Last week we detailed five marketing and reputation challenges faced by smaller or newer “satellite” offices of prominent law firms. (BTW, accounting and all other professional-services firms confront these same issues.)We discussed the very real struggles newly merged firms face in rebranding an historic local firm under the new big-firm name. Even major national firms often have extremely limited local awareness or name recognition in new markets. The net effect of this is reduced client-development success, weak lateral hiring, and stagnant growth. We continue with points 6-10 below:6. Demand more from your marketing.Start with a chip on your shoulder and you’re more likely to succeed. That “We’re pleased to announce that [firm] opened a [city] office” wedding announcement-styled card you mailed to the entire local bar got tossed out without registering on a single busy lawyer’s brain. A bland, one-off mailing … [Read more...] about Top 10 Rules to Marketing Law Firm Merger or Existing “Branch” office (Part II)
Jj merge ii
New York’s Highest Court Refuses to Expand the Common Interest Doctrine to Merging Parties
Last Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals issued a stark reminder to transactional lawyers: no matter how much “common interest” two parties may have with respect to a transaction, the common interest doctrine may not protect their communications.In Ambac Assurance Corp. v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., New York’s highest court held, in a 4-2 decision, that a party waives its attorney-client privilege if it shares privileged information with another party unless (i) those two parties share a common legal interest, (ii) the communication between the parties was made in furtherance of that legal interest, and (iii) the communication relates to pending or anticipated litigation. Plaintiff Ambac insured residential mortgage-backed securities issued by defendant Countrywide. When those securities failed during the financial crisis, Ambac sued Countrywide under various breach of contract and fraud theories. Ambac also sued Bank of America, which acquired … [Read more...] about New York’s Highest Court Refuses to Expand the Common Interest Doctrine to Merging Parties
Arbitration Clauses in Construction Contracts – Part II
In a prior article, we touched on the Wisconsin courts' tendency to enforce contract provisions which require that all related disputes be resolved through arbitration and not the court system. This is a well known and oft played tune. A recent Wisconsin court decision replays the first verse of that tune, provides a second verse, and expands on the chorus.VERSE 1: Arbitrations are creatures of contract. In a contract dispute, it is a court's job to simply interpret and enforce the parties' intended agreement. If the parties intended to resolve all disputes through arbitration, it is the court's duty to require arbitration to essentially give the parties what they bargained for. That an arbitration decision may arguably be unsupported by the facts or even based on an erroneous reading of the law is often of no concern to the Court. Often, the only issue before a court is whether the parties received that for which they bargained. Namely, an arbitration proceeding and a resulting … [Read more...] about Arbitration Clauses in Construction Contracts – Part II
Why Aadhaar Act is a Black Act -Part II
Share Tweet Plus One Pin It Email Print By: Dr Gopal Krishna June 6, 2018 10:44 am Change Font Size Database state is an exercise in outsourcing of government through technologies that govern individuals to admittedly undemocratic entities wherein the biometric identification is being made a pre-condition for citizens to have any rights Database State, a report from the UK, has revealed how the old maxim, ‘If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear’ has been given a very public burial. The report states, “In October 2007, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs lost two discs containing a copy of the entire child benefit database. Suddenly issues of privacy and data security were on the front page of most newspapers and leading the TV news bulletins. The millions of people affected by this data loss, who may have thought they had nothing to hide, were shown that they do have much to fear from the failures of the database state.” … [Read more...] about Why Aadhaar Act is a Black Act -Part II
Aadhaar Card Can Be Considered As Proof Of Age: Delhi HC , Disagrees With Madras HC
Share Tweet Plus One Pin It Email Print By: ASHOK KM May 31, 2018 8:25 pm Change Font Size Proof of Age: The Rule does not require, either expressly or by necessary implication, that the date of birth of the person should figure on the body of the said document, the bench observed. The Delhi High Court has held that Aadhaar card can be considered as a proof of age for the purpose of Rule 7 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Rules. A bench of Justice SP Garg and Justice C Hari Shankar disagreed with the Madras High Court view that Aadhaar card could not satisfy the requisites of Rule 7 of the JJ Rules, as proof of age of the holder thereof, as it did not mention the date of birth, and mentioned, instead, the age in years. Terming the Madras High Court view as ‘a distinction without a difference’, the bench observed: “After all, the determination of the date of birth is only for the sake of ascertaining the age of the person concerned. That apart, Rule … [Read more...] about Aadhaar Card Can Be Considered As Proof Of Age: Delhi HC , Disagrees With Madras HC