Mark Van Der Weide, a legal star who has been rising for some time, has reached a zenith in the American economy.

The Federal Reserve Board has appointed him as general counsel, following Scott G. Alvarez, a 36-year-veteran of the agency, who is retiring. Van Der Weide beat out many other veteran attorneys for the position, having ascended steadily at the Fed since 2010.

"The Board gave thorough consideration to many highly qualified internal and external candidates and Mr. Van Der Weide was chosen for his exceptional skills and experience," the Fed said in a statement.

Some of the greatest agreements are celebrated with a toast.

But when has a party gotten out of control? When the bride passes out drunk? When a signer spills his drink on the document?

It's not much of a defense to say you were drunk at the time, especially in DUI court, but it could be a defense to enforcing an agreement if a signer loses capacity. So here's to drinking responsibly!

What should you do immediately after a data breach? 1) Erase your browser history. 2) Go out for a few drinks. 3) Look for a new job.

Just kidding. But seriously, there are some common mistakes people make after discovering a data breach. Here are a few things not to do:

When a sandstorm is coming, it's good to be a camel.

In the story, the camel inched its way into an Arab's tent for protection. First its nose, then the front feet, and finally its whole body pushed the Arab out.

Likewise, as intellectual property budgets have shrunk, companies have moved more legal work in-house and outsourced other jobs to legal service providers. In the mix, IP law firms have found themselves even more on the outside looking in.

If you want to spy on your employees, can you consider using keylogger software? The answer is "no" because they have privacy rights.

However, you can use keylogger software if you tell your workers first. That's not spying. That's protecting the company.

Traveling abroad? Don't forget your passport, your laptop, and your export license.

Wh-what export license? Oh, maybe your company attorney didn't tell you that your laptop requires an export license.

That's right, the United States requires a license for certain technology and software going abroad. It's not just to control weapons technology, either.

Silicon Valley lawyers have their eyes on Grubhub, one of the hottest, publicly traded tech companies on Wall Street.

It's not because the company can get them lunch faster than an elevator on a San Francisco high rise. It's because Grubhub's business model is on trial in a California courtroom.

And the legal question -- whether its drivers are employees or independent contractors -- could redefine the "gig economy."

After McDonald's sold its first 100 billion hamburgers, the company stopped counting.

Now the fast-food chain is counting labor law cases it has settled. Last year, it was one.

This year, the business is facing a class action over a policy that keeps its workers from going to competing McDonald's franchises. That's a lot of employees who want to make more money, and they don't want french fries with that.

With some problems, you can just throw money at them and they will go away.

But with an internal investigation, spending money is just the beginning of dealing with a problem. In the end, the company may well pay more after the investigation is done.

In any case, there are no real shortcuts to the process. However, there are some tips:

In recent legal evolution, few subjects have changed as much as gender rights.

When a man can become a woman, for example, it represents a 180-degree turn-around that can be dizzying. It cuts across fields as broad as constitutional rights, civil rights, privacy rights, health care, and family law.

In the midst of it all, there is the workweek life of the employer trying to keep their company's anti-harassment policy up to date. This article can help with that. is about considering an anti-gender harassment policy.