At the Tipping Point
October 31, 2006
The debate over the issue of whether or not a law firm can have a mandatory retirement age has focused on the threshold question of whether the 'partner' is an 'employer' or an 'employee' under the ADEA. If the partner is a 'bona fide' partner then he or she is an 'employer' and not protected by the ADEA. However, if the partner is not a 'bona fide' partner under the relevant legal principles (which will be discussed later in this article), he or she may be protected by the ADEA and, therefore, able to challenge the mandatory retirement age policy.
The USA PATRIOT Act Renewed: Reassessing Money Laundering Risk in Finance Transactions
October 30, 2006
The federal government is stepping up its aggressive enforcement of anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism ('AML/CFT'). Enforcement actions have already spread beyond 'traditional' financial institutions, such as banks. Regulations that are expected to be promulgated soon will likely embolden these enforcement actions against leasing companies, equipment vendors, finance companies, and other 'financial institutions.' These parties should reassess their compliance risk under the AML/CFT rules. The consequences of these risks are important. For example, the loss of reputation from being brushed with the taint of money laundering can sink a business.
Betting on Litigation
October 30, 2006
For all the publicity that our litigious society generates, the decision to sue or not, or even to send a so-called lawyer letter, is often agonizing for any business owners or principals.<br>This dilemma is particularly strong for the smaller firms that compose so much of the e-commerce sector. While the media often perceives lawyers as nothing more than 'ambulance chasers' constantly looking for personal injury lawsuits to stock their personal treasuries, most businesses should prefer to resolve disputes outside the courtroom.
Competitive Intelligence: A Tool for In-house Counsel
October 30, 2006
Competitive Intelligence has long been used by corporate America to analyze trends, client feedback, and marketing strategies to get an edge. It's the newest buzzword among law firms to win more market share and retain clients. But it's barely a whisper in law departments, at least when it comes to selecting outside counsel.
<i>Trenwick America</i>
October 30, 2006
The issue of directors' and officers' liability for deepening insolvency has been the source of a significant number of judicial opinions over the past few years with little consensus being reached on the viability of these claims. This may have changed however. Despite the Delaware Bankruptcy Court's recent decision, <i>In re: Scott Acquisition Corp.</i>, 2006 WL 1732277 (Bankr. D. Del. 2006), which ruled that directors and officers of insolvent subsidiary companies owe fiduciary duties to both its creditors and the subsidiary itself. The Delaware Chancery Court, Vice Chancellor Leo E. Strine presiding, subsequently and resoundingly waded into the breach of fiduciary duty and zone of insolvency arena with its decision in ,<i>Trenwick America Litigation Trust v. Ernst &Young, L.L.P., et al.</i>
Rehiring Attorneys After a Break: Doing the Numbers
October 30, 2006
Both the American Bar Association and the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco are launching initiatives aimed at helping attorneys who have stopped practicing maintain their connections and ease their transition back into the profession.
<i>Book Review</i>: Understanding Standards of Value In Depth
October 30, 2006
Standards of Value: Theory and Applications, written by Jay E. Fishman, Dr. Shannon P. Pratt, and William J. Morrison, addresses the standard of value as applied in four distinct contexts: estate and gift taxation, shareholder dissent and oppression, divorce and financial reporting. The book is written in a fashion that will prove useful for judges, lawyers and practitioners to better understand the theory and conceptual underpinnings related to the various standards of value in both judicial and regulatory applications. The depth of the book in several areas reaches well beyond anything published to date with respect to how the recognized standards of value relate to these four very different purposes in application.
Risk of Lawsuits Over Legal Recruiting Fees
October 30, 2006
In May, just 1 month after Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld announced Chang-Joo Kim had joined its New York office as a partner, the law firm cut a check to recruiting firm Boston Executive Search for $227,500. <br>But did it pay the right recruiter? New York search firm Sivin Tobin Associates says it sent Akin Gump a package about Kim last December, along with a term sheet. Sivin Tobin is now suing the law firm, alleging breach of an implied contract. In September, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jane S. Solomon denied Akin Gump's motion to dismiss.
Analyzing Law Firm Business Capabilities With Heat Mapping
October 30, 2006
Law firms have been largely unable to take advantage of modern business improvement methods such as Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints ' complex techniques often applied to manufacturing processes ' with much success. Those methodologies are measurement-based strategies that focus on process improvement and variation reduction.
Improving Management of Hard Disbursements
October 30, 2006
Improved hard-disbursements management can mean major improvements for firms' financial performance. <br>In the mid-1990s, the IRS stopped allowing lawyers to deduct as a business expense funds advanced for clients, treating their repayment as income. The agency said such advances should be treated as loans. This policy turned the nation's lawyers into bankers making interest-free loans. Last year, the AmLaw 100 firms alone reportedly advanced more than $4.5 billion in such loans.
