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Breaking Up with Clients
Every year or so, divorce lawyer Alton Abramowitz does something that would make many a lawyer lose sleep: He breaks up with a client. He would rather not show clients the door, but, he says, their unrealistic expectations sometimes leave him with no other choice. For instance? “People who walk into a lawyer's office and expect to get revenge or punish spouses,” says Abramowitz, a partner in Sheresky Aronson & Mayefsky and co-chair of the New York County Lawyers' Association matrimonial law section. Or clients who “expect you to identify with their anger and feed on their anger.” Then there are clients who become incensed because they see Abramowitz “chatting in the hallway with the wife's lawyer.”
In these situations, Abramowitz reminds clients that “matrimonial clients are not married to their lawyers,” he says. “I've said, 'If you're that unhappy with the way I'm conducting the case, find another lawyer,'” recalls Abramowitz. But, as counselors know first-hand, breaking up can be hard to do — especially if the client doesn't want to find other counsel. For clients who refuse to seek another attorney, Abramowitz says he asks the court to relieve him.
Although disagreements with clients can happen in any kind of case, lawyers say that clients are especially likely to be irrational when the situation involves emotional or personal issues, such as divorce, criminal proceedings, immigration or personal injury. In these kinds of cases, it can make more economic sense to part ways with the client than to continue fighting for an unachievable goal. Of course, there are occasions when lawyers must get off a case, such as if a client wants to perpetrate a fraud on the court. But there are other times when lawyers simply want to be rid of a case for reasons ranging from disagreements about strategy, to whether to accept a settlement, to failure to pay legal fees.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions
UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?