I. When to Opt for International Arbitration

One selects arbitration as the dispute resolution device in a contract for several reasons: (1) to reduce legal costs, (2) for the convenience of the parties in scheduling and presentation, (3) to keep the proceedings and the result confidential, and (4) to avoid trial of claims which could potentially produce large damage awards when decided by other than “commercial” people or in a particular jurisdiction. Add to that list two very significant reasons for selecting arbitration in an international contract: (1) decision enforcement and (2) a neutral forum.

Decision Enforcement. Each country has its own laws and applies those laws within its own borders. That may be an accepted fundamental precept of international law, but, practically speaking, that happens because the country has the force and the control to accomplish that result within its own borders. The extent to which a country’s laws will be recognized outside its borders by other countries is limited. There is no international legal or enforcement body to require a country to recognize the decisions of another country. One country recognizes the decisions of another purely by “comity” or “as a favor” to the other country. In many commercial countries, having a foreign country judgment has virtually no effect. You must try your lawsuit all over again. In others, having a judgment limits the defenses which can be raised, but one still essentially must try one’s case twice. Even the United States, thought to be a commercially and legally advanced country, has no federal statutory law on recognition or enforcement of foreign country judgments. There is state statutory law. (c) 2008 Chris Helmer, Esq. Read the rest of this entry »

A recent post at AboveTheLaw reports on compensation trends for in-house counsel:

Mock in-house counsel if you want to (and apparently many of you “want to”), but those jobs still pay great money. A new study says that the average pay for in-house attorneys is $236,000.

Above the Law - A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession - In-House: Still Great Money If You Can Get It

Boston-area corporate executives and in-house counsel anticipate slow legal spending growth for Boston’s nearly $2 billion legal services market and pegged seven firms as practice area standouts, according to a new study. Based on their legal budgets, respondents anticipated that their outside counsel spending growth rate would slow to 3.1 percent through the end of 2008 and into 2009, compared with a 10.3 percent growth rate in 2007. The slowdown is “almost shocking,” according to one consultant.

Boston-Area In-House Counsel See Slow Growth in Legal Spending Ahead

Check out these featured in-house legal positions for September - many more are available at InhouseBlog’s Job Board and if you’re looking for Patent/IP Jobs, don’t forget Patently-O’s Job Board.

• Consulting Co — Tax Attorney, Flex OK - Confidential, New York, NY
• Flextime Corporate Attorney — Hedge Fund - Confidential, New York, NY
• Staff Attorney - Atlanta Hawks / Atlanta Thrashers, Atlanta, GA
• Sr. Attorney - FedEx Express, Memphis, TN
• Corporate Counsel - Monster.com, Maynard, MA
• Associate General Counsel - ETS, Princeton, NJ
• General Counsel - Wincor Nixdorf, Austin, TX
• Associate General Counsel - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA
• Senior Counsel - GE Healthcare, Boston, MA
• VP & General Counsel - Toyota Financial Services, Torrance, CA

Just when you thought you’d never see a blog covering your practice area, yes, it’s the Furniture Law Blog from Womble Carlyle. The blog focuses on patent and intellectual property law in the furniture industry. Tip of the hat to Robert Ambrogi for the link.

Corporate general counsel expect increased company risk management and more regulatory enforcement in the wake of collapsing financial institutions, such as Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers and American International Group. State government regulatory oversight will rise with more attorney general probes, and federal oversight will expand in step with the next presidential administration, said some general counsel attending the Argyle Executive Forum in Chicago this week.

GCs See Major Changes in Company Risk Management in Wake of Wall Street Meltdown

Two-and-a-half years after the stock option backdating scandal first rained down on Silicon Valley’s legal establishment, the first — and so far the only — lawyer to face criminal charges goes before a jury this week. From the Justice Department’s point of view, though, the case against former McAfee Inc. GC Kent Roberts has little to do with backdating, or with any legal advice Roberts did or didn’t give. Rather, the government seeks to narrow Roberts’ trial to a simple larceny.

Prosecutors Seek to Simplify Backdating Case Against McAfee Ex-GC

As the hot, young clean-tech industry matures, companies are hiring and searching for general counsel that have the hard-to-come-by blend of energy business and startup lawyer skills. Ausra Inc., a solar company in Palo Alto, Calif., recently hired energy-industry veteran Debra Olson as its first general counsel. “We are all migrating toward this — it’s a phenomenal opportunity, it’s a tremendous career,” said Olson, who previously worked at Calpine and a wind-energy company.

Sunny Forecast for GC Jobs in Clean-Tech Industry