Corporate Minutes: What SOX Has Wrought
August 30, 2005
Until recently, the subject of corporate minutes seemed about as interesting -- and received about as much attention -- as watching paint dry (or, for those who prefer another metaphor, watching grass grow). However, for a number of reasons, the subject now receives considerable attention from the legal and corporate governance communities, and from boards of directors themselves.
Speed Traps and Potholes: Avoiding Communications Hazards
August 30, 2005
Whether a firm keeps the pedal to the metal or travels at a more steady pace, effective communications can build profits, promote growth and create demand. But it is important to remember that marketing and public relations materials must comply with the rules of the road, lest firms find themselves in trouble with the law.
Virtual Worlds And Digital Rights
August 30, 2005
Today's virtual worlds -- sometimes also called digital or synthetic -- evolved from text-based role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. The predecessors of the "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games" (MMPORGs) of today began for the most part in the late 70s and early 80s when various individuals first engaged in the role-playing game behavior online. The online text-based commands and prompts allowed the players to act out various fantasies without the close proximity requirement that is inherent in the earlier written and oral gaming forms. As the online technology grew, so did the nature and complexity of the interactive games, including the addition of videogame graphics to the text-based game elements. In the '90s, the current state of online MMPORGs began offering a real-time socially interactive component that was not available on traditional offline console gaming. While the physical space and landscape is simulated in the virtual environment of today, the social interactions are real since virtual characters, or "avatars," in the digital world are controlled and operated by a real person and not just by strict computer code. While these games are currently used mostly as an avenue for play and social interaction, if the proliferation of online entrepreneurship continues, the games will likely be more focused on commerce, research and work or work-related activities.
Brain-Dead Woman 'Gives Birth'
August 30, 2005
A few weeks ago, the media was all over a touching story: A 26-year-old pregnant woman, suffering from a fast-moving malignant melanoma, tragically died when the tumor attacked her brain. Unlike the Terri Schiavo case, the woman's grieving husband and family all accepted that she was dead. But, believing that she would have wanted them to save her baby against all odds, they arranged for her to stay on life-support until the fetus was viable enough to be taken from its brain-dead mother.
<b>Media & Communications Corner:</b> Becoming Your Reporter's Best Friend
July 28, 2005
If there is one thing that everyone in your law firm marketing department can agree upon, it is the importance of cultivating and maintaining relationships with editors and reporters. Your team has likely recognized this basic point for years, as have the marketing departments of your competitors. It is just as probable, though, that one (or both) of you have seen these efforts stagnate, as happens all too regularly. You lose track of the fundamentals. In what manner, then, can your firm begin to refresh its efforts, and keep ahead of the Jones, Jones & Jones LLP's? What creative methods can you implement that will make a reporter think of your firm and your attorneys first?
After Texas Court Avoids Question on Duty to Warn, Can Suppliers Relax?
June 30, 2005
The nation's silica litigation attorneys and their clients kept a close watch on a case decided last year in Texas that was supposed to help define the limits of liability for failure to warn of silicosis danger. It took nearly 2 years for the Texas Supreme Court to finally issue its decision in <i>Humble Sand & Gravel Inc. v. Gomez</i>, 146 S.W.3d 170 (Tex. 2004), holding that flint supplier Humble Sand & Gravel Inc. had no duty to warn companies whose employees used the product for abrasive blasting that there were risks associated with silica dust in the workplace. The reason the court gave for its decision was that the risks of silica dust in the workplace had been known for years and companies that regularly dealt with blasting materials were "sophisticated users."
Book Review: Free Publicity
June 28, 2005
<i>Free Publicity</i> is a concise but substantial look into the mechanisms and motivations of the modern media. The book is full of short and succinct examples of how ordinary people and businesses have been successful using the press to promote their own agendas. As the title suggests, if you know how to work the system, you too can spread your message around the world without spending a cent.
How Not To Get 'Whacked' By Journalists
June 28, 2005
There are those in PR who are just plain annoying. I used to think ' during my live TV days at CNN ' What is their objective? Getting to speak to me, or pitching a story? I think for many, it was the former. If they didn't have their pitch down in 20 seconds, they lost me and got "whacked!" For many, I never returned calls. Nothing personal, I just didn't have time to return all of them; if I had, I would have missed my deadlines and been out of a job! <br>Here are some basic rules for how not to become a public relations flack that's whacked!
Executive Compensation
June 27, 2005
It's no secret that for some time now, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), institutional investors and shareholder services have all been dissatisfied with the opaqueness of required executive compensation disclosure in Proxy Statements under Item 402 of Regulation S-K. In fact, the SEC may soon consider revising the executive compensation disclosure rules, at least in respect of certain types of compensation disclosure that are viewed by critics of current disclosure compliance as particularly lacking in transparency and detail.
'But That Wasn't The Deal!'
June 01, 2005
In the not too distant past, the only way business people could communicate in a real time, convenient and spontaneous way was through face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations. When the all-too-common dispute arose as to who said what to whom, the traditional "my word against your word" battle would play itself out. <br>Fast-forward to the 21st century, where e-mail ' easy, instant, and universally accepted ' has become virtually the default mode of communication. What was once an unverifiable conversation is now a transaction set forth in print. As a result, the "my word against your word" conundrum becomes more of a contest between e-mails, as opposed to a competition between the memories of testifying witnesses.
