Strategies to Enhance Cash Flow
Managing partners, financial partners, members of executive committees and administrators must devote more of their time today, than in the past, to planning and managing their firms' finances and those functions that improve the cash flow. Part One of this article described the first three of six aspects of law firm management and economics that the author has recommended to assist them in improving their firm's cash flow: 1) cash flow; 2) a business plan; 3) budgets for revenues, expenses and client advances. Part Two examines the remaining aspects: 4) partner compensation; 5) a recommended new business and billing committee; and 6) partners' capital and borrowing.
Pennie to Close Doors by End of December
Intellectual property boutique Pennie & Edmonds will ring in the New Year by closing its doors and firing some of its lawyers and staff. Ahead of a likely announcement of a deal for many ' but not all ' Pennie & Edmonds lawyers to join the New York office of Jones Day, Pennie & Edmonds' management informed associates and staff members Monday that the 190-lawyer firm will cease practicing law and wind up affairs by Dec. 31.
Retrospective Premium Policies: What Happens in Bankruptcy?
Retrospective premium policies allow premiums to be adjusted over time and thereby reflect the loss experience of the policyholder. When a policyholder…
A Foreign Experience: Arbitrating Insurance Coverage Disputes in London
Many insurance policies now include arbitration provisions providing that disputes be arbitrated in London under the substantive law of New York. To policyholders, the "deck" in an international insurance arbitration appears to be stacked in favor of the insurance company, if only because the insurance company — a repeat player in London arbitrations — knows the results of its past arbitrations and the policyholder (and its counsel) likely does not. However, with careful strategy and preparation, a policyholder can prevail even in a "foreign experience" in international insurance arbitration.
Case Briefs
Highlights of the latest insurance cases from around the country.
Features
Fighting Back: Is Insurance Funding Doctors' Countersuits the Answer to Med Mal Crisis?
Increasingly alarmed by the real and imagined inequities of the medical malpractice system, physicians across the country have been looking everywhere for relief. They have lobbied for law reform at both state and federal levels, they have rallied and protested, and some have even gone "on strike." While their efforts have achieved some success — notably in states that have enacted severe damage caps, such as California and Indiana — malpractice insurance premiums have continued to rise, prompting repeated announcements that the medical profession is facing an economic crisis.
Features
Verdicts
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Features
Is 'Medical Justice' the Magic Key?
Increasingly alarmed by the real and imagined inequities of the medical malpractice system, physicians across the country have been looking everywhere for relief. They have lobbied for law reform at both state and federal levels, they have rallied and protested, and some have even gone "on strike." With so much angst and anger among so many affluent professionals, it was only a matter of time before an astute entrepreneur figured out a way to cash in on the problem. Which brings us to Dr. Jeffrey Segal, a North Carolina neurosurgeon and the founder of a new insurance plan called "Medical Justice," which he promotes as a deterrent to malpractice litigation. It is an intriguing idea that just might work. Then again, it might only be a clever marketing ploy.
New EMTALA Regulations
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which imposes requirements on hospitals with emergency departments to screen and stabilize anyone who comes to the emergency department seeking treatment, can provide the basis for a private civil action against the hospital if a person is injured by the hospital's violation of its requirements. New regulations clarifying hospitals' obligations under EMTALA went into effect November 10, providing new guidance on how the federal agency charged with enforcing the statute interprets its terms.
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