What Is Team Divorce?
August 30, 2007
Divorce isn't just divorce anymore. At least not if you are on top of your game in Family Law. As the September issue of <i>The Matrimonial Strategist</i> describes in several different articles, Interdisciplinary Collaborative Divorce is the wave of the future. <i>The Matrimonial Strategist</i> first discussed Collaborative Law Divorce in May, 2006. To quote Editorial Board Member Charles J. McEvily, 'The hallmark of the Collaborative Divorce is the execution of an agreement by both parties and'
What Is Team Divorce?
August 30, 2007
Divorce isn't just divorce anymore. At least not if you are on top of your game in Family Law. As the September issue of <i>The Matrimonial Strategist</i> describes in several different articles, Interdisciplinary Collaborative Divorce is the wave of the future. <i>The Matrimonial Strategist</i> first discussed Collaborative Law Divorce in May, 2006. To quote Editorial Board Member Charles J. McEvily, 'The hallmark of the Collaborative Divorce is the execution of an agreement by both parties and'
Bootlegged Performances: Which Constitutional Clause Applies?
August 30, 2007
This article continues the theme of an article I wrote in late 2004 concerning <i>U.S. v. Martignon</i>, 346 F. Supp. 2d 413 (S.D.N.Y. 2004), in which the district court for the Southern District of New York found that 18 U.S.C. §2319A (the 'anti-bootleg statute') was unconstitutional on the ground that Congress had exceeded its delegated power to legislate copyright law when it enacted the statute. My previous article observed that <i>Martignon</i> implicated several important and fundamental public policies in reaching its decision, among which are the protection of intellectual property, constitutional limits on congressional power to enact laws, freedom of expression as protected by the First Amendment, and the necessity of laws threatening a citizen's liberty to be definite and within a legitimate ambit of congressional authority to act.
NYCLA Opinion: In Certain Circumstances, 'Dissemblance' By Attorney-Supervised Investigators Is Permissible to Gather Evidence
August 30, 2007
Ethical prohibitions impact the common practice of almost every active trademark lawyer regarding his or her use of private investigators to collect information from third parties. However, the scope of permissible conduct is not always clearly defined. For instance, when a search report reveals one possible bar to your client's adoption of the mark, such as a nine-year-old federal registration by an individual who does not appear to have a Web site, can you or your investigator contact this person and devise some plausible explanation for the reason that you want to know if the mark is still in use? Or if you discover that a company appears to be infringing your client's trademark, can you send someone pretending to be a customer, but who asks all sorts of questions relevant to proving infringement that the ordinary consumer is highly unlikely to raise? Does it matter if the person you or your investigator makes contact with is a low-level sales clerk or the owner of the company?
Firm-Client Efficiencies: One GC's Long View
August 30, 2007
'The No. 1 thing that helps us manage our outside counsel costs is longstanding relationships,' says James H. Miller III, senior vice president and general counsel for Georgia Power, the largest operating unit of Southern Co. 'Our principal law firm, Troutman Sanders, has been our law firm for a long time. They know as much or more about our company as some of our own executives do because they've been there longer. In a sense, they are our institutional memory.'
Controlling the Spiraling Costs of Online Legal Research
August 30, 2007
There was a time when electronic services were supposed to replace books and lower costs. They've done neither. Instead, fees continue to rise each year — well beyond the rate of inflation, say law firm librarians (licensing fees are typically covered by confidentiality agreements). Surveyed librarians expressed dissatisfaction on pricing issues especially with the big-two online providers, Reed Elsevier Plc's LexisNexis and Thomson Corp.'s Westlaw.
FCPA Compliance Training: Clarity Needed
August 30, 2007
Just as corruption saps the entire GDP of many countries, it can destroy the profitability of a firm's overseas (or, for that matter, overall) business. My 'Confronting Corrupt Practices' article in <i>A&FP</i>'s June 2007 edition surveyed some aspects of anticorruption training that law firms should consider.
The High Cost of FCPA Violations
August 30, 2007
Earlier this year, Baker Hughes Inc. ascended to the top of an exclusive and prominent list, but it is one on which few companies would want to be mentioned. On April 26, 2007, the Texas-based oil field products and services company announced that it was settling a federal probe alleging that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ('FCPA'), and that it would pay fines and penalties in excess of $44 million ' the largest combined punishment under that law. It was truly one for the record books ' at least for the time being.
Does Giving Tax Advice Make You a 'Preparer'?
August 30, 2007
Signed by President Bush on May 25, The Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 ('Small Business Act') includes new preparer penalty provisions that range up to 50% of the fee for preparing the tax return. Lawyers who give tax advice need to know that this legislation had a 'surprise' in it regarding whom the IRS considers a tax return preparer.
Evolution of a Law Firm CFO
August 30, 2007
Twenty-two years ago, I received a call from a headhunter looking to hire a Controller for Kirkpatrick, Lockhart, Johnson & Hutchison, a midsize and growing law firm with about 150 lawyers.
