Children As Pawns: Who Determines Custody?
Attorneys and courts struggle with ways to determine which parent would be the better primary caretaker. If only there were a test ... Because there is not such a determining factor, the legal system has come up with many tests - and people to evaluate them. Rather than simplify the decision, this process may have further complicated it. In addition to the questions of objectivity raised about the tests themselves, there are the questions raised about the individuals who evaluate them.
Do You Know Who Your 'Supervisors' Are?
As distinguished from cases of supervisory harassment, an employer may not be held liable for a sexually hostile environment created by a victim's co-worker unless the employer knew or should have known about the sexual harassment and failed to take appropriate corrective action. Accordingly, in assessing the potential for employer liability it is important to determine, in the first instance, whether the alleged harasser is properly classified as a supervisor or a co-worker for Title VII purposes.
New Effort on Talent Management
General counsel are increasingly recognizing the need not only to manage the talent within their departments, but also to develop and enhance the group and its individual lawyers. <BR>In this, the second article in a three-part series on talent management, we focus more closely on what innovative initiatives law departments are using to capitalize on existing capabilities and what steps some of them have taken to continually add to the effectiveness of team performance.
Do Your Discrimination Policies Go Far Enough?
In the years since <i>Farragher</i> and <i>Ellerth</i>, numerous courts have been asked to decide whether or not constructive discharge (<i>ie</i>, the employee felt forced to resign because conditions were unbearable) is a tangible job action negating the employer's ability to raise the affirmative defense. The decided cases have had differing outcomes.
PR's Return On Investment
What can we make of the fact that the top 25 firms ranked by revenue in the AmLaw 200 have increased their overall presence in the media by around 18%, while firms ranked in the next two quarters (numbers 26 through 75) increased by barely 1%? Below the third quarter, the differences are even starker. Overall, the firms that were ranked 76 to 200 actually engendered fewer media appearances - by upwards of 5% in some instances - in 2002 than in 2001. <br>The easy response is that the larger the firm, the more lawyers and practice groups there are for reporters to call on as sources and commentators; coast-to-coast and abroad. The law of nature is that the rich get richer. It applies to media profile as well.
Self-Insurance Obligations Under NJ Law: Forecasting the Future of Benjamin Moore
The NJ Supreme Court has recently elected to hear appeals in two coverage actions involving the same basic issue ' namely, reconciling the application of the Owens-Illinois "continuous trigger theory" with the application of specific policy provisions under New Jersey law. In the first of these two cases, <i>Spaulding Composites Company, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety,</i> the court strongly affirmed the viability of the continuous trigger theory, invalidating a clear and unambiguous non-cumulation clause that it found conflicted with this approach. <i>Spaulding Composites Company, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety,</i> 176 N.J. 25, 46 (2003). In the second case, <i>Benjamin Moore & Company v. Aetna Casualty & Surety,</i> which is pending, the court must now determine how to apply the continuous trigger theory to self-insurance features contained in a series of unambiguous policy endorsements which do not appear to conflict with a continuous trigger. No. A-4423-01T2F, 2003 WL 1904383 (App. Div., Jan. 14, 2003), appeal granted, 176 N.J. 70 (2003).
The Lawyer's Guide to Public Relations
There is definitely an art to becoming the object of the press's affection. If you are lucky enough to have an in-house public relations department, your "luck runneth over." However, for most lawyers whose wish list includes "personal appearances" either via print media or electronic media, it can be a challenging and sometimes frustrating experience. There is hope, and it comes in the form of having a personal public relations/professional development plan. While most business development efforts focus on marketing, public relations can be a key component to one's overall success. Public relations is different than marketing in the sense that it requires a more personal approach to one's professional development plan. It requires an individual to hone a separate set of skills that enables one to speak, be quoted and appear as a spokesperson in a specific area of expertise.
