The Document Destruction Policy
Corporate management ' at traditional high-rise bricks-and-mortar enterprises and at e-commerce undertakings ' is afraid these days of destroying documents, and that's certainly easy to understand in the current climate of tightened regulation and increased use of technology for discovery. <br>Also, for some sectors, the rise in use of electronic commerce adds a dimension to the need for oversight of document management, as documents are deleted and moved among various parties electronically.
Features
NJ High Court Says Lawyers' Internet Listings Must Say They Were Paid For
As advertising gravitates more to the Internet, for lawyers as much as other service providers, the New Jersey Supreme Court's Committee on Attorney Advertising is doing its best to adapt its regulatory scheme to the medium. <br>This year alone, there have been four directives issued on what lawyers may and may not do on the Web, and the most recent puts new restrictions on lawyers' online listings to ensure that potential clients don't interpret them as official endorsements.
<b>Analysis:</b> Courts Still Not Sure How to Handle Internet
While the legal and jurisdictional implications are important, the Internet considerations highlight the complexity associated with the online world and geographic borders. For the majority of the court, the combination of the expert panel evidence and the decision by the French court to limit its restrictions to French users yielded the view that offline geographic borders can be applied to the Internet.
Features
Yahoo Can't Win For Losing
If hard cases make bad law, perhaps it follows that unusual cases produce bizarre results. Proof of that can be seen in a recent ruling of an 11-judge <i>en banc</i> panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving Yahoo's battle against French groups that oppose the sale of Nazi memorabilia.
Justice Dept. Google Subpoenas Anger Privacy Groups
Right-to-privacy groups say that the Government's attempt to force Google to turn over a broad range of materials from its databases has set a dangerous precedent that should worry all Americans.
Is Anti-Spyware Legislation Congress's Killer App In 2006?
Reading the news, one might think the encroaching patchwork of state anti-spyware laws and the proliferation of high-profile cases against surreptitious spyware distributors could finally prompt Congress to take action on spyware in 2006. But a closer look reveals that states, Congress and the Federal Trade Commission have not yet reached a consensus on what spyware is and how best to address enforcement. Even if Congress does act on spyware this year, the legislation is likely to offer an incomplete solution to computer users and, for legitimate online behavioral advertisers, to leave substantial litigation questions unaddressed.
Features
Law Firm's Defamation Claim Trumps Critics' Internet Anonymity
Ruling on one of the most important First Amendment issues of the day, a Philadelphia judge ruled that a valid defamation claim trumps any right to speak anonymously on the Internet.
Associate Break-Even: A Matter of Perspective
In my role as a consultant, I work with clients who wish to make critical business decisions but sometimes suspect the reliability of their internally generated numbers. Last month, Ed Wesemann wrote about just such a situation, when he referred to the common belief that associates do not make money in their first 3 years. Intuitively, this does not make sense to many law firm managers, yet their reports often support this contention.
Flexibility in Flexible Spending
The Internal Revenue Service has provided guidance in Notice 2005-86 on the interaction of the 2.5-month grace period for a health flexible spending arrangement (health FSA) (established earlier by Notice 2005-42) and an individual's eligibility to contribute to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
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