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What Lies Ahead for 2006 Image

What Lies Ahead for 2006

Robert W. Denney

It doesn't take great foresight or a crystal ball to recognize that law firms will face some serious challenges in 2006. Coming events have already cast their shadows. Some of the challenges have existed for several years. Others are new. What they add up to are two basic questions most law firms must answer: "Do we recognize the challenges facing us?" and "How are we going to address them?" This article discusses several of these challenges and, where possible, suggests some alternatives for meeting them.

International Franchising 2006: Why Attorneys Need to Know the Laws in Other Countries Image

International Franchising 2006: Why Attorneys Need to Know the Laws in Other Countries

Kenneth R. Costello & Brian H. Cole

In many countries around the world, concepts that are common in the United States are considered exotic to the local populace. Furthermore, as more and more Americans travel abroad, they welcome the sight of a familiar brand from "back home." As a result of these two factors, when U.S.-based franchisors seek to expand abroad, they often find a ready audience. In fact, many franchisors get their first taste of international franchising when they are approached by a potential franchisee, asking for the opportunity to obtain franchise rights to a particular country or region of a country. It is only later that the franchisor actually begins to focus on active development of franchises outside the United States.

Insurer Permitted to Recoup Defense Costs Under Quantum Meruit Theory Image

Insurer Permitted to Recoup Defense Costs Under Quantum Meruit Theory

Jay Levin

Predicting what the Texas Supreme Court would do, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota has allowed an insurer to recover defense costs expended in defending its insured in a liability action. Extrapolating from, and expanding on, a Court of Appeals of Texas opinion, the Minnesota court used a <i>quantum meruit</i> theory to allow the insurer to recoup its defense costs.

Features

Causes of Action for Loss of Cryopreserved Embryos Image

Causes of Action for Loss of Cryopreserved Embryos

Janice G. Inman

There has been much discussion of the ethics and liability issues created by recent advances in reproductive science. While fertility treatments allow couples that might otherwise not be able to conceive or carry a baby to term create much-wanted families, fertility clinics and the health care professionals working in them are dealing with a highly emotional issue. When patients don't get the results they wanted -- particularly when mistakes are made -- the chances of being sued run high.

Features

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Drug & Device News

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recent developments of importance to you and your practice.

Med Mal News Image

Med Mal News

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recent developments you need to know.

Verdicts Image

Verdicts

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recent rulings you need to know.

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Experts on Juries

Leonard Post

As blanket occupational exemptions for jury duty become a relic, litigators are split on whether there is a need for specific jury instructions to keep jurors from relying on their expertise in evidentiary matters. This issue tends to be particularly troubling for medical malpractice attorneys, as the pool of potential jurors with knowledge of medical issues -- doctors, nurses, physical therapists, etc. -- is so large. One court system -- New York's - instructs professionals to keep their expertise outside of the jury room. No other court currently singles out professional jury-deliberation conduct in jury instructions.

Features

Federal Preemption and Tort Claims Image

Federal Preemption and Tort Claims

Lawrie Demorest & Brendan Krasinski

For medical device manufacturers, federal preemption can be a powerful defense to state tort claims. Although there is some split of authority, most federal courts of appeals that have addressed the issue have held that when a medical device reaches the market via the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) rigorous "premarket approval" (PMA) process, many state common law claims are expressly preempted by the Medical Device Amendments (MDA) of 1976.

<b>Meyerowitz on Marketing:</b> Your Guide to Getting on the Web: Content Is King Image

<b>Meyerowitz on Marketing:</b> Your Guide to Getting on the Web: Content Is King

Steven A. Meyerowitz

Here are the Rules of Effective Web Writing: Be Factual. Be Brief. Be Clear.

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MOST POPULAR STORIES

  • Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes
    “Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
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  • Private Equity Valuation: A Significant Decision
    Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
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