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Features

Challenging Estate Plans Image

Challenging Estate Plans

Martin M. Shenkman

Part One of this two-part series discussed bypass trusts, QTIP trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs) and qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs). This final installment reviews additional trusts with a focus on how matrimonial practitioners may attack assets held in such trusts.

Firms Helping Military Employees Image

Firms Helping Military Employees

ljnstaff & Law Journal Newsletters

Many Am Law 100 firms have done extensive pro bono work for veterans since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago, and are also helping their military employees.

Features

'Customary Operations' or a Vacant Building? Image

'Customary Operations' or a Vacant Building?

Rebecca A. Moore & Seth A. Schmeeckle

Many times, courts are faced with the question of whether a loss location is "vacant" under a commercial property policy when trying to determine if the building owner or lessee is conducting customary operations. This article explores various decisions across the United States as to what is considered "customary operations," thereby rendering the property "vacant."

<b><i>Sales Speak:</i></b> Redefining Sales Image

<b><i>Sales Speak:</i></b> Redefining Sales

Jim Durham

Over 30 years ago, Bill Flannery introduced the legal world to the concept of "large account management." Three decades later, the concept finally seems to be taking hold in law firms. They know that managing key client relationships professionally leads to improved client service, client retention, revenue growth and better referrals.

Features

Cloud-Computing Agreements Image

Cloud-Computing Agreements

Jeffrey Kosc

Strong agreements are essential for any cloud service that supports critical IT systems. While the circumstances of each cloud implementation are different, this article provides an overview of key areas that need to be considered for any agreement to acquire cloud-based services.

Second Circuit Allows Facebook Posts As Evidence Image

Second Circuit Allows Facebook Posts As Evidence

Mark Hamblett

Introducing a rap video and images of tattoos from a defendant's Facebook page as evidence in a drug-and-murder gang prosecution did not violate the rights of the accused, a federal appeals court held in May.

Features

'Operating Interests,' 'Working Interests,' 'Production Payments' and 'Overriding' Royalty Interests Image

'Operating Interests,' 'Working Interests,' 'Production Payments' and 'Overriding' Royalty Interests

Amy M. Tonti & Robert P. Simons

The recent decline in oil prices and the historically low and stagnant natural gas prices are causing various parties in the oil and gas industries to seek bankruptcy protection. As a result, bankruptcy judges must apply specialized Bankruptcy Code provisions and varying other applicable non-bankruptcy laws to determine the rights of debtor and non-debtor parties to such agreements as those providing Overriding Royalty Interests (ORRI) and Net Operating Interests (NOI).

Features

<b><i>Social Media Scene:</i></b> How Social Are Your Social Media Activities? Image

<b><i>Social Media Scene:</i></b> How Social Are Your Social Media Activities?

Terry M. Isner

The modifier "social" is supposed to separate social media from other forms of marketing and PR. But the tactic's social aspect is also the part that either prevents us from using it or from using it as the two-way communication tool it's supposed to be.

GA Court: New Expert Can Be Substituted In, Even at Late Date Image

GA Court: New Expert Can Be Substituted In, Even at Late Date

Janice G. Inman

What happens to the plaintiff who learns late in the lawsuit process that his expert is not up to snuff? The Supreme Court of Georgia recently clarified the answer to this question for one set of plaintiffs whose originally proferred expert was deemed ineligible to offer a valid opinion.

Features

Using a Service Mark In Commerce Image

Using a Service Mark In Commerce

Judith L. Grubner

The Federal Circuit has now ruled that advertising a service that the applicant intends to provide in the future, but is not actually providing on the date of the application, is not "use in commerce." Thus, advertising submitted to the USPTO with a use-based application as a specimen of use of the mark in commerce, must relate to existing services already being provided to customers.

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MOST POPULAR STORIES

  • 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.
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  • Private Equity Valuation: A Significant Decision
    Insiders (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.
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