The Loss of a Legal Visionary, An Inspiring Lady and a Friend

I wanted to memorialize the passing of Gail Koff, a long-time client and friend, on August 31st. Gail quietly fought a type of Leukemia for more than 10 years, yet due to her strength and love of life the people around her never thought her final day could be so soon.

Gail was one of the founding partners of Jacoby & Meyers, which started more than 35 years ago as a law firm for the average citizen. Gail had many ups and downs at her firm during that period, but never dropped her focus on trying to improve the world through her legal services. She also spent a great deal of time and energy on the boards of non-profit organizations and educational institutions such as Bank Street College and The Calhoun School.

The New York Times wrote an obituary here. The Wall Street Journal wrote a remembrance piece about Gail here. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog covered her passing here. Death notices in the New York Times are here.

On a personal note, this is the first time I had a client who became a friend pass away and I find myself very saddened by it. Gail was truly an inspiration with her strength, vision, perseverance, commitment to social causes, and love of family, friends and life. I consider myself very fortunate to have known her and will truly miss her.

Rest in peace, Gail.

NASDAQ Closing Bell Ceremony with University of the People

On August 17th, I had a real treat of joining my non-profit, pro bono client, University of the People, for the closing bell ceremony at NASDAQ. UoPeople, the first tuition-free online university, was founded by Israeli education technology entrepreneur, Shai Reshef. You can learn more about this terrific organization that is trying to democratize higher education globally at www.UoPeople.org. You can view the video of the closing ceremony here.

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Hidden Dangers of Independent Contractors – TV Interview with Dorsey Partner Mike Droke

Mike Droke, the head of our Seattle office and the Co-Chair of Dorsey’s Labor & Employment practice, recently spoke on Fox Business News about some of the pitfalls of misclassifying people as independent contractors. Federal tax authorities are increasingly targeting companies that treat people as contractors when they really should be treated as employees. Mike’s interview, linked below, provides a good overview of the topic.

TV interview:  Hidden Dangers of Independent Contractors

AEP Legal Corner – Independent Contractor or Employer: Getting It Right Is More Important Now Than Ever Before

by Gary M. Gansle, partner in Dorsey & Whitney’s Labor and Employment practice

For far too long, employers have taken a laissez-faire approach to classifying workers as independent contractors in order to help control costs, streamline their organizations, and honor the stated preferences of their workers. However, the cost associated with being undisciplined and incorrect about these classification decisions can be quite expensive, and is likely to get more expensive in the near future given the Department of Labor’s “Misclassification Initiative,” which is designed to identify and reduce employee misclassification.

Go to The Association of  Educational Publishers’ Dorsey & Whitney Legal Corner.

Dorsey Announces Establishment of Educational Publishing, Technology and Services Industry Group

I’ve been working on this for a year and am excited about my firm’s commitment to this innovative, rapidly growing and essential industry. We have 35 attorneys who have joined the group so far. Please contact me if you’d like to learn more about our ability to add value to your educational publishing, technology or services business.

A copy of the firm’s press release is reprinted below. You can also find it here:  http://www.dorsey.com/educ_pub_industry_group_pr/

Jeff Read more

Welcome Back

It’s been a while since my last post. Since then, I became a Partner in the Corporate and Transactions Group at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, a Minneapolis-headquartered firm that has 650 lawyers in 19 offices throughout the U.S., Canada, England, China and Australia. At Dorsey, I have an exceptional group of colleagues who greatly increase the depth and breadth of services I can offer clients. It’s also a firm that places a high value on professionalism and continuing legal education, which I really appreciate. Our internal training department, DorseyU, has several full-time employees who coordinate multiple educational programs for our lawyers each week — it’s already been a great resource for me.

In thinking about the “re-launch” of this blog, I decided to rename it from Business Law Insight to Business Law Strategy. The purpose of this blog, as always, is to facilitate an understanding of legal principles in order to help companies achieve their business strategies. While this blog strives to provide insights, of course, the real emphasis is on strategy. I hope you’ll find that the posts meet that goal.

I am also happy to announce that Dorsey became a new member of the Software and Information Industry Association, and I am in the process of forming a Publishing, Education and Training Sector Group within Dorsey. Among other things, I anticipate that this Sector Group will engage in the re-launch of the Surveys of Education Venture Capital & Private Equity that I’ve conducted on several occasions since 1998. We also intend to develop various webinars, presentation and seminars on legal topics of interest and importance to companies in this sector.

Please feel free to comment on any of the posts on this blog, and/or to reach out to me either through the blog or directly to fromm.jeff@dorsey.com.

All the best for 2009.