The Brand-Name Game's New Rules
June 28, 2005
Whether investigating new product-name availability or domain-name squatters and cybershysters, fee-based Web trademark search services do corporate legal departments' legwork. They also provide attorneys and staff with slick online tools to review and act on the information uncovered.
Paper Intake Forms Are 'So Yesterday'
June 27, 2005
Well it's about time. The days of filling out paper forms, and sending them through the office mail to only then have someone re-key them into a computer are gone. Double entry of information and paper forms are a waste of valuable time and money. Some law firms tend to be inefficient, thinking that a little inefficiency helps increase billable hours. We'll save that discussion for another time. Internal staff inefficiency is another story; this is hard cost, non-billable and is definitely money to a partner.
The Challenge of Electronic Records
June 27, 2005
Legal standards regarding electronic discovery and document retention have recently undergone a rapid transformation. Increased regulatory oversight of corporations and resulting record-keeping obligations, coupled with the increasing volume of electronic communication, have created new challenges with regard to document retention and production. More than 99% of information is now being created and stored electronically. Anything that can store, transmit, replay or access electronic data may potentially hold useful corporate records and electronic evidence. Recently, courts and regulators have issued a multitude of new obligations requiring document retention that attempt to define and reconcile the duties of parties and counsel with regard to electronic documents as the judiciary struggles to keep pace with technology.
Employee Background Checks: The Dos and Don'ts
June 27, 2005
Whether your company is in the Fortune 500 or a small independent business, hiring and retaining qualified honest employees is critical to your success. In fact, a recent study showed that almost half of all job applicants submitted inaccurate or incorrect information to their potential employees. Given these alarming statistics, it is vital that you conduct background checks even before making hiring decisions.
A Word from the Defense: Is Defending Vioxx a Recipe for Disaster? Take a Careful Look at Who Is Sounding the Alarm
June 14, 2005
The message from our plaintiffs' lawyer colleagues has been steady and direct: "Don't bother defending these cases — you're going to lose and you're going to lose big. Just pay us all lots of money now and save yourself a lot of pain and agony." And what other message would they send? Their goal is to reap the highest reward from the least amount of effort. Litigating every case on every level; financing and staffing hundreds of complex trials, and waiting for final appellate review of every verdict is no way to run a mass tort practice — at least not from the plaintiffs' perspective. Given this author's perspective, it makes sense to examine the options more carefully before deciding that the only way to avoid ruin is to wire massive sums into the trial bar's trust accounts.
Vioxx and the FDA Advisory Committees: Yesterday, Today, and the Search for Tomorrow
June 14, 2005
Amid a cacophony of wailing and gnashing of teeth decrying the Food and Drug Administration's ("FDA's") failure to protect the public from unsafe drugs, the FDA held an emergency advisory committee meeting, which included consultants, to address the safety issues associated with the use of COX-2 selective and non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ("NAIDs"). The meeting was scheduled and held at warp speed. It provided a transparent dispassionate opportunity to address the safety issues for scientists, affected parties and the public. The decisions of the advisory committee were to some extent, unexpected. This accelerated review process differs from the current advisory committee process of reviewing limited data in a product pre-approval setting. However, this use is a natural extension of the FDA's historic use of advisory committees, <i>ie</i>, analysis of voluminous data on any active ingredient over a period of years and application of the analysis to specific drug products containing the active ingredient.
The Challenge of Electronic Records Corporate Compliance
June 01, 2005
Legal standards regarding electronic discovery and document retention have recently undergone a rapid transformation. Increased regulatory oversight of corporations ' and resulting recordkeeping obligations ' coupled with the increasing volume of electronic communication have created new challenges with regard to document retention and production. More than 99% of information is now being created and stored electronically. Anything that can store, transmit, replay or access electronic data may potentially hold useful corporate records and electronic evidence. Recently, courts and regulators have issued a multitude of new obligations requiring document retention that attempt to define and reconcile the duties of parties and counsel with regard to electronic documents as the judiciary struggles to keep pace with technology. In determining whether a document should, or is required to, be kept, the focus should not and cannot be on the media ' <i>ie</i>, whether it is an e-mail, paper copy, facsimile, instant message, text file, or a Web site. Rather, the relevant question is what information is contained in that document.
Practice Tip: What You Need to Know About Fighting Spyware and Adware
May 31, 2005
While obvious security threats like fast-spreading worms have a tendency to garner news headlines, other stealthy security risks threaten law firms and other businesses every day. An increasing amount of spyware and adware programs have the ability to facilitate the disclosure of business information and risk privacy, confidentiality, integrity, and system availability. Law firms ' like other corporations ' usually accumulate a vault of information that could cause serious problems if it were shared with the wrong contacts or, even worse, stolen. Spyware's evolution from simple cookies to a range of sophisticated user-tracking systems has left many businesses without the control over their proprietary data and <br>A recent survey by IT industry analysts IDC identified spyware as the fourth greatest threat to enterprise security.
