The Brand-Name Game's New Rules
Whether investigating new product-name availability or domain-name squatters and cybershysters, fee-based Web trademark search services do corporate legal departments' legwork. They also provide attorneys and staff with slick online tools to review and act on the information uncovered.
Better Safe Than Sorry
Information technology has become an invaluable business tool around the world. With it, businesses ' the traditional kind and those that operate over wires (and wirelessly) ' including law firms are able to increase efficiency and lower costs. After all, information technology is the gateway to one of the e-commerce sector's most important assets: Information. <br>But what happens when information cannot be trusted? When it is vulnerable and exposed to Internet threats? When information is secure, it is trustworthy; anything less than that, and it simply loses its value.
Avoid Contract Traps
e-Commerce veterans may think they know how to read a business contract, and for most contracts, they're right, because checking what has been typed onto a preprinted form ' the price, deliverables and delivery date ' is usually enough to know. <br>But the provisions of tech contracts that really affect success may not be so obvious. Contract boilerplates often hide traps for the uninitiated. Merely reading the language specifically added to a form may not reveal the actual risks lurking in the contract.
Tabs3 Version 12 Takes on a Windows XP Visual Style
Software Technology, Inc., the maker of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster, has released Version 12 of its integrated time, billing, accounting and practice management software. The new programs feature a visually improved interface, useful enhancements and new features.
Practice Tip: One Size Does Not Fit All
The legal technology mega-mall ' hundreds of software vendors ' how does a firm choose? <br>For most types of enterprise wide systems, there is no single vendor that can credibly claim to be the one and only solution for everyone. Although many would like to make that claim, the plain truth is that one size does not fit all. While there is no one software solution that is the perfect fit for all firms, it is possible for each firm to find the best fit for their particular circumstances.
Electronic Discovery Reference Model Project Launched
A group of 29 organizations has formed a group that will follow an open process to develop a reference model describing the concepts and relationships that comprise the electronic discovery processes. Called the Electronic Discovery Reference Model Project, the group will develop The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) that will provide a common, flexible and extensible framework for the development, selection, evaluation and use of electronic discovery products and services.
Paper Intake Forms Are 'So Yesterday'
Well it's about time. The days of filling out paper forms, and sending them through the office mail to only then have someone re-key them into a computer are gone. Double entry of information and paper forms are a waste of valuable time and money. Some law firms tend to be inefficient, thinking that a little inefficiency helps increase billable hours. We'll save that discussion for another time. Internal staff inefficiency is another story; this is hard cost, non-billable and is definitely money to a partner.
Divorce and the New Bankruptcy Law
Among the more arduous tasks for an attorney handling a matrimonial case is the negotiation of the financial aspects, primarily support and maintenance and the division and distribution of marital property. In many cases, exhaustive financial disclosure is necessary; evaluations of property are obtained and challenged, and months of negotiations and legal services result, finally, in a resolution of the financial issues.
