Almost 30 years ago when I began my career consulting to law firms, the then managing partner of Donovan Leisure Newton & Irving used that term to refer to the months of October through December. It was his way of pointing out to his fellow partners that the necessary activities of practice management that so many of them had avoided for the first nine or 10 months of the year now had to be addressed.
How do you determine partner compensation at your law firm? You certainly look at each partner's originations, working attorney receipts and billable hours. But what about his or her excellent client service, strong leadership, successful staff development efforts and keen technical skills?
Franchisor's Operation of Online Store does not Violate Exclusivity
Federal Court Declines To Enjoin Franchisee from Violating Non-Compete
One of the many elements of the sweeping America Invents Act of 2012 (AIA) was a directive to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a report on factors affecting patent litigation. The GAO released its report in August. Perhaps surprisingly, the GAO found that NPEs were not the main contributor to alleged problems with patent litigation in the United States. Instead, the GAO concluded that poor patent quality was to blame for most nuisance infringement suits.
A federal judge in Minnesota signed off on a hotly contested $50 million settlement between the National Football League and former players who said the league infringed their publicity rights. The ruling was a blow to a group of plaintiffs' lawyers who lodged objections to the deal, calling it inadequate.
New Patent Litigation Reform Bills Introduced
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument on Burden Of Proof for Licensee-DJ Plaintiff
A Split Federal Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing In Case Involving Finality Of a Judicial Decision
Federal Circuit Explains Exhaustion of Method Patents
Television ratings go up and down, even for the most successful programs. This complicates how to value a production company's worth if that company is sold.
For those who have had some exposure to Total Quality Management, the reference to Lean or Lean Six Sigma might be familiar. Total Quality Management (TQM), famed for advancing Japanese firms to remarkable achievement in product quality, was also pursued in the service industry.
Section 504(b) of the Copyright Act allows a copyright owner to obtain both the owner's actual damages as well as an infringer's profits attributable to the infringed work that weren't included in the actual damages award. What are the burdens of proof when a copyright infringement plaintiff seeks this recovery after a pre-trial summary judgment motion has been filed? How does an expert's report work into this?
Recently, the California legislature passed three laws that significantly alter the privacy landscape and impose a new set of responsibilities that arguably apply to any company doing business in the state.
