New Practice Information
 Give Thanks to Your Staff—and
They’ll Support You
To succeed at your firm, you should pay as much attention to the support staff
as the lawyers. Get to know all the clerks, messengers, secretaries, and supervisors—learn
about them, their families, the evening courses they are taking, or the wedding
planned for next year. The support staff can make or break you. Read
on to learn
more on how to treat them right.
Excerpted from Making
Partner: A Guide for Law Firm Associates, Third Edition
Forget
the Turkey—When Is a Pig a Pet?
Does a Vietnamese potbellied pig violate a neighborhood’s
restrictive covenant forbidding livestock? After a trial, a lower
Alabama court found the pig, Taylor, was “livestock” and
constituted a nuisance. Read
on to learn how the Alabama Supreme
Court, in a somewhat whimsical opinion, reversed the lower court’s
ruling.
Excerpted from Real Estate Lore: Modern Techniques and Everyday
Tips for the Practitioner
 It's a Judgment Call
An M & A lawyer need not be a financial analyst or certified public accountant.
But he or she should have more than a passing understanding of accounting principles
and methodologies when valuing a business. Read
on for more.
Excerpted from The
M & A Process: A Practical Guide for the Business Lawyer
Defining
Toxic Torts
Even in the highly litigious society in which we live, it is hard
to imagine higher stakes litigation than a toxic tort trial. Releases
of toxic substances from a single incident or ingestion of toxins
from distribution of a single product can cause severe injuries
and death to hundreds and even thousands of unsuspecting people.
What is it that makes the litigation of toxic tort cases so critical
yet so different from other forms of litigation? Read
on to find
out.
Excerpted from Toxic Tort Litigation
 Expert
Qualifications: Up to the Challenge?
Is your potential expert qualified to give testimony in the case
at hand? In federal courts and most state courts, evidentiary rules
provide that expert opinion testimony may be given by any witness
who has the “scientific, technical, or other specialized
knowledge” to assist the trier of fact. But an understanding
of the challenges facing the expert is critical. Read
on to learn
more.
Excerpted from A Litigator’s Guide to Expert Witnesses
Boom in Preemption Statutes and
Jurisprudence
Approximately 350 federal statutes specifically preempt state and local regulatory
authority, and half were enacted from 1980 to 2000. Why the boom? Much of the
recent attention upon preemption law has arisen from the large economic stakes
of success or failure in products liability litigation. Read
on to learn why
plaintiff's’ trial
lawyers have a major economic stake in restraining the reach of federal preemption
of tort remedies.
Excerpted from Federal
Preemption of State and Local Law: Legislation, Regulation, and Litigation
 Constitutional Rights vs. National
Security
Constitutional rights are largely created by the Supreme Court, by loose interpretation
of the constitutional text. When and how should constitutional rights be modified,
particularly in a time of war? Read
on to find out.
Excerpted from Not
A Suicide Pact: The
Constitution in a Time of National Emergency
The No-Contact Rule and Informal Discovery
of Employees
The no-contact rule generally requires lawyers to communicate with a represented
person through that person’s lawyer. Even unwitting violations of the
rule make counsel vulnerable to sanctions. Unfortunately, the ethics rules
provide no clear guidance for determining the applicability of the no-contract
rule to information discovery via ex parte contacts of current or former employees
of a party. Read
on for more.
Excerpted from Discovery
from Current and Former Employees
 Motivating and Retaining Key Staff
Starts with the Boss
The number-one way to motivate and retain staff is to be a good boss! Few
things are more devastating than to go through the time-consuming and expensive
processes of selecting and training staff members only to have them leave because
of the lawyer’s lack of essential management skills. Read
on for insight
into becoming an exemplary boss.
Excerpted from Flying
Solo: A Guide for the Solo and Small Firm Lawyer, Fourth
Edition
High Cost Mortgage Loans—Are
They Legal?
In certain communities, homeowners – particularly the elderly and – often
are targeted with offers of high-cost, home-secured credit. Can this kind of
predatory lending be controlled? Read
on.
Excerpted from Truth
in Lending (including 2006
Supplement)
 Giving to Charities with Charitable Remainder
Trusts
Charitable remainder trusts are tax-exempt trusts governed by Section 664 of
the Internal Revenue Code and the corresponding Treasury Regulations. Because
a donor’s charitable remainder trust agreement commits the donor to eventually
give the assets of his or her trust to charity, Code Section 664 and related
provisions will reward the donor’s commitment by granting four tax benefits.
Read
on for more on the tax benefits of a charitable remainder trust.
Excerpted from Charitable
Gift Planning: A Practical Guide for the Estate Planner
Where Do We Learn What Justice Really
Is?
Top lawyer, author, and commentator Roy Black describes how he
learned--in sometimes painful ways--about justice and injustice,
pain and mercy. Read
on for Black's story.
Excerpted from Leapholes |
What Is a Copyright?
Biotechnology and the Law
