Law firm leadership is at a proverbial fork in the road. The people running law firms can continue to do business as usual, or they can lead their firms toward a model of business that reflects the new and still evolving client expectations and market demands.
By guiding your colleagues and lawyers to focus on the business consequences of timely legal issues, you introduce them to reporters as sources whose opinions and predictions will be quoted in these look-back and look-ahead review stories that executives and prospective clients will be reading to gear up for the new year.
A law firm executive's ability to lead lawyers' potential for greatness can be evaluated using a model that is similar to baseball. The term “five-tool player” is used to describe a player who has an array of skills across a broad spectrum.
A Chapter 11 debtor's motion for an order approving use of Cash Collateral or for Debtor-in-Possession (DIP) Financing usually happens as part of the so-called first-day hearings held within a few days after commencement of the case. The problem for creditors and equipment lessors is that while the debtor may have sent your client a notice of the bankruptcy case, the notice sometimes goes to the payment lock box or to someone who doesn't even know what bankruptcy is, much less that the order being sought is key to your client's future payment.
“They don't want to work!” It's an all-too-familiar refrain uttered about associates of the millennial generation. As more and more millennials enter the workforce these generational clashes will continue. What can be done to bridge the gap and why should you care?
Mentorship is a key element of associate engagement and retention. While most law firms have formal and informal mentoring programs, not all firms give explicit instructions on how to be a good mentor to junior attorneys. Here are some tips that can prepare you to be a great mentor to the associates at your firm.
Chances are that if your company is involved in research and development of new technology there is a standards setting organization exploring the potential standardization of such technology. While there are clear benefits to participation in standards organizations — keeping abreast of industry developments, targeting product development toward standard compliant products, steering research and intellectual property protection into potential areas of future standardization — such participation does not come without certain risks. Whether you are in-house counsel or outside counsel, you may be called upon to advise participants in standard-setting bodies about intellectual property issues or to participate yourself. You may also be asked to review patent policy of the standard-setting body that sets forth the disclosure and notification requirements with respect to patents for that organization. Here are some potential patent pitfalls that can catch the unwary off-guard.
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
