Improving Your Internal Controls to Protect the Firm's (and Your Clients') Money
Managing partners of law firms should ensure that there is an appropriate structure of internal controls in place at their firms to protect their firms and clients against fraud. With the economy in a recession, cases of employee fraud are on the rise, and in many instances better controls and more oversight are needed.
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The Federal Circuit Attempts to Right the Inequitable Conduct Ship
Several recent decisions have pointed toward a sinking standard for proving inequitable conduct, which has created an atmosphere of uncertainty about the proper scope of the inequitable conduct defense. The Federal Circuit's recent opinion on the subject, <i>Star Scientific, Inc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.</i>, appears to be an attempt to right the ship by reiterating the standards for proving inequitable conduct that were established more than 20 years ago.
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Who Needs Patents?
The Patent Reform Act of 2007 may soon be recycled as The Patent Reform Act of 2009 and reintroduced in the new Congress. Should this reform become the law, it is likely that inventors will still invent. The author's fear, however, is that without strong patent law, investors will no longer want to invest in unprotected ideas.
Federal Circuit Applies Bilski Standard in Classen
The Federal Circuit's October 2008 decision in <i>In re Bilski</i> created uncertain implications for biotechnology regarding the applicable standard for patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. §101. In its recent one-paragraph opinion in <i>Classen Immunotherapies v. Biogen IDEC</i>, the Federal Circuit left many issues unexplained, but it did make one thing clear: The <i>Bilski</i> standard, now being applied in the area of biomedical technology, poses a significant threat to the viability of patents claiming diagnostic methods.
Now It's Personal: Intangible Asset Mismanagement Liability
As a result of two watershed cases, a Board that fails in its duty of oversight of intangible assets now places individual directors at risk for personal liability.
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Putting Riverbed Steelhead Appliances To the Test
At any professional services firm, but particularly for an AmLaw 200 law firm with offices in several locations, data protection is a key concern for management. At my current firm as well as a previous one, Riverbed Steelhead' appliances played a crucial part in and facilitated our data protection approaches by enabling the consolidation and centralization of our critical servers and data. Riverbed has listened to its customers and has continued to improve its products with the result that they not only optimize WAN connectivity, but also offer additional features and functionality to help firms more effectively execute their technology plans.
<b>Case Study:</b> Managing Risk by Improving the Intake Process
Law firms around the world are continually challenged with how to best manage information and business processes associated with clients, matters, conflicts of interest and new business intake while taking every precaution to mitigate risk and increase productivity. It's not an easy task, but with proper vision, along with the right team and systems in place, firms can meet evolving business needs and achieve optimal information management while enhancing risk management. Here is how we did it at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.
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- Inferring Dishonesty: The Fifth Amendment and Fidelity CoverageDishonest employees always have posed a problem for businesses. The average business may lose 6% of its annual revenues to employee fraud, and cumulatively the impact of employee theft on the economy is estimated to be $600 billion annually. <i>See</i> Association of Certified Fraud Examiners ("ACFE"), 2002 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse, at ii, 4 (2002), available at <i>www.cfenet.com/publications/rttn.asp.</i> Although the average loss through employee embezzlement is $25,000, where computerized financial records or transactions are involved, the average loss increases nearly twentyfold. <i>See</i> National White Collar Crime Center, <i>WCC Issue: Embezzlement/Employee Theft,</i> at 2 (2002), available at <i>http://nw3c.org/downloads/Computer_Crime_Weapon.pdf.</i>Read More ›
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