Barry Weiner appeared in the article entitled Work E-mails: The New Smoking Gun written by Christine Caufield:

Barry Weiner, name partner of Ruberto, Israel & Weiner in Boston, was quoted in the following:

"People within organizations are more often than not insufficiently sensitive to the fact that electronic communications leave a lasting record that can undoubtedly be retrieved and can be a really important piece of evidence for lawyers," said trial attorney Barry Weiner of Ruberto Israel & Weiner.

"And because people are able to copy numerous people on their e-mails, the breadth of the seeds that they're planting can be really quite broad and more easily tracked and discoverable," he added. 

Labeling e-mails with the subject phrase "confidential and privileged" does not make them so, Weiner said. An e-mail to your company's in-house counsel could be privileged, but not if that e-mail is sent to others as well. And adding the in-house counsel to your list of e-mail recipients doesn't make the missive privileged, either.

"It's important for people to have an understanding as to what communications by e-mail they can feel free to make, and who is going to be able to look at those e-mails at a later date," Weiner said.

Disclaimer Schmisclaimer

Disclaimers at the bottom of an e-mail that tell the recipient the contents may contain privileged information have weight only insofar as they alert people to the possibility the email is confidential.

"Such a statement does not in and of itself make the communication confidential," Weiner said. "It may give someone a heads-up to keep it to themselves, but the fact is you have created a record by this e-mail, and if it isn't protected by privilege, it will undoubtedly be discoverable in a proceeding."

Chris Litterio appeared in the article entitled Recruiting can bear more fruit without Blackberrys written by Jennifer Leclaire:

Chris Litterio, managing partner of Ruberto, Israel & Weiner in Boston, said employers should outline employee accessibility via BlackBerrys outside of the workplace. "If someone is getting disciplined or terminated for not answering their BlackBerry quickly enough after hours, that could lead someone to file a wrongful termination suite," Litterio said.

"In economic downtimes, you see a lot more creative employment termination claims come up," he continued. "From a hiring perspective, if your competitors are not requiring employees to carry a BlackBerry 24/7 and you are, they may take the job with the more personal life-friendly employer.

Brad Croft appeared in the article entitled Job losses are there, but below national average written by Mary K. Pratt:

"Smart companies are doing great because they're looking at projects, looking at what subs are doing, who are their suppliers, and whether the subs are paying their suppliers (on time). That focus isn't typically used when times are good."

The article addresses the amount of Massachusetts construction job losses in 2007. It appeared in the August 22, 2008 issue of the Boston Business Journal.

Stacey Friends appeared in the article entitled Scrabulous Gone, Questions Remain: Copyright Battles Heat Up on Web written by Mike Musgrove for the Washington Post.

New England In-House
by Barry Weiner
View Article
Practice Area
Litigation

This is the 4th installment of a six-part series on litigation management

Banker & Tradesman
Commercial Real Estate Monthly Section
by Dan Goldberg
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Practice Areas
Construction Law
Commercial Real Estate

RIW was featured in the article entitled "Specifics count when courting lawyers", written by Keith Regan. The article talks about what to look for when trying to find a lawyer to suit your needs.

The article appeared in the June 27, 2008 issue of the Boston Business Journal.

To view article, click here.

New England In-House
by Barry Weiner
View Article
Practice Area
Litigation

This is the 3rd installment of a six-part series on litigation management