Risk Management: What Your Firm May be Missing
March 29, 2006
In today's increasingly complex and regulated business environment, hundreds of different risks threaten law firms. While some of them can lead to malpractice claims that could destroy a firm's reputation and finances, others can be physically or operationally devastating.<br>Before a firm can begin to manage risk, it is important to define risk. In my many conversations with managing partners, executive directors or law firm CFOs, they all generally seem to think of risk in terms of insurance (malpractice, workers comp, business interruption, etc). While I agree this is one area of risk, the overall definition of risk is much broader. Risk is the potential for any issue to negatively affect an entity's ability to meet its objectives.
CPSC Gets Aggressive About Failure to Report
March 29, 2006
In the last few years, the compliance staff of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has sought a number of significant civil penalties for failure to report or for late reporting. It is instructive to look at recent civil penalty cases to see what is important to the CPSC staff in assessing the appropriateness and level of penalties. First, however, let's examine the reporting requirements.
Looking Ahead To The 2006 Proxy Season
March 28, 2006
As the 2006 proxy season gets underway, shareholder activism shows no signs of slowing. Over the last few years, high-profile corporate scandals and news stories about executive excess and corporate waste have compelled many investors to seek ' or demand ' a more active role in corporate governance matters of the companies they own. Now that most companies have implemented the changes required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the stock exchanges, the agenda of the shareholder activist is changing.
'Improper Benefit' Key To SEC Policy
March 28, 2006
On January 4, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced the SEC's unanimously adopted policy on the use of the its enforcement powers to impose monetary penalties on public companies for securities law violations. According to the policy, when deciding whether to impose fines, the SEC will focus on whether a corporation's violation provided an improper benefit to the company and its shareholders. If so, the SEC will be inclined to seek fines to deter future conduct. Conversely, the SEC will be less likely to pursue fines in cases where they would result in further harm to shareholders already injured by a corporation's actions. This article examines the new SEC policy regarding fines and its implications for corporations and shareholders.
Ideal Case Management Implementation
March 28, 2006
Legal case management software is a valuable tool that law firms use to efficiently manage legal cases. However, while the application provides attorneys with a convenient method of effectively managing client and case information, there is a clear disconnect in many law firms that occurs at the point of implementation.
Defining Success When It Comes To Legal Technology Training Programs
March 28, 2006
Software trainers find the need for computer training to be never-ending. In many firms, training programs abound but users don't seem to be gaining ground fast enough to master the array of applications on the desktop. Frustrations among users rise with the need for speed in productivity and also for trainers as they fight for training time, training resources, and willing participants. Yes ' willing participants. End-users aren't motivated to attend training that is stressful,discouraging, or a waste of time; often defined as any training experience that does not provide skill retention and mastery.
Electronic Discovery Year in Review: Where We've Been, Where We are Going
March 28, 2006
Last year was explosive for the electronic discovery industry. From enormous jury verdicts to proposed changes in the federal rules, the legal and business landscape for e-discovery has never been more in flux. While more e-discovery vendors have entered the market this year, mergers have also consolidated the industry like never before. Meanwhile, case law continues to grow to include not just the very well publicized sanctions cases, but also opinions that have honed in on some of the technical challenges of e-discovery.
Integrating Software Escrows into Intellectual Property Strategy
March 01, 2006
Software developers invest a great deal of time and effort developing complex code that performs unique functionality for which there is a viable market. These software developers typically offer software licenses that only license object code, <i>ie</i>, the code that can be read by a machine, rather than the source code, <i>ie</i>, code that can be deciphered and read by a person.
The Dismantling of the DMCA's Anti-Circumvention Provisions
March 01, 2006
According to a recent decision in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the use of an illicitly obtained password and username to enter an otherwise secure Web site does not violate the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"). In <i>Egilman v. Keller & Heckman LLP</i>, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28245 (D.D.C. Nov. 10, 2005), the court held that the law firm Keller & Heckman and others working in concert with it who entered Dr. Egilman's Web site through the use of a username and password that they were not authorized to use had not violated the DMCA, regardless of how the username and password were obtained. This surprising decision runs counter to other decisions interpreting the DMCA and would appear to create a significant loophole to the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.
Downloading Copyrighted Songs on File-Sharing Network Is Not 'Fair Use'
March 01, 2006
In an important decision interpreting the fair use provision of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §107), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that downloading full copies of copyrighted material without compensation to authors cannot be deemed "fair use." In <i>BMG Music v. Gonzalez</i>, 430 F.3d 888 (7th Cir. 2005), Judge Frank H. Easterbrook, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, rejected the defendant's argument that she was immune from liability because she was merely sampling songs that she had downloaded from the KaZaA file-sharing network on a "try-before-you-buy basis."
