LJN Newsletters

In today's complex law firm business environment, one might ask, what is Mark or Mary's magic? How do they bring in so much business? How do they make those deals happen? To ensure the long-term 'harvest, life, health and abundance' for the firm, one must ask whether the magic of rainmaking can be developed in new associates, seasoned lawyers or law firm executives.
As a lifelong advocate of professional development, I must confess that some of the skills may not be teachable, but are rather a part of an individual's personality and intuitive style that, when combined with their legal expertise, create an ability to make connections, build trust and sustain relationships. However, we are able to develop a lawyer's and his or her team's skills over time ' and that is an essential element of a rainmaking team that has depth.

A veteran sales trainer was trying to convince a room full of sales professionals to simply keep an open mind. Glancing at the class and back to the flip chart, he tapped his finger on the hand-written third circle and explained: 'This is where ' you don't know what you don't know!' After explaining the first two circles that represented information that 'you know you know,' and 'you know you don't know,' I had to reflect on this profound concept for a moment. And of course ' he was right! The danger zone is clearly the outer circle where one doesn't even recognize the need for knowledge or information.

Law firm management is still battling to build and maintain a thriving law firm client team program. Thrive is used purposely to emphasize a point. Programs and initiatives come and go, often without meaningful impact, but to thrive is to make steady progress; to prosper, flourish, and grow vigorously (courtesy of dictionary.com for this purpose). Client teams need to thrive to succeed because anything less will not produce the revenue and relationship goals the program promises to deliver. Success will depend on continuous support from many sources, motivated teaming, rigorous processes and probably fundamental cultural change. That would be tough enough if it was the absolute top priority of any business. Would you be surprised to learn that client teams have not yet reached this exalted status in most law firms?

If you could bring in a new group of clients generating $10 million in annual legal fees, would your partners make it a priority? How about $15 million? Or $20 million? Those were the estimated historical revenues of three different groups of rainmakers (and supporting casts) assisted by Major, Lindsey & Africa in the first half of 2006 as they transitioned to new law firms. Such acquisitions of groups led by major rainmakers reflect a sea change in how the legal profession does business, particularly with respect to growth. No longer satisfied with a model of organic growth 'up through the ranks' or the more recent sporadic additions of individual partners, more firms are turning their focus to the acquisition of entire practice groups; bringing with them seven- and eight-figure practices. (Mergers of entire firms, while far more common than a generation ago, are a topic for another article. While they provide many of the benefits of a group acquisition ' and sometimes far more ' there are fewer and fewer attractive and willing merger partners to consider.) For most law firms, growth no longer focuses simply on the number of attorneys, but rather on increasing revenue per lawyer, profits per partner, geographic footprint and diversity of practice areas.

False Endorsement Claims
First-Amendment Defense
Sublicensing Limits

Right of Publicity/Statute of Limitations
Right of Publicity, Collective Bargaining Agreements/Venue Transfer

Our 2006 bonus issue provides a review of top issues in entertainment law over the last year, and focuses on right-of-publicity, trademark and related cases. The coverage here is in addition to what we have reported on in our regular monthly issues. As always, our objective is to help keep you competitive in the ever-fast-paced entertainment industry. …

As the copyright terms of many iconic, character-based works of the 20th Century near closure, owners of these works face the question as to what extent they can enjoy exclusive rights in the characters they have created. Enterprising third parties raise the related question: Does the expiration of copyright mean these works and characters can be freely exploited? Once a copyright term lapses, an original work is said to pass into the public domain, available for all to freely copy and exploit. However, continued trademark protection for a character may delay or complicate the character's passage into the public domain. A careful analysis of fundamental principles of trademark and copyright law and relevant case law illuminate certain legal guideposts for navigating through the complexities of character protection.