The National Law Journal
How a company responds to a legal crisis will be used by the public, competitors, judges and public officials to take measure of the company. Without a cogent plan for coordinating legal and public relations strategies, calamity is possible and opportunity may be lost, says attorney George J. Terwilliger III. Lawyers and communications specialists working together can ensure that the company's message is effectively drawn and distributed and that the company's legal and reputational objectives can be reached.
The Recorder
With venture capital all but dried up, government contracts lawyers say they are getting a lot of questions from high-tech companies eager to compete for stimulus funds. But government money comes with quite a few strings attached, which means more red tape to explain to clients. That's not necessarily a roadblock, lawyers said, but clients will need good compliance infrastructure as they go down that road.
IP Law & Business
Honeywell International sued eight LCD-panel manufacturers in 2006, alleging that the companies infringe its patent that covers a method of reducing flicker on such displays. Seven defendants settled. The only one to hang on: a small Taiwanese company called Novatek whose gambit paid off when it won summary judgment of non-infringement. The most interesting facet of the case is Honeywell's decision to embrace a business model that has been complained about loudly in some corners of corporate America.
New York Law Journal
In a recent case of first impression, the 3rd Circuit held that when the relationship between a debtor and a creditor is sufficiently close to suggest that transactions were not conducted at arm's length, the creditor may be considered a "non-statutory insider" for purposes of applying a one-year period for recovery of preferential transfers before the filing of a bankruptcy petition. Attorneys Brad Eric Scheler and Alan N. Resnick discuss the lessons to be learned from this ruling.
The National Law Journal
The Alliance for Justice issued a 16-page report on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's record in business and consumer cases she has faced on the district court, the appeals court and in the private law firm where she has worked. The report is the third in a series on her record. The liberal group's verdict: Her business case rulings are "generally uncontroversial and well within the mainstream" and "she betrays no preset notions or biases" that lead her to tilt toward plaintiffs or defendants in general.
New York Law Journal
The re-examination of financial regulation currently under way includes a quiet debate about the value and future of securities industry self-regulatory organizations. Law professor Roberta S. Karmel offers a background and overview of the issue as well as ideas for change. She also examines a court case challenging the constitutionality of the most recently created SRO, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which is on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The National Law Journal
Although the Obama administration appears to have backed off from more extreme plans to merge the Securities and Exchange Commission in a major consolidation of agencies, the SEC may still surrender authority to the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a new consumer protection agency. Inept as some divisions of the SEC may have been, however, it does not follow that moving around the boxes on a regulatory design chart will improve matters, says law professor John C. Coffee Jr.
New York Law Journal
Effective Aug. 1, significant amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law are likely to facilitate ongoing efforts by activist shareholders to have direct access to companies' proxy statements for the nomination of directors. The SEC has also proposed rule amendments to facilitate limited shareholder access to a company's proxy statement. Taken together, these developments suggest that a new age of "shareholder democracy" is finally coming, says attorney Joris M. Hogan.
The National Law Journal
A case brought by the SEC last month accusing a Deutsche Bank Securities bond salesman and a former Millennium Partners hedge fund manager of insider trading in credit default swaps -- the derivatives blamed for much of the economic meltdown -- has kept a low profile but could prove to be significant. The case marks the first time the SEC has gone after trading in credit default swaps, and it comes as debate rages over how to regulate them and other increasingly creative and complex financial products.
