|
Book Of Business (law)
Book of business is common parlance in the United States legal services sector and refers to the collection of clients that a lawyer (usually a partner) has assembled throughout their career. Since most U.S. law firms are organized as limited liability partnerships or professional corporations, each partner is usually responsible for acquiring their own clients in that partner's specific area of specialty. In the competitive legal market, especially in large city markets, partners are evaluated by committees of their fellow partners, with assistance of non-legal market and financial professionals, both in-house and outside the firm, on a yearly basis, which also sets guidelines on billable targets. An equity partner with a stagnant or declining book of business can be "de-equitized" or demoted from the status of a partner who receives a share of the firm's profits to that of a salaried partner or counsel. Firms seeking to expand often retain outside legal recruiters and specify th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, legal executive, or public servant — with each role having different functions and privileges. Working as a lawyer generally involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and knowledge to solve specific problems. Some lawyers also work primarily in advancing the interests of the law and legal profession. Terminology Different legal jurisdictions have different requirements in the determination of who is recognized as being a lawyer. As a result, the meaning of the term "lawyer" may vary from place to place. Some jurisdictions have two types of lawyers, barrister and solicitors, while others fuse the two. A barrister (also known as an advocate or counselor in some jurisdictions) is a lawyer who typically specia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Law Firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other matters in which legal advice and other assistance are sought. Arrangements Law firms are organized in a variety of ways, depending on the jurisdiction in which the firm practices. Common arrangements include: * Sole proprietorship, in which the attorney ''is'' the law firm and is responsible for all profit, loss and liability; * General partnership, in which all the attorneys who are members of the firm share ownership, profits and liabilities; * Professional corporations, which issue stock to the attorneys in a fashion similar to that of a business corporation; * Limited liability company, in which the attorney-owners are called "members" but are not direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limited Liability Partnerships
A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence. This distinguishes an LLP from a traditional partnership under the UK Partnership Act 1890, in which each partner has joint (but not several) liability. In an LLP, some or all partners have a form of limited liability similar to that of the shareholders of a corporation. Unlike corporate shareholders, the partners have the power to manage the business directly. In contrast, corporate shareholders must elect a board of directors under the laws of various state charters. The board organizes itself (also under the laws of the various state charters) and hires corporate officers who then have as "corporate" individuals the legal responsibility to manage the corporation in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Professional Corporation
Professional corporations or professional service corporation (abbreviated as PC or PSC) are those corporate entities for which many corporation statutes make special provision, regulating the use of the corporate form by licensed professionals such as attorneys, architects, engineers, public accountants and physicians. The general category of the PC or PSC can be as S-corporation, C-corporation, or LLC, but with subcategorization as a PC or PSC. Legal regulations applying to professional corporations typically differ in important ways from those applying to other corporations. Unlike a traditional corporation, operation as a professional corporation does not insulate a professional for personal liability for her own negligence or malpractice. The principal reason why groups of professions choose to organize as a professional corporation is that, unlike a general partnership, an owner is not personally liable for the negligence or malpractice of other owners. In some states a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equity Partner
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations may partner to increase the likelihood of each achieving their mission and to amplify their reach. A partnership may result in issuing and holding equity or may be only governed by a contract. History Partnerships have a long history; they were already in use in medieval times in Europe and in the Middle East. According to a 2006 article, the first partnership was implemented in 1383 by Francesco di Marco Datini, a merchant of Prato and Florence. The Covoni company (1336-40) and the Del Buono-Bencivenni company (1336-40) have also been referred to as early partnerships, but they were not formal partnerships. In Europe, the partnerships contributed to the Commercial Revolution which started in the 13th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. The organization's national headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois, and it also maintains a significant branch office in Washington, D.C. History The ABA was founded on August 21, 1878, in Saratoga Springs, New York, by 75 lawyers from 20 states and the District of Columbia. According to the ABA website: The purpose of the original organization, as set forth in its first constitution, was "the advancement of the science of jurisprudence, the pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conflict Of Interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in which the personal interest of an individual or organization might adversely affect a duty owed to make decisions for the benefit of a third party. An "interest" is a commitment, obligation, duty or goal associated with a particular social role or practice. By definition, a "conflict of interest" occurs if, within a particular decision-making context, an individual is subject to two coexisting interests that are in direct conflict with each other. Such a matter is of importance because under such circumstances the decision-making process can be disrupted or compromised in a manner that affects the integrity or the reliability of the outcomes. Typically, a conflict of interest arises when an individual finds themselves occupying two soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Shoe Firm
A white-shoe firm is an American term used to describe prestigious professional services firms that have traditionally been associated with the upper-class elite who graduated from Ivy League colleges. The term is most often used to describe leading old-line law firms and Wall Street financial institutions, as well as accounting firms that are over a century old, typically in New York City and Boston. Former Wall Street attorney John Oller, author of ''White Shoe'', credits Paul Drennan Cravath with creating the distinct model adopted by virtually all white-shoe law firms, the Cravath System, just after the turn of the 20th century, about 50 years before the phrase ''white-shoe firm'' came into use. Etymology The phrase derives from " white bucks", laced suede or buckskin (or Nubuck) derby shoes, usually with a red sole, long popular among the student body of Ivy League colleges. A 1953 ''Esquire'' article, describing social strata at Yale University, explained that "White Shoe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Practice Of Law
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister, solicitor, or civil law notary. However, there is a substantial amount of overlap between the practice of law and various other professions where clients are represented by agents. These professions include real estate, banking, accounting, and insurance. Moreover, a growing number of legal document assistants (LDAs) are offering services which have traditionally been offered only by lawyers and their employee paralegals. Many documents may now be created by computer-assisted drafting libraries, where the clients are asked a series of questions that are posed by the software in order to construct the legal documents. In addition, regulatory consulting firms also provide adv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
