Corporations' 'Seismic Shift' to Private Exchanges
April 02, 2014
The first quarter of 2014 is over. The major provisions of the Affordable Care Act are now in full swing, save the occasional delay of certain mandates. Companies, both large and small, understand that this law is now a fixture of our legislative structure. It will be amended, tugged at, pulled at, changed, expanded, and contracted. The private marketplace plays a crucial role in the development of the law, as well as the resulting impact on employers.
Quarterly State Compliance Review
April 02, 2014
This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect between Jan. 1, 2014 and April 1, 2014. It also looks at some recent decisions of interest, including three from the Delaware courts.
'Glass Ceilings' and Women in Leadership
March 27, 2014
In last month's issue, we presented a participants' exchange that followed ALFA International's October, 2013, Labor & Employment Practice Group Seminar on "glass ceilings." The conclusion herein shifts the focus to the state of women in leadership roles..
Uncovering the Facts in Litigation And Investigations
February 28, 2014
Over the past decade, the volume of data in litigation and investigations has exponentially increased. As data has become more and more vulnerable to subpoenas and regulators, people have become singularly concerned with making relevance decisions for production. In the process, we have forgotten about focusing on the facts themselves and uncovering the stories within data.
Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Fraud-on-the-Market Presumption in Securities Fraud Litigation
February 28, 2014
When the U.S. Supreme Court 25 years ago decided <i>Basic, Inc. v. Levinson</i>, it adopted a legal theory that commentators would describe as revolutionizing securities law in the United States. By accepting the "fraud-on-the-market" theory, the <i>Basic</i> Court made it much easier for plaintiffs to get their cases certified as class actions, increasing the potential exposure of corporations and their officers and directors.
The Ethical Boundaries of Attorney Whistleblowers
February 28, 2014
In recent years, federal legislation has encouraged attorneys to become whistleblowers. These rules are in tension with the lawyer's duties of confidentiality and avoiding conflicts predicated on attorney self-interest because they allow disclosure of client confidential information more broadly than do applicable ethics rules.
Revenue
February 28, 2014
When is a sale a sale? This question is much more than semantics or a deep philosophical debate that college accounting majors have over a nice cold keg of Mountain Dew. Many an executive or business owner has gone to jail over this issue.
Acquiring More Than Just Assets
February 28, 2014
The implications of the ruling are clear: Where one company seeks to acquire the assets of another, a simple disclaimer of liability will not be sufficient. Due diligence requires that the successor company closely examine any pending employment-related litigation of the seller and determine how a particular sale implicates the successor liability test under the federal common law.
BRIC by BRIC
January 31, 2014
When the United States passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977, it made a long-term investment, arguably at the cost of near-term competitiveness, in the ability of the U.S. economy to raise corporate and ethical best practices globally. With a number of reforms now underway in Brazil, Russia, India and China (the high-growth, high-risk BRIC countries), it appears the investment is paying dividends.
