Posts on ‘November 24th, 2008’

A dozen billboards around Georgia that urge citizens to “Get Married, Stay Married” are sponsored not by a church or family-values group but by the Supreme Court of Georgia through its Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law. Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears said that the 48-foot-wide, 14-foot-tall billboards are one of the few things a jurist can do to battle high crime rates, high divorce rates and low numbers of fathers raising their kids.

In its analysis of legal industry performance for the first three quarters of the year, the Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank says it has detected some subtle but meaningful shifts — a few glimmers of sunshine. But there’s more pain ahead, say the experts, who describe some specific coping mechanisms for addressing the situation.

General counsel are often in the background. But Bernard Cassidy will be front and center as the new GC at Tessera. That’s because the San Jose, Calif., company lives and dies by licensing and litigating its patents. Last year, Tessera brought in $159 million, or 81 percent of its total revenue, from royalties and licensing. The semiconductor packaging company is currently suing a whole host of companies for patent infringement both in district court and before the International Trade Commission.

Law.com’s Legal Technology editor Sean Doherty carries a copy of his data on a laptop when traveling, which he synchronizes with home office computers upon return. In this task, a synchronization tool is sine qua non. Toward this end, Doherty tries out Siber Systems’ GoodSync.

There’s no rule that says law firms have to buy year-end or holiday gifts for employees, but they certainly are appreciated. Be careful, though, because there can be unintended tax consequences to your employees and the firm as a result of your generosity. Attorney Kelly Phillips Erb discusses what qualifies as taxable gifts that firms will have to report, and also discusses some gifts and perks that are nontaxable alternatives.

The strange tale surrounding the murder of D.C. lawyer Robert Wone continued to unfold last week, with the indictments of an Arent Fox lawyer, his domestic partner, and a close friend on an obstruction-of-justice charge related to Wone’s death. According to a police affidavit, Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward, who were in a sexual relationship together, delayed reporting Wone’s death to police, altered the crime scene, and lied to investigators about “the true circumstances” of the murder.