Publications
I want to share with you my New Year’s resolution: seek and experience “flow”. What is flow, and what does it have to do with appellate practice? At the risk of oversimplification, flow is a psychological term used to describe a positive state of consciousness a person experiences when she is so engaged in a […]
Under banners of “restoring fairness” to the system and protecting the “integrity of our markets,” the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new rules in August addressing the selective disclosure of material, non-public information by public companies. SEC Release Nos. 33-7881, 34-43154, IC-24599 (August 10, 2000). Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), which takes effect on October 23, […]
The proliferation of e-mail and its ever-increasing use in the workplace has provided employers with a greater ability than ever before to monitor and read the personal communications of employees. Not surprisingly, many employers do so. The American Management Association, for example, estimates that more than 38 percent of major American businesses will store and […]
Since 9/11, the public’s ability to access information in the possession of the federal and state governments has taken a beating. Government officials have directed agencies to limit access to information that has long been available to the public, often through agency websites, ostensibly to prevent that information from getting into the hands of the […]
City and county workers often are discovering technological solutions to workplace problems that are beneficial to their employers. Many of those inventions are patentable and could be valuable to the governments if properly exploited through licensing programs. However, local governments normally are not prepared to deal with valuable inventions by their employees. Corporations, universities and […]
In a long-anticipated move, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) on March 8, 2005 published important revisions to the premerger notification rules applicable to acquisitions of interests in partnerships and other unincorporated entities, such as limited liability companies (“LLCs”), under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act”). The amendments to the rules, […]
No matter how well you performed in law school or where you clerked, nothing can prepare you for your first days as a freshly minted lawyer. Despite all the rules, requirements and procedures that abound in litigation, much of what we do and the way we do it is the result of personal style and […]
O.K. You screwed up at trial by failing to object to testimony that was speculative, or hearsay, or unfounded opinion. Or you failed to object to an expert witness’s qualifications. To add insult to injury, the trial court (or the jury) made findings adverse to your client based on the very evidence to which you […]
Extended litigation would be bad for Microsoft, bad for other software vendors and bad for the public. From Wall Street to Main Street, Americans are consumed with speculation about Microsoft Corp’s future. This national preoccupation was spurred by Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s findings of fact that Microsoft has monopoly power in the market for operating […]
ADVANCE DIRECTIVES OF ____________________ To Any Physician Who Is Treating Me, this document contains the following: 1. My Living Will or Health Care Instructions 2. My Appointment Of A Health Care Agent 3. My Appointment Of An Attorney-in-Fact For Health Care Decisions 4. The Designation Of My Conservator Of The Person For My Future Incapacity […]
Wiggin and Dana proudly announces the release of the Unfair Trade Practices (Vol. 12, Connecticut Practice Series) 2006 Pocket Part. The 300 page pocket part contains an extensive discussion of the “unfairness doctrine” that is considered “must reading” for practitioners in the field. The Pocket contains a new antitrust chapter, Chapter 9, not found in […]
APPOINTMENT OF HEALTH CARE AGENT I appoint _________________________(NAME) to be my health care agent. If my attending physician determines that I am unable to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of health care decisions and to reach and communicate an informed decision regarding treatment, my health care agent is authorized to: Convey to my […]
Many years ago, there was a television show called “You Are There.” The premise was that the show would take the viewer back to watch historic events unfolding on a real-time basis. The article in this issue on the break-up of AT&T by Gerry Connell, the chief government prosecutor (who is now the chair-elect of […]
In the previous issue of The Nonprofit Advantage, I wrote about proposals being floated by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee that will have profound effects on nonprofits if enacted into law. The proposals are sweeping, including new rules for nonprofit governance, donor-advised funds, deductibility of appreciated property, supporting organizations (such as “friends of” groups) periodic […]
Pharmaceutical companies are discovering new and more effective pharmacologic products for diagnosing, preventing and treating disease on an almost daily basis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires manufacturers to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of these products through, among other things, the conduct of clinical trials that test the new product in human subjects.1 […]
The US Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued a notice on June 13, 2007, indicating that it intended to challenge the position taken by some foreign investors in real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) that a liquidating sale and distribution by a REIT is not subject to taxation under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax […]
Most civil litigation today culminates in settlement, not in verdicts or rulings, but the adjudicatory process and the negotiation process are inseparable. Professor Marc Galanter has written that “the negotiation of disputes is not an alternative to litigation. …[t]here is a single process of disputing in the vicinity of official tribunals that we might call […]
Many states have adopted the federal appellate rules for use in their courts in order to minimize procedural differences between state and federal appeals. [FN1] However, Connecticut courts continue to adhere to their own rules and practices. Therefore, different rules and procedures govern appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit […]
Yale’s newest law journal (Yale Symposium on Law and Technology) is in its third year of publication. It is an on-line journal, and is an off-shoot of their Law & Tech Society, an organization that W&D proudly sponsors. See the third issue in which the lead piece is a write-up of a talk that former […]
It is with some trepidation that one ventures into a discussion of the collateral order doctrine, an arcane and complicated area of appellate law. As the 1st U.S.Circuit court of Appeals has noted, “no one can make a seamless web out of all of the decisions on collateral orders.” U.S. v. Billmyer, 57 F3d 31, […]
U.S. patent laws have undergone many changes in recent years, both through Congress and the courts. This article summarizes recent developments relating to judicial decisions, legislative initiatives, and patent office policy, and provides some practical advice relating to administration of intellectual property. As illustrated by the latest judicial decisions, the law makes no distinctions between […]
Within the span of one month, the New Haven Register (the “Register”) prevailed in two libel cases. The two decisions, Mackowski and Alfano v. New Haven Register, Superior Court, judicial district of New Haven, Docket No. CV 99-0430252 S, (September 27, 2002) (Arnold, J.), and Fred Dellacamera v. New Haven Register, Superior Court, Docket No. […]
The story is, unfortunately, nothing new. A woman and a man long to bring a child into the world, but they are unable to do so because the woman is infertile. So they turn to the scientific stork – the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART) –to deliver their baby.
On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), which aims to cut nearly $11 billion from Medicare and Medicaid program spending over the next five years. Buried within this extensive law are several provisions that, when pieced together, indicate that the federal fraud, waste and abuse spotlight […]
When you receive this issue, Wally Tillman will have taken over as our new Section chair. I have been extremely fortunate to work with Ray Bolze, Dave Poe and now Wally in an effort to provide the Section’s membership with interesting and yet relevant articles that can affect infrastructure industries and the companies in these […]
In the previous issue of The Nonprofit Advantage , I discussed the effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation on nonprofits. To refresh your memory: Sarbanes was enacted in response to corporate abuses in the commercial sector. Except for provisions concerning whistle-blower protection and document retention, Sarbanes does not directly apply to nonprofits. However, it is clear […]
In a recent public talk, Mary Jo White, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, lamented that waiver of corporate privilege has become a litmus test for whether a company is cooperating with an investigation. Her lament is apt.
During my two and half years of editing Infrastructure, we have sought to cover all of the utility, communications and transportation industries in which our members spend their professional lives. This is the first issue in which water is featured. I had the unique opportunity to interview the present and former chairmen of the water […]
Recent headlines have reported a startling number of security breaches and information thefts. A major university notified 120,000 of its alumni after a computer containing fundraising information including addresses and Social Security numbers was hacked by an unknown intruder; a subsidiary of the Lexis Nexis group announced that the records of 32,000 individuals may have […]
As I thought about the content of this issue of Infrastructure, I was struck by the difference between how we sometimes think of infrastructure industries — monolithic and moving about as fast as glaciers — and the reality that the industries we see today are changing dramatically. The change encompasses companies (AT&T is about to […]