International firm re-elects CEO, appoints new chair… Law firms should aim for 40 per cent female leadership… Pow! Supreme Court says Batmobile ruling stands…
Bird & Bird re-elects CEO, appoints new chair
David Kerr will remain as chief executive of Bird & Bird following his re-election. Kerr will be at the helm of the firm for the next three years, adding to the twenty that he has already served. He will be working with a new chairman; Massimiliano Mostardini, the firm’s current managing partner for Italy.
Law firms should aim for 40 per cent female leadership
Women should make up 40 per cent of leaders in law firm business units within the next three years. That’s the view of the Managing Partners Forum which says that globally women make up 16 per cent of CEO roles, 27 per cent of business unit leaders and 46 per cent of functional management roles in professional services firms.
The Forum says that firms, including those in the legal profession, should aim for women to make up 40 per cent of business unit leaders and 30 per cent of CEOs; the latter being facilitated by the former providing more female leaders with the necessary experience.
Pow! Supreme Court says Batmobile ruling stands
The owner of a Californian custom-car garage has lost his bid to have a copyright case against him overturned. Mark Towles had been making replicas of Batman’s iconic vehicle but was hit with a lawsuit in 2011 by DC Comics claiming that he was infringing its copyright. Towles countered that the Batmobile was a usable item and not a copyrightable character but the judge in a district court ruled in favour of the plaintiff.
Towles took the case to appeal in 2015 but was again beaten with the court highlighting that the Batmobile is “a highly-interactive vehicle, equipped with high-tech gadgets and weaponry used to aid Batman in fighting crime.” His last shot at overturning the rulings was the US Supreme Court, but he has been told that the court will not hear the case.
