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Labor, Employment and Benefits: Alert - February 6, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied an employer’s request for review of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which held that tipped employees spending more than 20 percent of their time performing related but non-tipped duties must be paid the full minimum wage for that time, without the tip credit.

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Construction: Alert - January 30, 2012

For almost 50 years, lessors have had the ability to limit their liability for liens that arose from improvements to the leasehold made by a lessee. However, in the most recent legislative session, the Florida Legislature enacted revisions to Florida Statute § 713.10 that provide a potential pitfall for lessors by inserting a provision that may allow a contractor to lien the lessor's interest even where there is a recorded document advising of the limitation of liens.

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Articles & White Papers

Rule 4: Be Relentlessly Polite
 

Litigation Commentary & Review

December 1, 2009
 
Daniel I. Small- Boston

Litigation Partner Daniel Small authored a Litigation Commentary & Review article titled "Rule 4: Be Relentlessly Polite."

The article highlights the importance of preparing witnesses to be "relentlessly polite" and "relentlessly positive." If a witness sounds negative or defensive, those who listen will assume that he or she has something to be negative or defensive about. The job of a witness is not to argue or score points. Rather, it is to listen hard, think carefully and answer questions. Anger and argument are unnecessary distractions that will diminish a witnesses' credibility. Mr. Small particularly emphasizes the importance of preparing witnesses to remain polite and positive when a questioner becomes frustrated. Unprepared witnesses often assume that the questioner's frustration means they have done something wrong. More often than not, however, the questioner's frustration means the witness is doing something right.

The article is the fourth installment in a series of articles on witness preparation appearing in Litigation Commentary & Review. To read the full article, please click on the link below.

READ: Rule 4: Be Relentlessly Polite

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