Sarbanes-Oxley Act Offers Recording Artists Potent Tool for Challenging Label Operations
February 27, 2007
Armed with a 'blue sky' law passed in 2002, new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations and a general shareholder mood of discontent that is turning into activism, artists have an unprecedented opportunity to seek meaningful corporate reform and oversight of the music industry through the corporate boardroom. What they couldn't accomplish as disgruntled artists, they may be able to accomplish as disgruntled shareholders.
Associate Bonus Plateau
February 01, 2007
Law firm associate bonuses generally were flat in 2006 compared with the year before. Few would argue that year-end perks up to $65,000 for senior associates were skimpy, but with business brisk and law firms scrambling to attract and keep good associate help, the question is: 'Why?'
DC Conference on Firm Management, Economics
February 01, 2007
On March 22'23 at the Washington Park Hyatt Hotel, Joel A. Rose & Associates, Inc., Management Consultants to Law Offices, will present its 20th Annual Conference & Workshops on Law Firm Management & Economics.
A Rational Basis for Setting Hourly Rates
February 01, 2007
For the past 20 years, law firms have annually increased their hourly rates on the basis of various ad hoc criteria ' what the market will bear, matching the competition, cost-plus, maintaining profit margins ' that neither firm members nor clients find satisfactory. Alternative pricing methods (fixed fees, percentage of the deal, etc.) have long been advocated as a solution to hourly billing discontents, but in practice, for a large majority of firms they remain limited in application. Firms whose clients expect fees to be charged on an hourly rate basis therefore require a rational means of constructing an hourly rate schedule that is transparent and acceptable to clients as well as defensible within the firm.
Challenges to Law Firm Mandatory-Retirement Policies
February 01, 2007
A 2006 survey report indicated that 57% of law firms with 100 or more attorneys have mandatory retirement age policies. See L. Jones 'Pitfalls of Mandatory Law Firm Retirement,' <i>National Law Journal</i>, May 24, 2006. But legal challenges to mandatory retirement policies at law firms are likely to become more common as baby boomers reach retirement age.
Court Watch
January 31, 2007
Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.
Sales and Service Strategies
January 31, 2007
Lawyers know that business development is a must. Too many of them, however, approach it as random acts of golf and lunch. There's nothing wrong with that in theory. Clients purchase legal services from people they like, and golf and lunch are fine marketing activities, very conducive to relationship building. The problem, though, is with the word 'random.' The top rainmakers do nothing randomly. They have identified those persons they want to know better and, from there, they develop a systematic plan to go about building and enhancing relationships with them. As I emphasize to my clients, the key word is <i>plan</i>.
The Not-So-Simple Employee Disclipline Matter
January 31, 2007
In the new age of the whistleblower, an employment lawyer who one day advises on a routine employee discipline or discharge may the next day find him- or herself directing a multi-disciplinary investigation of alleged corporate malfeasance, guiding a team of forensic accountants, private investigators, and public relations experts.
You Thought You Had a Radius Clause: Wells Fargo v. Diamond Point Plaza May Change Your Mind
January 31, 2007
A landlord secures an anchor tenant with a big-name, stable, and successful chain store. The landlord negotiates that a percentage of this successful tenant's gross sales out of the landlord's location will constitute a portion of the rental payments. In order to protect his percentage rent, the landlord ensures that the lease contains a provision that (it thought) would forbid the tenant from opening another store in close proximity to the landlord's property. Therefore, the landlord has sufficiently guaranteed not only a base rental payment, but also a portion of the tenant's success, and it is confident the tenant will be very successful in the area. The landlord is thrilled, right? Maybe not. New case law indicates that courts may interpret the landlord's lease provision protecting against a new store, a radius clause, in a manner different from the way the landlord had intended.
