Native American

Expert Analysis

• Best Practices For Building A Better Meeting

  

  How can we improve meetings in the legal industry, which tends to evolve with the speed of a tranquilized water buffalo mired in quicksand? Breaking it down to three phases can yield significant benefits, says Nicholas Cheolas of Zelle LLP.

• Spending Bill Includes Unique Path To Conservation Goals

  

  Buried deep inside the recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act, legislation reviving the formerly expired Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act offers opportunities for potential purchasers of federal public lands, while also creating a source of funding for important conservation transactions, says John Andrews of Snell & Wilmer LLP.

• 5 Ways Law Firms Are Becoming More Like Hotels

  

  One way law firms differentiate themselves from the competition to attract and retain top talent is through their real estate and workplace strategies. Taking a lead from the hospitality industry can help create a more inviting, welcoming and collaborative workspace environment, says Bella Schiro of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

• Opinion

  Gorsuch's 1st Year Shows He Is A Conservative Activist

  

  In his first year on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch has proven to be a narrow-minded elitist who consistently votes in favor of corporations and the powerful, acting to roll back protections for workers, consumers, LGBTQ individuals and other marginalized communities, says Elliot Mincberg of People for the American Way.

• Finance-Savvy Millennials Are Shifting Business Of Law

  

  The impact of millennials has already been felt within the legal community by our eagerness to embrace new technologies. One way that we will have potentially even more impact lies in our willingness to embrace new ways of developing business and financing law, says Michael Perich of Burford Capital LLC.

• Opinion

  Attorney-Client Privilege Is Alive And Well

  

  The FBI raid of the office of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer set off a firestorm of controversy about the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege, epitomized by Trump's tweet that the "privilege is dead." But attorney-client privilege is never taken lightly — I have battle scars from the times I have sought crime-fraud exceptions, says Genie Harrison of the Genie Harrison Law Firm.

• Roundup

  Dissolving Practice

  

  In this series, experts discuss the unique aspects of closing a law firm, and some common symptoms of dysfunctionality in a firm that can be repaired before it's too late.

• Series

  Dissolving Practice: How To Fix A Dysfunctional Law Firm

  

  I am often asked, “When there are one or more partner departures, what can a firm do to prevent this from escalating to a catastrophic level?” The short answer is “nothing.” Law firms need to adopt culture-strengthening lifestyles to prevent defections from occurring in the first place, says Larry Richard of LawyerBrain LLC.

• Series

  Dissolving Practice: Partner Agreement Clauses That Can Help

  

  Given the competing public policies of protecting clients’ right to counsel of their choice, lawyer mobility, and the fiduciary duty partners owe to a dissolved firm, it behooves law firms to carefully review their partnership agreements to make sure they adequately spell out what happens in the unfortunate event that the law firm chooses to wind down, say ​​​​​Leslie Corwin and Rachel Sims of Blank Rome LLP.

• Series

  Dissolving Practice: The Unfinished Business Doctrine

  

  There has been, of late, significant dispute as to the application of the unfinished business doctrine, particularly with respect to hourly rate matters of now-dissolved large law firms. And the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Heller Ehrman, like others as to similar points, is highly questionable, says Thomas Rutledge of Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC.