e-Commerce Continues To Rise
June 28, 2005
Preliminary estimates of first-quarter e-commerce activity from the U.S. Census Bureau show a continued rise in the value of services and goods procured and exchanged online or by other electronic conduits.
Life Insurance and Divorce
June 28, 2005
Life Insurance is an important matter in most divorces. There are a host of issues that are not addressed in the typical negotiation. Consider the following sample insurance clause from a Property Settlement Agreement [PSA]: "The husband shall maintain life insurance for the wife having an aggregate death benefit of $250,000. Said obligation shall be terminated if the husband's obligation to pay alimony is modified/terminated. The husband shall maintain life insurance having an aggregate death benefit of $250,000 for the benefit of the unemancipated children. Said benefit shall be reduced by $75,000 upon the emancipation of the first child and again upon the emancipation of the second child. The obligation to maintain any life insurance for the children shall terminate upon the emancipation of all Three [3] children." There are many important decisions and considerations not addressed in a simplistic -- and typical -- clause like this, and practitioners need practical recommendations and advice on how better to address life insurance issues. This article provides both.
Steering e-Discovery's Course
June 28, 2005
A group of vendors, attorneys and other electronic-discovery services "consumers" hopes to use public input to develop a reference model that would help set e-discovery standards and guidelines.
Subpoena For e-Mail
June 28, 2005
e-Mail is a rich source of e-discovery and it is being used more often in legal and regulatory actions. It was a significant source of evidence in the Enron scandal, in Martha Stewart's case and in hundreds of other cases. According to the ePolicy Institute, 21% of companies have been ordered by courts to produce employee e-mail. A critical consideration for counsel is that when a client receives a subpoena for company e-mail, the client will either be surprised and dismayed, or confident in its awareness and control of e-mail content. The latter situation, of course, is the better one in which to find oneself.
A Quick Look At Elite E-Invoicing
June 28, 2005
Since 2003 Haynes and Boone has seen the number of client requests for electronic invoices triple. Now at least 20% of its clients require electronic invoices, which translates into 5,000-6,000 electronic invoices on an annual basis. Some larger clients accept invoices only electronically. <br>Rather than deal with a third party software vendor, Haynes and Boone LLP decided in 2003 to obtain e-billing software from its major accounting software vendor, Thomson Elite
Net Charity Registration Requirements
June 28, 2005
As part of states' efforts to shield their residents against the fraud and other crime that might be perpetrated against them in the name of a sham charity, most charitable organizations must register within the state in which they are domiciled. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia, for instance, require charities to register in-state, and to file financial and other information prior to soliciting in those states. States, however, also routinely impose their registration requirements on out-of-state charities that solicit in state in traditional ways (<i>eg</i>, by having solicitors enter the state) or over the Internet. Charitable organizations that use the Internet to solicit contributions must register if they use their Internet solicitation specifically to target people in that state, or receive Internet contributions from the state on a repeated, ongoing basis, or what's defined as "a substantial basis."
Better Safe Than Sorry
June 28, 2005
Information technology has become an invaluable business tool around the world. With it, businesses ' the traditional kind and those that operate over wires (and wirelessly) ' including law firms are able to increase efficiency and lower costs. After all, information technology is the gateway to one of the e-commerce sector's most important assets: Information. <br>But what happens when information cannot be trusted? When it is vulnerable and exposed to Internet threats? When information is secure, it is trustworthy; anything less than that, and it simply loses its value.
Database Security Breaches: Legal Liability
June 28, 2005
The recent report of a possible compromise of information among as many as 40 million MasterCard customers demonstrated in frightening clarity the potential for digital data breaches as more and more information is stored and manipulated electronically by more and more people. For many companies, the issue has an impact on operations and marketing, quite aside from the dangers of potential legal liability. <br>More than ever, e-commerce firms are vulnerable to such problems and would do well to heed counsel's advice to take steps to avoid compromises and legal liability.
