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Innovative Discount System Created With DirectInvoice
Our legal department at Atlantic Bank of New York was looking for an electronic invoicing system to make our outside counsel billing process more manageable. What we found was new technology and software that enabled us not only to improve the overall efficiency of our system but also to implement an invoice discounting policy that saves us money and gets our outside counsel paid quickly. The discounting policy lets us reduce payments to outside counsel by a set percentage if we pay their bills within 20 days and reduces the fees further in the event of late invoice submission. Because the new invoicing system lets us turn invoices around so quickly, we have achieved such significant savings that we expect the invoicing system to pay for itself within just a few years.
The technology that made this possible is DirectInvoice.com from Tripoint Systems Development Corporation. As executive vice president and general counsel, I was responsible for selecting new matter tracking and electronic invoicing systems for the bank's legal department. With the help of Deloitte & Touche, I identified the needs of my department and the bank, assessed a number of systems and finally settled on DirectInvoice. Our legal department had installed a matter management system in the early 1990s, but by 2002 that system was outdated. We wanted a more advanced, more sophisticated system offering an array of features that would increase the amount, quality and efficiency of our work. Most importantly, we wanted an electronic invoicing system to replace our manual paper system, which was labor-intensive and time-consuming.
Previously, a bill would come into the legal department and be sent to the business contact for the matter. The business contact would then prepare a payment request form and do some data entry to keep some of the billing information in the business unit. Next, the business contact would take the bill and the form and send it to the legal department, where we would do our own data entry. The invoice was finally sent to our accounts payable area, whose personnel would complete another round of data entry and finally send out a check. With the new e-invoicing technology, there is no paper and much less manual data entry in the payment process.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.