CD: 10/3/06 - Integrating and Maximizing Business Development Training
August 24, 2006
Business development training requires a significant commitment of time and resources, and a vision of where participants in such a program want to be in their practice. A number of law firms have learned the hard way that simply providing a sales or coaching program does not necessarily guarantee results. Learn what it takes to implement the necessary strategies to get the most from your training efforts.
Privacy and Brazilian Law
August 16, 2006
The need for laws written expressly to protect the privacy of personal consumer data is a growing global phenomenon. It began primarily in more technologically advanced countries, where communication between individuals or companies via electronic means has overtaken more traditional means of communication. In addition, countries that place a high level of importance on democratic values also tend to prioritize protection of privacy, given that individual human rights and individual freedoms are typically important values in such societies. A third relevant factor related to a country's focus on protecting privacy is the level of participation a country's citizens have in the market. A country in which its citizens participate actively in the market has a greater need for the collection, storage, sorting, sharing, and other manipulation of consumer data. Therefore, such countries become a target for individuals or organizations wishing to economically tap such information.
<b>Online Exclusive:</b> Best Practices for E-mail Security
August 15, 2006
E-mail has a tremendous potential to become the source of leakage of information from any organization, but chief security officers are rapidly taking advantage of new technologies to stop leaks while enabling the flow of appropriate information.
<b>Online Exclusive:</b> GAO Report Finds Gaps, Loopholes in Federal Data Collection Laws
August 03, 2006
A new report by the Government Accountability Office ('GAO') finds that Congress can significantly strengthen federal privacy laws by requiring data collection and reseller firms to improve their privacy safeguards and by enhancing the authority of the Federal Trade Commission ('FTC') to issue civil penalties for violations of current federal privacy laws.
<b>Online Exclusive:</b> New Hampshire Medical Privacy Law Challenged
August 03, 2006
IMS Health Inc. and Verispan LLC filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, seeking a stay of New Hampshire's new privacy law. The law, which went into effect on June 30, bans the collection, distribution, and sale of individual doctors' prescription information by pharmaceutical companies or their agents. It affects only prescriptions written by physicians, not by other medical professionals such as nurse practitioners.
Increased Scrutiny of Pharmaceutical Company Clinical Trials: The Plaintiff Responds
August 01, 2006
<i>'Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.'</i> In this author's opinion, Winston Churchill's keen observation of human nature is an apt description for how the pharmaceutical industry deals with dangers revealed or at least signaled in clinical trials. For years, plaintiffs' lawyers have honed in on clinical trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies when preparing for and trying cases. These studies, often the banner touted by defendants as evidence of their innocence, are a natural place to begin the search for what went wrong when a drug is subsequently pulled from the market despite the supposed 'rigors' of clinical testing. While there is nothing new about plaintiffs' lawyers reviewing clinical trials with a fine-toothed comb, there has been a radical and bold step taken in the world of medical/science academia. Specifically, major publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine ('NEJM') and the Journal of the American Medical Association ('JAMA') are ensuring that industry-sponsored studies do not merely contain partial truths.
Increased Scrutiny of Pharmaceutical Company Clinical Trials: The Defense Perspective
August 01, 2006
In recent large-scale pharmaceutical litigation, plaintiffs' counsel have concentrated significant resources seeking the details of how individual patients in pre- and post-marketing company clinical trials were assessed, characterized, and reported to the Food and Drug Administration ('FDA'). The reason is clear: They are seeking to develop (in the author's opinion unfairly) a story that the pharmaceutical company hid risks and overstated benefits. The efficacy and safety data generated by industry-sponsored studies, and the manner in which the data are analyzed and reported, have therefore become the focus of large-scale pharmaceutical litigation.
Retiring a Defined Benefit Pension Plan
August 01, 2006
According to a 2005 report of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC, the agency that administers the federal insurance program for DB plans), more than 2700 DB plans ' nearly 10% of all PBGC-insured plans ' were frozen as of 2003, and more than 165,000 DB plans were terminated between 1975 and 2004. This same period has seen a rise in popularity of defined contribution (DC) and other individual account plans (IAPs), such as 401(k) plans. This article explores the thinking that has led many employers to freeze and/or terminate their DB plans as a means of managing the risk/reward attributes of their tax-qualified deferred compensation programs, as well as some special considerations for law firm financial managers.
Executive Compensation: It's Hot and About to Get Hotter
August 01, 2006
With the business community eagerly anticipating more reports recommending SOX ' 404 relief for smaller companies, executive compensation issues seem far removed, except for the occasional (or not so occasional) headline. Don't be lulled, however, into a false sense of security. Executive compensation is about to take center stage as THE latest 'corporate governance' topic.
