Recent cases in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.

Despite their negative public images and being the target of much private invective, Internet pop-up ads and unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) have transfigured marketing ' and, like spam, Internet pop-ups can be lawful if they are not deceptive. <br>That said, trademark infringement may be the only successful cause of action against Internet pop-up advertisers and getting them to change their business methods.

Features

A select group of New York Law School students will soon begin a unique, hands-on course in the practicalities of cyberlaw designed to make young lawyers extremely attractive to law-firm recruiters who hail primarily from the technophobic generation.

The Government of Canada's Task Force on Spam concluded that the current laws governing spam are not good enough. While Canada alone is not able to deal with the spam problem nationwide, it must at least deal with the spammers in its own backyard. The current legal framework contains some significant holes and the task force's recommendations call for a spam-specific law accompanied by a new separate body to work on policy and enforcement coordination.

Features

For almost a year, lawyers from eight of the largest corporations in the country have been meeting and exchanging information. The group, which first came together last fall, includes in-house attorneys from Cisco Systems Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., FMC Technologies Inc., General Motors Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Together they oversee a collective annual legal budget exceeding $1 billion.

In part one of this two-part series [see the June 2005 A&amp;FP edition], we discussed the pathways available for law firm administrative staff with finance and accounting competence to evolve into consulting roles within the legal services industry. Part two focuses on avenues available for individuals with strong skills in these functional areas to advance within their own or other firms.

Statistical reports play an important role in management decisions, so it pays to hone your skills for spotting inaccuracies and distortions. Some flaws are so subtle that even professional statisticians debate their presence, but many errors are easy enough to detect if you just look for them.<br>This article describes some outright errors along with some suspect practices that often lead to error. After examining a few graph-drawing fiascos, the article examines ranking distortions and other problems that can result from either excess precision, ill-chosen scales, or a disconcerting quirk called Simpson's Paradox. Finally, the article discusses a common survey methodology error that leads not only to slanted results but also to the reporting of nonexistent trends.

For 20 years, The American Lawyer has measured the economics of law firms, first with The Am Law 50 and 75, more recently with The Am Law 200. Throughout, we've kept to the same metrics: gross, revenue per lawyer, profits per partner, and the Am Law Profitability Index (API). These lists helped inform and change the profession. (Note that we didn't say ruin.) We published them again this month with one significant addition that we think reflects the changed nature of the business of law: Value Per Lawyer (VPL).