Monthly Archives: October 2010

Patent Law: A Practitioner’s Guide

Release #12 is now available for Patent Law: A Practitioner’s Guide.

Securing patents for inventors and helping to protect their patent rights over the long term requires that an attorney gain a solid understanding of patent law fundamentals.

This treatise helps you achieve such mastery. Widely appreciated by attorneys and inventors for its clear, uncomplicated approach to a complex field, Patent Law gives you a solid working knowledge of the legal framework governing patents, including federal regulations and court decisions; the widely accepted four-step test used by the courts used to determine an invention’s patentability; the various tests used to indicate direct infringement and other patent violations; and drafting techniques used to prepare the full variety of documents, including specifications and claims.

This title features numerous timesaving sample forms; flowcharts, diagrams and tables that quickly enhance your understanding of key patent law issues; and hypothetical questions (with answers) that help prepare you for the real-world challenges of patent prosecution.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect Release #12 to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

View a sample chapter here.

Directors’ and Officers’ Liability

Release #5 is now available for Directors’ and Officers’ Liability.

Executives in corporations and financial firms are on the hot seat as never before in the wake of scandals that have infuriated investors and the public at large.

This treatise provides executives and their legal counsel with the guidance needed to minimize the legal exposure of corporate heads and help them meet the professional performance expectations of shareholders.

The title shows you how top managers can satisfy duties of care, loyalty, good faith, and disclosure (and avoid charges of negligence and conflict of interest, among others); meet certification, due diligence and director independence requirements; follow best professional practices advocated by leading U.S. business groups; successfully use various legal defenses when they are charged with violations; take advantage of “safe harbor” statutes that lessen their legal exposure; and protect themselves through contractual indemnification and D&O insurance.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect Release #5 to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

View a sample chapter here.

Doing Business Under the FCPA

Release #15 is now available for Doing Business Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

In light of the greatly increased federal enforcement activity against corporations for a range of FCPA violations, it’s more important than ever that attorneys have the guidance needed to minimize corporate legal exposure on this major front.

This treatise gives you that vital legal and procedural information. This crucial reference helps you to develop internal compliance programs that detect and prevent illegalities; make sure the business steps a company is taking are fully legal; spot cautionary ”red flags” and sidestep potential legal pitfalls; draft compliant business agreements; satisfy FCPA’s complicated accounting standards, and avoid RICO violations, wire and mail fraud, and other legal missteps.

The title also keeps a steady eye on the latest enforcement actions, reminding companies and their counsel of the harsh penalties for falsified books and records, mischaracterized payments, fictitious invoices, insufficient internal accounting controls, and other charges.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect Release #15 to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

View a sample chapter here.

Patent Litigation

Release #18 is now available for Patent Litigation.

This treatise enhances your ability to prevail at trial while helping you cut the costs and complexity of litigation.

Many of America’s leading patent litigators guide you through all the litigation stages, helping you to understand various infringement actions and their respective burdens of proof; conduct comprehensive pre-suit investigations that streamline your cases; develop potent case themes; assemble strong litigation teams; get an early edge over opponents during discovery; reduce expenses by developing smart litigation budgets; maximize the persuasive impact of documents, exhibits, and lay and expert witnesses; and fortify your case while controlling costs by making savvy use of computers, jury consultants, and litigation support vendors.

This title also shows you how to spot and shore up weaknesses in your case; make effective pretrial, trial, and post-trial motions; enhance your direct-examination and cross-examination skills; accurately measure and prove the amount of damages; and achieve favorable settlements when litigation is not the way to go.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect Release #18 to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

View a sample chapter here.

Reinsurance Law

Release #5 is now available for Reinsurance Law. This PLI treatise looks at reinsurance, which has risks for cedents and reinsurers, including the dangers of costly disputes if contracts are flawed. Reinsurance Law minimizes that peril by showing you how to structure sound agreements more easily and inexpensively. Covering federal and state law, customary industry practices, and relevant case law in clear, straightforward terms, Reinsurance Law examines the rights, duties, objectives, and potential liabilities of every reinsurance participant, while offering the expert drafting guidance that makes reinsurance transactions work.

Written by two veteran reinsurance practitioners, this title gives you a practical grasp of the purpose, benefits, markets, and costs of reinsurance; the features, operation, and risk-and-return characteristics of the full range of reinsurance products; the two major industry standards, the Utmost Good Faith and Follow-the-Fortunes doctrines; the key role of intermediaries in reinsurance; and important judicial developments affecting the industry. Included are timesaving checklists and numerous adaptable sample agreements and sample clauses.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect Release #5 to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release please email, libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

View a sample chapter here.

Accountants’ Liability

Release #13 is now available for Accountants’ Liability.

The liability exposure of accountants has widened dramatically over the past decade in the wake of numerous front-page corporate and financial scandals.

This treatise has been the reliable and readable resource that accountants have turned to for guidance on how they can meet their professional responsibilities, comply with relevant rules, and avoid the increased number of legal land mines. Accountants see clearly the trouble they can get into when they deal with financial statements, fail to perform contracted services, fail to uncover clients’ wrongful actions, act as business consultants, offer tax-related services, misstate material facts, and fail to follow professional standards.

The title also provides attorneys with the legal, strategic, and tactical knowledge they need to prove (or successfully defend against) claims against accountants such as breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, securities claim fraud, common law fraud, civil RICO actions, as well as practice and ethical violations.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect Release #13 to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

View a sample chapter here.

Patent Licensing: Strategy, Negotiation, and Forms

Release 9 is now available for Patent Licensing: Strategy, Negotiation, and Forms.

Even simple patent licenses involve numerous clauses and provisions. So it’s easy for the wrong words to find their way into the most basic agreements, triggering court clashes and quashing business opportunities for licensors and licensees.

This treatise makes certain that you avoid this needless trouble, by giving you the comprehensive, hands-on guidance you need to negotiate and draft fair and problem-free patent licenses.

With the help of hundreds of adaptable sample licensing clauses and provisions, this practical, plain-English resource ensures that every term, every phrase in the final, hammered-out agreement serves your client’s business interests, satisfies the other party, and minimizes the threat of disputes. Throughout, Patent Licensing warns you about and helps you ward off the legal and commercial risks associated with this intricate process, whether you’re the licensor or licensee. Included is key guidance on how to keep vital company information confidential to preserve competitive advantage.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect Release 9 to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

View a sample chapter here.

PLI & Pro Bono Activities

To support attorneys engaged in pro bono work, PLI offers programs throughout the year in such areas as civil and constitutional rights, children’s welfare, education law, eviction defense, immigration issues, elder law, prisoners’ rights, bankruptcy, and representing nonprofit organizations.

Listed below are just a few of our upcoming pro bono programs. The programs below are free, but we also offer scholarships for other programs. For information about scholarships and additional pro bono programs, please click here.

National Pro Bono Week

It’s National Pro Bono week (October 25 – 29, 2010)! Is your firm or organization looking to create a pro bono program? If so, check out the newest PLI Treatise Pro Bono Service by In-House Counsel: Strategies & Perspectives.
Pro bono service in corporations, once a nascent movement, is becoming the norm. Pro Bono Service by In-House Counsel: Strategies and Perspectives gathers together the wide-ranging experiences of in-house corporate counsel to guide you how to start, maintain, and expand your company’s pro bono legal services.

This treatise recounts the experiences of representatives of several companies with in-house programs—Time Warner Inc., Caterpillar, American Express, AOL, Intel, LexisNexis Group, Starbucks Coffee Company, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Microsoft, Accenture, Citigroup, GE. Any in-house counsel seeking to foster pro bono initiatives will thus have a menu of approaches from which to devise an appropriate program.

Book Information:

Pro Bono Service by In-House Counsel: Strategies and Perspectives, 1st Edition

ISBN Number: 978-1-4024-1482-4

Page Count: 544 pages

Item #: 28132

Price: $49.00

Immigration Fundamentals: A Guide to Law & Practice

Release #31 is now available for PLI’s Immigration Fundamentals: A Guide to Law & Practice. This treatise gives you the legal and procedural knowledge to work more efficiently and effectively with employers, aliens, nonimmigrants, refugees, naturalized citizens, and government officials.

Enhanced by advisory ”Practice Commentaries” and ready-to-use IRS forms, Immigration Fundamentals shows you how to follow all status-change procedures for employment-based immigration, family-sponsored immigration, and diversity immigration; satisfy important legal tests, such as proving ”business necessity” when hiring aliens or ”qualifying relationships” in family-sponsored immigration cases; and protect clients’ rights, whether helping aliens fight unjust removal, nonimmigrants pursue lawful entry, or employers obtain judicial review for adverse decisions.

Immigration Fundamentals also shows you how to qualify clients for relief, including legal exemptions and waivers that open immigration doors and reduce procedural headaches. And it shows how to help employers avoid legal missteps and mitigate the damage when violations are committed, by documenting good-faith compliance efforts.

If your library is on standing order for this treatise, you can expect the release to arrive soon. If you’d like to order the release please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291. To find out more about the book, click here.

View a sample chapter here.