Implementing an Alternative Billing Program
Corporate counsel are exercising increased bargaining power about fees and terms of employment of outside law firms. Law firms can no longer ignore the competition of the marketplace when establishing billing rates and fees. Several variations and combinations of three basic billing systems, hourly billing, fixed fee billing and contingent fee billing, follow.
The Marital Residence
Crucial to any division of the marital residence (or other assets) is an understanding of the tax consequences attendant thereto. Unfortunately, relevant tax issues are at times not addressed by the parties or the court, resulting in further litigation over the allocation of tax debt.
Dressing Your e-Business Up for Success
Asking an e-commerce entrepreneur whether he or she knows what the business looks like may seem silly. After all ' doesn't it seem a given that no one can run a business, whether an e-commerce venture or a traditional bricks-and-mortar storefront operation, without knowing its basic financial information, especially cash flows, receivables and payables, and the balance sheet?
Managing Practice Group Profitability
Managers can no longer ignore the performance of individual practices, hoping problems will correct themselves. Firms everywhere are venturing into various types of reporting and 'profit center accounting,' typically based on the performance of individual practice groups and even specific clients. However, they take a variety of approaches to these analyses, and the differences can cause severely different analytic outcomes.
401(k) Participants May Sue for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
In a closely watched case arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended ('ERISA'), the U.S. Supreme Court recently clarified the right of employees to sue plan fiduciaries for mismanaging their individual 401(k) accounts. <i>LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc.</i>, 128 S. Ct. 467, 42 EBC 2857 (2008)
