Key Considerations in Choosing a Survey
Part One of this article offered a general overview and comparison of the major surveys currently available for US law firms (Altman Weil's "The Survey of Law Firm Economics"; Hoffman Alvary's "The Flash Report on Law Firm Economics"; and Pricewaterhouse Coopers' "The Law Firm Statistical Survey"). Part Two offers advice on how to select a survey.
Law Firm Management Beware: Seven Ancillary Business Pitfalls
Some law firms create unique, successful ancillary business models that not only boost the bonus pool, but also attract related legal business. Other firms make assumptions about market need, create management teams around partner free time, and generate little or no revenue. How will your firm find a successful model that fits the your own firm culture?
Making Internal Communications Work
When a client asks two different people in your firm the same question ' and is given two different and conflicting answers, then you might get the idea that maybe the concept of internal communications is more than just a management clichZ. When an instruction from the managing partner is completely diluted as it goes down the line, then how can we dismiss internal communication as inconsequential? Why is it so often taken for granted? Why does internal communication rarely work to anybody's satisfaction?
Confidentiality Controversy
By a slim 17-vote margin, the American Bar Association's House of Delegates during the association's annual meeting changed model rules governing the attorney-client privilege in the hopes of combating corporate fraud.
Risk Modeling, Not Patent Mining: Identifying the Best Patents for Licensing
Patent value increases when positive cash flow can be attributed directly to it. Ideal patents for licensing are those already being used (or, perhaps, abused) by others. Unfortunately, identifying unauthorized patent use can be like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack. Random patent mining by bibliometric methods is an extremely inefficient method of identifying licensing candidates — but many patent owners continue to use such methods out of habit.
Maximizing Your Patent Prosecution Dollars: A Few Simple Considerations
According to the statistics released by the USPTO (available online at <i>www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports.htm)</i>, approximately 326,508 utility patent applications were filed in 2001 in the United States and 166,045 utility patents were granted. The cost associated with the preparation and prosecution of patent applications last year was a multi-billion dollar business. In this era of cost controls, it is rare to find a patent prosecution department that is not subject to budgetary constraints. In-house patent counsel, as the gatekeepers for prosecution, need to select and work with outside patent counsel to maximize the return on their patent prosecution investment.
Counterfeit Drugs: A New Source of Product Liability?
Drug counterfeiting robs pharmaceutical manufacturers of their investment in patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade dress. It robs pharmacists and consumers of money, for worthless and sometimes dangerous products. It undermines the integrity of and consumer confidence in the American health care industry and in the government's ability to regulate it. More troubling than all these systemic evils, drug counterfeiting has the potential to allow controllable illnesses to ravage patients unchecked, to spread rather than stop disease, and to injure and kill.
New Regs for Reprocessed Single-Use Devices
Single-use medical devices (SUDs) are designed and approved by the FDA to be used once and thrown away. The practice of cleaning and reusing disposable medical devices has resulted from hospitals' continuing search for cost-cutting alternatives. The safety and efficacy of reprocessing SUDs has been the subject of significant - and heated - debate.
