Articles

05.19.15

Unleash Creative Planning Ideas for Clients With Pets

Many clients have pets. How many practitioners, however, routinely ask clients if they would like to include provisions for their pets in their estate planning documents? Some estate planners may laugh at this concept, but Americans are serious about their pets, and the pet industry itself is a ...


05.19.15

Fracking Is Not One-Size-Fits-All, Which Is Good News for California When It Comes to Water

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as "fracking," has come under scrutiny for its potential impacts on water, including the risks to water quality and the amount of water used in the practice. California's new regulations on petroleum well stimulation treatments are set to take effect on July 1, ...


05.14.15

No Cause for Concern

In recent years, charitable sales promotions have become an increasingly popular way for consumer products companies and brands to support charitable causes while, at the same time, differentiating themselves from competitors who sell similar products or services-not to mention their potential to ...


05.14.15

Flanagan's Win Maps Road to Success for LI Candidates

Long Island cast a collective sigh this week, when John Flanagan was elected State Senate majority leader. The region feared it would lose a key leadership position in Albany to an upstate lawmaker.Flanagan (R-East Northport) no doubt remembered the painful lessons of 2002, when he lost by a ...


04.30.15

White House Reboots Draft Guidance on Evaluating Climate Change Impacts

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has restarted the process for formal advice on how best to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of climate change under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). More than four years after issuing its first draft guidance ...


04.28.15

What to Do in a Boom to Prepare for a Bust

Now that the Great Recession is fading into the past, and 2015 seems to be shaping up as a boom year in real estate, there is a temptation for real estate developers and investors-eternal optimists-to extrapolate from a few good years into an ever rosier future.


04.10.15

Consumer Data in Bankruptcy: Saleable Asset or Liability?

A national retailer files Chapter 11 with the intent to liquidate assets. Among the assets to be liquidated are millions of customer email addresses and personally identifiable information collected at the point of sale over the course of many years in operation. Are these consumer records assets ...


04.08.15

Ten Actions for Effective Data Risk Management

High-profile data breaches expose breached companies to intense negative scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators, media, customers and plaintiffs' attorneys.  But not every data breach is a headline-grabbing massive theft of consumer credit card data, and no breach can be ignored.


04.03.15

Will FDA Change the Way It Regulates Homeopathic Drugs? Should It?

Walking down the dietary supplement aisles at Expo West, passing all of the products claiming to "support" and "promote" various body functions and general health, every now and then I see a product that claims to treat or prevent some ailment, which generally a supplement ...


03.27.15

Digital Payments: An Overview of U.S. Federal Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations

BACKGROUNDPrior to 2010, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was the applicable consumer protection regulatory authority, having the jurisdiction to enforce Section 5 of the FTC Act (15 USC 45), which prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce." The ...