Workplace Bias and Gender Pay Equity in Silicon Valley, 2017
It was only a couple of years ago that a jury rejected Ellen Pao's gender discrimination claims and rendered a defense verdict in favor of her former employer, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Now, issues of bias and pay equity are again taking center stage, with almost daily media reports about Silicon Valley's gender problem and a continuing list of companies and notable Silicon Valley figures being taken to task with allegations of inappropriate conduct toward women.
Substantive Non-Consolidation Opinion Letters: Advice for Bankruptcy Counsel
Substantive non-consolidation opinion letters have long been a regular "check-the-box" item in large commercial real estate transactions. While substantive consolidation jurisprudence has not changed materially over the past decade, these opinion letters should not be treated lightly by borrowers or their counsel.
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Business Process Management and Law Firms
Though traditionally considered laggards when adopting new technology, law firms have recently started to explore new tricks to fortify performance across their organizations. While this evolution is critical to a firm's survival, it's important that firm administrators understand that substantive improvements are only possible through multi-directional change.
Lack of Gender-Diverse Partnership: Is It the Woman or the Firm?
<b><i>Data-Driven Research by ALM Intelligence Suggests Three Reasons Why Gender-Diverse Partnership Fails</b></i><p>It is now common knowledge that female headcount within the ranks of Big Law partnership, both equity and non-equity, has held steady for the past few years at around 20%. The obvious question is, why?
When Lack of Informed Consent Is Not the Issue
When an injury occurs, the first reaction of those in the medical office might be to ask, "Did the patient sign an informed consent form?" When the answer is "Yes," and the harm that occurred is listed as a possibility on that signed form, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. Right? Not so fast.
Exclusion of Evidence: The FDA's 510K Process
In a drug or medical device injury case, one of the defense's most potent arguments often is that the product in question underwent FDA approval. But when a device is approved for sale to the public through the FDA's 510(k) process, the rigorous safety and efficacy analysis required of new and unique medical devices has not been undertaken.
Criminal Probe of Weinstein Role in amfAR Monies
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is conducting a criminal investigation into transactions connected to The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) that were arranged by embattled film producer Harvey Weinstein, <i>The New York Times</i> reported. The transactions involved $600,000 raised at a May 2015 auction in Cannes on the French Riviera from a pair of fundraising packages arranged by Weinstein.
All Digital Assets Are Not Legally Equal
The Internet has generated a new set of assets known as "digital assets." Broadly defined, a digital asset is an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. This definition erroneously implies that digital assets should be treated as a legally equivalent set of assets when, in fact, failure to differentiate digital assets into one of three distinct classes will result in legal difficulties.