I have always had a strong interest in business and financial topics, so in 2001 I decided to enroll in an MBA program while I completed a three-year commitment to the US Navy. For two long years I balanced a full load of legal cases as a JAG Trial Counsel while attending endless hours of classes at night learning about finance, accounting, and economics. Many days I wondered if it was all really worth it. I went to law school because I was always better with words than numbers. What was I doing now reading management books and studying complex financial problems?
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board recently issued its long-anticipated rules on auditor independence issues and the relationship with the company's independent auditor. The authors give tips on how you can keep your audit committee up-to-date and on the straight and narrow.
The increasingly globalized practice of law remains riddled with local idiosyncrasies. This Toolkit offers practical pointers to help you successfully cross the Pond.
Auditors seem to be setting a higher standard in asking for assurances from counsel than the reasonable assurances that auditors themselves provide in their letters. Your task in conveying and interpreting this information is a critical one. Here is a guide to responding that walks the line between too much and not enough.
Litigation isn't cheap. But you don't want your company's multimillion-dollar lawsuit handled by Bob's Shoeshine and Legal Services. Your company needs the best legal representation it can afford. In the finale of his Lawyerland trilogy, the author explains the basic techniques of project management he now uses after experimenting with two cases and details how and when these techniques can fruitfully be applied to manage your company's litigation.
This toolkit provides a guide to some of the basics of financial accounting terms and concepts that are key to in-house lawyers for understanding the company's financial statements as well as a guide to establishing a law department from scratch.
An effective corporate intellectual property program provides protection for valuable intangible assets, generates income, and enhances a company's value. It is one that protects both a company's rights and minimizes risk that the company may infringe on the rights of others. What's not to like? Yet too often, companies neglect doing an IP audit until there's a cease-and desist letter on the GC's desk. Learn how to perform an IP audit and find ways to maximize revenues while minimizing exposure. It's every in-house lawyer's dream, isn't it?
By the end of 2005, all listed EU companies will be required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with new international standards, rather than their national accounting standards. It's a big change that will challenge most EU companies, since the vast majority follow national standards. Find out how much U.S. companies are affected, what the changes are, and what pitfalls lie along the way.
Help audit committees draft a sound pre-approval policy and foster communication between the outside auditor and the audit committee.
The human resources ("HR") audit is a valuable tool in the in-house counsels risk management toolbox. It can help you to identify and correct weaknesses in HR practices and processes before someone mishandles or overlooks an employment situation, possibly giving rise to litigation. This article gives you practical pointers on how to launch an HR audit, specifically, how to make the business case to your company decision makers, how to select the people who will perform the audit, how to make the audit thorough and meaningful, and how to make effective use of what the audit reveals.