It is no surprise to anyone that health care spending continues to rise at what is generally considered the fastest rate in U.S. history. As a result, the health care industry is growing exponentially and is under incredible market pressure. Medical device companies and pharmaceutical companies constantly compete to provide newer and better drugs and devices as well as balance issues relating to cost, patient safety and liability. In order to compete in this environment and develop safe and effective products, testing on human volunteers through clinical trials is necessary. Naturally, because they involve human beings, clinical trials have increasingly become the subject of litigation.

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Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.

We read about 'deadbeat dads' who fail to pay their child support and about the children who suffer the financial repercussions in those situations. Clearly, we can all agree that child support is beneficial to children and that educating parents about this responsibility is important. There is, however, continued debate about the policy behind child support enforcement.

A woman who has persistently made unsubstantiated allegations that her former husband is a child molester was stripped of custody rights by a New York appellate court. The Appellate Division, Third Department, said Kristin F. Chase's relentless efforts to undermine her son's relationship with his father and 'her ongoing quest to brand [the father, John T. Chase] a pedophile' warrant an order granting the father sole legal and physical custody of the now 6-year-old boy. The decision in <i>Chase v. Chase</i>, 500656, is the latest development in a long-standing and especially bitter custody fight that has played out in both the courts and the media (NYLJ, Nov. 2, 2005).

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Ongoing United States military involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the globe forces military parents to make important and sometimes difficult decisions with regard to their children. The current state of world affairs has resulted in increased deployment of active duty military members and increased activation and deployment of military reservists and National Guard members. Among other things, the mobilization of a military parent may result in the need for legal counsel to deal with complicated child custody issues. As a result, family lawyers dealing with military families must familiarize themselves with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

Corporate counsels' ethical obligations are primarily seen as directing the corporation to comply with the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Typically, the more amorphous concept of corporate 'culture' has been left to the auspices of human resources. New empirical evidence suggests that corporate culture plays a defining role in whether an organization conducts business in an ethical manner and that corporate counsel need to be part of assessing and changing that&#133;

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In a recent development that will likely be of interest to companies conducting business in Europe, the American Bar Association has recently 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 www.abanet.org/intlaw/policy/investment/hcca0806.pdf.)

The means by which courts implement bar orders in securities class actions continue to evolve. Currently, courts use three widely recognized methods to calculate the judgment reduction credit given to a non-settling defendant who is barred from pursuing contribution claims from a settling defendant. One method, pro rata, has already lost favor in the courts and in the near future, the second method, pro tanto, will most likely fall from grace as well. In contrast to the first two, the last method, proportionate fault, is rising in popularity due to its greater likelihood of leading to equitable results. It is, therefore, last call to those seeking to have their bar order filled by anything other than the proportionate fault method.