The Early Warning Signals of a Potential Media Crisis
January 01, 2004
Sixty-two percent of Americans equate "no comment" with "we're guilty", and the numbers have only gone up since Enron. A legal media strategy based on "no comment" is increasingly likely to lead to danger. An increasingly sensitive legal profession is confronting the same challenge on an almost daily basis: "I understand I need to be more vigilant about helping my client, and my own firm, navigate the landmines of high-profile cases. I know I need the skills to work with media professionals once the case goes public, but is there anything I can do before a problem gets dumped on my lap? How do I recognize the early warning signs of a potential crisis now, not when the reporters start calling?"
12 Steps to New Business
January 01, 2004
The economy is not good and has been troubled for years. Businesses continue to cut expenses, and more and more individuals and companies enter bankruptcy every day. Large law firms struggle. Does that mean that solo practitioners and small law firms should just give up? No. There is plenty of legal business out there. Lawyers just have to work to get it. And whether you work in a firm's marketing department or consult attorneys on marketing themselves and their firm, here are some methods for getting that business.
Outside Counsel; Dictionaries and Claim Construction
January 01, 2004
Claim construction ' the definition of a patent's scope ' is critical in virtually all patent lawsuits. In many cases there is no dispute about the structure and operation of the accused product, and claim construction becomes dispositive.
File Early and File Often: A Pending Application is the Best Approach to Capturing Your Competitor's Product
January 01, 2004
Your client has invented a platform technology that creates a new product, industry or way of doing business. Early in the development of the new platform, a detailed patent application is prepared, filed and prosecuted to allowance. Before allowance, a well-funded competitor begins using the patented technology. When the patent issues, a cease and desist letter is sent. The competitor denies infringement and a lawsuit is filed.
Entrepreneurial Trends in University Tech Transfer
January 01, 2004
Research universities have long engaged in technology transfer ' most since the 1980s or earlier. Academic researchers are a source of significant innovation. Universities have the right (and in some cases the obligation) to patent and exploit such inventions, and patenting university technology is well accepted by most universities and their stakeholders. The recipe was supposed to be simple: patent a handful of inventions from university labs, license them for a comfortable royalty, and sit back and enjoy the revenue.
Forfeiture Provision of Voluntary Stock Not Illegal
January 01, 2004
New York's highest court has issued an important decision interpreting Section 193 of the New York Labor Law, which prohibits employers from making deductions from an employee's wages except in limited circumstances.
Disparate Impact and Disparate Treatment Analysis
January 01, 2004
The United States Supreme Court rebuked a Ninth Circuit panel for misapplying disparate impact analysis in the context of a disparate treatment case when the lower court ruled that a recovered drug addict could not be denied reemployment under the terms of the employer's no-rehire rule. In doing so, the Supreme Court determined that, in fact, a no-rehire rule is a "quintessential legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for refusing an employee who was terminated because of misconduct."
