Blog Archives
What is Leadership in a Negotiation? Look to Taylor Swift
June 30, 2015
A musician defines leadership and takes a bite out of Apple Apple Inc. recently announced plans to step into the market for streaming audio. To do it, the company negotiated countless agreements with musicians and studios. How someone can take charge of so many complex negotiations with musicians and studio executives begs the question, what is leadership in a negotiation? The answer came this week, but not from Apple executives. Instead, it was pop superstar Taylor Swift’s negotiating tactics...
June 30, 2015
A musician defines leadership and takes a bite out of Apple Apple Inc. recently announced plans to step into the market for streaming audio. To do it, the company negotiated countless agreements with musicians and studios. How someone can take charge of so many complex negotiations with musicians and studio executives begs the question, what is leadership in a negotiation? The answer came this week, but not from Apple executives. Instead, it was pop superstar Taylor Swift’s negotiating tactics...
Middle Class Lawyers Are a Dying Breed
June 29, 2015
The middle class of American lawyers is hollowing out. Every year since 1967 the IRS has collected and released data about the tax returns of two different groups of lawyers: solo practitioners and law firm partners. * * * Such is the duality of the information age and income inequality. American lawyers used to be able to count on a middle class existence. Now law school is much more of a high stakes gamble. Some law graduates may become very wealthy indeed, and some will still be middle...
June 29, 2015
The middle class of American lawyers is hollowing out. Every year since 1967 the IRS has collected and released data about the tax returns of two different groups of lawyers: solo practitioners and law firm partners. * * * Such is the duality of the information age and income inequality. American lawyers used to be able to count on a middle class existence. Now law school is much more of a high stakes gamble. Some law graduates may become very wealthy indeed, and some will still be middle...
Texas Supreme Court Finds Arbitration Clause in Attorney-Client Contract Was Not Unconscionable, Against Public Policy or Illusory
June 29, 2015
In Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams, LLP v. Francisco (Frank) Lopez, the Texas supreme court reversed an interlocutory appeal from the Corpus Christi court of appeals, holding that the appellee failed to prove that an arbitration provision in an attorney-client employment contract was substantively unconscionable nor did the plaintiff prove any other defense to the arbitration provision. The appellee had hired appellant to represent him in his divorce case. The attorney-client contract contained...
June 29, 2015
In Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams, LLP v. Francisco (Frank) Lopez, the Texas supreme court reversed an interlocutory appeal from the Corpus Christi court of appeals, holding that the appellee failed to prove that an arbitration provision in an attorney-client employment contract was substantively unconscionable nor did the plaintiff prove any other defense to the arbitration provision. The appellee had hired appellant to represent him in his divorce case. The attorney-client contract contained...
Arbitration Required in TCPA Class Action Even Though Violation Occurred After Termination of the Contract
June 29, 2015
Jay Ramsey with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP summarizes a May 11, 2015 opinion by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. That court reversed an order denying a motion to compel arbitration in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action suit. The Seventh Circuit held that the agreement was broad enough to apply to conduct that occurred after the termination of the agreement. According to Ramsey, "Sprint argued, and the Seventh Circuit agreed, that arbitration clauses still apply to conduct...
June 29, 2015
Jay Ramsey with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP summarizes a May 11, 2015 opinion by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. That court reversed an order denying a motion to compel arbitration in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action suit. The Seventh Circuit held that the agreement was broad enough to apply to conduct that occurred after the termination of the agreement. According to Ramsey, "Sprint argued, and the Seventh Circuit agreed, that arbitration clauses still apply to conduct...
Why So Many of Us Experience a Midlife Crisis
June 28, 2015
Young people, it turns out, are overly optimistic, expecting significant increases in life satisfaction, rather than anticipating the slide down the U-curve. Young adults typically believe that they’ll “beat the average” — that they’ll be the lucky ones who end up with a top job, a happy marriage, and healthy children. Neuroscientists believe that overoptimism is based on biased information processing in the brain, which makes it difficult to correct overly rosy expectations in the young...
June 28, 2015
Young people, it turns out, are overly optimistic, expecting significant increases in life satisfaction, rather than anticipating the slide down the U-curve. Young adults typically believe that they’ll “beat the average” — that they’ll be the lucky ones who end up with a top job, a happy marriage, and healthy children. Neuroscientists believe that overoptimism is based on biased information processing in the brain, which makes it difficult to correct overly rosy expectations in the young...
In Employment Contract Negotiation, “No Haggling” Isn’t the Answer
June 28, 2015
Reddit CEO Ellen Pao’s Recent Decision Not to Allow Salary Bargaining in Dealmaking is Well-Intentioned but Misguided This spring, Ellen Pao, the CEO of social networking and news website Reddit, revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that her company had taken a bold move in its efforts to create an “equal opportunity environment for everyone” at the company. Specifically, Reddit no longer negotiates salary with job candidates, preferring a “no haggling” approach to contract...
June 28, 2015
Reddit CEO Ellen Pao’s Recent Decision Not to Allow Salary Bargaining in Dealmaking is Well-Intentioned but Misguided This spring, Ellen Pao, the CEO of social networking and news website Reddit, revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that her company had taken a bold move in its efforts to create an “equal opportunity environment for everyone” at the company. Specifically, Reddit no longer negotiates salary with job candidates, preferring a “no haggling” approach to contract...
Well-Known Trick To Boost Attention Works
June 28, 2015
A recent study, though, suggests that concentrating on something for a long period of time actually makes it ‘disappear’ from the mind. Professor Alejandro Lleras, one of the study’s authors, likens it to wearing clothes. Over time we get used to the sensation of clothes touching our skin and don’t notice them. The same is true when we work on a task or problem for any length of time, he says: “Constant stimulation is registered by our brains as unimportant, to the point that...
June 28, 2015
A recent study, though, suggests that concentrating on something for a long period of time actually makes it ‘disappear’ from the mind. Professor Alejandro Lleras, one of the study’s authors, likens it to wearing clothes. Over time we get used to the sensation of clothes touching our skin and don’t notice them. The same is true when we work on a task or problem for any length of time, he says: “Constant stimulation is registered by our brains as unimportant, to the point that...
March 2015 Bankruptcy Filings Down 12 Percent
June 27, 2015
Bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2015, fell 12 percent when compared to bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2014, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. March 2015 bankruptcy filings totaled 911,086, compared to the 1,038,280 bankruptcy cases filed in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2014. The following bankruptcy statistics are available: Business and non-business bankruptcy filings for the 12-month...
June 27, 2015
Bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2015, fell 12 percent when compared to bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2014, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. March 2015 bankruptcy filings totaled 911,086, compared to the 1,038,280 bankruptcy cases filed in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2014. The following bankruptcy statistics are available: Business and non-business bankruptcy filings for the 12-month...
Google’s Self-Driving Cars Tested This Summer
June 27, 2015
Google Inc will begin testing self-driving cars of its own design on public roads this summer, but they will have steering wheels and brakes, which is not what the company described a year ago. Engineers will operate 25 prototype vehicles, which use the same software as Google’s self-driving Lexus RX450h sport utility vehicles that have been in operation for several years, the company said on Friday. When the Internet search company announced a year ago that it planned to build a fleet of self-driving...
June 27, 2015
Google Inc will begin testing self-driving cars of its own design on public roads this summer, but they will have steering wheels and brakes, which is not what the company described a year ago. Engineers will operate 25 prototype vehicles, which use the same software as Google’s self-driving Lexus RX450h sport utility vehicles that have been in operation for several years, the company said on Friday. When the Internet search company announced a year ago that it planned to build a fleet of self-driving...
The Type of Smile That Helps Start New Relationships
June 27, 2015
People feel emotionally close to others displaying this type of smile. A ‘Duchenne smile’ is a powerful way of striking up a new relationship, a new study finds. People are highly tuned to the Duchenne smile, which involves upturned lips and crinkly eyes. And they can easily spot a fake smile, which tends to involve only the mouth and not the eyes.
June 27, 2015
People feel emotionally close to others displaying this type of smile. A ‘Duchenne smile’ is a powerful way of striking up a new relationship, a new study finds. People are highly tuned to the Duchenne smile, which involves upturned lips and crinkly eyes. And they can easily spot a fake smile, which tends to involve only the mouth and not the eyes.
