It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot: innovation. In the legal industry, its use is often followed by a fair degree of skepticism. As Matthew Fawcett, general counsel of NetApp, told me last week: “I can’t see anything interesting developmentally that’s happening out there.” With sarcasm, he recalled how more than 15 years ago law firms launched Y2K practices in hopes to land business, noting that he didn’t necessarily blame them for trying. “I feel that world is almost remote...

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In the last few years, Delaware courts have issued several rulings in lawsuits involving complaints of excessive compensation to non-employee directors . The takeaways from these cases can be summarized as follows: Decisions by directors about their own compensation will be reviewed by Delaware courts as a self-dealing transaction under the entire fairness standard, but such decisions can gain the protection of the business judgment rule if such decisions are made pursuant to a director pay limit or proposal that is...

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Barriers have fallen: empowered by social media, consumers are becoming the new “bosses” of corporations and a powerful source of feedback. Thus companies must learn to effectively engage them, to reward them and to positively respond to online criticism, says customer relationship management guru Paul Greenberg. He is the author of 'CRM at the Speed of Light – Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century', the first major customer relationship management manual of the 2.0 age, when the relationship between...

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October 4, 2016 | More than 3,300 toymakers, buyers, licensors and trade guests hailing from 36 countries were in Dallas, TX last week to attend the Toy Industry Association’s (TIA) 10th annual Fall Toy Preview.  Held September 27-29 at the Dallas Market Center, the long-lead marketplace drew 758 buyers from 359 retail outlets – from mass merchants and supermarkets to discount chains and specialty shops – to preview tens of thousands of brand-new toys and games slated for release in...

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Littler's Workplace Policy Institute Insider Report details key labor, employment, and benefits news and events at the federal, state, local, and global levels. The October edition of the Insider Report examines what Congress accomplished before taking another brief recess in preparation for the November elections. The Report also details federal agency rules finalized in September, as well as state and local laws that advanced during this period. The Insider Report includes the following sections: Insider Briefing.  With little more than a...

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However there remains a long trail ahead as the $18 billion of issuance during the latest period compares with $22.1 billion of deal volume during the same period a year ago. So even though some 15 deals are in the forward pipeline, issuance for the full year will fall well below last year's $95.1 billion of volume. Issuance during the latest quarter perked up when spreads began a retreat that followed an extremely volatile first half. That period's volatility made...

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