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Risk Retention: Throwing the Baby Out with the Bath Water
There is significant, ongoing debate in Congress, as well as among the financial industry's regulators, as to the direction and scope of financial reform measures designed to address the problems that were perceived to be the cause of the current economic crisis. Some form of risk retention in any final legislation and rules is to be expected and perhaps is inevitable. But, it is important to understand at this still formative stage of the legislative process that the public outcry driving financial reform may unwittingly create risk retention levels in securitization transactions that will ultimately affect main street's credit costs and severely limit access to credit.
The key, we believe, is to resist the temptation to adopt broad-based reforms that do not really address the underlying causes of the global financial meltdown yet, in the process, harm a market that significantly contributed to the growth of our economy over the last few decades. For instance, an exclusion from whatever rules are adopted could be carved out for various aspects of the commercial loan industry. Also, risk retention might not be applied where investment sponsors are required to be more transparent about the risks or conflicts involved in their products.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
CLE Shouldn't Be the Only Mandatory Training for Attorneys
Each stage of an attorney's career offers opportunities for a curriculum that addresses both the individual's and the firm's need to drive success.
Discovery of Claim Construction and Infringement Analysis May be Compelled Prior to a Markman Hearing
A defendant in a patent infringement suit may, during discovery and prior to a <i>Markman</i> hearing, compel the plaintiff to produce claim charts, claim constructions, and element-by-element infringement analyses.