RealDealDocs.com, the Online Sample Legal Document Source Releases Employment Agreement Drafted by Amlaw Top Law Firm Akin Gump

RealDealDocs.com offers various online legal documents from agreements to contracts for your download and printing convenience. This release contains the employment agreement for Allscripts Inc. drafted by Amlaw top revenue per lawyer firm Akin Gump released by RealDealDocs.com.

Chicago, Illinois - RealDealDocs.com, a rising online leader in sample legal documents, has released the employment agreement for Allscripts Inc. that was drafted by Amlaw top revenue per lawyer firm Akin Gump.
An employment agreement is a legal document entered into between an employer and an employee at the commencement of the period of employment and stating the exact nature of their business relationship, including roles and responsibilities, compensation etc. The Allscripts Inc. employment agreement with Laurie McGraw was formed to secure the position of Executive Vice President, Client Services and details the terms of employment, effective date & term, compensation, benefits, early termination, non competition and confidentiality.

RealDealDocs.com is offering a complimentary copy of the Akin Gump law firm Allscripts Inc. employment agreement as a template for professionally drafted legal documents. The law firm of Akin Gump is a well respected, Amlaw celebrated law firm that was named the top profit per partner of the year by the Amlaw publication. In celebration of this honor, RealDealDocs.com has decided to release this employment agreement free of charge via the link at the bottom of this text.

Amlaw is both a website and magazine focused on legal businesses and lawyers around the world. It is a respected leader in daily news in the legal industry. Every year this respected publication publishes categorized lists of its picks of the best law firms. This annual Amlaw occurrence is the equivalent to the Academy Awards for lawyers! And RealDealDocs.com is happy to host and provide the work of many of Amlaw’s top picks.

All of the documents at RealDealDocs.com are drafted by top US law firms; including documents from Fortune 500 companies and small cap companies alike. From the National Law Journal‘s top 250 law firms, 40 of them use the RealDealDocs.com technology. And a majority of the law firms honored in the Amlaw review have their work on display and available at RealDealDocs.com.

Lawyers who use RealDealDocs.com, do so in order to lower the amount of time needed to draft a legal agreement. Even business professionals can use RealDealDocs.com in an effort to research a company or see how they handle various legal transactions.

Visitors at RealDealDocs.com can search nearly one million documents and 10 million clauses for free. As a member of RealDealDocs.com you can also edit, save and download these documents in a printer-friendly format for your own use.

RealDealDocs.com provides an enormous variety of contracts and agreements for companies in every industry from banking, clothing and marketable goods to the defense industry. And with over 10 million legal documents and clauses in addition to the Allscripts Inc. employment agreement, RealDealDocs.com has secured itself as an online leader in sample legal documents.

To view the Allscripts Inc. Employment Agreement: http://agreements.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/allscripts-employment-agreement-from-realdealdocscom/

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To view Employment Agreements From Your State: http://agreements.realdealdocs.com/Employment-Agreement/states/

Popularity: 1% [?]

There are many reasons why people quit law school - it’s a difficult and taxing time for any students, and thousands quit at the start of their first year. Let’s look at the top 10 reasons why students drop out of law school.

1. Cost - The primary reason that people leave law school is because of the cost. It is very expensive to go to law school. Law school students will amass over $100,000 of student loan debts that they will be paying back for quite some time. While it’s true that lawyers do make a lot of money, they don’t start out that way and these debts can be a little overwhelming.

2. Job competition - Finding a job after law school is very difficult and there is a lot of competition for the best jobs. Jobs at top law firms throughout the country are highly competitive for students just out of school. This is something that even first year law school students learn quickly. Coupled with the massive debt, students are all the more deflated when they find out they will likely be making under $40,000 for the first five years after they are out of school - put this up against more than $100,000 in student loans and you find many students dropping law school for cheaper schooling careers.

3. Hours - Law school takes a lot of time - not only do you have to attend classes, you have to spend hours upon hours cramming the information into your head for the examinations and, eventually, the bar. Many law school students still want to have a social life and find that they don’t have any because of the studying and homework they have to do. As a result, this cycle doesn’t end out of law school - the hours in a law firm are long and arduous too.

4. The Bar Exam - The bar is a brutal exam - two to three days of testing of questions that are hard to answer because it seems a real answer doesn’t exist. The preparation for the bar exam is intense - months of studying and cramming. Over 40 per cent of law students fail the bar on the first try which means doing it all over again in six months. Over 33 per cent of law students fail the bar on the second try.

5. Lack of Applicable Knowledge - Law school focuses on how to make you think like a lawyer, which doesn’t really translate well to the work you will be doing. Many students figure this out in the first term of law school and find out that this isn’t what they want to be doing.

6. The Need for Money - Most law school students need to have a part time job to help pay for school, and work full time during the summer. Breaks aren’t spent having fun partying with friends, rather they are spent working to improve a resume and the time off from work is spent studying and reviewing material.

7. Brutal Competition - Most law school students figure out before they even get to law school that college will be a time of buckling down to get the work done. All students know that it’s imperative to be near the top of the class - those are the students that land the high paying jobs. However, not all students can be at the top of the class so the competition in class is brutal, resulting in a lack of social scene; not to mention the long hours of working and studying that are also cramping their social life style.

8. Difficult Teaching Styles - Many law students can’t take the heat from their professors, who are arrogant and pretentious while they are trying to drill a bunch of information into their heads.

9. Final Examinations - The final exams for any semester are almost as grueling as the bar exam itself.
10. Dealing with Others - many people will ask a law student about law, trying to get lawyer information for free on an issue they are having. Law students can do nothing to stop this endless harassment - it is something they will cope with from friends and family forever. Many can’t take the constant barrage of questions and queries and thusly drop out of law school before it becomes a life long nightmare.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for reasons why law school students leave law school. If you are a law school student, you need to seriously weigh your options - school loan officers don’t care if you drop out - you’ll still have to pay those back. Is dropping out worth it?

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 6% [?]

There are many different qualities that people assume make a lawyer a good one. Most commonly, people think the top five qualities of a top lawyer are:

1. The number of cases they’ve won.
2. The high amount of money they make (and thusly charge).
3. The nature of their defence and prosecutorial techniques.
4. The number of high profile clients they have.
5. The ability to charm a jury and the media.

However, the true qualities of a top lawyer do not include any of the above five examples. Those qualities are the perception of a top lawyer, but it isn’t what you would look for in a lawyer if you were to require one to try a case for you or a loved one.

Excellent lawyers have a very different set of skills that make them a top lawyer, and chances are they aren’t rich, don’t have high profile clients, don’t have a reputation for being ruthless and likely have a high moral reputation instead.

Let’s look at the top five qualities of a top lawyer that will help you choose one should you require their services.

1. Good Communication Skills
A top lawyer will have excellent communication skills - not just to wow a court room, charm a jury or appease the media, but also to converse with their clientele of any gender, religion, race, color or creed, discuss issues with other lawyers, perhaps even the opposing lawyer in a court case. Communication skills are expansive and are a pinnacle quality of a top lawyer.

2. Consistency, Persistency and Reliability
A top lawyer will be consistent and reliable. You should have access to your lawyer to speak with him or her on a regular basis without being waylaid by their secretaries at every turn. Reliability is important to ensure that your lawyer will do what they say they will do, and that their methods within your case are consistent. Your lawyer should be persistent in championing for you (their client) and what is in your best interest and the best interest in upholding the law.

3. Logical and Knowledgeable
Any lawyer should possess logical thinking skills - the ability to work through issues in theory and logically deduce the best course of action. They should be able to think ahead of the game and be knowledgeable about their client, the case, the opposition and of course, the law.

4. Value for Money
A top lawyer does not necessarily need to charge an exorbitant fee. A top lawyer should, instead, deliver value for your money. Fees should be in line with the services they offer and should be reachable, affordable and unquestionably clear.

5. Accepts their weakness and is able to ask for help
No one, not even a top lawyer, has all the answers all the time. Therefore, it is important that a lawyer be able to accept and acknowledge their weaknesses in order to perform at their highest abilities. A top lawyer will be able to ask for help when they need it, from whatever source is best to receive the answer. Putting pomp and circumstance aside, as well as ego and pride, a top lawyer is not afraid to admit they just don’t have an answer but does promise to find one and then works hard to do so.

Today, it can be difficult to wade through the popular opinion of what makes a top lawyer in order to find one that truly has the skills, traits, personality and ethics that make a lawyer an excellent practitioner.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 4% [?]

For some people, the thrill of the negotiation is akin to the thrill the rest of us receive on a giant roller coaster. When asked why they majored in business, droves of successful businessmen routinely answer, “to negotiate.” The key, of course, to successful negotiating is knowing when you have your opponent on the ropes. Being able to tell if someone is lying is important if you are a judge, a poker player or a Fortune 500 Company CEO. Let’s take a look at some aspects of lying that can give you the upper hand at the negotiating table.

There are two types of business negotiations, casual and intense. A good negotiator knows how to look for tells in both kinds of negotiations, and there are quite a few things that show up no matter what. The first, and the most clichéd, is a nervous tick of some sort that the opponent doesn’t even realize he or she is doing. It could be taking a drink of water, touching their ear, a funny sounding laugh, anything. It is your job to look for patterns to find behaviors that the person across from you is doing over and over again.

Another revealing point that many people have is using extreme sarcasm when asked a question. Instead of simply saying no, or telling you that their company wouldn’t possibly do that, their voice raises several octaves and they feign surprise or use exaggerated body language. If you listen closely when this happens, they seldom deny the accusation you just made. They instead choose to make light of it. This is a common tell that most people don’t even realize they are making.

Sudden changes in posture or facial expressions are often common aspects of lying. If the person on the other side of the table tells you something than suddenly crosses their arms and sits back while dramatically exhaling, it could simply mean that they are tired and in need of a break, but if this behavior happens several times during a single negotiation, it could be a sign that he or she is lying.

Probably the most reliable sign that someone is lying is a sudden increase in anger or defensiveness. It is the most common physical manifestation of lying since it is natural for the liar to try to deflect or project their insecurities on to the person that they are speaking with. If you notice a sudden outburst or a sudden accusation lobbed at you for no apparent reason, that’s a good sign that they are lying. If a negotiation does this on a regular basis, it is safe to assume they aren’t very good at their jobs.

Finally, if you feel like you’ve gotten into a negotiation with a seasoned pro, you might have to look for tiny tells like blinking or the amount of perspiration the other person is doing. A good negotiator knows their own signs and learns to cover them up. Ask any frequent poker player - a tell can ruin your hand or your negotiation in a heartbeat.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The number of strategic alliances in the U.S. is surging. More than 20,000 new alliances were formed between 1987 and 1992, compared with 5100 between 1980 and 1987 and 750 during the 1970s. Nearly 6 percent of the revenue generated from the top 1000 U.S. firms now comes from alliances, a fourfold increase since 1987. Japanese firms are far more experienced and comfortable with alliances than U.S. firms. A recent survey revealed that 74 percent of Japanese CEOs think alliances are effective, while only 4 percent think they are dangerous; in the U.S. the respective numbers are 17 percent and 31 percent.

Alliances generally achieve a higher return on investment (17%) than U.S. industry in general (11%). The higher return is a direct result of leveraging partners’ resources and assets, requiring lower investment to produce greater incremental returns. Alliances also showed a greater success rate (60%) than outright acquisitions (50% success) or venture capital arrangements (25% success).

Basic types of strategic alliances include:

• Licensing technology or intellectual property
• Joint research and product development
• Cross-purchase agreements
• Manufacturing arrangements
• Sales/marketing arrangements.

Popularity: 8% [?]

There are some key issues to look out for when drafting a Strategic Alliance Agreement. The most important provision to include, in my opinion, is a “No Partnership” provision. A strategic alliance is different in purpose and form than a partnership, and the agreement should expressly reflect the intentions of the parties not to form a partnership. The legal status of “partnership” involves a whole series of rights and obligations that neither party to a strategic alliance would like to assume. Therefore, a “No Partnership” provision must be included and must clearly stress that the parties do not intend to create a partnership in this agreement.

A second key area to deal with is a provision addressing confidential information. Parties to a strategic alliance will inevitably share proprietary and confidential information to realize the purpose and goals of the arrangement. Thus, the agreement must include a “Mutual Nondisclosure” provision that defines “Confidential Information” and expressly states the respective parties’ rights and obligations in respect to this confidential information. Most likely, each party will want a promise from the other that they will not disclose confidential or proprietary information to third parties.

In addition, the agreement should address the contributions of each party. In other words: What will each party be bringing to the agreement? Capital contributions of cash, intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights), technology transfers or licenses, distribution network, market access, personnel and other transfers of resources are key components of the alliance agreement.

The alliance agreement should also provide a mechanism for dealing internally with disputes between the parties. This provision may set-up a board, composed of members from both parties, responsible for hearing and resolving disputes. Due to concerns of both time pressure and wanting to maintain internal harmony, partners to an alliance will likely not want to send matters of internal dispute to an outside arbiter. Thus, the agreement should provide a mechanism for dealing with problems or disputes internally.

The sharing of risks and rewards is central to a strategic alliance. This issue is generally the most fiercely negotiated item in any alliance agreement. Profit sharing in proportion to each party’s ownership interest in the alliance is often used. This does align the interests of all parties because each seeks to maximize profit. Losses can be shared in the same manner or limited to the extent of capital contribution. Great care must be taken in defining how net profits will be calculated.

In conclusion, when negotiating strategic alliance agreements, a “no partnership” provision must be prominently included, and the issues of confidentiality of information, party contributions, and allocation of risks and rewards generally require substantial negotiation. If the parties approach that negotiation creatively and work cooperatively to consider a variety of options, provisions can be negotiated that provide acceptable protection to all parties and support a common strategy.

Popularity: 7% [?]

When a consultant breaches his or her consulting agreement, he or she is subject to remedies available to the company. These remedies are typically provided for in the agreement, and often include equitable relief and/or monetary damages.

Equitable relief refers to non-monetary remedies “in equity” that the Court can provide to a non-breaching party, such an injunction (the Court saying the consultant must refrain from doing something) or an order commanding specific performance (the Court saying the consultant must do something.) An injunction against the breaching consultant helps prevent any further breach of the agreement. A typical injunction might prevent the consultant from performing similar consulting work for a competitor, if the Judge finds that the consultant is in breach. Another injunction might prevent the consultant from sharing any confidential information, if the company asserts that the consultant breached the non-disclosure provision of the consulting agreement.

It may also be possible to enforce specific performance under the agreement - especially if the consultant was hired to perform specific duties that only he or she has the knowledge and ability to complete. Specific performance means that the consultant must follow through on his or her obligations under the agreement. To enforce the agreement specifically, the Court will have to find that the services can only be provided by the breaching consultant and that monetary damages are insufficient to address the breach.

If a court does enforce an injunction and refuses to require specific performance because the services can be performed by another party or for other reasons, the court will likely award monetary damages. The most common form of monetary damages is “compensatory damages”, meaning damages awarded to the non-breaching party that serve to “make whole” that party. These damages would likely be the cost incurred by the company to replace the breaching consultant.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Consulting agreements are commonly used by businesses today. Consulting agreements can range from one page to 20 or more pages depending on the subject matter of the agreement and whether other agreements between the parties are included or are incorporated by reference. This summary will discuss in more detail the terms of the Sample Consulting Agreement form and the legal rights and obligations created under the agreement, as well as provisions that could be adapted to specific circumstances and arrangements.

Provisions of the Agreement and Duties and Obligations Created

The consulting agreement is an agreement between a consultant and a client that wishes to retain certain specified services of the consultant for a specified time at a specified rate of compensation. As indicated previously, the terms of the agreement can be quite simple or very complex. Below is a discussion of the more important issues to be considered in every consulting agreement.

Scope of Work; Time; Compensation

It is important that the agreement for consulting services outline the specific services to be provided. Often a consulting agreement will contain an exhibit that lists the services expected of the consultant. This list can then be amended if necessary without the need to amend the entire agreement.

The time period in which the consultant is expected to complete his or her task should also be included in the agreement if applicable. Depending on the situation, the consultant may be expected to devote a specific number of hours per week or per month to the project, or may charge a flat fee when the services are more specific in nature. The hiring company may wish to include a “hold-back” provision alerting the consultant that a certain amount of the compensation will be withheld until the consultant has completed the task. Obviously, the inclusion of a hold-back provision and the amount that is “held-back” are often points of contention and should be negotiated.

Term and Termination

The term of the agreement is typically quantified in months or years. Most likely it will coincide with the compensation schedule. The client should also protect its interests by allowing it to terminate the agreement under certain conditions. Typically these conditions are (1) breach of confidentiality or non-solicitation provisions of the agreement, or (2) illegal activities that affect consultant’s performance under the agreement. Without this right to terminate the agreement, the client is obligating itself to the consultant even if the consultant has taken actions contrary to the client.

Copyrights and Data

The consulting agreement should address the use of the consultant’s work. Some agreements allow the client complete use of the physical product delivered by the consultant and may not include an assignment of copyright on the assumption that the consultant will want to retain the copyright. The best position for the client is to get complete ownership of not only the tangible documents that the consultant prepares, but also the copyrights to those documents. However, the consultant may demand considerable more compensation to assign this right making it impractical. It is very important, however, for the parties to clearly understand their respective rights relating to not only the physical documents but the copyrights as well.

Conflict of Interest; Non-Solicitation

Clients should consider including a non-competition clause in the agreement, at least for the term of the agreement and within the market area of the client. Any non-competition clause must be reasonable to be enforceable. Most consulting agreements also include a statement that the consultant will not solicit the client’s employees for at least the term of the agreement.

Miscellaneous Provisions

After spending considerable time negotiating the services to be performed, the compensation, the ownership rights to the work product, etc. it is often easy for parties to neglect the miscellaneous provisions that one typically finds at the end of the agreement. The parties should always pay careful attention to what law will govern the agreement, how disputes will be resolved, and, probably most importantly, the assignability of the rights and obligations under the agreement. Typically, the rights and obligations are not assignable since the client is hiring the consultant because of the consultant’s specific expertise and the consultant is agreeing to perform the services only for the client. There may be situations, however, where an assignment may be necessary, i.e. the client merges with or into another entity.

Summary

Consulting agreements are frequently used in today’s business world and vary in complexity from simple, one-page documents to very complex, 20+ page documents. The terms detailed above, however, should be considered as basic requirements for any consulting agreement. With the key terms detailed in a written agreement, the parties will have reasonable expectations about services to be performed under the agreement and the consequences if those expectations are not met.

Popularity: 14% [?]

An exclusivity agreement is a written agreement in which two or more parties agree to have business dealings only with one another, to the exclusion of third parties. Exclusivity agreements can span days or years, depending on the area of law involved. They can also be bilateral or unilateral.The majority of exclusivity agreements are found in the commercial buyer-seller relationship, in mergers and acquisitions, and in real estate.

In commerce:
• Usually used to restrict the buyer from buying from only one seller, such as Ford having to buy all its steel from only US Steel.
• Can happen in reverse, where US Steel must sell all its steel only to Ford, but less common.
• Agreements can last months, even years.

In mergers and acquisitions:
• Used to focus two parties on their potential merger, to exclude other partners/targets.
• Span the discussion phase, usually a few weeks or months.
• Allow for access to files, so due diligence can occur.
• Parties are exclusive with one another, but no agreement to consummate a deal.
• Termination-expiration or one party terminates early, when deal is not likely.
• Includes provisions to refrain from making decisions that materially change business during the exclusion period.

In real estate:
• Called Exclusive Listing Agreements.
• Homeowner grants only one realtor (or company) access to home and sale-homeowner “locked in.”
• One catch-homeowner can cancel agreement, but realtor may still get commission if house sells within 30 days of cancellation.

Popularity: 13% [?]

A severance agreement is a formal written agreement between a company and one of its executives to compensate the executive for relinquishing certain of his rights in the event that his employment is terminated by the company.Two common scenarios in which the severance agreement is present are 1) when a company lays off a number of employees, including the executive, and 2) when a company desires to let go of a liability in the person of a specific executive. In these cases, the company will entice the executive, prior to his termination, to sign a severance agreement in exchange for giving up certain of his rights. Primarily, these rights are claims that the executive might bring against the company for disputed wages, discrimination, or wrongful termination.

Severance agreements are not compulsory. But they are a form of goodwill, for the terminated executive can be mollified and the remaining executives can be comforted through their use. No law obligates a company to provide severance agreements. However, if a company uses them, the company and the agreement must conform to certain legal strictures. For one, the agreement must be in writing. For another, the company must allow the executive a reasonable period of time to consider the agreement and to consult a lawyer. Additionally, the executive is afforded a statutory period of time in which he may revoke his acceptance of the agreement.

Importantly, despite the fact that the severance agreement has been labeled a legal bribe, the existence of severance agreements does not give companies carte blanche to intimidate their executives. That is, a severance agreement must offer the executive an additional incentive to what he is already due. The company may neither offer to pay the executive what he has already earned (salary, bonuses, benefits), nor threaten to withhold the same. The severance agreement is meant to be an additional carrot.

It may happen that a company will have a de facto severance agreement, whereby executives are compensated in the event of termination, but no written company guidelines exist to govern the process. This can be tricky for both sides, but if the executive can establish company patterns that support a de facto severance system, then he will likely prevail.

An executive may reject the agreement and perhaps should if he believes he has a legitimate grievance against the company that may entitle him to greater compensation than what the severance agreement offers. Alternatively, he may also counter the company’s offer with a more favorable one. There is a caveat, however. The executive’s counteroffer is effectively a rejection of the company’s offer, and the company is not obliged to maintain its offer after the executive has put forward a counteroffer. That most companies do just this in the normal course of business should not overshadow the fact that a counteroffer could theoretically leave the executive empty handed after his termination.

Severance agreements consist of compensation elements (base pay for a year or several; bonuses; stock options; health benefits perhaps); restrictive covenants (declarations not to bring claims against the company; turning over of proprietary company material); and other agreements (the company’s agreement to provide letters of recommendation or to help finding the executive another job). Many agreements also contain confidentiality and non-compete clauses that limit the executive’s ability to hurt the company after his termination. These clauses must protect the company’s legitimate business interests without impinging on the executive’s ability to work. It happens, of course, that companies overzealously protect themselves and try to hold their executives to unreasonable confidentiality and non-compete clauses.

Popularity: 8% [?]