“What is it about the word ‘stayed’ you don’t understand?” asked the Bankruptcy Judge at oral argument.  He was grilling opposing counsel, who had filed a bankruptcy action for his client but nonetheless proceeded afterwards – without ever disclosing that bankruptcy – to take my client’s deposition, make discovery demands and file motions in a […]

Proving the maxim that hard cases make bad law, Atalese has, once again, burned a business client by barring it from adjudicating a shareholder dispute in a confidential arbitration. In Atalese v. U.S. Legal Services Group, L.P., 219 N.J. 430 (2014), the New Jersey Supreme Court considered whether or not to enforce a standard-form arbitration […]

Reprinted with permission from the October 27, 2016 edition of the The Legal Intelligencer. Suppose two new clients come to your office next week. Both hold interests in small companies, and both are also, unfortunately, hopelessly at loggerheads with their colleagues. In both cases, one or more of the various interest holders are poised to […]

Reprinted with permission from the September 1, 2016 edition of the The Legal Intelligencer. A client was angry because his company’s insurer would not agree to pay the plaintiff’s settlement demand in an ongoing trial against his company, even though the demand fell within policy limits. “It’s like they’re playing Russian roulette, but with the […]

Reprinted with permission from the July 15, 2016 edition of the The Legal Intelligencer. When a key employee leaves a company, it can be traumatic for all concerned – the employer, the employee and even the new employer.  These days, such an employee is often subject to restrictive covenants that are designed to protect the […]

Reprinted with permission from the May 13, 2016 edition of the The Legal Intelligencer. In reviewing some of the major Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions of the last few months, I was reminded of the old story Judge Learned Hand used to tell about his parting exchange with Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes one day […]