LJN Newsletters

As Director of Technology and Marketing, much of the responsibility of selecting, maintaining and upgrading to the most powerful technology available is mine. My department also helps coordinate the firm's marketing efforts, such as mailings and events. As part of the firm's mission to provide expertise in multiple practice areas, we have come to understand how vital it is to encourage flexibility and mastery of the latest technology among its attorney users. To achieve results efficiently, a firm must have a streamlined approach to stay competitive and run efficiently.

When introducing new technologies or processes, managing the challenge of change requires a clear vision, ongoing two-way communication with the affected stakeholders and an understanding of people's levels of influence and commitment to the change. A law firm's culture can impede the adoption of new processes. When employees are accustomed to performing tasks in a certain way, you are bound to come up against some resistance if the new processes translate into a loss of their routines and comfort levels. Therefore, it is imperative that you get the appropriate people involved early in the planning to make sure they understand the new systems and processes ' and how the changes will affect them and the firm.

Drafting a document between multiple reviewers can get complicated and frustrating when the available tools aren't used properly ' or not at all. The most common tools for document collaboration in Microsoft Word are Track Changes and Comments. These features are often used incompletely or the proper use of them is misunderstood.

Highlights of the latest insurance cases from around the country.

One traditional rule of contract interpretation is to construe contact terms in appropriate circumstances against the drafter, a concept often referred to as contra proferentum. This doctrine sometimes fits uncomfortably with two other views expressed by American courts. On one hand, many decisions say that insurance contracts are interpreted just like any other commercial contract. See, e.g., Sims v. Mulhearn Funeral Home, Inc., ___ So.2d ___, (La. 2007); Bear River Ins. Co. v. Williams, 153 P.2d 798, 801 (Utah Ct. App. 2006). On the other hand, some decisions say without qualification that insurance contracts should be construed strictly against the insurer. See, e.g., Carter v. Concord Gen. Mut. Ins. Co., ___ A.2d ___ (N.H. 2007); Cinergy Corp. v. Associated Elec. & Gas Ins. Servs., Ltd., 865 N.E.2d 571, 574 (Ind. 2007). And sometimes a single opinion tries to express both at the same time: 'It is well settled that a contract of insurance is no different from any other contract and must be construed in a fair and reasonable manner, having regard to the risk and subject matter of the policy, and that special rules such as liberal construction in favor of the insured and against the insurer who drew the contract apply.' In re New York Cent. Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 833 N.Y.S.2d 182, 183 (App. Div. 2007) (emphasis added).

The 2005 hurricane season, including the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, caused estimated losses of $75 billion. The insured property damage from the five major hurricanes in 2005 reached $52.7 billion. Hurricane Katrina alone caused more property loss than had occurred in the entire prior year, posting $27.3 billion. See http://insurancenews net.com/article.asp?a=top_news&id=73930. In light of these unprecedented losses, a record number of lawsuits have been filed stemming from damage caused by the 2005 storms. Predictably, an equally high number of class action suits have been filed, purportedly on behalf of those affected by the storms. Despite this flurry of class action suits, the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 and its state counterparts clearly limit the use of class action suits to very specific, enumerated circumstances that simply do not include first-party insurance disputes, widespread property damage claims, or claims for bad faith and/or unfair trade practices in the adjustment of insurance claims, even where the damage was due to a common weather event.

Choosing the jurisdiction and applicable law for disputes arising out of an insurance or reinsurance contract may be secondary to sorting out the actual terms of coverage, but the importance of the choice should not be underestimated. A good lesson in the different approaches of even mainstream insurance jurisdictions can be had by looking at the experience of the insurers embroiled in the film finance saga, which has kept banks, insurers, reinsurers, and the courts worldwide busy for the last seven years.

They may lament that they are the poor cousins of hedge fund managers and private equity stakeholders, but law firm partners are hardly suffering.