Restrictive Covenants and Partnership Agreements
November 02, 2013
This article examines the ethics of common partnership restrictive covenants, including non-compete and forfeiture-for-competition provisions, notice of withdrawal requirements, prohibitions on solicitation of partners, employees, and clients, and restrictions on using and taking documents, and suggests ways for firms to ethically protect the firm's interests.
Can Law Firms Be Lean?
November 02, 2013
For those who have had some exposure to Total Quality Management , the reference to Lean or Lean Six Sigma might be familiar. In principle, the necessary ingredients to achieve Six Sigma are defined objects, measurable standards and a systematic approach.
Salespeople at Law Firms?
November 02, 2013
Research over the past four years is showing a slow-moving upward trend of law firms hiring professional salespeople. This trend spans all sizes of firms, from small to global. The backgrounds of these professionals varies; primarily, they come to firms from a solid background of success in the sales world, many having worked against assigned quotas and on partial commission.
A Negotiation Tool for Spousal Maintenance
October 30, 2013
The temporary spousal maintenance law that became effective in New York State on Oct. 12, 2010, provides formulas for calculating temporary maintenance guidelines. But there is no one correct answer on how to determine the amount of final maintenance.
Commercial Real Estate Debt Restructuring
October 29, 2013
To restructure loans experiencing maturity defaults effectively, the business, finance, and legal sectors must collaborate in a field that is as much art as it is science.
Financial Considerations That Involve Your Partnership Agreement
October 02, 2013
Becoming a firm partner has long been the unquestioned goal of most lawyers. But in today's large law firms, with many hundreds of partners, is this still a desirable goal when a given partner's voice may have little influence over the direction of the firm, and when a partner's income is determined by a "compensation committee" that lacks transparency?
Subjective And Objective Compensation Systems
October 02, 2013
As we sift through the results from our recently published Partner Compensation System Survey, the data draws us to consider a wide variety of questions about this vitally important management and leadership system. While the majority of our survey respondents report using some form of subjective system, about 15% of the firms report that they use a purely formulaic/objective system.
