Demographic Analysis: Foreshadowing the Future of Your Law Firm
In law firm management audits and strategic planning, an objective demographic analysis can be a very important analytical tool. On a firm-wide and practice group basis, charting firm demographics can provide a substantive foundation for conclusions about the current standing of a law firm, and sometimes, provide the genesis for startling insights about the short- and long-term strategic position of a law firm, individual office, or practice group.
Part-Timers: Good Value for the Money
Now, more than ever, women lawyers place enormous value on flexible work schedules. Firms that support such schedules reap benefits in the form of higher retention, increased profitability, and more diverse leadership. In turn, the legal profession ' and, on a broader level, society ' benefits from contributions by part-time lawyers who are in a better position to devote time to activities that make attorneys better citizens. These core conclusions emerged from a new survey of 167 lawyers at 37 firms in the Atlanta area. These attorneys included women and men, associates and partners, part-time and full-time lawyers, and retired and active attorneys.
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Last Chance for Compliance HIPAA Privacy for Small Health Plans
April 14, 2004 is the approaching deadline for small health plans ' plans that have annual total premiums (both employer and employee contributions) of $5,000,000 or less ' to comply with the privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Spousal Maintenance: Confronting the Emotion
In negotiations, as in mediation, many divorce attorneys find spousal maintenance to be one of the most difficult areas of conflict to resolve. This may be because spousal support often represents something entirely different for each spouse, and for each couple: Is maintenance meant to compensate for pain and hurt when the other party is leaving the marriage or having an affair? Is maintenance required to reimburse one party for past contributions to the career of the other party or to the family? Is maintenance viewed as an entitlement to one party or a source of guilt or failure to another? Was spousal support part of the "social contract" created within the family, which determined that one parent would stay home with children? Or were the parties never able to agree on such a social contract in the family during the marriage but one parent stayed home anyway? Is maintenance a source of anger because the receiving spouse is not working to his or her full "potential"?
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Decisions of Interest
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Gay Marriage Pushed to the Forefront By Activist Mayor
After a prolonged silence on the increasingly charged national issue of same-sex marriage, New Yorkers finally entered the fray in February. It all began, of course, when New Paltz mayor Jason West, a 26-year-old who ran for mayor last year on the Green Party ticket, became the first elected official in New York State to preside over the marriage of a gay couple. None of the couples were issued marriage licenses, a prerequisite to marriage under state law. On that first day, February 27, West married 25 couples in the Village Hall parking lot.
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QDROs for Enforcement Purposes
As matrimonial practitioners, we are often confronted with the problem of enforcing either pendente lite or post-judgment awards of support, equitable distribution and counsel fees. Perhaps one of the most overlooked enforcement tools is the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO). While QDROs are used routinely to distribute all kinds of qualified deferred compensation benefits, they are also available for enforcement purposes.
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The Bankruptcy Hotline
Recent decisions of importance to you and your practice.
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Sovereign Immunity: Supreme Court Near Decision
Constitutional Law and the Bankruptcy Clause: An in-depth discussion on the Supreme Court's deliberations.
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