Commercial Contracts

Expert Analysis

• Capital Leases Are Dead, Long Live Finance Leases

  

  Starting this year, public companies must adopt the Financial Standards Accounting Board's new lease accounting rules, which eliminate the defined term "capital leases." Lenders and borrowers alike will need to consider taking a new approach to drafting credit agreements, says Brad Boericke of Pepper Hamilton LLP.

• A Guide To Reducing Limitations Periods On Employee Claims

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  Employers generally benefit from drafting agreements that shorten statutes of limitations on employee claims. However, there are several considerations when assessing whether and how to trim the relevant period, say Ann-Elizabeth Ostrager and Courtney Hunter of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

• Arbitrators And Mediators Should Reflect Society's Diversity

  

  Alternative dispute resolution providers have made great strides toward diversity, but recent statistics show there is still work to be done. There are certain steps ADR providers can take to actively recruit more women and minority candidates to serve as arbitrators and mediators, says James Jenkins of the American Arbitration Association.

• A Small Crack In High Court's Pro-Employer FAA Absolutism

  

  Lately it’s become reasonable to ask: Is there any arbitration provision — however lopsided and unfair — that the U.S. Supreme Court won’t deem enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act? Thanks to Tuesday's decision in New Prime v. Oliveira, the answer is finally yes, says Scott Oswald of The Employment Law Group PC.

• Why AFAs Are Key To The Future Of Legal Practice

  

  Alternative fee agreements can help align law firm and client interests, increase efficiency and eliminate corporate extortion, among other benefits. They are the best thing to happen to the practice of law in decades, says Kelly Eisenlohr-Moul at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.

• Rebuttal

  Door Maker Case Is A Boon To Private Antitrust Litigants

  

  A recent Law360 guest article argued that the Virginia federal court's decision in Steves and Sons v. Jeld-Wen casts doubt on the value of pre-merger clearance. But the ruling raises a much more important issue — a private plaintiff had to do what the U.S. Department of Justice wouldn’t, says Jamie Miller of the Alioto Law Firm.

• Series

  Judging A Book: Barron Reviews 'The Clamor Of Lawyers'

  

  Can lawyers lead a revolution? According to "The Clamor of Lawyers: The American Revolution and Crisis in the Legal Profession" — a slim but elegant volume by Peter Charles Hoffer and Williamjames Hull Hoffer — they can and they did, says First Circuit Judge David Barron.

• Opinion

  The Case For Lawyer-Directed Litigation Funding In NY: Part 2

  

  Lawyer-directed nonrecourse litigation funding is more likely to protect a lawyer's exercise of independent professional judgment than traditional means of litigation finance, and furthermore enables worthwhile cases that otherwise could not be funded, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson of Holland & Knight LLP.

• Opinion

  The Case For Lawyer-Directed Litigation Funding In NY: Part 1

  

  Contrary to what the New York City Bar Association concluded in an ethics opinion last year, lawyer-directed nonrecourse commercial litigation funding does not violate New York rules on sharing fees with nonlawyers, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson of Holland & Knight LLP.

• 'Wholly Groundless' Arbitration Exception Gets Grounded

  

  On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court held that when a contract expressly delegates to the arbitral tribunal the question of “arbitrability,” courts may not resolve that question, even if the underlying arbitrability argument is allegedly “wholly groundless.” This is significant for parties drafting arbitration agreements, say attorneys with Paul Hastings LLP.