HELP! Communicating During a Crisis
With corporate scandals, terrorism and economic chaos appearing regularly in the headlines of major newspapers and on broadcast news, now more than ever it seems that American business is in need of good crisis communications. No company is immune to crisis ' so no company should be without some kind of plan to communicate in the midst of that crisis. Organizations that have good plans in place will weather crises far better than those that don't ' or those that believe that not communicating will insulate them in some way from the effects of the crisis.
What's the Hurry? Fallout After KSR
Every U.S. Supreme Court decision affecting intellectual property involves intellectual property attorneys from that moment forward, and all of the pending patent applications that those attorneys are prosecuting. How those attorneys react to the pronouncement of law makes the difference.
From Moral Partners to a Moral Firm
In March, <i>The American Lawyer</i> ran a cover story about a prestigious national law firm that found itself mired in legal and ethical problems even as it enjoyed unparalleled growth and economic success. The article asks: Are the firm's great strengths — enterprise, speed, and daring — also its great flaw?
Milking a Cash Cow
With all of the reporting capabilities of sophisticated time and billing systems, it is easy to lose sight of the most basic rule of law firm economics: Cash in must exceed cash out. To that end, one of the most valuable assets any business can have is a cash cow. Yet, we find that many law firms never benefit from practices that could be cash cows because they just don't seem to understand the concept. I know, it sounds pretty simple ' bleed as much revenue as you can out of practice areas in which your firm has a dominant position. But, somehow, we keep screwing it up.
Get Back to the Real World of Security
Properly securing physical data before, during and after litigation often can be eclipsed by concerns about online 'virtual' security issues. Agreed ' firewalls, data encryption and password protection are vital safeguards. But another part of the story is how to properly secure and dispose of your hard drives, CDs, backup tapes, and obsolete hardware such as laptops, PCs, PDAs and thumb drives. Ignoring physical data-security considerations is not only careless and irresponsible ' it is just plain dangerous.
Climate Change: Issues for Policyholders
In a ruling characterized as 'one of its most important environmental decisions in years' and a 'strong rebuke to the Bush Administration,' the U.S. Supreme Court held recently that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has authority to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases ('GHG') that contribute to climate change. Linda Greenhouse, <i>Justices Say E.P.A. Has Power to Act on Harmful Gases</i>, New York Times, Apr. 3, 2007 (discussing <i>Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency</i>, No. 05-1120 (U.S. Apr. 2, 2007)). The Supreme Court's ruling in <i>Massachusetts v. EPA</i> could trigger long-anticipated regulation of GHG emissions in the United States, dramatically changing the regulatory environment in which U.S. businesses operate.
The Subprime Lending Crisis: What Does It Mean to the Leasing Industry?
The news is full of stories about the substantial, long-term effects of the subprime mortgage crisis on the mortgage-lending industry. But little has been written about how it will affect other market segments like the leasing industry. There will certainly be spillover, although it won't be as dramatic. This article explores what the leasing industry should be looking for, and doing, in response to this crisis.
<b><i>Commentary:</b></i> Bloggers' Big News Needs Scaling Down
As they come, this judicial first wasn't exactly front-page news ' that is, if you are still in the habit of reading a quaint, old-fashioned newspaper. But in cyberspace, the decision of the U.S. District Court to include bloggers as bona fide members of the press pool during the recent 'Scooter' Libby trial was big news. For the first time ever in a federal court case, bloggers were officially welcomed as equals with newspaper and broadcast reporters, albeit in a little room down the hall from the actual trial in Courtroom 16.
<i>Technology in Marketing</i>: What Law Firms Can Learn from How the Swiss Sell Cheese
Law firms don't sell cheese or perfume ' they sell expertise. So how does one provide prospective clients with a 'taste' or 'spray' of something so intangible? The same question could be asked concerning existing clients. Given the marketing axiom that it is more cost-effective to generate additional business from existing clients than to sign up new accounts, how does a firm cross-sell other areas of expertise to existing clients whose exposure to the firm has been limited thus far to a single practice area?
