Judge Richard Seeborg's ruling, which addresses a question of first impression, is a big blow for Oracle, which had invoked a forum-selection provision in its bylaws in moving to dismiss two derivative suits involving allegations that Oracle fraudulently bilked the government out of millions of dollars by overcharging for software and licenses.

Privately held firms might best adopt elective forum selection provisions prior to an IPO, and publicly traded firms can adopt forum selection provisions in their charters or bylaws. Obtaining majority shareholder support for a charter amendment may be easier than some observers expect. If a corporation determines that it prefers not to amend its charter, board action is sufficient to amend the bylaws, as recently demonstrated by Chevron. The benefits of adopting a forum selection provision will likely exceed the costs for most entities. If this calculus is correct, there should be a large increase in the incidence of intra-corporate charter or bylaw forum selection provisions in coming years.

Mr. Goldstein is returning to the small practice he ran with his wife, Amy Howe, out of their Washington home before joining Akin Gump five years ago. But the new Goldstein Howe & Russell “will have a different profile than the old one,” Mr. Goldstein says. “The old firm did more than half its work pro bono, and this one won’t.”

Ms. Howe will continue to focus on pro bono work, while Mr. Goldstein will primarily practice commercial litigation. He says he the move was necessitated by conflicts between one of his principal clients and other Akin Gump clients; one of his key clients, eager to retain Mr. Goldstein’s services, agreed to finance his move back to a small practice.

Mr. Goldstein won’t identify the client, but he currently has a half dozen cases pending at the Supreme Court, as well as a specialty that grew out of a favorite pastime–poker. Mr. Goldstein is representing poker interests against state regulators seeking to put the game out of business.