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Update on Parental Alienation Syndrome Image

Update on Parental Alienation Syndrome

Paul L. Feinstein

There has been a lot of confusion between the terms 'Parental Alienation Syndrome' (hereinafter 'PAS') and parental alienation. Nearly every state considers parental alienation a factor in determining child custody. Some states even go further and impose tort liability on the person who alienates a child from the other parent. This article explains in depth.

CA Justices Rule in Dispute over Artificial Insemination Image

CA Justices Rule in Dispute over Artificial Insemination

Mike McKee

Less than two weeks after stunning the nation by upholding marriage rights for same-sex couples, the California Supreme Court in May seemed poised to deliver another victory for gay rights. <i>North Coast Women's Care Medical Group v. Superior Court.</i> Specifically, the court gave every indication during oral arguments in San Francisco that it would rule that doctors cannot invoke their religious beliefs to deny gays and lesbians medical services.

Features

Medical Child Abuse: Munchausen by Proxy and Pediatric Condition Falsification Image

Medical Child Abuse: Munchausen by Proxy and Pediatric Condition Falsification

Lawrence Jay Braunstein & Pamela Walitt

While many family practitioners are familiar with allegations of child sexual abuse and physical abuse, often arising in the context of a custody dispute, fewer are as knowledgeable about Factitious Disorder by Proxy ('FDP'), popularly referred to as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy ('MSBP') and a variant thereof, Pediatric Condition Falsification ('PCF'). Whether you are representing a parent accused of child sexual abuse, the accusing parent or a parent with a chronically ill child, a basic understanding of these disorders is helpful to properly assess whether they may be an issue in your case.

Features

Developing a Partner Scorecard That Is Meaningful to Your Firm Image

Developing a Partner Scorecard That Is Meaningful to Your Firm

K. Jennie Kinnevy

This article is the first in a series about developing a customized scorecard for your firm's partners, specific information to include in the scorecard, tailoring it to your firm's goals, and getting partners to understand the scorecard and achieve greater success.

Profitable Use of Associates Image

Profitable Use of Associates

Joel A. Rose

Partners must be willing to make an investment in the future by becoming more involved in the associate's early experience at the firm. By monitoring each associate's progress, under the auspices of the coordinating partner and the individual partner-mentors, the firm can build toward its successful future.

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Business Development Does Not Have to Be a Pain in the Associate Image

Business Development Does Not Have to Be a Pain in the Associate

Ari L. Kaplan

Some believe that there are a few naturally gifted rainmakers in each firm who are born with a talent for generating business. That theory is not quite accurate. There is a science to it and that science is to promote oneself without ever engaging in self-promotion. Those who appear to be naturally gifted simply internalized this idea many years ago and have built it into their daily routine.

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Practice Building Skills: Can I Really Learn How to Be a Rainmaker? Image

Practice Building Skills: Can I Really Learn How to Be a Rainmaker?

Chuck & Evan Polin

The authors note: "It is amazing to us how often we meet attorneys who have the self-limiting belief that they will never be successful rainmakers. We constantly hear things like, 'I didn't go to law school to sell something,' or 'the people I know who develop business can do so only because it comes naturally to them.' These are excuses that may make us feel better when we say them, but they will not ever help us move out of our comfort zones to become well-rounded professionals.

Law Firm Leadership: The Audacity of Being Above Average Image

Law Firm Leadership: The Audacity of Being Above Average

David Freeman

Too many of our firms are filled with frustration: frustration with leadership, frustration with followership, and frustration with fellowship. One source of this irritation is the disconnect between the boundless potential of high-achieving lawyers and the suffocating constraints of the firms in which they work. Some of the best and brightest minds in our society, people with exceptionally high values and aspirations, find themselves stuck in firms that fail to meet their lofty standards. Here's what to do about it.

Media & Communications Corner: Interview with Susan Fried, Chief Officer of Recruitment and Development at K&L Gates Image

Media & Communications Corner: Interview with Susan Fried, Chief Officer of Recruitment and Development at K&L Gates

Monica Smith

As Chief Officer of Recruitment and Development at K&amp;L Gates, Susan Fried oversees much more than staffing and retention. Working collaboratively with the firm's leadership since her arrival there in 2002, Susan has been instrumental in establishing innovative programs aimed at growing a diverse force of associates into great attorneys.

Client Speak: Know Thyself ' And Fast! Image

Client Speak: Know Thyself ' And Fast!

Allan Colman

How to implement a Rapid Assessment to help get your marketing initiative back on the right track.

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