Anchoring the Firm Culture In Solid Rock
June 02, 2015
Over the years of my consulting practice, I have seen many formerly great law firms fail and go under. The reason? They lost the anchor to their core values, and then started drifting into issues and concerns that eventually destroyed them from within. Herein, I try to lay out what can be done to keep the anchor holding.
How to Minimize Violence in Your Workplace
June 02, 2015
I am a management safety and health lawyer. For the first 30 years of my practice, I provided counsel to employers in hundreds of cases involving serious injuries. Twenty-four of those cases involved fatalities. None involved workplace violence. In the last five years, however, clients have increasingly sought my assistance with employee-on-employee violence issues.
ABI Bankruptcy Reform
June 02, 2015
Tension has focused on whether to allow a secured creditor to improve its position with new property acquired after the bankruptcy case. The result was the broad mandate of Section 552 of the Bankruptcy Code: A prepetition lender with a lien on an asset enjoys a post-petition lien on the proceeds of that asset.
Small, Midsize Firms Adapt to Increased Scrutiny
June 02, 2015
Like their larger counterparts, small and midsize law firms are facing escalating scrutiny from clients over their efficiency, project management and costs. But not all small and midsize firms are reacting in the same way.
Get a (Law) Firm Grip on Data Breaches
June 02, 2015
Law firms are as much at risk for cyber attacks as any other industry. Because of the lack of reporting requirements in the industry, it is unclear how many breaches have actually occurred. This article describes some of the reasons law firms are cyber-attack targets, steps they can take to reduce their risk, and what clients are doing to encourage law firms in those efforts.
Get a (Law) Firm Grip on Data Breaches
June 02, 2015
Law firms are as much at risk for cyber attacks as any other industry. Because of the lack of reporting requirements in the industry, it is unclear how many breaches have actually occurred. Fortunately, law firms are now recognizing the risk and beginning to take preventive action. This article describes some of the reasons law firms are cyber-attack targets, steps they can take to reduce their risk, and what clients are doing to encourage law firms in those efforts.
Avoid Drowning in Data
June 02, 2015
Data is a rich source for evidence in litigation and, for many companies, a valuable asset. What is less apparent, however, is exactly how to properly manage information and its privacy and security. However, over the past several decades, best practices have been developed for establishing and managing a comprehensive privacy, data protection and information governance program. This article summarizes those learnings to suggest an approach for how to design and run a program that is right for your company.
Crackdown on Offshore Tax Evasion Not Slowing Down
June 02, 2015
The DOJ Tax Division and the IRS have been ramping up an intense crackdown on offshore tax evasion, and the IRS's reduced resources due to new budget cuts is having no effect on IRS enforcement initiatives in this area.
How to Successfully Integrate Lateral Partners
June 02, 2015
There are two ways lateral partner recruiting can grow the revenues of a law firm. The first is through the acquisition of additional client relationships brought to the firm by the lateral partner. The second is the added work generated by the lateral partner serving more of the legal needs of the firm's existing clientele.
Beware: Not All Communications Between Court-Appointed Bankruptcy Professionals Are Privileged
May 02, 2015
A successful Chapter 11 representation requires a close working relationship between the client's attorneys and non-attorney professionals, and the latter are generally kept fully abreast of the attorney's strategies on behalf of their common client. But where a communication otherwise protected by the attorney-client privilege is disclosed to, or made in the presence of a third party, the communication may no longer be, or deemed never to have been considered privileged.
