Features

Avoiding Tax Pitfalls in New York Real Property Transfers in Separation and Divorce
Most divorces involve the transfer of a marital residence between the parties as part of equitable distribution, especially when there are minor children who will continue to reside in the family home.There is a transfer tax payable on the transfer of real estate, including the marital residence, in connection with the implementation of the marital settlement agreement or divorce.
Features

New York's Judicial Straight-Jacket
At a 2015 conference jointly sponsored by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), I listened with much interest as attorneys and judges from areas other than New York expressed disbelief, disapproval and dismay regarding New York's extraordinarily atypical positions regarding the copying and electronic transmission of documents, and the limitations on discovery in litigation focused on issues of access to and custody of children.
Features

Trust Issues: Pre- and Post-Nuptial Clauses
<b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p><p>This article explores common provisions used in pre-and post-nuptial agreements and suggest how standard language might be modified to protect a client's rights or interests in trusts he or she formed before the marriage, or that family members formed naming him or her in various capacities.
Columns & Departments
Case Notes
In what appears to be a case of first impression in New York, the court overseeing a couple's divorce has granted the wife's motion seeking to bar her husband from the delivery room when she gives birth to their child.
Features

Essential Qualities of Successful Rainmakers
Although a handful of law firms has hired non-lawyer sales teams, most still rely upon individual attorneys or practice groups to generate new client matters (i.e., to sell) even though the majority of them have never received business development skills training. This article describes some of the important characteristics and habits shared by attorneys who have built successful practices.
Features

Moving from Good Law to Great Law™
Law firm leadership is at a proverbial fork in the road. The people running law firms can continue to do business as usual, or they can lead their firms toward a model of business that reflects the new and still evolving client expectations and market demands.
Features

Culture of Collaboration
<b><i>Optimal Insights Through Inter-Departmental Initiatives</b></i><p><p>As dizzying amounts of resources and the need for the timeliest insights grow, the conduit and collaboration between business development and an organization's information management department, especially, becomes more critical than ever.
Features

Highlights of 2016 and Predictions for 2017 Attract Year-End Media Interest
By guiding your colleagues and lawyers to focus on the business consequences of timely legal issues, you introduce them to reporters as sources whose opinions and predictions will be quoted in these look-back and look-ahead review stories that executives and prospective clients will be reading to gear up for the new year.
Features

Are You a Five-Tool Player?
A law firm executive's ability to lead lawyers' potential for greatness can be evaluated using a model that is similar to baseball. The term “five-tool player” is used to describe a player who has an array of skills across a broad spectrum.
Features

Sixth Circuit's Decision on Privacy Claims over Data Breaches
Data breaches such as the one Yahoo recently revealed (500 million accounts!) get the big headlines. In response, large companies double down on their efforts to protect the security of their data. But small to midsize businesses often fail to appreciate the risk of a data breach to their own business.
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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 ›
- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.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 ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.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 ›