Flexibility in Flexible Spending
The Internal Revenue Service has provided guidance Notice 2005-86 on the interaction of the 2.5-month grace period for a health flexible spending arrangement (health FSA) (established earlier this year by Notice 2005-42 and an individual's eligibility to contribute to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
Enforcing System Standards When Franchisees Have Long-Term Contracts
A franchisor's ability to enforce system standards and sustain the positive image of the brand is critical to the long-term success of a franchising system. To some degree, a franchisor's threat of termination or non-renewal contributes to that enforcement effect. But what can a franchisor do when a contract has a long duration and/or a franchisee has a strong legal presumption of renewal?
Sports Team Models for Law Firm Management
Corporate structures have long been likened to military organizations, though this is the less popular style today. In attempts to increase productivity, morale and loyalty, corporate managers and analysts of corporate management have looked to sports models for fresh ideas which go deeper than the cliched sports metaphors. <br>Several models of the organization's operations and culture have been identified: Football as epitomizing managerial control and centralization; baseball as a model of individual autonomy and situational teamwork; basketball and soccer as focusing on voluntary cooperation and shared decision-making. Which characterizes your firm ' or the culture you desire?
<b>Professional Development University:</b> Professional Development With an Agenda for 2006
Looking into the New Year: What should the legal profession, specifically those who lead their practices to success through professional development, think about?
NEWS BRIEFS
Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.
What Lies Ahead for 2006
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
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.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- Surveys in Patent Infringement Litigation: The Next FrontierMost experienced intellectual property attorneys understand the significant role surveys play in trademark infringement and other Lanham Act cases, but relatively few are likely to have considered the use of such research in patent infringement matters. That could soon change in light of the recent admission of a survey into evidence in <i>Applera Corporation, et al. v. MJ Research, Inc., et al.</i>, No. 3:98cv1201 (D. Conn. Aug. 26, 2005). The survey evidence, which showed that 96% of the defendant's customers used its products to perform a patented process, was admitted as evidence in support of a claim of inducement to infringe. The court admitted the survey into evidence over various objections by the defendant, who had argued that the inducement claim could not be proven without the survey.Read More ›
- The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance ProgramsThe parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult CoinWith each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.Read More ›
