Business of Law

5 Questions To Ask Before Entering Joint-Representation AFA

One growing trend is for clients to enter into alternative fee arrangements in which one law firm represents multiple parties who “share” fees and costs in a related matter. This way parties can more efficiently manage a matter and reduce their individual legal fees. But joint representation is not without its own risks and challenges, say attorneys with WilmerHale.

Legal Incubators Can Help New Lawyers And Society

Legal incubators serve as an important bridge to practice and a crucial step toward aligning the incentives of new lawyers with the needs of their clients. They may even pose a threat to the traditional law school model itself, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, says Martin Pritikin, dean of Concord Law School at Kaplan University.

Opinion

A Bad Cure For A Nonexistent Problem

Every time there is a Republican president and a Republican Congress the same bad idea arises to split the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It is all about judicial gerrymandering, says Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

How To Prioritize Your Law Firm's Crisis Response Plan

If the media is going to cover your law firm’s crisis, they are going to cover it with or without your firm’s input. But your involvement can help shape the story and improve your firm’s image in the public eye, says Michelle Samuels, vice president of public relations at Jaffe.

Weekly Column

Innovating For Wise Juries: Closing Argument

In the final article in this series on proposed innovations to the American jury trial, Stephen Susman, Richard Lorren Jolly and Dr. Roy Futterman of the NYU School of Law Civil Jury Project sum up the improvements they believe the U.S. jury system desperately needs.

5 Questions All AFAs Should Answer Clearly

While no particular form is required to establish a durable alternative fee arrangement, there are terms that should, for the benefit of both client and outside attorney, be expressly set forth in the agreement itself, but are often overlooked, say attorneys with WilmerHale.

Cybersecurity Risks In The Courtroom

As cybercriminals continue to look for easy targets, the court system will surely enter their crosshairs. If judges and court personnel do not maintain proper data security and cyber hygiene, confidential litigant information can fall into the hands of a wide variety of bad actors, say Daniel Garrie of JAMS, David Cass of IBM Cloud, Joey Johnson of Premise Health Inc. and Richard Rushing of Motorola Mobility LLC.

Monthly Column

Gray Matters: Clients Are Not Really 'Emotional'

When you look at your client through the "survival circuit" lens, what first appeared as an emotional mess is now valuable information about what is important to them, what needs have to be met to settle the case, or what further clarity your client requires before moving forward, say dispute resolution experts Selina Shultz and Robert Creo.

Having A Chief Privacy Officer Reassures Your Firm's Clients

When a law firm appoints a chief privacy officer, not only does the firm benefit from the crucial operational impact of a well-managed privacy program, but clients see how seriously you take your duties of confidentiality and competence, says Rita Heimes, research director at the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Weekly Column

Innovating For Wise Juries: Discussions Before Deliberations

To be sure, allowing jurors to discuss evidence before final deliberations proved to be among the least popular of our recommended innovations. But empirical evidence belies these fears, say Stephen Susman, Richard Lorren Jolly and Dr. Roy Futterman of the NYU School of Law Civil Jury Project.