Six Keys to a Successful Law Firm Merger
August 01, 2016
Over the past two years I have been involved in three merger situations and I am currently working on two more. I have come away with six factors that, I believe, determine the success or failure of law firm merger discussions.
<i>Cuozzo</i> Upholds PTAB Authority
August 01, 2016
In June, in <i>Cuozzo Speed Technologies</i>, the Supreme Court upheld the prior Federal Circuit decision that a patent owner cannot, in most circumstances, appeal the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to institute an inter partes review.
Enforceability of Mandatory Arbitration in Online Contracts
August 01, 2016
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a proposed rule that would limit the use of mandatory arbitration in certain consumer finance contracts, including online agreements. This article focuses on the differing results reached in recent cases involving defendants' motions to compel arbitration.
The Adjudication of Affordability
August 01, 2016
In catastrophic personal injury actions, the largest element of compensatory damages often is the measure of the cost of lifetime future medical care. Now, we have a new wrinkle in the issue, courtesy of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). How will it affect the award of money damages in civil lawsuits?
Associate Salary Stratification More Likely In 'Buyer's Market'
August 01, 2016
Since Cravath, Swaine & Moore upped the ante on associate salaries this Spring, others in the big law community have responded gradually, some going all-in and others devising region-specific pay scales. In the current market, industry watchers say, the salary game has changed, and most firms will need to take the more thoughtful approach.
Firms Increasingly Making Partners Pay to Leave
August 01, 2016
As law firms look to protect themselves from cash walking out the door in a low-demand market, they are increasingly looking at methods to discourage lateral departures and, perhaps more importantly, are enforcing those methods more frequently.
In the Courts
August 01, 2016
Discussion of a case in which the Supreme Court vacated the conviction of ex-Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.
EFF Challenges DMCA's Anti-Circumvention Provision
August 01, 2016
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati have teamed up to challenge provisions in U.S. copyright law that threaten harsh penalties for breaking "digital locks" guarding content such as music and software code.
Recent Guidance Regarding Deduction of Fines
August 01, 2016
Internal Revenue Code ' 162 provides: "No deduction shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any fine or similar penalty paid to a government for the violation of any law." The controversies that continue to arise under ' 162(f) are illustrated by two memoranda released within the past few months.
