About Erik Lundegaard
Erik Lundegaard has been a senior editor at Super Lawyers since 2005 and its editor in chief since 2013—during which time the magazine has won close to 100 journalism awards around the country. His freelance writing has been published by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, Salon, MSNBC.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Seattle Times and The Believer, among others. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, studied Mandarin Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, and lives in Seattle, Washington, where he is a long-suffering Seattle Mariners fan. In his spare time, he is working on a book about the movies of James Cagney.
Articles written by Erik Lundegaard
How Real is 'The Queen's Gambit'?
Chess champion and IP litigator Philip X. Wang talks Beth, Bobby Fischer, and why he’s never been checkmated in a tournament gamePhilip X. Wang is an intellectual property litigator at Russ August & Kabat in Los Angeles who happens to be the 2011 California state chess champion—holding the title of International Master, a rung below Grand Master, according to the World Chess Federation (FIDE). He was also on the cover of our 2019 Southern California Rising Stars magazine. So when Netflix’s new series, The Queen’s Gambit, broke big, we had to know what he thought of it. You’re an international chess master …
The Floodgates
Charity S. Bird on the rash of closures and Subchapter Vs during the pandemicWhen Charity S. Bird became a trustee for Subchapter V bankruptcies, she figured it would lead to a couple of clients a year at best. It had such a small debt limit, after all: just $2.7 million. Plus, the economy was strong. Then COVID-19 hit, the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) was signed into law, and the debt limit for Subchapter Vs was raised, at least temporarily, to $7.5 million. “That opened the floodgates,” she says. “In one week alone, I got assigned …
'We Are So Screwed'
A Kentucky bankruptcy attorney talks about the COVID-19 falloutIn 2007, when Charity S. Bird was a two-year associate with an Atlanta law firm, she was going through records and securities in a failed mortgage broker’s office and kept coming across the names of big banks: Goldman Sachs; Bear Stearns. At one point, she turned to the senior partner on the case and said, “The big banks are going to have to fail. This is not going to work. I mean, this is a nightmare.” The partner stared at her. Finally, he said: “That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever …
'I Can Fix That'
It was a long path to the law for T. McCall Stern; she wouldn’t trade it for anythingT. McCall Stern grew up in Brandon, Miss., with the attitude that anything her three brothers could do, she could do, too. They certainly made her prove it. “I learned to swim,” she says, “because my older brother threw me in the pool and said, ‘There you go.’” Then there’s the story of how she learned to drive a manual transmission. Buckle up. Her father ran an auto-body shop and gave her a vehicle when she was in high school. “He thought it would be funny to put me in a 1985 …
New York State of Mind
Four New York lawyers talk about how the COVID pandemic is affecting real estate, estate planning, employment and bankruptcy lawHow is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting your practice area? Real Estate “In my 35 years of practicing law in New York state, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m getting multiple calls and emails, daily, from people and companies looking to get out of their commercial and residential leases. Even the purchasers of luxury condos are looking to rescind deals and are no longer willing to consummate their multimillion-dollar real estate transactions. It’s impacting everyone—from …
The Room Where It Isn't Happening
How long can Broadway stay shuttered? A Q&A with entertainment attorney Loren PlotkinIn the 1970s, Loren Plotkin, a banking and real estate attorney, was asked by producer Barry Brown to be the lawyer for a revival of the Stephen Sondheim-Jule Styne musical, Gypsy, starring Angela Lansbury. “He was opening a door for me and I wanted to walk through,” says Plotkin. “I promised I’d learn everything I could and hopefully not mess it up.” He didn’t. Since then he’s worked on such Broadway hits as Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights and Hamilton. We spoke to him about the …
What Are the Advantages to a Subchapter V Bankruptcy?
“Subchapter V is better than a regular Chapter 11,” says Charity S. Bird, a bankruptcy attorney at Kaplan Johnson Abate & Bird in Louisville, Kentucky. "You don’t have to pay quarterly fees, you don’t have to get a consensual plan through, your creditors don’t get to torpedo it if they want to. You’re able to propose a plan and the only person that you have to make happy with your plan is your Subchapter V trustee.” Deciding if Subchapter V Is Best for Your Small Business So …
Five Los Angeles attorneys on how COVID-19 is affecting the law
For some, things are simply slower; for others, their entire practice is on holdIt’s early April, and it’s rare to phone an attorney and not hear a child in the background. Everyone is suddenly working from home. Amid social isolation and shelter-in-place orders, it’s the new normal. The COVID-19 pandemic has also put some practices on hold. “Most of my cases are being continued three months out,” says Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney Louis J. Shapiro. As for new clients? “Very few,” he says. “People aren't going out, so crime is down. Evidently, …
Regular check-ins, respecting videoconference preferences, and other tips for working from home
Longtime work-from-home attorney Venkat Balasubramani offers best practices and a glimpse into a legal world in transitionIn 2015, Washington Super Lawyers magazine featured Venkat Balasubramani, an intellectual property lawyer and litigator who had, for the time, a unique work-from-home practice. “Does it really matter if you go to an office?” he asked rhetorically back then. “Most people these days have stuff on their computers and PDF files anyway, right? Nine out of 10 lawyers probably have a laptop, and 90 percent of their stuff is on that laptop.” He said he sometimes went years before meeting a …
'Life Feels Different'
Steve Sidman on the questions restaurateurs and chefs have during the COVID-19 pandemicGeorgia attorney Steve Sidman represents chefs and restaurants throughout the country— Atlanta, Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans and New York. We recently spoke to him about the turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to the restaurant industry and to business generally. What are the main questions your clients are asking in the midst of this pandemic? To a one, every chef or restaurateur that I have spoken with has first expressed concern for anyone other than themselves. Their primary …
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