrill, who served as the governor and attorney general of New Hampshire, will co-chair the organization with W.J. Michael Cody, the former attorney general of Tennessee and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of that state. SAGE is available to members of the attorney general community for legal, public policy advice, and counsel. SAGE is non-partisan, and its original co-chairs, Francis X. Bellotti, the former lieutenant governor and attorney general of Massachusetts, and LeRoy Zimmerman, the former attorney general of Pennsylvania, have guided the organization for 20 years.
BCG Represents Western Union in Settlement
Corporate Counsel, Feb. 22, 2010 — In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, longstanding Bingham Consulting client Western Union said it has set aside $71 million to settle claims by the Attorney General’s Office over its business practices, reports Corporate Counsel. The funds will not only settle claims by Arizona and other states but also will be used “to fund a multi-state not-for-profit organization focused on border safety and security.” Bingham Consulting, led by principal Nick Gess with assistance from principals Tom Gede and Tim Shea, was instrumental in completing this multi-state settlement.
Gede Appointed to California Hastings College of the Law Board of Directors
States News Service, Oct. 24, 2008 — Bingham Consulting principal Tom Gede has been appointed to the University of California Hastings College of the Law Board of Directors, reports States News Service. Gede, an of counsel at Bingham, worked as the executive director for the Conference of Western Attorneys General from 2000 to 2006. He worked in the California Office of the Attorney General as a special assistant attorney general from 1991 to 2000, and as a deputy attorney general in the criminal division from 1987 to 1990. Gede earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Bingham Consulting Represents Merck in Multistate Vioxx Settlement
June 2, 2008 — Bingham Consulting was part of the legal team representing Merck & Co. in its $58 million multistate settlement relating to claims over ads for its Vioxx painkiller. Merck agreed to settle claims with 29 states and the District of Columbia that it used deceptive advertising for the drug, which was withdrawn from the marketplace in 2004 after certain studies raised safety concerns. Bingham Consulting, led by principal Nicholas Gess of the Washington office and Tim Shea of the Boston office, facilitated discussions between Merck and the state attorneys general.
Reznek, Rockett, Young Author Alert on Limits of State Regs of National Banks
Lexology, Dec. 11, 2007 — Bingham Consulting senior consultant Sarah Reznek and San Francisco partners James Rockett and Maureen Young authored the alert, “Second Circuit Further Limits State Regulation of National Banks,” detailing the court’s decision in a case stemming from former New York Attorney General (AG) Eliot Spitzer’s attempt to investigate race discrimination in residential mortgage lending practices by national banks. In 2005 the AG sent “letters of inquiry” to national banks requesting lending practice data, under suspicion of discriminatory lending practices towards minorities based on data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) asserted that it held exclusive visitorial authority over national banks and moved to enjoin the AG’s investigation. The AG countered by saying it could bring an action against a national bank asserting a violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The Second Circuit cited Watters v. Wachovia declaring, “investigation and enforcement by state officials are just as much aspects of visitorial authority as registration and other forms of administrative supervision,” and because such exercise of state authority hampers federally-permitted activities, such state actions are preempted. The court remanded the FHA matter to the district court, ruling the issue was not yet ripe because the suit had not been filed.
Walsh Quoted on Progress of Sacramento Kings Arena Project
Sacramento Bee, Dec. 8, 2007 — In the month since Bingham Consulting principal and former California Gov. Pete Wilson was hired to negotiate with the NBA for a new Sacramento Kings arena at the Cal Expo fairgrounds, both sides have been doing their homework, reports the Sacramento Bee. This includes putting together a needs list, updating the cost of the proposed work and investigating how to financially make the project pencil out. “What makes sense is to sit down at the table with a set of facts and data that helps move a meaningful negotiation forward,” said Bingham Consulting senior counsel, Sean Walsh, who is working with Wilson on the negotiations. According to the Sacramento Bee, the basic concept of the arena plan is to craft a commercial and housing development on the state-owned site that would produce enough profit to pay for an arena and revamp the 40-year-old fairgrounds. Walsh said he, Wilson and other consultants from Bingham have been in regular communication with Cal Expo and the NBA. “We’re pleased with the progress that’s being made on our end, and we feel in our communication with the NBA that they’re also making good progress on their analysis,” said Walsh.
P. Wilson Recognized in Sacramento Bee’s “History Spotlight”
The Sacramento Bee, Nov. 25, 2007 — Bingham Consulting principal and former two-term governor of California Pete Wilson was noted in the Sacramento Bee’s “In History’s Spotlight; A Look at Those Who Made Headlines in the Past 150 Years.” Wilson, who served as governor of California from 1991-1999, is an Illinois native who attended Yale University and served in the Marine Corps. After earning his law degree at the University of California, he began his political career in 1960 when he served as an advance man for Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential campaign. Wilson went on to serve as state assemblyman, mayor of San Diego and a U.S. senator before defeating Dianne Feinstein in the 1990 gubernatorial election. Wilson grappled with California's economic recession in the early 90s and battled with the Legislature during a record 64-day budget deadlock in 1992, before rebounding, in 1994, to easily win re-election over Democrat Kathleen Brown. Most recently, Wilson was tapped to help negotiate a deal with the NBA for a new Sacramento Kings arena at Cal Expo. “It's difficult to summarize Wilson's governorship in a few words, simply because so much has happened,” wrote Sacramento Bee political columnist Dan Walter, in 1998. “[Wilson's] had his successes and failures, but he's always been engaged in the battle, easily the most activist governor of recent vintage.”
P. Wilson Expresses Optimism About Sacramento Kings Arena Deal
ABC News 10, Nov. 14, 2007 —— Bingham Consulting principal and former California Governor Pete Wilson is on a mission to achieve what many local Sacramento politicians have attempted and failed to do — create a new arena deal for the Sacramento Kings, reports ABC News 10. “I think that there is a really ample opportunity for a win-win situation," said Wilson. The California Exposition and State Fair hired Bingham Consulting to negotiate the framework for an arena deal with the NBA. They are looking at the possibility of creating a new commercial development on the state fairgrounds property to help generate private funding for an arena. According to Wilson, the project “should be something that can be independently financed.” Sacramento voters have been reluctant to use tax dollars to construct a new arena and rejected a sales tax hike proposal in 2006. “What we see here is an opportunity that would benefit the NBA, it would benefit Cal Expo, it would benefit the city and I think the state,” said Wilson.
P. Wilson, Bingham Consulting Hired to Negotiate Arena Project With NBA
Sacramento Business Journal, Nov. 1, 2007 — Bingham Consulting and former California Gov. Pete Wilson have been hired by the California Exposition & State Fair board of directors to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the NBA, possibly paving the way for a new arena for the Sacramento Kings, reports the Sacramento Business Journal. Wilson will be joined on the high-profile proposal by Bingham Sports Consulting special consultant Gregory Clark and two other members of Bingham Consulting: Sean Walsh, former press secretary to Wilson and a senior policy adviser and director of the state Office of Planning and Research for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom Gede, former executive director of the Conference of Western Attorneys General. According to Bond Buyer, hotels, housing, offices and retail space could be part of the project as a way to pay for the arena and redevelopment. The initial agreement with Bingham is for two months, with the possibility of further extensions. News of Bingham’s participation in the negotiations also was reported by the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, the Contra Costa Times and the Monterey County (Calif.) Herald, and on ESPN.com and The Capitol Morning Report.
Bingham Noted for Building California Practices
The Deal, Nov. 1, 2007 — Bingham, which kicked off its most recent West Coast expansion with its combination with Santa Monica litigation boutique Alschuler Grossman in May, is "still California dreamin,’” reports The Deal. The firm recently hired Robert Funsten, who previously chaired the licensing and intellectual property group at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, to build the West Coast life science team in Orange County. According to The Deal, Bingham’s life sciences practice has 51 lawyers spread throughout the firm’s six California offices, and recently advised biotech Amicus Therapeutics Inc. on its $75 million initial public offering in May. The firm also recently hired Scott Bluni, former cardiovascular chief patent counsel at Boston Scientific Corp., to join its intellectual property litigation and patent prosecution practice group in Boston. In addition to the Alschuler Grossman combination, which added 40 lawyers to Bingham’s Southern California offices, the firm has recently hired Stephanie Siegel Brecher as a private equity partner in Orange County, Rose Shiner and Ronald Sittler as film finance partners in Los Angeles, and Sean Walsh, former director of the Governor Schwarzenegger’s Office of Planning and Research, as a senior consultant in Bingham Consulting's new Sacramento office.
P. Wilson, Bingham Tapped To Handle Sacramento Kings Arena Negotiations
The Sacramento Bee, Oct. 27, 2007 — Bingham Consulting and Bingham Sports Consulting have been selected to negotiate a deal for Cal Expo with the NBA to build a new arena for the Sacramento Kings at the state fairgrounds. Cal Expo's executive committee voted unanimously on October 26 to retain Bingham Consulting principal and former California Gov. Pete Wilson and Bingham Sports Consulting special consultant Gregory Clark to negotiate a memorandum of understanding between Cal Expo and the NBA. The memorandum would resolve major deal points, such as how much land will be used, laying the foundation for a project that would replace the 19-year-old Arco Arena and revitalize the state fairgrounds. "If we are successful, we will have done something that will be good for the city and good for the state; that is our hope and purpose," Wilson said. "Bingham has a long tradition of public service and pro bono work, and we consider our assistance to the State of California a significant endeavor that should reap benefits for millions of Californians who will utilize the State Fair grounds. We are obviously honored that Cal Expo reached out to us and engaged us to do that for them." Working with Wilson and Clark will be Sean Walsh, former press secretary to Wilson, and Tom Gede, both of Bingham Consulting. If the Bingham team succeeds in the initial negotiations, Cal Expo could retain the group to complete the arena deal, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Bingham Hosts an Evening with Calif. Attorney General Jerry Brown
More than 120 Bingham clients and friends attended an evening with California Attorney General Jerry Brown in Los Angeles on Oct. 24. Rick Welch, managing partner of Bingham's Los Angeles office, welcomed the crowd of business clients and partners from Bingham's many practice groups, such as environmental, land use, private equity, and the firm's subsidiary business, Bingham Consulting. Former California Gov. Pete Wilson, currently with Bingham Consulting, introduced the attorney general. Relaxed, engaging and candid, Brown reflected on his life in the public eye, saying that "there is no substitute for experience." He shared his views on his current role as the state's top lawyer, stressing his commitment to "vigorously enforcing" environmental initiatives, such as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Global Warming Solutions Act, known as AB 32.
Gess Quoted on Backlog of FISA Applications, Shortage of Attorneys
Legal Times, Oct. 10, 2007 — A year has passed since the Department of Justice’s National Security Division was created, bringing key criminal and intelligence units under one roof to take on the top priority: preventing terrorism, reports Legal Times. While the division gets high marks for its progress, there is a persistent problem with a backlog of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications due to a shortage of attorneys and an expanding workload. According to Legal Times, records show that court-approved FISA applications have steadily increased from 934 in 2001 to 2,176 last year, and Justice officials said the number of pending FISA requests has been reduced by 65 percent since 2004. This backlog rankles some former Justice officials, such as Bingham Consulting principal Nicholas Gess, who served under Attorney General Janet Reno as an associate deputy attorney general. “Anytime there’s a FISA backlog, it’s inexcusable if you don’t have enough people,” says Gess.
Bingham Consulting Assists Purdue Pharma in N.Y. State Settlement
Sept. 24, 2007 — Bingham Consulting advised Purdue Pharma, maker of the painkiller OxyContin, on settlements with state attorneys general, including its $7.3 million agreement with New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The settlement was part of a larger federal agreement involving criminal and civil claims that concluded from a two-and-a-half-year investigation into the company’s marketing and business practices surrounding OxyContin. Tim Shea and Sarah Reznek worked on this matter.
Wilson Honored with Statue in Downtown San Diego
The Union-Tribune (San Diego, CA), Aug. 26, 2007 — Bingham Consulting principal and former California governor Pete Wilson was honored in downtown San Diego on August 25 with the unveiling of a lifelike statue of himself, reports the Union-Tribune. The bronze statue shows a younger Wilson smiling down at the city sidewalk and joins similar statues of Ernest Hahn and Alonzo Horton, on what has been dubbed the San Diego Walk of Fame. According to the Union-Tribune, Wilson, a former three-term mayor of San Diego, two-term U.S. senator and two-term California governor, made improving downtown San Diego a priority while in office. “View this statue, as I will, as a surrogate recipient of the tribute that’s deserved by all of you who shared the dream, who made it come true and gave all the proud neighborhoods of San Diego the vibrant heart they needed,” Wilson said.
Gess Co-Authors Op-Ed Piece on Gonzales’ Resignation
Legal Times, Sept. 3, 2007 — Bingham Consulting principal and Washington, D.C., of counsel Nick Gess co-authored the Legal Times op-ed piece “Listen to Career Lawyers,” along with James Tierney, director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School and former attorney general of Maine. According to Gess, a former associate deputy attorney general in the Justice Department under Janet Reno, and Tierney, “the next attorney general of the United States will inherit a Department of Justice demoralized by the sidelining of career lawyers who have dedicated their lives to fair law enforcement.” They explain that too many senior lawyers — those who have guided former attorneys general of both parties — have “retired” after being replaced by “inexperienced political appointees.” Gess and Tierney wrote that changes need to be made immediately, including restoring the career hiring and promotion process, filling empty prosecutor positions, and renewing state and local relationships. They also wrote that the next attorney general should listen to career lawyers, who hold a “deep reservoir of knowledge and experience,” and respect the rule of law. “There can be no delay in returning honor to the Department of Justice,” wrote Gess and Tierney.
S. Merrill Quoted on Mismanagement of Nonprofits
ABA Journal, Aug. 2007 — The downfall of Hawaii’s powerful Bishop Estate, a charitable trust that maintains the “Kamehameha Schools” in Hawaii, is a story of greed, mismanagement and political manipulation, according to Samuel King and Randall Roth, co-authors of a 2006 book on the topic. In 1999, all five of the Estate’s trustees were removed from office after the Internal Revenue Service threatened to strip the estate, which has been tabbed as the wealthiest charity in the United States, of its status as a tax-free charitable organization. Stephen Merrill, president of Bingham Consulting, said he was surprised by the wrongdoings he encountered at nonprofits while he was New Hampshire’s attorney general. “I was stunned,” he said, at a program on nonprofits held during the 2006 ABA Annual Meeting. “I thought people who were attracted to nonprofits were people who wanted to do the right thing.” He added, “The IRS and states are going to be increasingly pugnacious [of nonprofits]. This wave has not yet crested.”
Bingham Consulting Opens Sacramento Office; Walsh Joins Group
San Francisco Daily Journal, Aug. 9, 2007 — Bingham Consulting, a subsidiary of Bingham McCutchen, has announced the opening of a Sacramento office and the addition of Sean Walsh, former director of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Office of Planning and Research, as a senior consultant, reports the San Francisco Daily Journal. Walsh joins former U.S. senator and California governor Pete Wilson; former Deputy Attorney General Tom Gede; and William Kissinger, former senior deputy legal affairs secretary to former California governor Gray Davis. Bingham’s consulting business is headed up by President Stephen Merrill, former governor and attorney general of New Hampshire, who is based in Boston. According to the San Francisco Daily Journal, the new office will be used as a hub for consultants based in the group’s San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Boston offices. “We exist to try and keep companies out of regulatory trouble, said Wilson, who has been a principal at Bingham Consulting since 2004. “It’s impossible to do business in California without complying with federal, state and local regulations.” News of Walsh’s move to Bingham and the opening of Bingham’s Sacramento office was also reported by Capitol Weekly, the Daily Deal and Jaffe Legal News.
Bingham Consulting Expands with Sacramento Office
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Aug. 27, 2007 — Bingham Consulting, a subsidiary of Bingham McCutchen, which has an office in Boston, is opening an office in Sacramento, Calif. The office is intended to be a hub for consultants in the firm’s San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Boston offices. News of the Sacramento office opening has also been reported by the Recorder, Capitol Weekly, the San Francisco Daily Journal, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Politico and the Daily Deal.
Gede Serving as Vice Chair at ABA Water Law Conference
Bingham Consulting principal Tom Gede is serving as a vice-chair of the 2008 American Bar Association's (ABA) Water Law Conference, the ABA's annual meeting held for water law practitioners, water resource managers and public officials involved in water quality, quantity and allocation issues. Gede is also helping to plan the conference, which will be held February 21-22, 2008, at the Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego, and will feature speakers covering a range of topics from conflicts over shared groundwater basins to hydrologic continuity, endangered species and tribal issues.
Gede Moderates Public Safety/Counterterrorism Conference
Bingham Consulting principal Tom Gede moderated the 6th International Public Safety/Counterterrorism Conference on April 23-24 in Quebec, Canada. The conference, which featured experts on border security, intelligence sharing and transportation security, is an outgrowth of Gede’s service as co-chair of the justice and public safety conference held in California in the 1990s. This year’s program attracted participants from the U.K., Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
Gess: Current Policy Fosters Close Link Between White House, DOJ
Legal Times, April 23, 2007 — Last week’s hearing between Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Senate Judiciary Committee has shed light on a policy that appears to have allowed the Justice Department and the White House to become more closely linked during the Bush administration, reports Legal Times. According to a recently highlighted memo, written in 1992 by then-Attorney General Janet Reno, only the highest-ranking officials from the Justice Department, those being the attorney general, the deputy attorney general and the associate general, were authorized to speak about criminal or civil investigations with the president, vice president, White House counsel and deputy counsel. But, Bingham Consulting principal Nick Gess, who was an associate deputy attorney under Reno, said that memo merely memorialized tradition. “The Clinton policy is not really a Clinton policy,” said Gess. “It's a historical policy going back as far as anyone remembers.” The policy was changed in 2002 when then-Attorney General John Ashcroft dramatically expanded the number of White House and Justice Department employees who could discuss criminal investigations. For example at the White House, this number went from four to 100 and included lower-ranking officials and junior political aides. “The way this policy reads, an intern in the office of the deputy attorney general could be communicating about case-related information to an intern at the White House Counsel’s office,” Gess said.
Gess Quoted on U.S. Attorney Positions
LA Daily Journal, April 12, 2007 — Senate confirmation is usually a formality for U.S. attorney nominees but that’s about to change, reports the LA Daily Journal. Washington insiders say all future Bush administration nominees will find themselves under a sharp microscope as a result of the recent firing of eight U.S. attorneys, including Carol Lam in San Diego and Kevin Ryan in San Francisco. The three as-yet-unknown candidates for the vacant positions in San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Bush appointee Debra Wong Yang stepped down as U.S. attorney in the fall, can expect uncomfortable rides. Senators will also have a major role to play before nominees are named, which according to Nick Gess, a principal in Bingham Consulting, would be a return to the Justice Department's traditional approach of largely deferring to home-state senators. “U.S. attorneys are certainly the president's nominee,” he said. "But the reality is the senators from the party in power have always played a significant role.” Gess said the Bush White House would do well to listen closely to the recommendations made by the selection committees in each district and that the administration should take a careful look at nonpartisan career prosecutors. “All four districts in California have superb career people,” Gess said.