Report Questions Benefits of Municipal Wireless Broadband Networks
Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco are among the major municipalities that are presently considering the establishment of city-run wireless broadband networks (Wi-Fi). They claim that by creating a public network, both the municipality and the residents would benefit. Sounds reasonable at first blush, but strong and obvious opposition from service providers such as Comcast Corporation and Verizon Communications will prove to be a major obstacle. In addition, feasibility studies are now beginning to emerge that throw more cold water on the idea of a municipal Wi-Fi utopia.
Practice Tip: Is Your Case Worth Displaying?
Let me start by assuring you that I have nothing against using high-end technology in the courtroom. Like many who read this column, my colleagues and I make our livings designing state-of-the-art demonstrative evidence and other teaching tools for use in complex civil and criminal cases. Why is it so important for me to let you know this? Because I want you to fully appreciate where I am coming from when I state the major premise of this article: We need to help trial lawyers make better choices when it comes to how they display material in court. An increasing number of lawyers are relying on high-end technology as a crutch and using these display methods without thinking about whether it makes sense to do so or whether their cases are better as a result.
Competing For Staff In A Tight Labor Market
Some traditions take a long time to die. Unfortunately, staff recruiting is one of them.<br>It's a highly competitive labor market for professionals, and one in which you can't always compete in dollars. What's to be done?
Men Report Changed Attitudes Toward Work And Life
At last some hard data on what men want from life and work! The results of a study released in October 2004 titled "Generation & Gender in the Workplace" 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.
Collaborating With Consultants On In-House Training Programs
In-house training programs are an important part of any law firm's professional development curriculum. They allow for a level of customization that makes content more meaningful and immediately useful and they offer the greatest flexibility in how and when they can be delivered. Yet for all their benefits, planning an effective, substantive group of training offerings in-house presents numerous challenges.
Mergers And Attorney Departures: Ethical Pitfalls To Avoid
As anyone connected with the modern law firm can readily attest, lawyers come and lawyers go. As anyone connected with the ethics function at the modern law firm can attest, attorney arrivals and departures create conflict of interest and other issues that sometimes seem unsolvable. <br>To be sure, the dynamics are readily different when attorneys arrive at the firm, as compared to when they depart. On the front end of a new relationship, everyone is hopeful and excited ' in stark contrast to the mindset of departing attorneys, in many circumstances, toward their soon-to-be former firm, and vice versa. Regardless of the dynamics, however, important ethical rules and principles must be followed. Otherwise, serious economic and reputational harm ' as well as attorney grievance investigations ' can follow.
The Unchanged Agenda
The call for improved corporate ethics has been thoroughly embraced by the worlds of business and public policy -- so much so that the recent invalidation of the federal sentencing guidelines, which allowed corporations to mitigate their sentences, will not slow the campaign's momentum. Rather, the guidelines' new advisory status should focus companies more on the overriding need to build an ethical culture, and less on rote, process-oriented compliance. This change in focus will underscore the guidelines' core strength: They are more than just legal procedure - they articulate best practices in business ethics, which companies can put to constructive use.
