Features

How the New UST Fee Schedule Is a Ticking Tax-Bomb for Middle Market Debtors
As of Jan. 1, 2018, each jointly administered debtor with quarterly disbursements of at least $1,000,000 must pay a fee of 1% of all disbursements, up to $250,000 per quarter. Although this change in the law was only intended to address shortfalls in UST funding, it has taken a little-noticed component of bankruptcy and magnified it into a ticking tax-bomb for unsuspecting debtors and their lenders.
Features

The Power of Certifications In the Legal Industry
<b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p>The key paths and the corresponding certifications available for lawyers — and nonlawyers — to pursue to help successfully administer a career in the legal industry in the coming decade.
Features

Key Tech Terms to Know: Archives, Backups, Disaster Recovery and “as-a-Service”
A few essential definitions, intended to provide clarity and guidance to firms that are exploring how to improve their data compliance, protection and recovery posture.
Features

Anti-Forfeiture Statute Saves a Debtor's Exercise of Option to Renew Lease
In a recent decision, Bankruptcy Judge Christopher S. Sontchi addressed the question of whether a Chapter 11 debtor, the tenant under a commercial lease, could exercise an option to renew the lease during the bankruptcy proceedings, even though the debtor was in default under the lease and the lease specified that it could not be renewed if defaults existed at the time the option was exercised.
Features

Ninth Circuit Ruling Eases Plan Acceptance Requirement in Multi-Debtor Plans of Reorganization
In a case of first impression at the circuit level, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that section 1129(a)(10) of the Bankruptcy Code — which requires a favorable vote of at least one impaired class of creditors in order to confirm a Chapter 11 plan — applies on a “per-plan” basis, rather than a “per-debtor” basis.
Features

<i>Commentary:</i> America's Modern 'Throwaway': 401(K) Retirement Savings
While 401(k) cashout leakage may not stink in our streets, its economic effects are deplorable. Each year, this slow-motion train wreck robs millions of Americans of their retirement security and converts their retirement savings into wasted consumption and avoidable tax penalties.
Features

'Professional Development:' Owning Your Business: Using Financial Metrics to Drive Business Development
Growing the top line requires a systematic approach that maximizes your available time and focuses you on the best opportunities.
Columns & Departments
Bit Parts
Rule 12(b)(6) Motion Denied in Infringement Dispute over Anastasia Musical, Due to “Lengthy Historical Record” Involving Central Character<br>
Columns & Departments
In the Courts
Tenth Circuit Lowers Investment Advisor's Disgorgement from $35 to $5 Million
Columns & Departments
Landlord & Tenant
Guarantor May Not Interpose Wrongful Eviction Defense<br>Landlord Bound by Renewal Lease Signed After Judgment of Possession<br>Notice of Nonrewnal Sufficient to Withstand Jurisdictional Challenge<br>Incarcerated Son Not Entitled to Succession Rights<br>Occupant Did Not Establish Succession Rights<br>Court Dismisses Tortious Interference Claim By Holder of First Refusal Right
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Meet the Lawyer Working on Inclusion Rider LanguageAt the Oscars in March, Best Actress winner Frances McDormand made “inclusion rider” go viral. But Kalpana Kotagal, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll had already worked for months to write the language for such provisions. Kotagal was developing legal language for contract provisions that Hollywood's elite could use to require studios and other partners to employ diverse workers on set.Read More ›
- 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 ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›