Are Public Nuisance Lawsuits Against the Handgun Industry Gaining Ground?
January 01, 2004
Much has been written about the many lawsuits initiated by municipalities against the handgun industry. They are premised on the claim that the gun manufacturers and distributors saturate the market and fail to prevent their retailers from selling to persons who might resell to criminals. <i>See, e.g.,</i> Lawrence S. Greenwald, <i>Municipalities' Suits Against Gun Manufacturers ' Legal Folly,</i> 4 J. Health Care Law & Policy 13 (2000). Plaintiffs typically seek both damages and injunctive relief that would change industry marketing practices. The gun industry has challenged the legal sufficiency of the lawsuits on multiple grounds, with the majority of courts that have considered these issues dismissing the lawsuits. Recent developments, however, suggest that the pendulum may be swinging back in the governmental plaintiffs' favor.
Are You Filing Sales/Use Tax Returns?
January 01, 2004
There is good news for law firms and providers of legal services. Since they are exempt from sales tax in all states, they are not subject to collecting and remitting sales tax. However, because of the use tax (which is the other component reflected on the tax return), law firms and legal service providers should still file sales tax returns in their resident states. More and more law firms and other exempt service providers are being audited by the states for sales and use tax. These audits are resulting in firms being assessed thousands of dollars in use taxes, interest, and, in some instances, penalties.
Road to Large Law Firm Partnerships Getting Longer
January 01, 2004
The fast track at top law firms is slowing down. Facing increasingly complex matters, an active market for lateral partners and greater pressure to improve profitability, major New York law firms are prolonging the period leading up to partnership. At firms where an associate's first shot at partnership once came 7 years after law school graduation, tracks of 8 years or longer are now far more common.
Treat Your Partners Well
January 01, 2004
Managing an organization composed of successful lawyers is famously difficult. The very traits that make lawyers successful are found in abundance in law firm partners ' a healthy skepticism, a penchant for debate, and a high degree of self-confidence ' coupled with a sense of ownership in the enterprise and a desire to be informed and consulted about decisions large and small. Firm management's job got even harder in April, with a Supreme Court ruling affirming that partners may have equal employment opportunity rights.
Executive Committees' New Role: Focus on Integration
January 01, 2004
Information Resources (formerly called the Library in most firms) and Marketing/Business Development now must form a union to help the firm's senior management with strategic positioning, competitive analysis and revenue generation through firm strategic intelligence. The time for dotting the "I" in Information and crossing the "t" in Marketing has come. It is no longer enough to obtain information about a client.
Around the Firms
January 01, 2004
Movement among major law firms and corporations.
Optimizing Retirement Plans for Law Firms
January 01, 2004
Part One of this article compared some hybrid retirement plans (combinations of defined contribution and defined benefit plans) that are potentially desirable for law firms. In Part Two, we provide spreadsheet analyses to illustrate the benefits of these plans and to reconcile them with nondiscrimination criteria of the Internal Revenue Code and of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
Verdicts
January 01, 2004
Recent rulings of importance to your practice.
Med Bytes
January 01, 2004
All about <i>Daubert's</i> Ghost...complete with Web sites. Also, a look at ECRI (formerly the Emergency Care Research Institute) is a nonprofit health services research agency. Its mission is to improve the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of health care. It is widely recognized as one of the world's leading independent organizations committed to advancing the quality of healthcare. ECRI's focus is health care technology, health care risk and quality management, and health care environmental management. It provides information services and technical assistance to more than 5000 hospitals and more.
