Lateral Partner Recruiting Effective Use Of Search Professionals
Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of New York's elite law firms, recently hired its first lateral partner in over 60 years. While an exception at Cravath, hiring lateral partners has become an indispensable strategy for law firms in achieving important business objectives and in thriving in hotly competitive markets.
Men Report Changed Attitudes Toward Work And Life
Last month, Part One revealed some of the significant findings of a study released in October 2004 titled "Generation & Gender in the Workplace." The study documents many things that change the equation regarding workplace attitudes. It was conducted by the Families and Work Institute and sponsored and funded by the American Business Collaboration (ABC), a group of eight major businesses, including two accounting/consulting firms, that believe collaboration can accomplish more than working alone. In Part Two, we present results on ambition and taking on responsibility ' at work and at home.
Need Partners Who Can Effectively Manage Your Firm?
As I work with partners in law firms throughout the country, I continue to be surprised at how little, if any, formal training they have had in the business of law ' leadership, management, profitability, and business development. <br>Lawyers are largely extremely bright and talented people. Most, however, do not have MBAs, did not study business in college and do not devote sufficient non-billable time each year to ongoing leadership and management training courses.
Matrimonial Lawyers Have a New Tool
Timely and accurate knowledge of all the relevant facts is essential to successful matrimonial litigation. The proper use of the Internet helps give litigants access to relevant information; the Internet has been recognized by matrimonial attorneys as promoting a variety of goals: identification and substantiation of claims and defenses; discovery of data that permits the parties to evaluate their respective positions better; the simplification and narrowing of issues; and assistance in the conduct of the trial.
The Out-of-State Dissolution of Civil Unions
Can the subject matter jurisdiction of a family court extend beyond divorce and annulment into the broader realm of dissolution of the family? Does a family court have equity jurisdiction to dissolve a Vermont civil union and to adjudicate the division of property and ancillary economic claims? Does an out-of-state family court have jurisdiction to dissolve a Vermont civil union based on its power to enforce contracts and to adjudicate contractual disputes, including express or implied contracts between unmarried cohabitants? How does a state's version of the Defense of Marriage Act (referred to as a mini or junior-DOMA) factor into this analysis, if at all? Family lawyers are closely monitoring an emerging body of case law that seeks to answer some of these questions. In all likelihood, at some point in 2005, a state's highest court will weigh in on these issues, and that decision may potentially affect the degree to which family lawyers will succeed in securing out-of-state decrees on behalf of clients seeking to dissolve Vermont civil unions.
Litigation
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Custody Evaluations
New York has recently been exposed to a resurgence of doubt regarding the usefulness of evaluations performed by mental health professionals (MHPs) in custody matters. In debates certain to affect the national family law community, the criticism questions the scientific validity of recommendations and observations that these professionals are called upon to make, asking whether the experts, in fact, have the expertise to participate meaningfully in the process. This article responds to some of the criticism by seeking to clarify the role that MHPs play.
How to Impeach a Custody Evaluator
Because the custody evaluator comes to court as an expert witness, he or she may be impeached by the published writings of other professionals in his or her field. <i>People v. Feldman</i>, 299 NY 153, 85 NE2d 913 (1949). Once a proper foundation is laid, passages that contradict the testimony may be read and the witness asked whether he or she agrees or disagrees with those statements. When used in such fashion, the content of the statement put to the witness does not become evidence in the case, but is allowed only to discredit or weaken his or her testimony by showing that learned writers in the field have expressed contrary views. This article uses New York rules of procedure to explore the evidentiary doctrine and trial techniques pertaining to impeachment by treatise when confronting the testimony of a custody evaluator.
