Affinity Groups
Affinity groups are groups that are sponsored and supported by an organization and consist of people with a common set of characteristics. Common affinity groups in larger law firms include ones involving women attorneys; attorneys of color; reduced-schedule attorneys; and people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender ('GLBT'). Affinity groups are effective tools that organizations have used successfully to improve retention and promotion, and to enhance recruiting efforts.
Business Development Will Dominate Marketing
In the real business world, marketing and business development functions co-exist ' albeit uncomfortably at times ' in a more or less equitable partnership that sees them working toward common objectives but living on separate islands. In the somewhat more surreal world of BigLaw business, the functions tend to live together but, all too often work at cross-purposes. And therein lies a budding tale. Who is best suited to lead the firm, at least until the next, next thing comes along? The answer seems clear. There's a new sheriff in town. Its name is business development.
HELP! Communicating During a Crisis
With corporate scandals, terrorism and economic chaos appearing regularly in the headlines of major newspapers and on broadcast news, now more than ever it seems that American business is in need of good crisis communications. No company is immune to crisis ' so no company should be without some kind of plan to communicate in the midst of that crisis. Organizations that have good plans in place will weather crises far better than those that don't ' or those that believe that not communicating will insulate them in some way from the effects of the crisis.
'Swift' Prosecutions of Corporations and Executives
Last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) celebrated the five-year anniversary of the Corporate Fraud Task Force with a press release and a party at which then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in a prepared statement, hailed significant changes in the way white-collar cases have been prosecuted. Gonzales praised the Task Force's role in breaking 'large investigations into smaller, less complex pieces,' and bringing those cases faster. But expedited investigations mixed with quick charging decisions have not been a reliable recipe for success.
Bankruptcy Rule 2019
Bankruptcy court procedural rulings typically go unnoticed. However, this year two bankruptcy court rulings regarding procedural disclosure requirements potentially applicable to investors participating in the bankruptcy process have caused quite a stir. Both rulings related to the scope of disclosure mandated by Bankruptcy Rule 2019, which applies to 'committees' and 'entities' that represent more than one creditor in a bankruptcy case.
Taxes and the Internet
Taxes and the Internet have generated a continuous stream of discussion ' but not much more. For all that has been written over the years, remarkably little has happened, other than the passage (and periodic temporary renewals) of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, and pressure on national firms' online operations to collect tax (as described below). The 'problems' ' untaxed economic activity ' that have created so much uncertainty for e-commerce firms and their customers alike remain just as much of an unknown risk, without a solution in sight. Perhaps the continued growth of e-commerce will simply be the unintended result of this inaction, the tax accountant's equivalent of the physician's motto, 'do no harm' ' that is: our tax system has done nothing to get in the way of e-commerce.
In Modern Litigation, Here's One Important Rule
Frequently missing from the plethora of articles on the pitfalls and potential problems in electronic discovery data for the uninitiated or unaware is practical experience and analysis from the trenches. This article addresses key EDD issues and pitfalls in a particular case involving 44 million pages of electronic records and a jury verdict of about $570 million, with a focus on the consequences of retaining too much electronic information and ways to solve problems that plague large companies involved in e-discovery.
Anatomy of an IP Theft
Matters related to intellectual property ('IP') have become so common in our e-discovery and computer-forensics practice that when we tell our staff there's a new matter requiring our attention, the general response is typically: 'Let me guess ' another company where a former employee has left for a competitor or created a startup, and allegedly stole the company's key intellectual property to get a head start.' From that point, we delve into another adventure to hunt down the next smoking gun and, in some instances, the silver bullet.
