We are pleased to announce that Christine Malafi has joined the firm as a partner and member of the firm's executive management team in addition to its corporate, litigation, and municipal law groups. As Christine is one of Long Island's most respected attorneys, her legal and management skills will be an incredible addition to the firm. Her experience includes being the first woman and youngest person ever appointed as Suffolk County Attorney. During her eight-year tenure, Christine was the chief legal officer of the County, supervising a legal teamof over 65 attorneys. She has also served as Senior Corporate Counsel for a high-tech firm and as partner at a large Long Island based defense firm. 

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When negotiating, we often follow our instincts and intuition. However, negotiation as a discipline is often counter-intuitive. Best practice suggests that we often go against our instincts and follow behaviors which at first pass do not seem to be appropriate to the desired outcome. A recent article posted on the Forbes Leadership Forum on forbes.com entitled Three Tricks That Make Negotiations Work by Richard Shore discusses three not-so-obvious strategies that seem counter-intuitive, yet make perfect sense.

1. Don't look at the person who is talking; look at the people who are listening.

In group settings, people naturally tend to focus on the speaker. In a negotiation, that person commonly is a lawyer rather than a principal. He or she is trained to deliver a pitch or make an argument effectively. This includes not only speech, but also tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. The negotiator is trying to control the message-and usually succeeds. Often, that is not a true reflection of their actual state of mind or your opposing party's true settlement position. So, focus your attention on key representatives of the opposing party other than the speaker. They are more likely to convey their true frame of mind through facial expressions and body language. Because they are not in the spotlight, their facial expressions and body language can be quite informative, like a "tell" in poker. Negotiation tells can be particularly valuable when someone other than the speaker is the true decision maker-for example, when the in-house client representative is calling the shots on settlement, even though the party's lawyer does most of the talking.

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A new coffee shop mocking Starbucks opened in Los Angeles in early February and quickly gained nationwide attention.  The store looks identical to the typical Starbucks, but with the exception of the word "dumb" prefixed to the title and menu items.
 
Dumb Starbucks is not affiliated with Starbucks Corporation, and the company claims that their use of Starbucks' trademark and logos is "fair use" because it is "making fun" of Starbucks.

The store's FAQ sheet states the following:

Is this a Starbucks?
No.  Dumb Starbucks is not affiliated in any way with Starbucks Corporation.  We are simply using their name and logo for marketing purposes.

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When discussing estate plans with my clients, I always make sure we discuss their retirement accounts (such as IRAs, 401ks, etc.).  These are normally owned by only one person and have a beneficiary.  Therefore they are not typically in a trust nor do they pass under a Will.

What I have been finding is that often times their retirement accounts have the greatest value of any property they own, including their house.  Because these accounts defer payment of income tax, their balances can grow very quickly, and can easily become worth millions over the course of generations.

With this in mind, I tell every client that they need to be absolutely sure they named a beneficiary for each retirement account.  The beneficiary is the person or persons they want to receive the retirement account when they die.  Many of my clients think they did. Many of them find out that they didn't.  You should contact your plan administrator to make sure you did.  Retirement plans sometimes provide for a default beneficiary in the event you did not name one.  Many times, however, your account will be left to your estate when you die.


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