Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

October 01, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

Lots of companies say they're innovative when it come to reducing legal spend. GlaxoSmithKline doesn't just talk the talk. It backs it up with a process for selecting outside firms that is saving the company millions of dollars.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

22 minute read

September 30, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

Michael Kors Inc. announced on Friday that Krista McDonough has been promoted to senior vice president and general counsel. She replaces longtime GC Lee Sporn.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

7 minute read

September 27, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

At the 2016 cyberSecure conference, panelists discussed what companies should do in terms of triage if and when there is a cyber attacj. "No one is safe anymore," said panelist Bryan Rose of Stroz Friedberg.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

7 minute read

September 26, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

Yelp is throwing its weight behind the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016, which would immediately nullify the gag clauses that some businesses use to prevent negative reviews or punish people who leave them.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

7 minute read

September 26, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

Third-party e-billing systems can cut legal spend and increase efficiencies. But less than a third of general counsel in major corporations are using the software, a recently released report reveals.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

3 minute read

September 23, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

In a recently filed lawsuit, the former general counsel of tech startup Lemon is accused of hiding intellectual property assets ahead of the company's sale to a larger company. Legal ethics experts say the case illustrates the complex ethical rules GCs must navigate during an M&A deal.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

7 minute read

September 21, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

When it comes to hiring law firms, General Electric Co. is looking for the best. And thanks to a rigorous screening process, that's typically what the company gets, says Alex Dimitrief, senior vice president and general counsel at GE.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

24 minute read

September 21, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

Do legal departments at companies need web sites too? Plenty of general counsel seem to think so, judging by the growing number of internal web sites they are launching in order to improve their relationships with business-side colleagues.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

5 minute read

September 20, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

To fight so-called patents trolls, the top lawyer at Newegg Inc. has teamed up with a duo of hackers to launch Unpatent, a crowdfunding and crowdsourcing website that invalidates dubious patents.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

5 minute read

September 19, 2016 | Corporate Counsel

In a win for Broadcast Music Inc. and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a federal judge has shot down a recent determination from the U.S. Department of Justice that these performance rights organizations can't engage in so-called fractional licensing, which is crucial to their business model.

By Jennifer Williams-Alvarez

8 minute read