The Enforceability of Prepayment Premium Provisions
December 28, 2006
Lessors and lenders need to be aware of a recently issued U.S. District Court decision addressing the enforceability of a prepayment premium in a mortgage loan context. The decision in <i>River East Plaza, LLC v. The Variable Annuity Life Company</i> (Slip Copy, 2006 WL 2787483 (N. D. Ill.)) was rendered on Sept. 22, 2006, by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division), construing Illinois law.
Cape Town: Rail Just Around the Bend, Satellites Just over the Horizon
December 28, 2006
For the last nine months, participants in the aircraft leasing and finance industry have been dealing with the newly formed international registry for the registration of interests in aircraft and the changes in substantive law governing aircraft sale, lease, and finance transactions brought about by the ratification of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the related Aircraft Protocol. The Convention and Aircraft Protocol were developed and are being promoted by'
Upgrading Litigation Support Technology
December 28, 2006
Dorsey & Whitney LLP is a firm of more than 600 lawyers with a litigation and arbitration practice in 15 locations in the United States and in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. I joined the firm's New York office in the fall of 2005 and assumed, among other duties, the task of advising on the litigation department's deployment of discovery technology for large and complex matters. <br>In part due to the management of the electronic evidence in this dispute, Dorsey's client obtained an order in September 2006 denying class certification and strongly pointing toward the ultimate disposal of the matter. As discussed below, our implementation of the Ringtail Legal 2005 hosted ASP solution ' and the support by FTI Consulting ' was important in this very favorable outcome.
Knowledge Management and Portal Technologies
December 28, 2006
Part one of this discussion on KM and portal technologies focused primarily on a historical review and the emergence of the '2nd generation' of KM: Leveraging technology to define KM and utilizing the Microsoft SharePoint architecture to aggregate contextual and task related information into an easily accessible form. This article will continue the modern KM technology discussion by focusing on the relevance of existing search technologies and the potential and viability of SharePoint 2007 as a KM and portal platform.
<b>Practice Tip: </b> A Balanced Approach to Evidence Collection
December 28, 2006
The plethora of tools designed to make quick work of searching digital files appear to make most data collection tasks trivial. Products such as Google Desktop Search, DTSearch, Microsoft's Lookout and X1's eponymous set of search tools index digital files and e-mail, while providing fast and accurate search results. Of course, the promise of these tools stands in direct contrast to the warnings that litter industry trade publications, admonishing that anything less than a 'forensic' collection could be considered indefensible ' at best leading to a ruling for adverse inference, and at worst resulting in sanctions.
Technology and Policy Issues with Acquiring Digital Collections
December 28, 2006
Undeniably, one of the biggest content growth areas for electronic information resources is with the digitization of print materials. For well over a decade, lawyers have had full-text access to court cases, statutes, regulations and thousands of news sources the day they are published. What wasn't available until fairly recently was electronic access to deep historical collections of materials such as law reviews or legislative documents, let alone court filings or records. For materials of this nature that were available, they could rarely be obtained as scanned documents in collections that are easy to use.<br>In acquiring access to new digital collections, law firms and other information consumers need to think about issues of cost, technology requirements and ease of use. Beyond that, merely acquiring a new collection will not ensure that all people who need the information will know it exists when the need for that information arises. This article addresses several topics relating to digitized collections, framing the discussion by first discussing two legal-specific digitization projects available for private law firms.
<b>Media & Communication Corner: </b>Looking Back at the M&C Professionals Series
December 28, 2006
In the midst of 2006, Jaffe's public relations group turned its attention to some of the most notable law firm media and communications professionals currently working in house. Thanks to the candor of these people, we were able to provide snapshots of their work, their departments and their insight about law firm marketing. On behalf of the Jaffe authors, I again thank all of the participants for their time and their thoughtfulness. As we wrap up 2006, let's look back at some of the highlights in the series.
<b>Corner Office: </b>Growth: An Imperative For Survival
December 28, 2006
Do your current clients provide a steady stream of work that keeps all your lawyers busy? Are new clients constantly knocking at your door with new work based solely upon your firm's reputation? If that's your situation, stop here and read no further. You are in law firm nirvana.<br>Unfortunately, the other 99% of you managing partners are not so lucky.
More from the Best of MLF 2006
December 28, 2006
In last month's issue, we covered the best of MLF from February to and including June 2006. In this issue, we will take a look back at July through November.
