Jones Day Presents: Strategies for Dealing with the IRS: The IRS Examination
A significant and, perhaps, the most powerful aspect of coaching with me is overcoming internal obstacles which preclude success. One of the tools I use is visualization. Simply put, visualization is the practice of creating...more
Clients sometimes include me on communications merely to protect themselves from Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), believing that anything sent to me is automatically covered by the attorney-client privilege. ...more
If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, choosing the right personal injury attorney is crucial to ensuring you receive the compensation you deserve. With so many attorneys claiming to be the best, it can be...more
Introduction - The medicinal and recreational use and popularity of marijuana has continuously grown throughout the U.S. since Oregon became the first state to decriminalize marijuana in 1973. To date, thirty-eight states...more
As both a practitioner and a close follower of New York business divorce caselaw, I’ve seen a recent uptick in disputes centered on the breakup of professional services firms and cryptocurrency businesses. Perhaps the crypto...more
Prepaid legal plans offer coverage that grants individuals and families access to a network of qualified attorneys in exchange for a predetermined monthly or annual fee. With legal expense plans, participants can receive...more
There have been many recent artificial intelligence (AI) developments over the past several weeks that impact the practice of law. Since my article “Recent AI Developments—Can AI Replace Attorneys?” was published on March 14,...more
QUALITY MATTERS - The other day, my hot water tank broke. At first, I just thought the pilot light went out. I was easily able to follow the directions to get the pilot light back on, but the water didn’t heat up. So, I went...more
Recovering discovery-related costs from clients can be a challenging feat for many law firms. There are several schools of thought on how attorneys should deal with costs that are incurred while working on a client’s behalf,...more
Transgender and nonbinary individuals are often among the most marginalized communities we serve as pro bono lawyers. In the US and abroad, transgender and nonbinary people have faced a history of discrimination in employment...more
Understanding the IRS and the tax laws is very difficult and confusing. When a taxpayer has a tax controversy matter with the IRS, selecting a tax attorney may be just as confusing and complicated. Not all attorneys are...more
Much of the legal industry buzz is devoted to large corporate clients with robust legal departments – but this disproportionate share of voice does not reflect the state of American business, nor the state of many law firms’...more
The nature of tax practice presents a number of unique ethical issues. Tax practice requires compliance with multiple ethical frameworks. This creates ambiguities and raises complex questions. Courts have even questioned...more
A summary of ABA Formal Opinion 491 - The American Bar Association issued Formal Opinion 491 on April 29, 2020. The opinion provides guidance on a lawyer’s duties regarding a client’s potentially criminal or fraudulent...more
Any recorded communication (for example: emails, recorded phone conversations (including voicemails), letters, memoranda, computer records etc) may have to be produced to the other party in litigation or other adversarial...more
For years, lawyers have been in the cross hairs of prosecutors and regulators, who sometimes regard lawyers as potential gatekeepers responsible for preventing wrongdoing by clients....more
On March 31, 2020, the New York Court of Appeals issued a significant decision concerning the scope of New York Judiciary Law § 487. See Bill Birds, Inc. v. Stein Law Firm, P.C., --- N.E.3d ----, 2020 WL 1521903 (N.Y. Mar....more
The national coronavirus pandemic, and the unprecedented conditions of statewide lockdowns to protect public health, mean that law firms, like all businesses, face an ever increasing number of uncertainties in managing their...more
Winning at the blame game is difficult to do. This holds especially true where the “blame game” is actually a claim for legal malpractice. ...more
On January 9, 2020, the Supreme Court of Virginia approved Legal Ethics Opinion (“LEO”) 1890, which comments on a number of issues under Virginia Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2, “Communication with Persons Represented by...more
As in the Michigan state court system, most of your time in a federal civil case will be spent on discovery, and most of your interaction with the court will be through motion practice. Different courts have different rules...more
In big law, the request for proposal (RFP) process is challenging. The client requesting the RFP is tasked with spending a lot of time weighing the qualifications and price points of sometimes numerous law firms. Meanwhile,...more
An attorney who represents a corporation does not inevitably become the attorney for the corporation's stockholders. However, the Court of Appeal in Responsible Citizens v. Superior Court, 16 Cal. App. 4th 1717 (1993) held...more
Lawyers often get phone calls from prospective clients seeking guidance on various issues – general legal inquiries, asking a variety of general questions about laws, codes, regulations, and statutes, or questions concerning...more
Earlier this month, a Law360 article explored a fundamental—yet often overlooked—question: whether the long-held standard practice of tallying pro bono hours remains “the best way to measure pro bono success.” Though...more