Features
Managing Partners and 'Gamification'
Many managing partners tell us they are struggling to get their arms around new tools and techniques for driving more efficiency and cost-effectiveness into legal service delivery. Firms are seeing more and more RFPs in which clients make increasingly draconian demands for better management and control of legal work. AFAs (alternative fee arrangements) are reshaping not just pricing and profitability, but the whole way in which matters are staffed and billed.
Features
No 'Good Cause' Found to Stop Interest Accrual On Value of CKx
CKx Inc., the entertainment company that holds the rights to <i>American Idol</i> and other TV programs, and is involved in litigation over its acquisition by Apollo Global Management LLC, cannot order the challenging shareholder to accept the undisputed portion of the purchase price of its stock, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled.
Legal Issues in What Celebrities Wear At Award Shows
For many viewers, the main attraction of Hollywood award ceremonies are the gowns and tuxedos worn by celebrities as they stroll from interview to interview on the red carpet. A positive appearance can be a make-or-break moment for the fashion houses that outfit the stars and bring sought-after attention to the star. But what rights govern the wearing of designer gowns by celebrities at these events? And what rules apply when designers want to make commercial use of the celebrities who wear their creations?
Columns & Departments
Court Watch
U.S. Supreme Court Strengthens Franchisors' Ability to Litigate In Chosen Forum <br>Arbitration Provision Not Enforced Against Franchise Transferee<br>Franchisor Entitled to Terminate Franchises Without Notice Based on Fraudulent Inducement
Acquiring More Than Just Assets
The implications of the ruling are clear: Where one company seeks to acquire the assets of another, a simple disclaimer of liability will not be sufficient. Due diligence requires that the successor company closely examine any pending employment-related litigation of the seller and determine how a particular sale implicates the successor liability test under the federal common law.
Features
DE Supreme Court Eases Social Media Authentication
Social media postings can be submitted as trial evidence as long as the party introducing the evidence can demonstrate to the judge that a jury could reasonably conclude the postings are authentic, the Delaware Supreme Court has ruled.
Features
Dictating or Encouraging Franchisee Pricing
A price charged by a franchisee that is too low can adversely affect other franchisees and the franchisor by discouraging the provision of pre- and post-sale services, eroding brand image and jeopardizing the ability to introduce new products by depressing price points. Although relatively rare, a franchisee also may cause marketplace problems by charging too high a price for an attractive, new product in great demand.
Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Fraud-on-the-Market Presumption in Securities Fraud Litigation
When the U.S. Supreme Court 25 years ago decided <i>Basic, Inc. v. Levinson</i>, it adopted a legal theory that commentators would describe as revolutionizing securities law in the United States. By accepting the "fraud-on-the-market" theory, the <i>Basic</i> Court made it much easier for plaintiffs to get their cases certified as class actions, increasing the potential exposure of corporations and their officers and directors.
Features
Revenue
When is a sale a sale? This question is much more than semantics or a deep philosophical debate that college accounting majors have over a nice cold keg of Mountain Dew. Many an executive or business owner has gone to jail over this issue.
Utah Judge Rules Against Aereo's TV Antennas
Television's old guard finally opened a hole in Aereo Inc.'s armor last month, winning a ruling that left the Internet TV upstart and its lawyers fighting to limit the damage ahead of arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in April.
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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 ›