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The Time-Money Continuum
Everyone has heard that time is money, but it may be that no industry understands this concept as well or as thoroughly as the insurance industry. To be profitable, annuities must be sold at a price that, given expected investment performance on the premiums, will more than sustain the income streams promised in the annuity contracts. Life insurance premiums must, given the investment performance expected on the premiums and the mortality experience expected for the pool of insured persons, more than support the expected payments to beneficiaries. Liability and casualty insurance premiums must, given the investment performance expected on the premiums, be more than adequate to pay expected claims. The “more than” concept in all these examples is the key to the profitability of these products for insurers. In short, insurance involves a lot of math.
Insurance companies, accordingly, employ large numbers of accountants, actuaries, economists and others with mathematical training, and they understand the time-money continuum in the way that theoretical physicists understand the interchangeability of time and space. Insurers also understand that, consistent with the very nature of insurance, claims are inevitable. Although the impact of time on money is fundamental to the operation and viability of the insurance industry, and although the inevitability of claims is a given in the industry, it is not always evident that insurers appropriately account to their policyholders for the time value of money when valuing and paying casualty or liability claims, or that policyholders insist that they do so.
Law Firms are Reducing Redundant Real Estate by Bringing Support Services Back to the Office
A trend analysis of the benefits and challenges of bringing back administrative, word processing and billing services to law offices.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Bit Parts
Summary Judgment Denied Defendant in Declaratory Action by Producer of To Kill a Mockingbird Broadway Play Seeking Amateur Theatrical Rights
Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes
“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
Disconnect Between In-House and Outside Counsel
'Disconnect Between In-House and Outside Counsel is a continuation of the discussion of client expectations and the disconnect that often occurs. And although the outside attorneys should be pursuing how inside-counsel actually think, inside counsel should make an effort to impart this information without waiting to be asked.