Thursday, December 27, 2018

Supreme Court Expands Reach of ADEA

In a decision dated Nov. 6, 2018, the United States Supreme Court broadened the scope of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) to cover state and local governments regardless of number of employees. Public employers must now be advised that they may be liable under the ADEA, regardless of number of employees, and face additional exposure for claims of age discrimination.

Read the full article by Mordy Yankovich, Esq. published in The Suffolk Lawyer here. 

Contracts of Sale: Preserving Rights is Transactional Counsel's Job

The dichotomy between a litigation and a transactional practice is stark. Simply, transactional counsel needs to adhere to the game of hot potato — don’t get stuck as the recipient of a notice when the music stops. Instead, counsel must assert a preservation right whenever counsel receives a notice that asserts contrary rights by the other party. Then, counsel should consult with litigation counsel to collaborate on how to best achieve the client’s goal through a hybrid of leveraging litigation and negotiating terms.

Click here to read the full article published in The Suffolk Lawyer. 

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Anatomy of a Real Estate Lawsuit with Andrew M. Lieb

A lawsuit is not what you see on TV. On TV, a lawsuit is won by an attorney marching into court with a grand display of showmanship and a cunning tongue. The TV judge hearing the case makes a spot decision and it’s all over and decided before the final commercial break. In reality, a civil litigation takes years and is much more of a chess match than a swordfight. As opposed to this courtroom drama, a real case is typically decided on paper submissions that may be heard months after they are first provided to the court. Additionally, the decision is often made on a technical procedural rule, not on the merits or substance of the litigation.

You see, being right isn’t everything in real litigation. Instead, a real lawsuit is all about knowing how to play the game. The following is a summary of the stages of a litigation, but this chess match isn’t linear and each of the stages can appear out of order and can even reoccur again and again. So, civil litigants need a skilled advocate who is a master of the game if they want a shot at victory. Here is your game board: