Delaware Amends Alternative Entity Statutes
Earlier this year, Delaware's Governor Ruth Ann Minner (D) signed into law bills amending three of Delaware's four statutes that govern 'alternative entities' formed in the state. Alternative entities are not corporations, but, rather general partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and statutory trusts.
Horns of a Defense Counsel Dilemma
This article examines the conflicts that surround the so-called 'tripartite relationship' among policyholder, insurance company, and defense counsel hired by the insurance company, as well as techniques to preserve defense counsel's un-conflicted duty to its client, the policyholder. Insurance conflicts counsel is one such technique.
Crystal Ball Required?
As experienced Chapter 11 bankruptcy practitioners know, when a company suffers severe financial distress and faces the prospect of imminent bankruptcy, its record-keeping procedures can break down, even if they were previously adequate. To prevent future litigation difficulties from arising in connection with the prosecution of avoidance actions, it is important for a practitioner advising a company heading into or newly in bankruptcy to begin to preserve all electronic data immediately.
The Changing Face of Chapter 11
The face of bankruptcies in corporate America has changed multiple times since the reforms of 1978. And it's going to change once more ' probably radically ' over the coming months. This article explains.
The Ephedra Bankruptcy Cases and the Twinlab Global Settlement Model
It began a little over four years ago, in late September 2003, with a simple but urgent telephone call from pioneering ephedra plaintiffs' attorney Anne Andrews (of Orange County, CA-based Andrews & Thornton) to one of the authors. The caller asked about the impact of the then-recently filed bankruptcy of TwinLab, an ephedra weight-loss product manufacturer and a significant player in the food and vitamin supplement industry, on that company's products liability insurance policies. Four major ephedra manufacturer bankruptcies later, the situation ended on Sept. 25, 2007, when the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California entered an order in the ephedra-related Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Metabolife International ...
Features
Challenging the Federal Sentencing Guidelines on Policy Grounds
The federal Sentencing Guidelines can lead to 'patently absurd' punishments in white-collar cases. United States v. Adelson, 441 F. Supp. 2d 506, 515 (S.D.N.Y. 2006) (Rakoff, J.). But judicial discretion in sentencing, strongly reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in Kimbrough v. United States, No. 06-6330 (Dec. 10, 2007), and Gall v. United States, No. 06-7949 (Dec. 10, 2007), has opened an important avenue for advocacy in business crime cases.
Features
Bit Parts
Copyright/Joint-Authorship Test<br>DMCA Safe-Harbor Bid/Declaratory Suit<br>File-Sharing Suit/Anti-Trust Counterclaims
Attorney Fees Ruling
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York awarded attorney fees and costs under Sec. 505 of the Copyright Act to movie-studio and film-distribution defendants against a pro se plaintiff.
Counsel Concerns
Attorney as Trustee<br>Attorney Disqualification
Features
Legal Sales & Service: Voice of the Client: CRANK IT UP!
The articles that the Legal Sales and Service Organization (LSSO) has published in a regular column for MLF the past year have focused on a variety of specific topics, like planning, alignment, and how to lead successful initiatives. But they all have one important thing in common. It is the need for law firms to really listen to their clients in order to elevate their service.
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