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It's Not What You Bill, It's What You're Paid
Over the past two decades, the monitoring of legal bills by insurance firms that are paying for outside counsel has become standard practice. Whether using in-house accounting staff or hiring a third party, insurers have put attorneys on notice about what they will pay for, and how work must be documented. In turn, attorneys who defend insurance cases have had to adjust the way they do business.
For attorneys, the change in attitude and practice hasn't always been easy. Insurance defense attorneys are, as one lawyer put it, “the most risk-averse, change-resistant segment of a risk-averse, change-resistant profession.”
As auditing became widespread, attorneys questioned both its legitimacy and utility. Court cases have tested the legality of sharing client information to facilitate audits. The ethics panel of the American Bar Association (ABA) has issued opinions about where to draw the line on auditing policies. In recent years, some insurers reduced their auditing after deciding that their real bottom line is the resolution of an insurance dispute, not savings on legal work. Yet all parties agree that billing review is now a permanent part of the landscape in insurance defense work, and it reinforces the need for insurance defense attorneys and the firms that hire them to communicate clearly about goals, expectations, and the parameters of work.
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.
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.
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.
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?