Compensation Decision Aids: How Better Guidance Evolved
February 27, 2006
When I began consulting 18 years ago, compensation advisory services focused primarily on benchmarking. We would look at market data, find comparables, refine study data to adjust for timing differences, and determine appropriate compensation ranges. This latter focus was partly due to the nationwide run-up in associate starting salaries and law firms' attempts to deal with those market forces and the system-wide compression they created.
Pay Parity Across Legal Markets: Multiple Perspectives
February 27, 2006
As firms across the country lift associate salaries, some are opting to pay the same in all U.S. offices outside New York, while others still pay less in secondary markets like Philadelphia, Atlanta or Miami.
Reducing Client Costs For Investigative Services
February 27, 2006
In a perfect world, firms could employ private investigators who are as skilled as pseudo-bumbling television police detective Columbo, Dallas lawyer William Brewer III says. <br>That's rarely the case when Brewer contracts with private investigation companies to help with litigation at 35-lawyer Bickel & Brewer, so the firm launched its own investigative unit in January. It's staffed by three former agents and a former training instructor with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
SOX Section 404
February 27, 2006
The implementation of ' 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is essentially complete for large public companies. Most agree it was expensive and proved an immense corporate distraction. According to Financial Executives International (FEI) 94% of executives polled reported that the cost of compliance with ' 404 far outweighed the benefits. Nevertheless, large companies were able to fund the documentation of their control structure and get on with business. Some companies even reported customer service improvements, cost-saving consolidations and streamlined operational benefits stemming from the exercise. But lost in this post-mortem is that the implementation of ' 404 is not finished. Overlooked by many is that ' 404 has yet to be implemented in one of our most important pillars of the U.S. economy, our small public companies defined as those with a market capitalization of less than $75 million.
Best + Efforts = ?
February 27, 2006
There is a common misconception that the obligation to satisfy a "best efforts" clause requires rigorous performance, regardless of hardship or cost to the promisor. This misconception of the meaning of the term "best efforts" stems from the divergence between common parlance and jurisprudence. Considering the term in the vernacular, "best efforts" implies superlative action. Therefore, when one puts forth one's "best efforts," such action is not simply good, or better, but the best according to one's capabilities. James M. Van Vliet, Jr., <i>"Best Efforts" Promises Under Illinois Law,</i> Ill. B.J. 5 (Dec. 2000). The implication is that to satisfy a promise for "best efforts," there is no limit as to what one will do, no hardship or expense too great to satisfy the obligation. In fact, it would appear that many believe this to be the definition of "best efforts."
Does Product Liability Law Make Economic Sense?
February 07, 2006
Does product liability law make economic sense? Ask a random group of economists and you will get, in all probability, three basic answers: 1) yes, sort of; 2) no, sort of; and 3) maybe, it depends.
An Uncivil Code in the EU?
February 06, 2006
In the wake of the tidal wave of franchise regulation that has hit Europe, in France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Lithuania and Estonia, there is another tidal swell rapidly approaching. Over the last 3 years, a privately financed group of European academics, working under the title, "The Study Group on a European Civil Code," have been developing a model European Civil Code. One of the Study Group's subgroups (the "Amsterdam Team") has drafted a chapter on Commercial Agency, Franchise and Distribution Contracts, the latest draft of which is dated January 2005.
Competitive Bidding Assistance Programs Do Not Violate Robinson-Patman Act
February 06, 2006
On Jan. 10, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its first decision in over a decade interpreting the federal price discrimination statute, known as the Robinson-Patman Act (the "RPA"). In a 7-2 decision, the Court in <i>Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC, Inc.</i> (04-905), held that a heavy-duty truck manufacturer's unequal price concessions to its dealers bidding for special order jobs do not violate the RPA unless they discriminate between dealers competing for the same retail customer.
<b>Commentary:</b> 'Cloaking' Information and the Marketplace for Lateral Associates
February 03, 2006
Last spring ,i>The National Law Journal</i> reported that firms are taking steps to make it harder for headhunters to poach associates, primarily by removing information about associates from their Web sites ' information as basic as direct-dial numbers, e-mail addresses and biographical or practice-group data. More recently, <i>Law Firm, Inc.</i> reported that only four of the top 10 firms deserved an "A" for the completeness of associate information on their Web sites (see, www.lawfirminc.com/texts/0505/dls0505.html). The first question this raises is simply whether "cloaking" associate information has any effect; and the second, more interesting, question is whether firms' cloaking associates - but not partners - tells us anything about how the market for lateral associates differs in structure and function from the market for lateral partners.
The Management Side of Sales Pursuits
February 03, 2006
In an increasingly competitive legal services market, where clients are less loyal to their law firms and law firms are competing for business, there is a growing need for law firms to be systematic and disciplined in their approach to business development. Marketing departments are increasingly retooling themselves with client service, business development and sales functions. Attorneys, marketing and sales staff need to work increasingly closely as a team taking on non-traditional roles to ensure continuity in pursuit of business from first contact through the pitching and closing of business.
