Law Library

New ABA book guides ­attorneys through new rules in ­intellectual ­property ­valuation


The American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law’s recently released book, “IP Valuation for the Future: Trends, Techniques, and Case Studies” is a guide for attorneys and other professionals who handle intellectual property in the  digital terrain. The book explains IP’s role in the business landscape and shows ways to manage it effectively for the future.

Authored by asset expert Weston Anson, the guidebook addresses the proliferation of platforms and the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google in society, stock markets and innovation. With case studies and based on legal precedents, the new book provides a high level of awareness for bankers, financial professionals, venture capitalists and other Wall Street professionals as their boardrooms and their portfolios adapt to new technology.

Anson is chairman of CONSOR®, an intellectual asset consulting firm based in La Jolla, Calif., specializing in trademark, patent and copyright licensing; valuations; and expert testimony. He served for 10 years as an officer and board member of the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association and is a lifetime member of the Board of Advisors. Anson, who received his MBA from Harvard, currently serves as an active member of the International Licensing Executives Society board of delegates.

He was chairman of the Global Valuation Standards Committee for the LESI, which established IP Valuation standards in cross border IP transactions. These standards were adopted in 2011 at the Global Technology Forum, which included World IP bodies such as World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization and the Association of University Technology Managers.

 

ABA book helps lawyers defend clients with ­emotional, cognitive and social impairments
 

Just published by the American Bar Association, “Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers” provides an invaluable guide to advocating for clients with mental illnesses or intellectual and developmental disabilities.

For criminal defense lawyers of all types, clients with mental disabilities are a part of their practice. This ranges from the white collar criminal defense lawyer who represents an executive charged with tax evasion who functions despite a variety of conditions he keeps hidden, to the public defender assigned as standby or advisory counsel for the defendant who wants to represent himself at trial, to the sole practitioner representing the man with Asperger’s charged with possession of child pornography on his computer. Clients’ diagnoses have the potential to limit plea bargains or enhance a sentence, and to affect their well-being by limiting access to treatment or support.

Editor Elizabeth Kelley has sought expertise from public defenders, criminal law specialists, academic researchers, social workers, neuropsychologists and forensic and clinical psychologists to compose this practical resource for attorneys. “Representing People with Mental Disabilities” can serve as a cover-to-cover resource as well as a reference book, where each chapter contains pertinent information and direct references to other relevant sections so that attorneys can best assist their clients. 

Kelley is a criminal defense lawyer with a national practice focusing on representing people with mental disabilities. She co-chairs the Criminal Justice Advisory Panel of The Arc’s National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability, serves on the editorial board of the ABA’s Criminal Justice magazine and served three terms on the board of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.