4.01.2010

Loza Delivers Start-Up Advice for New Law Firms

Emile Loza presents today at The George Washington University Law School on "Starting Your Own Law Firm."

Topics include:

What it's like to run a successful law practice

The pros & cons of entrepreneurship

Things to consider before getting started

Professional responsibility & sustainability

Start-up resources

10.18.2009

Loza's Web Site Issue-spotting Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten List

Social Science Research Network has named my publication, "Issue-Spotting for Web Sites," to its Top Ten download list for its Corporate Law Practice network.

Written in easily-accessible business language, I point out in this article intellectual property title, domain name misconduct, and other issues that should be addressed when developing a Web site or application.

My paper was originally published in the Idaho State Bar's The Advocate.

To see and download this and all my legal publications, please click the link on this posting's title.

To request more information, please post a comment here.

8.16.2009

Attorney Competence, Ethics & the Globalization of Legal Practice

Many business, economic, and legal trends drive attorneys to adopt and expand international perspectives in their practices. These trends simultaneously heighten the ethical mandate that attorneys be competent to serve and advise clients on transnational legal matters.

Global economic integration and worldwide markets; the rampant popularity and ubiquitous nature of online businesses, e-commerce, and social networks; rapid advances in telecommunications and other technologies; and increasingly multinational and globally distributed workforces are just a few of these trends.

Add to these trends the rapidly-evolving and voluminous bodies of international and foreign domestic laws and of influential international soft law. Add to these the number and range of international and foreign legal regimes and the development of the rule of law worldwide.

These trends mean that virtually every legal practitioner has been or will be asked to represent clients on matters involving or impacted by international or foreign domestic law or both. These trends drive an urgent need for attorneys to ensure that they competently handle transnational legal matters in accordance with their ethical obligations.

The state and other Rules of Professional Conduct that govern attorney ethics require that, for each transnational legal matter, attorneys must ensure that they have or can obtain the requisite international legal education and skills and that they exhibit the thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary to the matter. See, e.g., American Bar Association Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.1 and comments.

Whether attorneys act reasonably in a particular transnational legal matter depends upon a comparison to the broader community of reasonably prudent and competent international legal practitioners. See Rule 1.0(h); Rule 1.1 & comment 5. Among the broader required areas of competence are international law, foreign domestic law, conflict of laws, and comparative international law.

Association with competent international attorneys and partnering with foreign attorneys are among the avenues to ethical competence in transnational legal matters available to practitioners.

Look for more posts here on the subject of attorney competence and compliance with legal ethics rules in international practice. My article on this important subject is pending publication in the Idaho State Bar journal, The Advocate, in October.

To request more information, please post a comment here.

7.18.2009

Licensing Software in Global Markets

Online distribution and other globalizing factors make software licensing one of the most intricate and interesting types of intellectual property transactions.

I presented on International Software Licensing in San Francisco by invitation at the American Conference Institute's 14th Annual Software Licensing Conference.

Among other topics, my presentation illustrates the vital importance of strategic intelligence in controlling intellectual property rights flow in international software licensing deals.

I also discuss ways to harmonize licensing contract terms across multiple jurisdictions. These harmonized terms increase the efficiency and effectiveness of reducing legal risk and avoiding conflicts and litigation in international software licensing transactions.

Finally, I highlight the legal and business significance of some 2400-plus dual taxation treaties governing international intellectual property licensing. Among those considerations are the appropriate management of exposure to foreign taxing jurisdictions and the repatriation of maximized net royalty incomes to the licensor's home jurisdiction.

To view my presentation, click here.

To request more information, please post a comment here.


Neither this posting nor the referenced presentation provide legal or tax advice. NOTE: The Google Docs publication application resulted in formatting changes not in the original PPT file.

6.14.2009

Loza's Paper on Violent Video Games Makes Top 10 List

SSRN has named my paper, "Video Software Dealers Association v. Schwarzenegger: A Rising Ninth Circuit Case on the Constitutionality of States' Regulation of Minors' Access to Violent Video Games," to its Top Ten download list for constitutional issues.

The paper was published last year in The Computer and Internet Lawyer.

SSRN (Social Science Research Network) is a leading Web site for academic publications. It was co-founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Jensen and other distinguished academicians. Today, it is a Top 40 academic research site. It touts more than 193,000 works in its electronic library with new journal affiliations coming online each week.

For more on SSRN from The New York Times, click here.

To see my SSRN Author Page and to view and download my legal publications, click here.

To request more information, please post a comment here.