Posts on ‘January 6th, 2009’

What if a telecommuter is goofing off? The suspicious employer could turn to remote monitoring technology. By asking those who work from home to sign a form indicating that they know the types of monitoring in use, a company can take reasonable protections without turning Orwellian.

The question facing Judge Steven F. Frazzini was whether the Connecticut court had jurisdiction over someone who threatened a resident using a computer in North Carolina and posting content that anyone in the world could access. Can a cyberspace threat reach across state boundaries?

We often start off the New Year with a host of well-intentioned resolutions that hardly outlast the winter snows. This year, however, glum economic news has given both job-seekers and the nervous employed added incentive. Here are 10 New Year’s resolutions to follow, whether you are in the market or just want to be prepared, provided by William A. Chamberlain, assistant dean at Northwestern University School of Law. With some persistence, you could soon have more to celebrate than just the New Year.

Firms say clients that invested in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, which allegedly defrauded investors of $50 billion, are worried about the possibility of clawback cases, which are extremely common in bankruptcies following Ponzi schemes. Investors targeted for clawbacks may have varying avenues of recourse, depending on which state they live in and whether they have assets besides their primary residence.

President-elect Barack Obama began stocking the new Justice Department Monday, announcing key nominations, including Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr’s David Ogden to the post of deputy attorney general, the department’s No. 2 spot. Ogden’s nomination had been seen as preordained by insiders, but bigger surprises came in Obama’s selection of Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan as solicitor general and Dawn Johnsen, an Indiana University School of Law professor, to head the Office of Legal Counsel.

A “clerical error” could cost Bank of America and Citibank $51 million if Heller Ehrman has its way in bankruptcy court. If the court rejects a correction, the banks would have to return money received from Heller within the 90 days preceding the firm’s bankruptcy. Heller filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 28, nine days after its San Francisco landlord had been granted a writ of attachment against the firm.

Offshoring has been widely adopted by many companies when it comes to back-office operations. But LPO — legal process outsourcing — is different. Despite the early hype, companies have not been as quick to sign up. Some are worried about the quality of the work, and cite cultural differences and security concerns as reasons for the reticence of some legal departments to send work abroad. What about 2009? Will recessionary pressure to reduce legal costs push more companies to ship work overseas?