Features
The Courts: Active Players in White-Collar Cases
In June, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Enron's former CEO Jeffrey Skilling did not commit "honest services" fraud, ruling that the statute under which he was convicted must be limited to bribery and kickback schemes to avoid constitutional concerns over vagueness. The decision should curtail prosecution of a variety of conduct that the government would otherwise seek to criminalize through the statute. In contrast, the courts are expanding the reach of other criminal statutes to encompass conduct previously regarded as outside their scope.
Features
No RICO Violation Seen in Alleged Use of TV Show Idea
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a federal RICO claim that alleged the defendants took the basis for their TV program The Great American Road Trip from a TV show idea created by the plaintiffs.
Features
New Laws Expand Whistleblower Protections
Federal statutes protecting whistleblowers are on the rise. Most recently, the Dodd-Frank Act, meant to overhaul and strengthen federal oversight of the financial system, included workplace protections for whistleblowers in the financial services industry. But that is not the only new law to include whistleblower protections.
Features
How Private Is Facebook Under the SCA?
Despite huge technological advancements in the 25 years since passage of the SCA, and the ever-increasing prominence of electronic communication in our society, Congress has not amended the SCA to keep pace with changing technology. Rather, courts have had to lead the charge in applying the decades-old statute to modern Internet technology and electronic communication disclosure issues.
Features
Discrimination Against Employees with Caregiving or Family Responsibilities
Family care issues permeate the workplace, arising in the context of employee recruitment, growth, development and career advancement, and employee requests for time off, flexible schedules and other benefits.
Features
The UK Bribery Act
The new UK Bribery Act comes into force in April 2011. It has been described by some as the most draconian anti-corruption law in the world.
Features
Deploying Countermeasures to the SEC's Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Awards
Section 922 of Dodd-Frank created awards of 10%-30% of monetary sanctions for whistleblowers who report to the SEC original information leading to securities law enforcement actions that recover more than $1 million. Here are 10 actions organizations might take to help mitigate the increased regulatory risk this change may create.
Features
Abusive Internet Social Networking Yields Infringement
As with domain names, social networking user names are often an extension of a person's or an organization's identity. Businesses, for example, use social networking identities to promote themselves as a source of goods and services. And the flip side of that coin is that abusive use of social networking user names allows a third party to benefit from the goodwill by-product endorsement. But here's the problem: Such abusive behavior constitutes intellectual property infringement.
Features
Pay Attention, Counsel!
As students returned to school recently, many may have been looking ahead to their next day off. And today, there are so many online schools that e-commerce executives are turning the chorus of Alice Cooper's classic 1972 schoolboy anthem "School's Out" ' "School's out forever" ' into reality by turning school into another form of e-commerce.
Features
Oh, Data, Where Art Thou?
The ability to convert capital expenditures to operating expenses, tax considerations and other cost-savings benefits are sending businesses to the cloud with glee, while the legal profession is lagging behind but getting the hint. As the evolution of security measures becomes more imperative, tales of international disagreement regarding security regulation make the location of a vendor's servers a question of paramount importance in selecting a cloud provider. For lawyers, this question of location is compounded by jurisdictional considerations.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe 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.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis 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.Read More ›
- The Roadmap of Litigation AnalyticsLitigation analytics can be considered a roadmap of sorts — an important guide to ensure the legal professional arrives at the correct litigation strategy or business plan. However, like roadmaps, litigation analytics will only be useful if it's based on data that is complete and accurate.Read More ›
- The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance ProgramsThe 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.Read More ›
- Understanding the Potential Pitfalls Arising From Participation in Standards BodiesChances are that if your company is involved in research and development of new technology there is a standards setting organization exploring the potential standardization of such technology. While there are clear benefits to participation in standards organizations — keeping abreast of industry developments, targeting product development toward standard compliant products, steering research and intellectual property protection into potential areas of future standardization — such participation does not come without certain risks. Whether you are in-house counsel or outside counsel, you may be called upon to advise participants in standard-setting bodies about intellectual property issues or to participate yourself. You may also be asked to review patent policy of the standard-setting body that sets forth the disclosure and notification requirements with respect to patents for that organization. Here are some potential patent pitfalls that can catch the unwary off-guard.Read More ›
