The Commercial Law Section is one of twenty-one (21) sections of the National Bar Association ("NBA"). For six of the last seven years, the CLS has been named the NBA "Section of the Year." Among other things, the Section is committed to bringing its members together with in-house counsel at major corporations who seek to increase the diversity of their outside counsel ranks.<< MORE >>

As part of his economic recovery program, President Barack Obama wants to invest in converting paper health records to electronic health records (EHRs). Analyses of the potential benefits of such a conversion suggest that President Obama’s proposal has merit. “Errors will happen anytime you take a complex system and put human beings inside of it,” says Dr. Brent James, vice president of medical research and executive director of Salt Lake City’s Intermountain Institute for Health Care Delivery Research. “The notion that you can train doctors to completely avoid mistakes is just false."<< MORE >>

Rule 30(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows an entire corporation to speak through one agent. A notice of deposition made pursuant to Rule 30(b)(6) requires the corporation to produce one or more individuals to testify with respect to matters set out in the deposition notice or subpoena. The corporation must not only designate a person to testify, but more importantly, prepare the person so that he or she can give complete, knowledgeable and binding answers on behalf of the corporation. Id. This is a critical aspect of Rule 30(b)(6).<< MORE >>

In this global economy, companies are doing more and more business in foreign jurisdictions. One of the first international jurisdictions in which many U.S. companies seek to do business is Canada. Attorneys for U.S. companies that have purchased, or have entertained purchasing, a Canadian company or have otherwise sought to establish a presence in Canada will be familiar with two important federal statutes – the Investment Canada Act (“ICA”) and the Competition Act (“CA”). Attorneys should be aware of recent amendments to these statutes which may impact on U.S. companies entering into cross-border transactions, directly or indirectly, involving Canadian entities.<< MORE >>

With even seasoned litigators just plain flummoxed by the e-discovery quagmire, there are serious ethical implications which must be understood, lest we place our clients, and our licenses, in jeopardy. Given the ever-growing body of law dealing with one ethical failure or another in the e-discovery context, it is crucial that in-house and outside counsel develop a firm grasp of the potential pitfalls in e-discovery and the best strategies for how such hazards can be avoided.<< MORE >>

The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”) has been considered a milestone for employee rights since its inception in 1993; however, employers and employees alike have complained about abuses of the Act. Employers argue that many workers are taking time off for maladies that the FMLA was never created to cover and that workers are taking the 12 weeks of leave intermittently, rather that in blocks of time—making scheduling and staffing difficult to say the least. Employees counter by stating that employers are making it increasingly difficult to qualify for leave.<< MORE >>

Discovery involving ESI, such as emails, PDF files, spreadsheets and other electronic information, has become increasingly routine in federal courts. No longer is electronic discovery used solely in complex civil litigation cases involving the largest global corporations. It is now used in all types of cases, including simple contract disputes and negligence actions. Electronic discovery has received so much attention it led to the December 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.<< MORE >>

Hurricane Ike recently caused extensive property damage in Galveston and Houston, Texas and other areas on the Gulf Coast. The damage to commercial properties and utility service providers interrupted business for many large and small companies, causing a loss of expected profits and an increase in business expenses. Some companies will be able to recover some or all of these lost profits and extra expenses because they purchased insurance coverage that protects their expected profits and reimburses them for extra expenses. Other companies that had not obtained the appropriate coverage, unfortunately, have to bear the losses themselves, which sometimes will result in business closings.<< MORE >>

The Supreme Court’s decision in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955 (2007), may very well mark the end of Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’s rigid notice pleading standard. No longer will a complaint containing indistinct allegations survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim; instead, a complaint must now contain allegations that “nudge [a plaintiff’s] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible.” Id. at 1974.<< MORE >>

As an emerging market, Africa offers many opportunities for companies looking to extend their business in an area with twenty percent (20%) of the world’s total land mass, a population of 900 million people (14% of the world total), and a plethora of mineral resources. The continent appropriately has been called a “gentle giant” and a “sleeping beauty” in recent times. Herbert Igbanugo, Esq., the founder of Igbanugo Partners Int’l Law Firm, PLLC (Igbanugo Partners), has expanded the services that his law firm provides to companies that do business in Sub-Saharan Africa.<< MORE >>