The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005: Important Implications for the Equipment Leasing Industry
June 07, 2005
On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 into law (the "Act"). Although the Act has received much media attention in recent months for its potential impact upon consumers seeking protection under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code (the "Code"), it does contain a number of amendments to the Code that will affect, either directly or indirectly, the ways in which equipment lessors will relate to their liquidating or reorganizing lessees. This article provides a brief overview of some of the new amendments to the Code and explains how they will change the dynamics between lessors and lessees.
Career Paths for Law Firm Accounting-Financial Professionals
May 26, 2005
This two-part article explores career path opportunities for individuals who have an accounting or finance background and experience working with law firms and attorneys. Part One focuses on opportunities to consult as an external service provider.
Establishing a Dominant Market Share
May 26, 2005
I see a lot of law firm strategic plans that talk about "establishing a position of dominance" or "being preeminent" in an area of practice, an industry or a geographic area. In my mind these are precisely the kind of market-driven, externally focused goals that law firms should be setting for themselves. The obvious question, however, is how does a law firm know whether or not it has created a position of dominance?
Law Firm Business Institute Merges
May 26, 2005
The Law Firm Business Institute, a law-firm consultancy run by A&FP Board member Stephen M. (Pete) Peterson, has merged with certified public accounting firm Maxfield & Co. Headquartered in Grand Junction, CO and serving clients nationally and internationally, the new firm is named Maxfield Peterson, P.C.
Views From the Blawgosphere
May 26, 2005
Web logging is an increasingly popular medium of expression, but many blogs (or "blawgs" as legal blogs are called) offer musings that are not useful or even credible. By contrast, <i>A&FP</i> Board member Ed Poll, long on the forefront of communication technology, provides comments with actual substance at www.lawbizblog.com. Here's a sampler to introduce our readers to Ed's online thinking.
Dominance in the Details
May 26, 2005
Ed Wesemann's book Creating Dominance provides an impressively coherent guide to strategic thinking for law firm planners. The book draws on Wesemann's…
New York Loses Bid to Tax CT Telecommuter
May 26, 2005
In a rare victory for a telecommuter in a "convenience of the employer" rule case, an administrative law judge has held against the state Division of Taxation and said New York has no business taxing all of the income of a man who worked from his home in New Canaan, CT.
Friend or Foe?
May 26, 2005
Recent months have delivered to employers what could be seen as a nasty one-two punch. First, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced that it planned to focus its resources on "rooting out" systemic discrimination -- and unveiled proposed guidelines completely altering the way it will analyze potential compensation discrimination. The new guidelines, which require employers of a certain size to use a statistical tool called multiple regression analysis, will be enforced by a team of statisticians the OFCCP has newly hired to create the ominous-sounding Division of Statistical Analysis. Second, the recent Supreme Court decision allowing disparate impact claims in age cases could be interpreted as giving the green light to additional age-bias lawsuits by removing the hurdle of proving or even alleging intent. However, these changes will not necessarily have an adverse impact on employers, and may actually be helpful.
A Roundtable Discussion on Leading Compliance Issues in the U.S. and EU
May 26, 2005
Throughout the world, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation might well have had the biggest impact in corporate governance since the introduction of limited liability. To that end, jurisdictions outside the U.S. have not been idle. A recent Eversheds survey found more than 100 studies on the topic in 29 European countries within and outside the EU. Clearly, proper compliance to corporate governance guidelines is top of the list to in-house counsel across the EU, as well as the U.S. This roundtable sought to road-test some of these issues and look to some of the U.S.'s best governed corporations to see if there is a map for the journey ahead.
'Information Security 101'
May 25, 2005
Recent headlines have reported a startling number of security breaches and information thefts. A major university notified 120,000 of its alumni after a computer containing fundraising information including addresses and Social Security numbers was hacked by an unknown intruder; a subsidiary of the Lexis Nexis group announced that the records of 32,000 individuals may have fallen into the hands of thieves using the passwords of legitimate subscribers; Bank of America reported the loss of backup tapes containing the financial records of up to 1.2 million federal employees; payroll outsourcer PayMaxx faced allegations that it had exposed 25,000 customer records, including W-2 information, online; and cell phone provider T-Mobile released information about a hacker who was able to exploit a security weakness in a commercial software package to access customer records, sensitive government documents, private e-mail and candid celebrity photos.
