LJN Newsletters

The distinction between recourse to Chapter 11 protection as a legitimate means to maximize the value of a company's assets and/or to restructure its financially troubled yet otherwise viable operations, on the one hand, and clear bankruptcy abuse, on the other, is sometimes murky. A court called upon to make such a distinction is obliged to "get into the debtor's head" and investigate the board's motives for commencing a bankruptcy case and, in some cases, to decide whether the debtor's otherwise permissible use of the powerful provisions of federal bankruptcy law is impermissible because the debtor's motives are antithetical to the basic purposes of bankruptcy.

Computer networks and Internet use has become a necessary part of the legal industry, and legal professionals should focus attention on potential threats that accompany this use of technology. As dependence on the Internet continues, and the threats to computer networks increase, it's important to implement safeguard solutions to protect information security.

We live such busy and hectic lives. Not only do we have to juggle our own schedule, but we are also often juggling the schedules of others. Proper use of a good calendar program can make all the difference in the world between making appointments on time and showing up late, or even worse, missing them altogether. Microsoft Outlook provides the tools needed to help manage and organize your schedule. So let's look at some of the ways Outlook can bring order to our hectic lives.

Back in the good old days, electronic evidence for civil cases could be gathered from a custodian's computer, processed to TIFF, Bates numbered and introduced into evidence. Concerns over chain of custody and authenticity were talked about, but rarely argued in the courtroom.
It's not so simple anymore. Viruses, spyware, adware and hijacking are attacking our legal framework for electronic evidence and impacting specific areas of law, such as privacy, attorney client privilege, trade secret, criminal law and products liability.

With more than 38,000 open matters at any given time, summarizing and analyzing practice, client and attorney information was nearly impossible to do efficiently using manual process and flat reporting. We decided it was time to implement reporting-based business intelligence (BI) software.
Over a 1-year period, we reviewed software and services from four vendors, including our accounting system vendor and third party providers. We selected Redwood Analytics because they are business and finance professionals that specialize in developing data warehouses and analytic cubes (note: defined below) specific to law firm performance.

The Staff Report on proposed changes to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Franchise Trade Regulation Rule (the "Rule") contains proposed amendments regarding the use of integration clauses in franchise agreements. The amendments are found in the additional prohibitions section, at Part 436.9 of the Rule, although other provisions of the Rule also are applicable including Part 436.1(f).

In 1992 when a group a franchisee leaders sat down with me in Washington, DC to discuss the formation of a national trade association to represent their interests — which became the American Franchisee Association (AFA) — the group intended nothing less than to put pressure on the current public policy framework to make things better for franchisees. Included in this framework was the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) trade regulation rule titled, "Disclosure Requirements and Prohibitions Concerning Franchising and Business Opportunity Ventures" (16 CFR Part 436) ("Franchise Rule" or "Rule"). Since that meeting in 1992, the AFA has been the catalyst for ensuring that certain franchisors do not use their enormous contractual discretion with the intent to subjugate or take advantage of their franchisees.

Franchisors should find compellingly attractive the changes to the federal disclosure paradigm that will transpire if the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Franchise Rule is revised as suggested in the Commission's Staff Report of Aug. 25, 2004.