New England Biz Law Update

Getting the most from your outside counsel can make a big difference to your budget, as well as your effectiveness and success as a key member of your company’s legal staff and as an advisor to the business operations. If ...

With outside counsel fees starting to break the $1,000 per-hour barrier, in-house attorneys need to reevaluate how to get the best value from their outside counsel. The billing issue hit the radar in the middle of last year, when the first Manhattan firms announced hourly rate increases, and the Wall Street Journal called the $1,000 number the possible “vomit point” for clients.

The plaintiffs’ bar is increasingly resisting corporate efforts to avoid class action arbitrations. Banks, credit companies and employers have been specifically exempting class actions from arbitration agreements. This move followed a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the doors ...

Employers increasingly focusing on sexual orientation bias in workplace

Cutting-edge law departments are sharpening their performance and boosting shareholder value by focusing on managerial skills. These days, being better lawyers is only part of the equation.

Total compensation for in-house lawyers in corporate law departments across the country is on the rise, according to a recent survey.

This is a busy issue containing lots of informative content for our readers. We have a report on oral arguments in pending U.S. Supreme Court cases of interest to in-house counsel. We have a report on notable jury verdicts from ...

New Associations Gerald M. Haines II recently joined Verenium Corporation in Cambridge, Mass. as executive vice president and chief legal officer. Verenium develops and markets cellulosic ethanol, an environmentally-friendly and renewable transportation fuel, as well as high-performance specialty enzymes for ...

Buoyed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year, employer health plans are aggressively attempting to recoup money from beneficiaries who receive third-party payments. In May 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in a case involving a Maryland couple that a ...

With the 2008 proxy season approaching, companies and their shareholders are keeping a close watch on how a new rule on proxy access adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission will play out.