Estate Planning: Attorneys and CPAs ' Perfect Together
Whether or not a law firm offers its clients estate planning services, the input of a CPA is vital to ensure that a client receives the most comprehensive estate planning advice. Law firms without estate planning capabilities should work closely with accounting firms that do have estate planning expertise in order to realize an additional revenue stream from existing clients.
IP News
Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.
Disgorge This: The Restitution Defense Meets the Duty to Defend
The restitution defense to insurance coverage proceeds from a simple and logical premise. If I steal money from you and am forced to return it, there is no loss for my insurer to reimburse because I never had a right to the money in the first place. Life is rarely so simple, however, and insurers have asserted the restitution defense — with varying degrees of success — in a broad range of situations, some having little connection to the original premise.
Rocket Matter: Case Management for the Small Firm
What attorneys are missing is a brand new class of case management programs which, while they seek to replace older programs, also seek to solve many of the concerns law firms face when dealing with digital client data: security, mobile access and backup. As one of the newcomers to this market, Rocket Matter has embraced the new Software as a Service ("SaaS") model of delivering software from the Internet Cloud.
KM Implementation At Reed Smith
Despite the fact that our total data creation had increased exponentially, Reed Smith hadn't invested nearly enough in our information infrastructure, and simple processes such as document retrieval were taking far too long. We knew we needed to take control of our data before it took hold of us. Following is an account of the firm's recent implementation of Recommind's MindServer Search platform as the foundation for its Knowledge Management infrastructure.
New Document Metadata Changes In Microsoft Office 2007
The document metadata contained in a Word document other than the intended text doesn't necessarily create risk of adverse disclosure, because some document metadata is necessary for formatting or macro automation of the document. However, some document metadata, such as Tracked Changes, may be used to share among cooperators, but should not be shared with adversaries or in some instances clients, because it contains author and date metadata.
Addressing Generational 'Tech Gaps' for More Efficient, Effective Legal Practice
One way legal practices are trying to handle cutbacks is through increased use of technology ' essentially harnessing software and online technology to make employees and operations more efficient while maintaining quality work. Working with IT colleagues, this has proven to be a successful strategy for many lawyers. However, it turns out there are some rather sharp differences in how technology is perceived and used by legal professionals among different generations. These differences, or "generational gaps," can lead to issues in the workplace between colleagues, as well as less efficient use of time and resources by law firm or company employees. Naturally, each of these concerns is amplified given difficult economic circumstances.
e-Commerce Notes
FTC Issues over $12 Million In Redress Checks to Victims of '90 Credit Fraud<br>FTC Tells the House About ID-Theft Efforts<br>FTC Mission Statutes Involving Online Commerce<br>Firm Web Site Receives ABA Branding Accolade<br>Discovery Organization Launches Job Project
A Touch of Gray
No one enjoys clearing rights. Checking that you may use content (whether on your Web site, in a publication, or for a performance) and won't be sued over it takes time and effort. And, for e-commerce counsel clients, that means more money.