Writing is an essential skill for legal practitioners, as it enables them to effectively communicate their legal opinions and argue cases with compelling written arguments. Having good legal writing skills makes it easier for these professionals to advance in their careers and improve professionalism. There are various ways to improve legal writing skills.
One of the most effective ways to improve one’s legal writing skills is to always create outlines when writing. Outlines are essential tools for legal writing; they make it easier for legal writers to organize their thoughts and present them clearly and logically. This also makes it possible for the readers to easily understand the written document. Another important tip for improving legal writing skills is to always aim for clarity. It is recommended that legal writers avoid the use of double negatives except when necessary. These are words like “not uncommon” and “not insignificant.” Such words are ambiguous and can easily confuse readers. It is also important for legal writers to tighten their writing and avoid the use of fillers. Furthermore, legal writers should always use a professional tone in their writing. This is an important and effective way to demonstrate their wealth of knowledge of legal concepts. It is also advisable to keep the tone neutral when writing a legal piece. Consider writing in an active voice to make the writing more compelling.
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Commercial litigation, a more complex realm within business law, requires advanced litigation knowledge compared to individual disputes. In such cases, commercial litigation attorneys aim to resolve business conflicts. Given its intricacy, selecting the right commercial litigation attorney in Atlanta involves several essential considerations.
Firstly, it's vital to consider the location of the law firm. For residents of Atlanta, hiring a commercial litigation attorney in Atlanta is advisable. Local attorneys possess firsthand knowledge of regional laws and court procedures, increasing the likelihood of success, especially during trial and appellate proceedings. Moreover, when evaluating potential attorneys, it is essential to look for those with substantial experience handling similar commercial litigation cases. Assess their track record in representing clients with comparable issues in Atlanta, as this indicates their proficiency and success rate. Additionally, factor in the attorney's fees when choosing a commercial litigation attorney in Atlanta. Opting for budget-friendly options can prevent financial strain throughout the litigation process. Boutique law firms often offer more cost-effective fees compared to larger counterparts. By considering these factors - local expertise, relevant experience, and fee structure - you can make an informed decision when selecting a commercial litigation attorney in Atlanta. The commercial litigation process helps resolve differences between two or more parties. Commercial litigation has seen a few trends that may persist beyond 2023.
Like other fields, technology has impacted commercial litigation. The field benefits from E-discovery tools, artificial intelligence, and data analytics that enable legal teams to handle mountains of information. Because arbitration is more efficient and less public, businesses increasingly rely on ADR (alternative dispute resolution), including mediation. ADR saves time, money, and related resources in various cases, including traditional procedures and those involving patent validity. Laws continue evolving, and some proponents of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) continue bringing related cases to the forefront. Therefore, organizations must legally prepare themselves if shareholders, regulators, and consumers file ESG-related cases against them. Thus, commercial litigation professionals must also prepare themselves for this area of law. As more cyberattacks occur, businesses have faced more lawsuits over data leaks. Enterprises are gradually changing to meet the complex security challenges in cyberspace, such as legal liability, requirements for data protection, and damage evaluation. Governments have emphasized diversity and inclusion, and legal professionals have adapted to meet the mandates, including those in commercial litigation. Therefore, firms have changed hiring practices to assemble legal teams with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and thought processes. Commercial litigation attorneys deal with cases involving business-related disputes. Since navigating commercial law involves several complex hurdles, business professionals benefit from engaging legal professionals when disputes arise.
Working with commercial litigation attorneys requires an investment that delivers dividends. For example, the professional team helps ensure long-term stability. Early legal intervention minimizes the risk of engaging in frivolous lawsuits, preserving resources and the energy of leaders and management. Legal professionals become adept in the intricacies of commercial law through several years of education and training. The lawyers can help resolve contractual disputes, adhere to professional compliance, and work through scientific issues. Commercial disputes can potentially bring financial losses, business downtime, and reputation damage. It's possible to minimize the ramifications by identifying legal minefields, providing strategic advice, and developing winning risk management strategies. Every legal battle differs from the next, requiring a unique set of strategies. Commercial litigation attorneys assess case strengths and weaknesses, explore potential points for settlement of the case, formulate an integrated action plan per one’s business needs, and improve the chances of a winning outcome. It is imperative to acknowledge that not every dispute needs court intervention. Commercial litigators are adept at using other forms of dispute settlement, like mediation and arbitration, which achieve faster and less expensive results while saving business resources. A partnership offers many advantages to people who are establishing a business, and it accounts for one of the most common approaches to business formation among startups in the United States. However, business operation disagreements, unfulfilled responsibilities, misconduct by one partner, and other potential issues that arise following the launch of a company can worsen the relationship between partners and ultimately lead to partnership disputes. When attempts to settle these matters outside of court fail, reaching a resolution may require litigation.
Litigation in partnership disputes involves filing a legal complaint against one or multiple business partners. It allows the injured party to protect their rights as a partner, enforce contractual obligations, and seek financial damages or fair compensation. Additionally, it offers a course of action after negotiation and meditation efforts deadlock. The reasons for pursuing litigation can include partnership agreement disputes, negligent management, misappropriation of assets, and breaches of fiduciary duty. Regardless of the complaint’s subject, establishing what the lawsuit aims to accomplish represents the most important factor in forming a litigation strategy. Partnership disputes often become emotionally charged affairs due to the feelings of broken trust and betrayal that arise, which frequently lead to parties on either side losing sight of their goals. Identifying the ideal outcome also better enables the partners to evaluate any settlement offers. Commercial and business attorneys who handle partnership litigation play a vital role in creating a plan to attain these results, particularly if the situation requires legal research. In addition to providing representation in trial proceedings, commercial and business attorneys provide guidance on reasonable objectives and deliver ongoing advisement. Attorneys also conduct a thorough analysis of the case, another critical building block of an effective litigation strategy. This examination serves to ascertain options for reaching set goals and to determine the components necessary, such as obtaining evidence, accessing accounting information, interviewing witnesses, consulting experts and securing relevant documents. Moreover, litigation attorneys assist partners in navigating the personal elements inherent to a partnership dispute. Many people form business partnerships with family members or close friends. This pre-existing relationship often influences the conflict’s scope and may cause one or both of the parties to make reactive emotional decisions, a response that does not normally occur in other business disputes. By removing emotionally driven interactions between parties, attorneys keep litigation activities on task and focused on achieving their clients’ desired results. While litigation offers a number of benefits, legal professionals often recommend attempting to resolve the problem outside of court first. Other options that allow partners to resolve their disputes include arbitration, mediation, and settlement negotiation. However, some circumstances can make litigation unavoidable. For instance, complex partnership disputes tend to involve issues that eliminate the possibility of alternative avenues or that risk compromising the entire company without court intervention. Litigation can also become necessary when one of the partners refuses to cooperate in any means of resolution or is not forthcoming with information, the latter of which might require hiring a forensic accountant or another expert. Zachary Andrew McEntyre is an Atlanta-based attorney who practices as partner with King & Spalding, LLP (K&S). He defends corporate clients in complex class actions and disputes related insurance recovery. One distinction Zachary Andrew McEntyre is familiar with is that between a mass tort and a class action.
The two types of cases share fundamental similarities. In both, a large number of people pursue a common case related to alleged injury or damage. The numerous lawsuits that might otherwise arise can be consolidated into a single action. This reduces the potential court load related to a specific issue or incident. But there are differences. Mass torts typically involve distinct individuals, often within a limited geographic region. This often makes the plaintiff group smaller, with each plaintiff having status as an individual within the proceeding. There is a requirement that each plaintiff prove specific facts of their case, such as injury alleged to have been suffered, before the mass tort proceeds. With class action suits, “class” refers to a large group of plaintiffs plaintiff who together agree to share the same representative. With this designated attorney or firm standing in for all class members, they are grouped together procedurally as a single plaintiff. This can be necessary when there are so many participants with a common claim that it is impractical to consider each person’s circumstances individually. Based in Atlanta, Zachary Andrew McEntyre is an attorney with King & Spalding, LLP (K&S), who focuses on cases spanning class action corporate defense. Also knowledgeable in insurance recovery disputes, Zachary Andrew McEntyre represents corporate policyholders and maintains a close watch on developments in the legal sphere.
K&S attorneys were involved in the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) hearing, which took place in late July. The 90-minute hearing was conducted on Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and involved 15 attorneys providing insight into competing transfer petitions which were filed by two business groups in April, as they sought to ensure that losses stemming from stay-at-home orders were covered by insurance. One petition before the seven-member JPML seeks to centralize federal business interruption cases within the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, while the other seeks to have the cases centralized in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. A participating attorney set the stage by noting that many insurers have argued that COVID-19 did not result in “direct physical loss or damage” to insured properties, with policyholders' suits thus dismissible. The insurance industry opposes the setting in place of any kind of multidistrict litigation (MDL) process, whether in Chicago or Philadelphia. The participating K&S attorney, representing 55 restaurants, theaters, and bars in lawsuits against Society Insurance Co., argued against centralization. He noted that “similar waves of insurance coverage litigation” following events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina had been handled without an MDL process. Due to the sheer diversity of impact on businesses across the country, with various regions in different stages of reopening and various types of businesses making claims, he argued that an MDL process makes “no sense here.” Zachary Andrew McEntyre is an Atlanta-based attorney and a partner at King & Spalding, LLP, a global law firm that focuses on complex commercial litigation. Zachery Andrew McEntyre was recently named one of 40 lawyers in Atlanta under 40 who are ‘On the Rise’ and who the Daily Report anticipates will make a lasting contribution to the legal community. His legal practice focuses on representing corporate defendants who are facing class-action lawsuits.
Trials are extremely time-consuming, and generally, the parties involved would prefer to avoid them. Fortunately, many class action lawsuits are resolved before going to trial via a process called settlement. When a class action lawsuit is settled, the defendant may have to establish a fund to compensate the victims. The judge presiding over the class action will make a review to determine if the compensation is fair to the class members. The judge then approves the settlement to make it final. If the class action is not resolved, then it will proceed to a trial before a jury in a court. Though it is still possible for the case to settle during the trial, if it does not, the jury will have to find in favor of either the class members or the defendants. An experienced commercial litigation attorney, Zachary Andrew McEntyre practices as partner with the law firm of King & Spalding in Atlanta, Georgia. Zachary Andrew McEntyre’s accomplishments with King & Spalding have earned him multiple professional honors, including a law firm division Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award from the Burton Awards. Not to be confused with the Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award for law students or the other writing honors bestowed by Burton Awards, the Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award for law firms stresses the values of clarity, cogency, and persuasiveness. To choose finalists for this award, administrators of the Burton Awards draw article submissions from 1,000 of the largest law firms in the United States. The Burton Awards selects the judges for this award based on their deep understanding of and long experience in the field of legal writing. After considering all submissions, these judges choose 25 partner groups for official recognition. The only prerequisite for submitted articles is previous publication within the preceding year. Named one of the Daily Report’s 40 Under 40 Legal Rising Stars in 2015, attorney Zachary Andrew McEntyre represents clients in federal and state courts as a partner at King & Spalding, LLP, in Georgia. Zachary Andrew McEntyre focuses on commercial litigation cases, which can be lengthy processes. The following list includes tips for choosing a business litigator. 1. Examine qualifications. Hire an attorney who concentrates on commercial matters, preferably someone who has represented clients in cases like yours. 2. Ask who will handle the case and how. You may prefer that a particular lawyer take the lead, with other lawyers responsible for specific tasks. 3. Balance confidence with honesty. While you want an attorney with a positive attitude about your case, avoid those who provide you with unrealistic expectations. A good attorney will answer your question honestly. 4. When meeting with a lawyer, consider his or her attitude toward you. You will want an attorney who listens to your concerns. If the attorney seems condescending or disinterested, consider looking elsewhere. |
AuthorAn experienced commercial litigator, Zachary Andrew McEntyre currently serves as a senior associate in King & Spalding’s Atlanta. Archives
January 2018
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