The authors are both members of the American Law Institutes (ALI), an institution that's been around since 1923. Membership is made up of judges, practicing attorneys and legal scholars from both the United States and the international legal community. The ALI employs a deliberative process to gain insights into its various members' understanding and opinions of the law, then it drafts and publishes Restatements of the Law, model codes, and legal studies to promote, as the ALI Web site home page states, 'the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work.' In this article, they take issue with a recent ALI Tentative Draft on the expert testimony standard.
- October 31, 2007James M. Beck and Mark Herrmann
When an infant is born hypoxic, acidotic and neurologically depressed and goes on to develop permanent brain damage, questions are raised as to when the injury occurred, why it occurred and whether it could have been prevented through the exercise of reasonable care. The answers to those questions will determine whether there is a valid basis for pursuing a claim of medical malpractice.
October 31, 2007Christopher D. BernardIt is not uncommon for a client's wealth to be concentrated in one or more retirement plans. As such, the disposition of such retirement plans, both during life and after a client's death, are often at the heart of the negotiations for a prenuptial or divorce agreement. Understanding the various income tax savings as well as the traps associated with retirement vehicles will give your clients the advantage when involved in such negotiations and thereby enable your clients and their beneficiaries to maximize the benefits of these valuable assets. This article offers a few practical strategies to help your clients get the maximum benefit from their retirement plans, with the lowest tax cost possible.
October 31, 2007Ellen Schiffer BerkowitzPart One of this article discussed the adoption of the Uniform Mediation Act (UMA) in New Jersey and the similarities and differences from the adoption of the UMA in other states. The conclusion addresses the risks and benefits of mediating a divorce.
October 31, 2007Lynne Strober and David S. CartonA court ethics committee has warned New Jersey lawyers who run divorce mediation centers that they are covered by the Rules of Professional Conduct, and the panel has found one center in violation.
October 31, 2007Henry GottliebMatrimonial attorneys may believe that the Bankruptcy Code protects support creditors, insuring that they will be able to collect both ongoing support and support arrears. While it may be true that the support obligations cannot be discharged, during the pendency of a Chapter 11 case ' and that could be for years ' collection of support is increasingly a matter of federal law to be adjudicated by a federal court that is concerned with balancing the claims of the support creditor against the claims of all the other creditors.
October 31, 2007Elliot Wiener and Peter HarutunianNews about lawyers and law firms in the insurance industry.
October 30, 2007ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |Highlights of the latest insurance cases from around the country.
October 30, 2007ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |Recent cases have highlighted the continuing disagreement among courts on one of the highest-stakes issues in asbestos coverage litigation: determining the number of occurrences that arise from asbestos exposure.
October 30, 2007Robert D. Goodman and Steve VaccaroAutomobile insurance carriers in New Jersey and New York are routinely faced with the issue of whether a fraudulent insurance claim for personal injury protection ('PIP') benefits must be adjudicated in statutorily mandated PIP arbitration or whether those claims may be adjudicated in a court of law. In cases involving fraudulently procured insurance policies, this issue was squarely decided on July 27, 2007 by the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Fiouris.
October 30, 2007Anthony J. Golowski II