Making the Right Choice Is Tough

Making the right choice is always important in life. It could be as simple as picking up an aftershave cologne, tweeting with someone you trust about a day in court or getting a gift for your spouse. It could get as complicated as representing a client who you believe is lying or some one whose version you are unable to trust.

Whatever realm you work in, knowing whom to trust and how to negotiate is very important before you make a choice or a decision to go ahead. If you are in business, negotiation is your lifeblood. Same goes for lawyers, teachers, doctors and many more professionals.

Many times, we don' t realize how important negotiation is in every field of life, in the tasks that we do and the practical outcomes we hope to create.

Sometimes, the failure to negotiate properly could land you in deep trouble or mental distress. Lots of problems may crop up because negotiation took a backseat.

My suggestions:

Explain what the benefit is for the other party.

Confirm with yourself that the benefits for you will accrue directly from this deal.

Don’t foster a fall back position beforehand

Invest in your skills
Be honest and open.

If you are a parent, negotiation is what makes you successful in handling your kids' demands. Your kid asks for McDonald burgers. You say veggies but that falls on deaf ears. What do you do? You find a way to negotiate. Starting early helps rather than waiting for the house of card to fall apart, the way it does in many relationships, professional and personal.

Think about it. Do you negotiate enough? More importantly, do you negotiate openly?

Our Kids and Nature Deficit Disorder

People hire lawyers they trust or those they feel comfortable to disclose their personal details with to find solutions that help them grow. Lawyers, as a bunch, steer from solutions and tackle loopholes in processes so that their involvement is mainly with helping the judges interpret the law in the context of a specific case.

In this context, my post is not about lawyers or cases because for me, work will always follow the way its meant to. My purpose of blogging is to interact with non-lawyers to discuss openly on matters other than laws. Its fun to discuss and follow up with those who send queries and discuss general things. Talking about schools and kids is something I do most of the time because I've got a saucy three year old with a mind of his own. It got me thinking about how important it is for parents and teachers to help kids empower themselves.

Richard Louv, in the book he authored - Last Child in the Woods, coined the term 'nature deficit disorder' which is called as NDD. It fascinated many parents and educationists across the world because it is so relevant to our times.

Here are Louv's main findings:

• Today's children are disconnected from nature because of 'suburban sprawl.'
  
• Plugged in culture keeps the kids indoors.

While Louv clearly states that nature-deficit disorder is an alienation from nature, not a medical condition, the truth is that this disorder damages children significantly.

Growing up, in my young days, was fun because it meant I could play outdoors with my bunch of friends. My mother says that I hated coming back inside because I loved playing cricket outdoors.

Today, my 3 year old son comes back from school and refuses to play with other kids or with anything other than playground equipment. He prefers being at home watching TV, reading books or coloring, but we make it a point to take him out and talk about what we see around us in the natural environment.

Nature is Best

Grandma's advice to go out and play in the sun is further strengthened by recent research findings that list the following advantages for kids who spend time outdoors and play in sync with nature:

• smarter
• happier
• more creative
• better problem solvers
• healthier

Nature enables them to ask questions, improves their creativity and cognitive flexibility. Show a squirrel munching on a nut to a kid and talk about why it does that. Watch clouds and their shapes in the sky and talk about how thoughts and dreams grow in our mind and change shapes as time passes. There is so much that a child can experience and learn from Nature that it is so devastating if we let our kids not appreciate its true potential.

Actions For Parents and Teachers to Adopt

• Take kids outside— Create opportunities to play outdoors. Talk, color and experience nature in every day life.
  
• Walk or drive to school or around with kids so that you can talk about whatever you are passing through.
  
• Request teachers in schools to encourage nature-play as it is good for the development of our children.

It is also important to educate our network of teachers, architects, builders, and community planners to plan 'natural' spaces that foster the imagination of our kids. The importance of natural space is integral to children's overall development. Every parent should get the community involved to achieve a better and more sustainable future for the sake of their kids.

In this context, watch out for schools that discourage children from outdoor activities or restrict their sessions with Nature. Every school's daily activity is supposed to let children outside to observe and enjoy their natural environment and if this activity is not happening, it could affect your child's growth and potential.

My advice is understand your kid better with each day, it will help you grow and make your little one glow.

2009: The Year of Mobile Computing Platforms

The year 2009 is going to witness tremendous increase in mobile travel technologies. Look at the Marriott International, which launched a version of its Website that was built exclusively for smart phone mobiles. Marriott's site earned over $1.25 million in gross revenue within the first 100 days itself. The Kelsey Group conducted research which states that 19% percent of the population in the US use mobile computing devices.

Clearly, mobile computing platforms like the Blackberry Storm and the iPhone will trigger a boom in the use of applications that trigger mobile travel.

Top hotels like the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Hilton Hotels Corp. are transforming their existing Web sites into mobile interfaces. This is a factor that simplify bookings.

In terms of mobile capabilities, Hilton generated over $420,000 in revenue in 2008 October. Hyatt Hotels and Resorts are also geared to launch mobile sites.

Currently, most hotel sites focus on pre-stay functionalities. This may involve simple tasks like paying online or booking a room but this is now broadening. The sites are extending their mobile capabilities to permit customer check ins and even booking restaurant reservations.

Laws relating to any dispute or bone of contention between a hotel and a consumer in the context of mobile computing discrepancies remain vague as of now. The future may spell another story.

Global mergers and R&D Impact

We've all been reading about Merck's plan to acquire SGP or Schering-Plough. The staggering amount of $41 billion is poised to improve the bottom line.

However, a growing concern that experts in the legal field have is that the proposed merger will cut about 16,000 staffers as part of its efforts to streamlines operating costs. That apart, some of Merck's big drugs are at the brink of losing the umbrella of patent protection. That spells a rather gloomy state of affairs altogether. Take the example of Pfizer which seems to have sagging R&D prospects too.

To those of us who are keenly watching the global mergers and changes in the pharma industry, these trends have several implications. The Schering's purchase of a Dutch company known as Organon hardly yieled production of new drugs. Numbers wise, Pfizer spent over $60 billion for its R&D segment for eight years. Have you heard of the company producing a single drug worth its name from this? Mergers impact R&D culture in a rather negative way though they solve some short-term problems.

Takeovers may be just quick fixes for Merck and Pfizer as their best-selling drugs may lose patent protection in the next couple of years. They would have to face generic competition too. Another significant first time for them. Undoubtedly, the legal implications of such defensive acquisitions are bound to be interesting for lawyers.

Law Can Protect Your Child

The year 2009 has begun with greater emphasis on bridging the serious gaps in segments of importance.

Take Obama's latest propositions in changing the face of education in the US where, there are 110,000 expulsions and 3 million suspensions that are known to happen each year. In India, we definitely have little access to these actual numbers but we do know that teachers hitting out at children is almost an accepted form of punishment to correct the behaviors of specific challenging kids. What parents dont realise is that they can take recourse to legal action in these situations.

Coming back to the US education scenario, an interesting approach has been formulated. It's called as collaborative problem solving. This was conceptualised by Dr. Ross Greene, who works at Harvard Medical School's psychiatry deparment. What it means is that behavioral challenges such as lack of flexibility or basic cognitive skills are perceived as developmental delays. So, this principle reiterates that the children shouldnt be punished simply because they are unable to understand and adapt to the demands of the school that placed on their tender shoulders.

Those who have seen Taare Zameen Par, the Bollywood flick, which was a bold and sincere attempt to address the same concept. Countless movie goers appreciated the suffering of the child protagonist, Ishaan, who embodies a classic case of Ross Greene's principle on developmental delays.

But here are some questions that continue to trouble parents:

1. What happens when a school refuses to use diligence and reinforces a system of punishment on a child who is suffering from similar developmental delays?

2. Will lawyers be able to take a proactive approach in initiating preliminary discussions with school authorities in representing these issues relating to a child's educational rights?

To answer question one at a micro level, it is important for parents to assess the situation correctly. Where it does seem apparent that a child is being unduly tormented by the punishment system, it calls for an immediate discussion with school authorities. If that fails to bring out measurable outcomes, we know exactly what comes next. Yes, the law steps in.

That, my dear friends, is just the beginning.

Legal News In Brief from Around the World

I read this somewhere, "The difficult task, after one learns how to think like a lawyer, is relearning how to write like a human being." Floyd Abrams. So true, isnt it?

Writing brings to mind the stereotype lawyer who makes notes on a note pad. Recent news in the U.S. indicate that the 'legal pad' is going to turn extinct, a relic that no longer works or serves the next generation, hi-tech lawyers. The latest U.S. state court rules will permit attorneys and even those who enter a courtroom to bring and use laptop computers to take notes. However, a judge's permission is required for this.

Another interesting news that got coverage recently was that more than 30% of businesses that are based in the UK do not use professional help for drafting their company contracts. A survey indicated further that more than a quarter of start up companies in the U.K. do not plan to take any form of legal support.

An estimate of 27% indicated that they will draft their own contracts, without legal help. That sounds scary and it looks like Indian companies are far more responsible on that count as most contracts and agreements are scanned carefully by legal experts of both parties before it is taken further.

Where any company sets its own terms and conditions for business, it is naturally bound to set limits for its liability so that it can curb claims from its clients or customers. There is often very little thought applied to the precise wording of such a limitation clause.

As drafting is integral to law, let's go through a recent case that reinforced what we believe is our niche area: accuracy, preciseness, and clarity while drafting any notice, agreement etc.

The Bristows Law Firm published details about an interesting case that brought forth interesting drafting points to the notice of attorneys. Here is what we at Axcess Legal Corp consider as the useful points:

-Review exclusion and limitation of liability clauses on a regular basis because enforceability is a vital factor that no one can take chances with.
-Drafting must be clear and unambiguous.
-It is not fair to deprive any party of a remedy for breach of contract on your side though that is the general practice.
-The question of reasonableness depends entirely on the individual facts that make each case truly unique.

Let's chime into the case details of Regus (UK) Ltd v Epcot Solutions Ltd.

Office space belonging to Regus was rented out by Epcot for several years based on the standard business terms of Regus. Due to problems relating to air conditioning in the office, Epcot began to service charges to Regus which would otherwise be typically paid to Regus. As a result, Regus was quick to issue a notice of suspension of its services to Epcot and also issued proceedings for sums owing to its service charges.

Epcot counterclaimed an huge amount for damages which Regus refuted by emphasising on the standard exclusion clause.The UCTA clause stated that:

"We will not in any circumstances have any liability for loss of business, loss of profits, loss of anticipated savings, loss of or damage to data, third party claims or any consequential loss...."

Based on the High Court's findings that the air conditioning was defective and that Regus had breached contract, it was held that Epcot was entitled to recover damages.

The more significant aspect is that the High Court held that the so called exclusion clause did not fulfil the test of reasonableness as it was too broad in a way that effectively depirved Epcot of any legal remedy for Regus's failure to ensure that a basic service like air conditioning is tackled properly.

Naturally, Regus appealed. The Court of Appeal did not observe any inequality of bargaining power between Epcot and Regus and overturned the High Court decision. The Court of Appeal held that the exclusion clause fulfilled the test of reasonableness. It is clear that the signal was that courts must continue to respect the contractual terms which have been freely negotiated by the concerned parties.

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