Online: Explore Consumer Advocacy on the Web
May 26, 2005
Public Citizen ("PC") is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts. Its Web site is located at <i>www.citizen.org.</i>
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?
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.
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.
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…
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.
Major Policy Shift
May 26, 2005
The Women's Bar Association of the State of New York has joined the New York State Bar Association in lobbying for a no-fault divorce law. Mindy Zlotogura, president of the 3300-member women's bar group, said that she planned to lead a delegation to Albany to meet with key legislators about changing the law. The decision to support the state bar initiative represents a sea change for the women's bar, which has traditionally opposed no-fault divorce measures.
Marriage and the Transgendered Person
May 26, 2005
In last month's newsletter, we discussed two 1970s New York decisions that held marriages between transsexuals and persons of their birth sex to be invalid. No recent cases on this issue have been brought in this State, so we are left to ponder what would be the outcomes of those cases in present-day New York. Recently, however, the Florida Court of Appeal relied on those old New York cases -- <i>Frances B. v. Mark B.</i>, 78 Misc. 2d 112 (1974) and <i>Anonymous v. Anonymous</i>, 67 Misc. 2d 982 (1971) -- when it decided that marriage in Florida between a female-to-male transsexual and a woman was invalid at its inception. In light of recent social trends in the State of New York, was that reliance justified?
Supreme Court to Decide Limits of Law Enforcement Liability in Domestic Case
May 26, 2005
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by Jessica Gonzales against the city of Castle Rock, CO. Cert. granted by <i>Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales</i>, 160 L. Ed. 2d 316 (U.S. 2004). This civil rights case, which is being watched closely by municipal governments and women's rights advocates nationwide, asks whether a court-issued domestic restraining order, whose enforcement is mandated by a state statute, creates a property interest protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court held it does not, and dismissed the action under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
