Sicel Technologies, Inc., announced today that the organization has not been placed into involuntary bankruptcy. Effective August 31, 2010, Paul McDaniel became the interim President and an interim Director of the company. Currently, Sicel's operations are continuing and several employees who had previously been furloughed have returned to work.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Sicel Technologies, Inc.

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Independent Online reports that Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo said the trial of four men sentenced to death for an attack on the presidential palace was "open" and "fair."

According to Independent Online, in statement released by the government based on a speech when he opened parliament, President Obiang said "the laws governing Equatorial Guinea were respected and implemented, as well as the procedures of a legal, open and fair trial, with all guarantees of a defense team and recourse that might have been necessary."

"The verdict handed down" at the end of the trial that began on August 13 "is no different from in trials that take place in other parts of the world," President Obiang said according to Independent Online.

Independent Online also states that President Obiang said the main purpose of laws and courts was to keep the peace and security, with "a political and social balance, and economic development for the well-being of the people. If for this, we need to take exceptional measures, we will do it whenever's called for."

"The death penalty has not been abolished," he stressed as reported by Independent Online. "Pardons and reductions in sentences do not signify a weakness or tolerance in our judicial system, but rather an effort to rehabilitate those who have violated the principles that underpin the state of law in Equatorial Guinea."

About Equatorial Guinea

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea (Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial) is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa, and one of the smallest nations on the continent. In the late-1990s, American companies helped discover the country's oil and natural gas resources, which only within the last five years began contributing to the global energy supply. Equatorial Guinea is now working to serve as a pillar of stability and security in its region of West Central Africa. The country will host the 2011 Summit of the African Union. For more information, visit http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com.

This has been distributed by Qorvis Communications, LLC on behalf of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. More information on this relationship is on file at the United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

SOURCE Republic of Equatorial Guinea

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Copper Conferencing, a leading provider of audio conferencing and webinar services to the legal community, introduced Copper Legal, a full suite of audio conferencing, web conferencing and online account management for law firms and their legal administrators.  Visit www.copperlegal.com.

Copper Legal addresses the growing need of law firms to manage and recover costs, create efficiency among the administrative staff and find creative ways to develop greater contact with potential clients. Law firms, like many businesses today, must find ways to grow their businesses while closely monitoring costs and need to accomplish more with fewer resources.  "As we have become more educated with the challenges law firms and their administrators face in the current economy, we have continued to refine our conferencing services to be more relevant to the industry," said Carolyn Bradfield, CEO of Copper Conferencing.  

Connect To Copper, the online account management tool for firm administrators and legal assistants, streamlines the time that administrators must spend in managing conferencing users and allocating calls to the appropriate cost center or client matter number.  Features have been added specifically for law firms including the ability to email conferencing account information to attorneys at the touch of a button, to manage recordings online and to get invoicing reports electronically.

"We have increased our understanding of the administrative needs of law firms through our sponsorships and visits with members of the Association of Legal Administrators.  Those relationships have helped Copper understand their challenges and create technology to match their needs."

Copper Legal provides a full suite of audio and web conferencing services for the day-to-day needs of the firm.  Using Copper Legal's webinar services, law firms can offer CLE seminars, can offer educational webinars to clients, colleagues, the general public or to specific market segments. For more information about Copper Legal, visit www.copperlegal.com.

With Copper Legal, we make it easy for busy legal administrators to manage conferencing, monitor costs and increase their productivity. As part of Copper Legal, our comprehensive and easy-to-use customer portal, Connect To Copper, is a one-stop resource for conference call account management.  With real-time access to activate or deactivate moderators, view usage, listen to and download recordings or view and pay invoices, administrators can work more efficiently and effectively.

Copper Conferencing will be showcasing Copper Legal at two ALA regional conferences this fall.  Ms Bradfield will be attending Copper's booth at the ALA Region 4 conference October 1-2, 2010 at the Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.  Sara Stilson, Director of Sales for Copper Conferencing, will be attending the ALA Region 5 & 6 conference September 30 - October 2, 2010 at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, California.  Stop by and see Copper at either show or click here to schedule an appointment with Carolyn or Sara.

About Copper Conferencing

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado with a major communications center in Atlanta, Georgia, Copper Conferencing provides audio conferencing and web conferencing services to small and medium-sized businesses. Copper's Conference Coaches™ provide expert guidance of enhanced conferencing services. From On Demand reservationless audio conference calls, to highly interactive webinars and special teleconference event calls, Copper Conferencing helps businesses save time and money while improving productivity. Copper's conferencing services are backed by fully managed, carrier-class platforms to power communication for thousands of customers. For more information about Copper Conferencing, www.copperconferencing.com or call a Conference Coach at 866-903-7521.

Copyright ® 2010 Copper Legal and Connect To Copper are trademarks of The Himark Group, LLC dba Copper Conferencing

SOURCE Copper Conferencing

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Leading securities and corporate governance law firm, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A., today announced that it has expanded its Antitrust practice with the appointment of Linda P. Nussbaum as a Director and John D. Radice as a Senior Counsel.  They will be based in the firm's New York office.

"The top-level antitrust expertise that Linda and John bring to the firm significantly enhances the existing practice group and will be a tremendous asset to our clients," said Jay Eisenhofer, managing director and co-founder of Grant & Eisenhofer. 

Grant & Eisenhofer broadened its practice groups to include antitrust litigation in June of this year.  

"Together, Linda and John bring decades of successful experience in class and individual antitrust litigation, particularly in the pharmaceutical field," said Stuart Grant, the firm's managing director and co-founder. "As we continue to expand our complex litigation offerings, Linda and John are a terrific addition to our antitrust group."

Susan R. Schwaiger, an antitrust attorney with nearly two decades of experience, also will be joining the firm as associate.  Ms. Schwaiger previously was Of Counsel with several leading New York-based antitrust firms representing plaintiffs in class and individual actions.

Linda P. Nussbaum

Linda Nussbaum's practice focuses on plaintiff's antitrust litigation in both class and individual actions. Ms. Nussbaum has served as sole or co-lead counsel in many significant antitrust class actions which have resulted in substantial recoveries, many in the realm of hundreds of millions of dollars.  Ms. Nussbaum recently conducted a five-week jury trial on behalf of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in Boston before Justice Saris resulting in a RICO verdict against Pfizer of $47 million before trebling.

Ms. Nussbaum presently serves in a lead counsel position in:  In re Puerto Rican Cabotage Antitrust Litigation; In re DDAVP Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation; In re Wellbutrin XL Antitrust Litigation; Meijer, Inc., et al. v. Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals Lp, et al (Torprol Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation); In re Miralax Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation and Meijer, Inc., et al. v. Abbott Laboratories (Norvir Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation).  In addition, Ms. Nussbaum represents large corporate entities in individual actions in In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation; In re Neurontin Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation; In re Chocolate Confectionary Antitrust Litigation; and CVS Pharmacy v. American Express Travel Related Services, et al.

Ms. Nussbaum is admitted to practice in New York and DC, as well as various district courts and the Supreme Court of the United States.  Ms. Nussbaum earned her law degree from George Washington University in 1977 and her LL.M in Taxation from New York University School of Law in 1984.  She graduated with honors from Brooklyn College in 1974.  

John D. Radice

John D. Radice practices in the areas of antitrust, False Claims Act, and other areas of complex civil litigation.  Representative cases include: In re Tricor Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litig., In re Neurontin Marketing & Sales Litig., United States ex rel. Piacentile v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., United States ex rel. Marchese v. Cell Therapeutics, Inc.,.  Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Radice was associated with major plaintiffs' class action firms in New York and Philadelphia, where he primarily represented clients pursuing antitrust, False Claims Act, and international human rights cases.

Mr. Radice is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey, as well as various district courts.  Mr. Radice clerked for Judge Edith Brown Clement in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans following his graduation from New York University School of Law in 2003. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1997.

Note:  In addition to its antitrust practice, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. represents institutional investors, both domestic and foreign,  in securities class actions, corporate governance actions and derivative litigation.  The firm has recovered approximately $12 billion for shareholders in the last five years and was cited by RiskMetrics for securing the highest average investor recovery in securities class actions of any U.S. law firm in 2008.  Grant & Eisenhofer has also been named one of the country's top plaintiffs' law firms by the National Law Journal for the past four years.  For more information, visit www.gelaw.com

SOURCE Grant & Eisenhofer P.A.

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In a press conference yesterday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed to a number of missed opportunities that could have saved the troubled state $2.8 billion annually. Included in this list was the wholesale removal of stenographic court reporters from the state's courts in favor of electronic recording, which he suggested would result in $100 million of annual savings. As is so often the case when states begin searching arbitrarily for areas to cut the budget, Gov. Schwarzenegger is short on the facts when it comes to the cost savings of replacing stenographic court reporters. More important than even its budget, California hardly can afford – as no state can – to begin taking action that could compromise the integrity of its judicial process and, ultimately, the state's criminal justice system.

While court reporters do not in any way concede that electronic recording would result in costs savings for California or any state, utterly absurd is the governor's implication that it presents a viable technological alternative to stenographic court reporters. "Court reporters recognize and acknowledge that using the latest technology for capturing the court record is critical, and that's why we've been the leaders in that regard for decades," said NCRA President Melanie Humphrey-Sonntag, a court reporter and firm owner from Chicago. "That is why we bring 21^st-Century technology into the courtroom and depositions that can and does create realtime feeds of legal proceedings, which—among other things—makes these proceedings accessible to those who are deaf or who are hard of hearing."

What happens when states begin looking for places to cut budgets, according to Sonntag, is that they love to look for places where technology can replace perceived antiquated processes and bring windfall-type savings. While it's a nice 10-second sound bite for a governor, it doesn't, in this case, square with reality. The truth is that if courts are looking for the most advanced technology for capturing the court record, they must look to stenographic court reporters. If courts are looking to lower their costs, the truth is they need to look to the court reporters as a resource, who generally pay for their own equipment and continuing education, and who, as experts on making the court record, themselves can point to efficiencies the courts might consider to reduce costs.

What states don't consider is that there is a substantial cost to installing digital audio equipment. What states don't consider is that you need technical expertise within the court system that does not now exist to service the digital audio recording systems and maintain them. What states don't consider is that they need to pay people to turn the audio system on and off. Most importantly, what states don't consider is that, at some point, people are going to want transcripts of the court proceedings, which is another hidden cost that states often don't think about. That's where digital audio can fail miserably and a court reporter will protect the integrity of the court record every time.

"What a court reporter can do that a digital audio system can't is halt the proceedings when two people are talking at the same time," said Sonntag. "When two voices are indistinguishable – and that happens a lot – a stenographic court reporter won't miss a beat, but someone transcribing digital audio will be totally lost. When papers are shuffled near a microphone or a microphone malfunctions – and how many times have you seen THAT happen yourself – that is a total disaster for digital audio. For stenographic court reporters, that's never an issue…NEVER."  

Said Gov. Schwarzenegger: "We have electronic court reporting, 100 million dollars. We do not need any people there. We have the technology now to do the reporting and the recording." No, California will NOT save 100 million dollars by replacing court reporters. Yes, you DO need people there, and not just any people, but stenographic court reporters. No, you don't have the technology to do the reporting and the recording that would provide the level of integrity to the court system that the citizens of California and its entire judicial system deserve.

"I can appreciate Governor Schwarzenegger's plight," said Sonntag, "he's got to find ways to cut the state's deficit. But the cost savings of using digital audio are inflated. They're not considering all the costs of digital audio. In fact, there's no proof that digital audio saves ANY money at all. In the meantime, California would be chasing phantom savings and, in the process, severely compromise the integrity of its judicial system and access to the system by its citizens. In his own words, Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to 'usher in a golden new era of prosperity in California.' That's what court reporters want as well. I hope he gives the state's court reporters a role in the process—an opportunity to work on that with the courts and legislators together."

Sonntag also directs media to a YouTube video of court reporter Lisa Michaels, president of the Deposition Reporters Association of California (DRA), that is directed to Gov. Schwarzenegger and presents additional facts about stenographic reporters. The video is at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqSUxuoXOOo. Another resource for information on this topic and others related to court reporters in California is the California Court Reporters Association (CCRA) at the following link: http://www.cal-ccra.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=111088&orgId=ccra.

About NCRA

The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) is a 21,000-member professional association that promotes excellence among those who capture and convert the spoken word to text and is committed to supporting every member in achieving the highest level of professional expertise. NCRA is internationally recognized as being the premier educational and informational resource for its members and the public. NCRA members, who include official and freelance court reporters, broadcast captioners, CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) providers, and Webcasters, are recognized by both the public and private sectors as ethical, well-educated, highly respected, and technologically advanced professionals. For more information, visit www.ncraonline.org.

SOURCE National Court Reporters Association

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