The Bad News Is, You Have a 401(k) Plan
June 29, 2006
The good news is your firm has a contributory retirement plan and you are a participant. The bad news is that to manage your money, control much of your retirement destiny and thus the future financial welfare of you and your family, your firm has placed this responsibility in the hands of someone who is almost certainly clueless about such matters.<br>That person is you.
Asset Creation, Seclusion And Money Laundering In The Virtual World
June 29, 2006
As more and more people take up residence in the virtual world ' sometimes also called digital or synthetic worlds ' through their participation in one of the many 'Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games' (MMPORGs) currently available online, the potential for monetary abuse and malfeasance also increases. While the original virtual worlds were built by private gaming companies for their subscriber base and were fully controlled by the designers and their all-encompassing End-User Licensing Agreements (EULA), new MMPORGs have emerged that provide individual players with more freedoms ' including the ability to create, seclude or launder wealth. The likelihood of this new technology being co-opted for unscrupulous purposes is great, since historically the same has happened in response to other advances in technology.
Court Watch
June 28, 2006
Highlights of the latest franchising cases from around the country.
Is Half a Summer Associate Better Than None?
June 28, 2006
In a February <i>A&FP</i> article titled 'Associate Overcompensation?' I ventured the opinion that competition for the most promising new associates was perhaps needlessly intense, given that law firms aren't very good at identifying which law school graduates actually will turn into excellent lawyers. The following interesting report seems to invite essentially the same question with regard to law student summer associates.
Branches, Boutiques And Client Conflicts
June 28, 2006
As analyzed in several <i>A&FP</i> articles, a major strategic goal of many law firms is to attain and maintain dominance for specific practice areas in a legal market. One downside of dominance in a practice area, however, is that a firm may increasingly need to turn away work in other practice areas due to client conflicts.<br>From the following excerpts of recent news analyses from <i>A&FP</i>'s ALM affiliates, it seems reasonable to conjecture that conflict-related attorney movements between firms help maintain a healthy level of competition in legal services that excessive dominance might otherwise undermine.
Clarifying the Force Majeure Clause in a Commercial Lease
June 28, 2006
<i>A&FP</i> articles in March and April discussed how various 'boilerplate' clauses in a commercial lease may one-sidedly favor the landlord or tenant. The present article emphasizes the need to ensure that the force majeure clause in particular protects vital interests in the event of a major catastrophe. Whether your firm is a tenant or landlord, you'll want to take a close look, first at this article and then at your lease.
Taking a Stand on Standards Initiatives
June 28, 2006
Industry analysts often debate implementation details of various standards, but more critical attention should be focused on whether entire standardization programs are well conceived. This article offers some lines of thought that readers may find useful in deciding their overall response to a standardization proposal.
What Every U.S. Employer Should Know About Workplace Privacy
June 15, 2006
Last month's article discussed background screening and Social Security number laws. This month's installment covers the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; information security; and monitoring employee telephone, e-mail, and Internet use.
Hiring a Media Buyer
May 31, 2006
Imagine fielding all those unsolicited calls and referring them to a professional whose full-time job involves learning your audience requirements and branding strategy, finding research or personally conducting ongoing market and competitor analysis, providing you with data-rich 'Point-of-View' (POV) assessments on how the possible media buys fit into your firm's priorities ' maintaining arm's-length but informed relationships with the myriad publications you might consider, but recommending only those publications that meet a sophisticated test of audience reach vs. cost. This professional then negotiates advantageous terms and specifics, such as date and page placement, and executes the details of the media plan, day-in and day-out. And who keeps the payments and discounts straight and sends you frequent updates for budget-tracking purposes.<br>That professional is a media planner/buyer. No stranger to corporate America, outside media planning and buying services are relatively new to law firm marketing, but their presence is increasing among the larger, more media-savvy firms. Just as the legal profession lagged in accepting and building marketing departments, it has been slow to appreciate the value of these media professionals. That's changing, however, as national and global law firms are recruiting more non-legal professionals to high-level positions; and that new blood is carrying over some well-known best practices found in other industries with longer track records in branding and advertising than law firm marketing.
Synthetic Securitization in China
May 31, 2006
China recently launched two offerings of asset backed securities ('ABS') in its interbank market after several years of preparation and planning. On Dec. 9, 2005, China Construction Bank ('CCB') issued 2.9 billion yuan ($360 million) of debt securities in China's first residential mortgage-backed securitization, and on Dec. 12, 2005, China Development Bank ('CDB') issued 4.2 billion yuan ($500 million) of debt securities backed by unsecured loans from the telecommunications, energy, utility, and transportation industries. To facilitate ABS offerings, China's regulatory agencies have promulgated rules to govern ABS issuances, including the Administrative Rules for Pilot Securitization of Credit Assets, promulgated by the People's Bank of China ('PBOC') and China Banking Regulatory Commission ('CBRC') on April 20, 2005, the Rules for the Information Disclosure of Asset-Backed Securities, promulgated by the PBOC on June 13, 2005, and Rules for Regulating Financial Institution's Securitization, promulgated by the CBRC on Dec. 1, 2005.
