AttorneysEd Center

Michael Kasdan provides an overview of Section 337 Actions before the ITC, including initiating actions with the ITC complaint, discovery, motion practice and summary determination motions, the role of OUII /staff counsel and remedies and resolution. In addition, the program focuses on key recent developments in ITC jurisprudence, including the satisfaction of the domestic industry requirement by non-practicing entities and the availability of exclusion orders on essential patents for which FRAND commitments have been made.

Commencing patent infringement suits against an alleged infringer in more than one jurisdiction may provide a patentee with major strategic advantages. However, a successful global patent litigation campaign requires complex strategic planning that takes into account the differences between key jurisdictions in timing, procedure and substantive patent law. Anthony Lo Cicero of Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein LLP analyzes and explains these strategic issues and provides global patent litigation case studies.

Barry Engel covers important developments in asset protection and estate planning during the period July 2012-November 2013. Topics include an update on relevant federal gift and estate tax developments, domestic and foreign statutory and case law issues specific to self-settled spendthrift trusts and to legal entities used in asset protection, and applicable developments involving the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) under the HIRE Act.

Because of the importance to the client of his or her estate, regardless of size, estate planning attorneys should consider some degree of asset protection as part of the client’s overall estate planning. Join Barry Engel and Ed Brown as they provide appropriate asset protection planning strategies tailored to those individuals with small to medium-sized estates. Topics include: 1) the use of exemptions, which are valuable in that they provide categories of assets that are free from legal process as a judgment creditor attempts to collect a judgment; 2) joint ownership of property, which, based upon the state in which the individual lives, may render property either unavailable to a judgment creditor, more difficult to levy against, or less attractive to a creditor as an asset to pursue; 3) spousal gifting; 4) insurance; 5) annuities; 6) the use of family limited partnerships and family limited liability companies, due to the protection provided by charging order

As in other areas of the law, asset protection attorneys can learn important lessons and sharpen their planning skills by knowing and understanding the results of prior cases. Join Barry Engel as he provides an in-depth review and discussion of: the more important reported cases involving litigation challenges to asset protection trusts (as well as some unreported cases and settled cases); and the process of “protective measures” or “emergency measures” available to trustees of asset protection trusts when trust assets are faced with a threat.

Too often the asset protection planning process stops at protecting individually held assets; the assets of the client’s operating business, professional practice and/or real estate holdings are left unattended. Join Barry Engel as he discusses various principles, concepts and strategies designed to address these areas of need, including: 1) a business or professional practice settling a trust; 2) a business or professional practice undergoing a divisive reorganization to accomplish asset protection goals; 3) a business or professional practice forming and funding one or more related entities to which assets are contributed; 4) a business or professional practice selling its assets to a separately owned company and then leasing the assets back from the purchasing company; 5) “liquefying” the equity of a business or professional practice and contributing the proceeds to an integrated estate planning trust; and 6) asset protection planning structures owning real estate and the special considerations required by this immovable asset class.

Ed Fishman of K&L Gates highlights ethical issues that must be considered by internal and external counsel when conducting internal corporate investigations. The importance of conducting internal corporate investigations continues to increase as a result of U.S. government enforcement initiatives (including Sarbanes-Oxley and the Dodd Frank Act) and civil litigation trends. Companies can obtain very significant benefits by properly and effectively conducting an internal investigation. However, investigative counsel must be aware of common ethical challenges that may arise when conducting such investigations. The topics covered in this program include conflict of interest issues (including the potential hazards of joint representation under Model Rule 1.13(g)), attorney-client privilege issues (including the importance of providing an "Upjohn" warning and the consequences of privilege waiver), cooperation credit and remediation considerations (under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the DOJ Principles on Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations and the SEC Seaboard Report), and data

The 1987 Bruntland Commission, the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Council and the 2011 UN meeting on carbon emissions have shown the pathway that intergovernmental efforts have led along the way to a greener future for commercial real estate. The UK government has introduced legislation for new buildings to be nearly zero energy by 2020 and as near to zero as possible by 2050. The UK Energy Act came into force in 2011 and the recent Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will be transposed into EU member state legislation by July 2012. The Investment Property Databank has produced the IPD Sustainable Property Index Monitor which aims to establish and measure the link between sustainability credentials of a property and its value. Environmental tools exist such as the IPD Eco-Ledger, BREEAM and Energy Performance Certificates. In this program of particular interest to in-house counsel, attorneys and experts in the areas of banking and sustainability explore the regulatory background of the

Join Barry Engel as he covers the latest developments in asset protection and integrated estate planning. Topics include federal tax law, trust planning, conveyancing, debtor-creditor rights, bankruptcy law, contempt law, international law, and litigation developments that have taken place during the period July 2011-October 2012. NOTE: This course has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of Texas Committee on MCLE in the amount of 1.0 credit hours, of which 0 credit hours will apply to legal ethics/professional responsibility credit.

In this program for asset protection and integrated estate planning lawyers, Barry Engel analyzes choice of law decisions and how they may lead to conflict of law issues. Topics include: • a review of applicable reported cases with respect to choice of law and conflict of law principles, • a comparative analysis of the law in select domestic and offshore asset protection-oriented jurisdictions, i.e., given choice of law principles, what is there from which to choose, and once selected, what are the legal principles that would either support or interfere with the selected law, • an analysis of the foregoing jurisdictions’ statutory provisions and a discussion of some of the more interesting nuances from jurisdiction to jurisdiction that make them attractive or at least interesting, and • a comparative analysis of offshore trust planning versus domestic trust planning in the asset protection setting.