Loan-Out Corporations after Tax Reform and CA Supreme Court Decision in 'Dynamex'
The tax reform bill signed by President Trump at the end of 2017 has caused us to take a fresh look at many long-held assumptions about how to take into account income taxes in planning for the entertainment industry. At the same time, the California Supreme Court recently decided a case that has the potential to eviscerate loan-out corporations entirely. This article discusses loan-out corporations in light of these two important developments.
Prospering in the 'New Normal'
<b><i>Raising Costs and Declining Demand are Sapping Profits</b></i><p>The “New Normal” of today is one in which raising operating costs, associate salary increases, and reduced realization rates coupled with AFAs and demands from corporate counsel for reduced rates are sapping firm profits and there is no relief on the horizon. Law firm leaders, seeing current conditions, should be asking if there is a better way.
The Topography of a Strong Attorney Biography
<b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p>Attorneys are generally not great salespeople (caveat: some are <i>great</i> salespeople, aka rainmakers) and they are often introverts. While lawyers may like to speak about themselves, many are not effective in <i>how</i> to speak about themselves and their work in a way that is appealing to clients.
Hiring Practices and the FCPA
While laws such as the FCPA do not necessarily prohibit hiring individuals with criminal records or bad credit records or who are former government officials, they do require employers to identify these individuals and assess whether their hire would pose a threat, violate the laws outright or impose an administratively difficult burden due to the need to monitor their activities.
The Death of the Law Firm Partnership Vote?
<b><i>With an Eye on Efficiency, Firms Are Ditching Old Methods for a More Corporate Form of Governance</b></i><p>A growing number of firms in the United States and the United Kingdom are eschewing historical partnership norms in favor of more centralized management, and with that comes fewer and fewer partnership votes.
Finally Finishing Unfinished Business?
<i><b>How the Recent </i> Heller Ehrman <i>Case Impacts Lawyer Mobility and Clients Choice of Counsel</i></b><p>The law of unfinished business, as applied to cases billed on an hourly basis, has been the subject of much commentary and case law. In <i>Heller Ehrman</i>, the high California court, like the New York Court of Appeals, found that a dissolved law firm did not have a property interest in hourly matters for work performed after dissolution. The case is worth exploring as it impacts, among other things, lawyer mobility and clients choice of counsel.
