Big Law Firms Miss $1.5 Billion Dollar Mistake.

07 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Diligence, Lawyer Supervision, Legal Ethics, Malpractice, Paralegals/Legal Assistants, Rules of Professional Responsibility, Supervising Support Staff

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Above the Law, Due Diligence, Joe Patrice, Legal Ethics, William P. Statsky

Mayer Brown & Simpson Thacher Make Epic Screwup, by Joe Patrice, Above The Law (with hat tip to William P. Statsky)

http://abovethelaw.com/2015/01/mayer-brown-simpson-thacher-make-epic-screwup/

It is rare indeed to find such a dearth of responsibility among so many fine legal professionals. If you can, follow the bouncing ball. –CCE

Mistakes happen. It’s why pencils have erasers. But it’s also why law firms install tier after tier of increasingly senior professionals to second-guess every ounce of work product. It’s remarkably effective — and fairly lucrative on an hourly basis.

Unfortunately, the flip side of a tiered system is a tendency toward over-delegation. And that’s how an unwary paralegal ends up costing a bank millions. . . .

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How To Research Corporations.

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Corporate Law, References, Research

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Corporate Intelligence, Corporations, Due Diligence, Internet Research, Investigation, Research

From Due Diligence to Corporate Intelligence, by Internet for Lawyers Blog

http://tinyurl.com/po56fuh

Say you’re working on a big case, and you need as much information on the opposing company as possible. Or perhaps you’re pitching a potential new client, and want to know everything about their business for your presentation. Maybe your client’s competition is developing a new product or you want to read all the news stories about some development that will affect your business or your clients’. Do you know how to get that information quickly? And for free?

There was a time not so long ago when a law firm would have to use an ‘information specialist’ to find this information, or in extreme cases, hire a ‘corporate spy’ to dig up the most sensitive competitive business information. But today, with so much business, legal and news information available on the Internet, getting this kind of ‘business intelligence’ is infinitely easier. If you know where to look, you too can be a corporate 007. . . .