Making Your Employee Handbook Work For You, Not Against You
May 30, 2006
Is your handbook truly up to date? One of the points in the employment relationship where the employer can best position itself to achieve its business objectives is in the setting of policy ' a process in which the law affords employers broad latitude. A properly drafted policy manual can help foreclose or limit a lawsuit, and a manual that is prepared or updated carelessly can serve as the foundation for a legal claim. Here are several ways to tell at a glance whether your organization has postured itself to best advantage.
The Leasing Hotline
May 30, 2006
Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.
Clearing Up Executive Compensation
May 30, 2006
In Part One, the authors summarized the SEC's proposal to revamp the rules governing the disclosure of executive and director compensation. They focused on the proposal's treatment of current compensation. Part Two picks up with a look at outstanding equity interests, covers post-employment and other types of compensation and benefits, and also discusses other effects of the proposal on corporate counsel.
Vertical and Horizontal Transportation: When Is Convenience a Bad Thing?
May 30, 2006
To the typical tenant, being located near or adjacent to vertical and horizontal transportation, which may include elevators, escalators, stairways, people movers, and similar transportation, would be a beneficial situation due to the customer traffic that such devices provide. However, several issues or potential issues arise when addressing the presence of vertical and horizontal transportation within the common areas of an enclosed regional shopping center. In particular, the following issues should be negotiated: accessibility and visibility; the right to relocate or close such transportation; and the right to substitute various means of vertical and horizontal transportation systems. This two-part article addresses these issues and provides sample model clauses for vertical and horizontal transportation.
What Do You Want to Read?
May 30, 2006
We want to know how we can make this newsletter an even better resource for your professional needs. Are we covering all you want to see? Are there sections you would like to see enhanced or replaced?<br>Your views and opinions are essential in our effort to continue to provide you with the top notch News, Strategy and Analysis you have come to expect from Law Journal Newsletters.<br>Help us help you! Please click <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=604771980045">here</a> to complete a short survey or type the following URL into your browser: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=604771980045.<br>Your answers will assist us in making this an even better newsletter for you! Thank you.<br>Regards,<br>Colin Graf<br>LJN Marketing Director
Antitrust Liability For Joint Ventures
May 30, 2006
The term 'joint venture' encompasses a wide range of business combinations, some of which are simply contractual agreements between independent parties, others of which involve the creation of new entities through consolidation, and some of which involve both integration and contractual agreements. Because joint ventures comprise such a diverse array of business structures, they often defy easy characterization for antitrust purposes: Is a venture best viewed as a merger? A price-fixing agreement? Something in between? This characterization problem contributed to significant confusion in the courts over the proper scope of antitrust liability for joint ventures. <br>At one time, courts routinely declared unlawful a variety of joint ventures, many of which were plainly pro-competitive. The Supreme Court's decision in <i>Texaco, Inc. v. Dagher</i>, clarifies the application of the antitrust laws to joint ventures, and narrows the scope of potential liability for these types of business combinations.
Criteria for Financeability
May 30, 2006
Among the many real estate assets that may be financed are ground or net leases. Despite many changes in the area of real estate finance over the past number of years, the legal criteria for determining financeability of a tenant's leasehold estate remain constant. Nevertheless, it is useful for the real estate practitioner to periodically take inventory of the standards. Certainty of leasehold financeability is essential, not only to any ground lessee or tenant that wants to finance the cost of constructing its leasehold improvements, but also to any tenant that decides to finance a portfolio of leasehold properties or whose corporate lender requires a collateral assignment of the tenant's interest in its leasehold estates as part of the security for a broader, corporate financing facility. The following sets forth fundamental issues to be considered in determining the financeability of a significant lease.
Racial Profiling: Lessons Retailers and Shopping Malls Should Learn from the Law Enforcement Experience
May 30, 2006
The law enforcement community was unprepared for the onslaught of allegations of racial profiling because it never anticipated it would become an issue with massive legal and administrative consequences. Because the law enforcement community was generally unprepared, the result included costly litigation and onerous settlements, as well as a decrease in public confidence. Many of these consequences may have been avoided if the law enforcement community had initially recognized the issue and then prepared to address it.