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‘Anxious Season’ for Partners as Initial Law Firm Earnings Reports Show Modest Gains
March 2, 2014
It's the "anxious season" for partners awaiting news of how their BigLaw firms did financially last year. And that anxiety hasn't been helped by recent news reports about struggling partners and firms, according to the Am Law Daily (sub. req.). Such developments include the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of a BigLaw partner, due in part to a $10,000-a-month alimony and child support payment, and the planned dissolution of a storied 500-attorney Canadian firm—whose co-founder said it was doing fine...
March 2, 2014
It's the "anxious season" for partners awaiting news of how their BigLaw firms did financially last year. And that anxiety hasn't been helped by recent news reports about struggling partners and firms, according to the Am Law Daily (sub. req.). Such developments include the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of a BigLaw partner, due in part to a $10,000-a-month alimony and child support payment, and the planned dissolution of a storied 500-attorney Canadian firm—whose co-founder said it was doing fine...
SxSW: Doctor’s Offices on Their Death Bed
March 1, 2014
“One of my tricks for generating startup ideas is to imagine the ways in which we'll seem backward to future generations. And I'm pretty sure that to people 50 or 100 years in the future, it will seem barbaric that people in our era waited till they had symptoms to be diagnosed with conditions like heart disease and cancer,” said Paul Graham, Y Combinator. Technology and policy are colliding to transform the patient experience. New devices are delivering continuous streams of health data to patients,...
March 1, 2014
“One of my tricks for generating startup ideas is to imagine the ways in which we'll seem backward to future generations. And I'm pretty sure that to people 50 or 100 years in the future, it will seem barbaric that people in our era waited till they had symptoms to be diagnosed with conditions like heart disease and cancer,” said Paul Graham, Y Combinator. Technology and policy are colliding to transform the patient experience. New devices are delivering continuous streams of health data to patients,...
Why Google Kept Motorola’s Research Lab
March 1, 2014
Google’s $2.9 billion sale of Motorola Mobility to Chinese PC maker Lenovo might seem like lousy business, given Google’s $12.5 billion purchase in 2012 and losses in the interim. But it leaves Google with a mobile research unit and a war chest of patents arguably bought at a very good price. And it gives a boost to Android in developing countries. Google earlier sold off the Motorola Mobility Home unit for $2.35 billion (see “Why Google Wants Motorola”). With losses and other factors...
March 1, 2014
Google’s $2.9 billion sale of Motorola Mobility to Chinese PC maker Lenovo might seem like lousy business, given Google’s $12.5 billion purchase in 2012 and losses in the interim. But it leaves Google with a mobile research unit and a war chest of patents arguably bought at a very good price. And it gives a boost to Android in developing countries. Google earlier sold off the Motorola Mobility Home unit for $2.35 billion (see “Why Google Wants Motorola”). With losses and other factors...
Twitter Acquires Raft of Patents From IBM
March 1, 2014
PALO ALTO — Ending an infringement spat first disclosed in November as Twitter worked toward its massive initial public...
March 1, 2014
PALO ALTO — Ending an infringement spat first disclosed in November as Twitter worked toward its massive initial public...
How an Obese Town Lost a Million Pounds
March 1, 2014
Oklahoma City is a midsized town that had a big problem: It was among the most obese towns in America. Mayor Mick Cornett realized that, to make his city a great place to work and live, it had to become healthier too. In this charming talk, he walks us through the interlocking changes that helped OKC drop a collective million pounds (450,000 kilos). Mick Cornett is mayor of Oklahoma City, OK. Full bio »
March 1, 2014
Oklahoma City is a midsized town that had a big problem: It was among the most obese towns in America. Mayor Mick Cornett realized that, to make his city a great place to work and live, it had to become healthier too. In this charming talk, he walks us through the interlocking changes that helped OKC drop a collective million pounds (450,000 kilos). Mick Cornett is mayor of Oklahoma City, OK. Full bio »
When No One Is Just a Face in the Crowd
March 1, 2014
Hey, big spenders. Facial recognition technology, already employed by some retail stores to spot and thwart shoplifters, may soon be used to identify and track the freest spenders in the aisles. The NEC Corporation, for instance, is working on “V.I.P. identification” software, based on face recognition, for hotels and other businesses “where there is a need to identify the presence of important visitors.” And companies like FaceFirst, in Camarillo, Calif., hope to soon complement their...
March 1, 2014
Hey, big spenders. Facial recognition technology, already employed by some retail stores to spot and thwart shoplifters, may soon be used to identify and track the freest spenders in the aisles. The NEC Corporation, for instance, is working on “V.I.P. identification” software, based on face recognition, for hotels and other businesses “where there is a need to identify the presence of important visitors.” And companies like FaceFirst, in Camarillo, Calif., hope to soon complement their...
Reasons to Not Be Ugly: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast
February 28, 2014
Our latest podcast is called “Reasons to Not Be Ugly.” (You can subscribe to the podcast atiTunes, get the RSS feed, or listen via the media player above. You can also read the transcript, which includes credits for the music you’ll hear in the episode.) This episode takes a look at the “beauty premium” and, conversely, the downside of ugly. Do cuter babies get more attention? Are good-looking students graded more charitably? How do ugly people fare in the marriage and labor markets? Our...
February 28, 2014
Our latest podcast is called “Reasons to Not Be Ugly.” (You can subscribe to the podcast atiTunes, get the RSS feed, or listen via the media player above. You can also read the transcript, which includes credits for the music you’ll hear in the episode.) This episode takes a look at the “beauty premium” and, conversely, the downside of ugly. Do cuter babies get more attention? Are good-looking students graded more charitably? How do ugly people fare in the marriage and labor markets? Our...
CLO Pay Down, Challenges Mounting in ACC Survey
February 28, 2014
Despite a dip in average base pay, some 85 percent of chief legal officers responding to a survey said they are satisfied with their current roles and responsibilities within their companies, according to the Association of Corporate Counsel. * * * ACC said three-quarters of respondents used some type of alternative fee arrangement over the past year. According to the survey, 54 percent of Canadian CLOs dedicated a portion of their outside legal spend to value-based fee arrangements, compared...
February 28, 2014
Despite a dip in average base pay, some 85 percent of chief legal officers responding to a survey said they are satisfied with their current roles and responsibilities within their companies, according to the Association of Corporate Counsel. * * * ACC said three-quarters of respondents used some type of alternative fee arrangement over the past year. According to the survey, 54 percent of Canadian CLOs dedicated a portion of their outside legal spend to value-based fee arrangements, compared...
Class Action Litigation: A Look at What is Ahead in 2014
February 28, 2014
Supreme Court to Weigh in on Removability of Parens Patriae Actions The Supreme Court agreed to resolve a circuit split arising over whether parens patriae actions - brought by a state on behalf of its citizens - are removable as "mass actions" under the CAFA. Whether the suit qualifies as a "mass action" depends on whether the state - or the citizens on whose behalf the state acts - is the real party in interest. An opinion will further clarify the reach of CAFA's jurisdiction. Liability-Only...
February 28, 2014
Supreme Court to Weigh in on Removability of Parens Patriae Actions The Supreme Court agreed to resolve a circuit split arising over whether parens patriae actions - brought by a state on behalf of its citizens - are removable as "mass actions" under the CAFA. Whether the suit qualifies as a "mass action" depends on whether the state - or the citizens on whose behalf the state acts - is the real party in interest. An opinion will further clarify the reach of CAFA's jurisdiction. Liability-Only...
Study: People Prefer Mediation in Civil Cases
February 28, 2014
From the article with the above title (Sacramento Business Journal): People involved in civil lawsuits prefer mediation to nonbinding arbitration and like judge trials better than jury trials, a new study by a University of California Davis law professor concludes. Overall, litigants like mediation, trials before judges and negotiations that include participants along with their attorneys more than all other forms of alternative dispute resolution, the study by Donna Shestowsky shows.
February 28, 2014
From the article with the above title (Sacramento Business Journal): People involved in civil lawsuits prefer mediation to nonbinding arbitration and like judge trials better than jury trials, a new study by a University of California Davis law professor concludes. Overall, litigants like mediation, trials before judges and negotiations that include participants along with their attorneys more than all other forms of alternative dispute resolution, the study by Donna Shestowsky shows.
