$10K Raises For Philadelphia Associates
Three more Philadelphia law firms have joined in the parade to raise starting salaries. Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin and Saul Ewing both moved their starting wage from $105,000 to $115,000, and Fox Rothschild is jacking its rate from $100,000 to $110,000.
Midsize Firms: Key Trends Affecting Competitiveness And Profitability
In conducting strategic planning studies and facilitating numerous strategic planning retreats, I regularly discuss long-term trends affecting law firms with dozens of members of executive committees and managing partners. These trends of interest differ somewhat, of course, for firms of different sizes. More importantly, sometimes the same trend has very different implications for firms of different sizes.
Cash-Out Distribution Plans Require Amendment
Qualified retirement plans that provide immediate cash-out distributions to a terminated participant if the vested benefit is "$5000 or less" must be amended to comply with Department of Labor (DOL) final regulations. The final regulations are effective for rollovers of mandatory distributions made on or after March 28, 2005. The final regulations provide a safe harbor for fiduciaries of tax-qualified pension plans that are required to roll over plan benefits into an individual retirement plan when a terminated employee fails to elect a distribution method.
More Clients Embrace E-Billing
It only seems fair for the in-house department to strive to simplify the billing process at a time when it is demanding so much from outside counsel.
EU Corporate Guidelines
The first challenge and most important need is to know what the relevant EU corporate guidelines are, to know where they apply and to know how to find them. Unlike the United States, where corporate matters are generally covered by individual state law, in the European Union these matters have long attracted centralized legislation from Brussels, which affects the entire EU (now 25 countries, which in 2007 will be joined by Bulgaria and Romania). Norway and Switzerland (although not in the EU) often legislate regarding these matters much as EU member countries do and thus, for our purposes here, we can talk about 29 countries in Europe rather than the 25 that currently make up the EU.
Good Faith Issues
In recent years, Delaware courts have begun to refer to a "triad" of fiduciary duties -- consisting of loyalty, care and good faith -- thereby suggesting that good faith constitutes a duty separate from the duty of loyalty. More importantly, recent opinions of the Delaware courts have indicated that conduct that traditionally would have been viewed as implicating only the duty of care may be found to constitute a breach of the duty of good faith. This analytical shift is significant: Directors are typically exculpated, and both directors and officers are typically indemnified and insured, for breaches of their duty of care, while exculpation and indemnification by the corporation are impermissible, and insurance coverage exclusions may apply, in respect of conduct that constitutes bad faith.
Due Diligence: Beyond the Financial Statements
Due diligence of an acquisition always begins with the careful examination of the financial statements, but now demands a complete evaluation of internal controls and transaction integrity. Unlike finely polished financial statements, internal controls and transaction integrity are hard to spin; any varnish quickly wears off when scrutinized. After living through failed acquisitions and now an increased regulatory environment, corporate risk executives are refining their due diligence processes. By measuring transaction integrity and the effectiveness of internal controls, this new due diligence provides a view into the selling company's operational discipline and overall culture for tolerating policy violations.
