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In a recent development that will likely be of interest to lessors and other parties conducting business in Europe, the American Bar Association has urged the U.S. government to sign, ratify, and implement the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (the 'Choice of Court Convention'). The Choice of Court Convention accomplishes many goals that have long been sought by the United States. Most importantly, it provides a mechanism for the recognition of certain judgments rendered by U.S. courts, namely judgments resolving a dispute arising out of a commercial agreement that was submitted pursuant to an exclusive choice of court agreement. (See American Bar Association, Recommendation adopted by the House of Delegates (Aug. 7-8, 2006), at <i>www.abanet.org/intlaw/policy/investment/hcca0806.pdf.</i>)

In a case of first impression under New Jersey law, an appeals court has held that Internet subscribers have a reasonable expectation of privacy, allowing a challenge to a subpoena that led to an indictment for computer-related theft.

Today, the pervasive role that technology has assumed in business and legal practice, as more and more of our daily lives are lived online, provides a more fundamental challenge to how attorneys practice business law. In an age when 'paper file' has become an anachronism and an oxymoron, business law and the way it is practiced have required more than just tinkering with particular rules.

One of the best ways for a lawyer to show clients and prospects that he or she has 'the right stuff' is to write stuff ' for legal trades, B2B publications, consumer magazines and, of course, all those content-hungry Web sites. Every legal marketer knows this ' a nd so do most lawyers. The problem is that many attorneys are too busy doing paid work to perform this marketing must, while others may be phobic about writing for a publication (a fear similar to that of public speaking), or simply lack a talent for writing or the know-how to structure an article that motivates businesspeople or consumers to pick up the phone. While partners with associates at their beck and call may be able to palm off the task, all too often associates are too busy trying to meet their quota of billable hours, or pro bono work, or too wet behind the ears to produce something that a partner would want to put under his or her name. So what to do?

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e-Commerce records may have less legal protection from disclosure than traditional commerce records ' a situation that might cause some concern for e-commerce company principals, their counsel and customers ' even after the companies, and the law firms representing them, no longer exist.

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Recent rulings of importance to your practice.

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Transactional attorneys must ask and answer a deep and relevant question: 'On what does it depend?' If, as Sir Francis Bacon wrote, knowledge is power, then the answer to that 'what' in the question lies in an attorney's information quotient, or IQ.

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In this age of regulatory and prosecutorial focus on corporate compliance, companies increasingly are relying on special outside counsel to conduct internal investigations into potential wrongdoing. Sometimes, these investigations are prophylactic: A company may want to understand the consequences of its current hiring practices so it can develop standard operating procedures to better ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Because this sort of proactive, self-reflective investigation generally proceeds without outside scrutiny, counsel has the time and space to conduct a deliberate investigation.