Documentation of Travel and Entertainment Expenses
The IRS guidelines for deducting travel and entertainment expenses are complex. This article will assist your firm in properly documenting these expenses and avoiding a potential tax authority audit.
Do You Know How Your Pension Plan Really Works?
Most law firms sponsor some type of retirement plan for their employees, but how many plan administrators really know their plan? As a plan fiduciary, what are your responsibilities related to the operation of your pension plan? Read on to find out about your responsibilities as plan fiduciary, key features of your plan about which you should be intimately familiar, and some common problems associated with operating retirement plans.
Features
Contract Litigation
From construction contracts, to supply contracts, to equipment leases, franchisors and franchisees might face the problem of litigating numerous legal disputes simultaneously. This, of course, can be devastating for a business, whether big or small. So what can you do to avoid these pitfalls?
Features
Can We Resolve Franchise Disputes Faster, Cheaper and Better?
Franchisors and franchisees need faster, cheaper, and better ways to resolve disputes. Planned early negotiation processes and early active intervention clauses can help parties and lawyers achieve these goals.
Features
IP News
Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.
Features
Pay-for-Delay May Require a New Prescription
Part One of this series discussed common IP settlement terms that may give rise to antitrust liability and how the analysis of whether a settlement agreement violates the antitrust laws depends upon many factors that are specific to the underlying facts. This second installment addresses recent challenges by the government and private plaintiffs to settlements between brand name and generic drug manufacturers, and how these challenges have further refined the antitrust framework for analyzing patent litigation settlement agreements in the pharmaceutical industry.
Features
The 'Hot News' Doctrine in the Digital Age
Last year, the Southern District of New York reignited the 90-year-old hot news doctrine and applied it in the Internet context. Since that decision, a number of entities have attempted to use the hot news doctrine to prevent the unauthorized use of time-sensitive content, including most recently, financial firms and media outlets attempting to prevent news-oriented Web sites from publishing their well-researched content.
A Roll of the Dice for International Trademark Owners
As international businesses seek to expand across borders, including by availing themselves of legal tools (such as the Madrid Protocol) to register in the United States trademarks developed abroad, there is surprisingly little guidance as to what enforceable rights under U.S. law actually result from this process. However, as shown by the recent decision, In re Casino de Monaco Trademark Litigation, even well-established foreign companies can encounter difficulties enforcing rights not grounded in traditional U.S. trademark law principles of use in commerce.
Professional Development: Making Retirement Relevant and Relaxing
If you ask most attorneys whether they have planned for their retirement, most would answer "of course." However, for the vast majority that answer would be very misleading.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- The 'Sophisticated Insured' DefenseA majority of courts consider the <i>contra proferentem</i> doctrine to be a pillar of insurance law. The doctrine requires ambiguous terms in an insurance policy to be construed against the insurer and in favor of coverage for the insured. A prominent rationale behind the doctrine is that insurance policies are usually standard-form contracts drafted entirely by insurers.Read More ›
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- Abandoned and Unused Cables: A Hidden Liability Under the 2002 National Electric CodeIn an effort to minimize the release of toxic gasses from cables in the event of fire, the 2002 version of the National Electric Code ("NEC"), promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association, sets forth new guidelines requiring that abandoned cables must be removed from buildings unless they are located in metal raceways or tagged "For Future Use." While the NEC is not, in itself, binding law, most jurisdictions in the United States adopt the NEC by reference in their state or local building and fire codes. Thus, noncompliance with the recent NEC guidelines will likely mean that a building is in violation of a building or fire code. If so, the building owner may also be in breach of agreements with tenants and lenders and may be jeopardizing its fire insurance coverage. Even in jurisdictions where the 2002 NEC has not been adopted, it may be argued that the guidelines represent the standard of reasonable care and could result in tort liability for the landlord if toxic gasses from abandoned cables are emitted in a fire. With these potential liabilities in mind, this article discusses: 1) how to address the abandoned wires and cables currently located within the risers, ceilings and other areas of properties, and 2) additional considerations in the placement and removal of telecommunications cables going forward.Read More ›
- The New York Uniform Commercial Code Comes of AgeParties in large non-consumer transactions with no connection whatsoever to New York often choose its law to govern their transactions, and New York statutes permit them to do so. What most people do not know is that the New York Uniform Commercial Code is outdated.Read More ›