When most people hear that someone has been "disinherited," they usually think of someone who has been written out of someone else's will. While this certainly is the classic definition of disinheritance, it is not the only way that a person can be excluded from an estate.

LexisNexis and Microsoft have teamed up to offer a new solution called Quicklaw for Microsoft Office. They say it is designed to simplify legal research and ultimately save time for lawyers. I took it for a test drive to see if it's all they say it is.

When interests between management and shareholders become adverse, even through the regular course of events, it is important for boards to have their own set of lawyers who are independent from management and seen as objective and willing to act in the interests of directors, not management, and ultimately shareholders.