Commercial lawyers are gearing up to fight for exemptions from sweeping anti-fraud laws as US regulators last week unveiled hard-line rules that include handing federal authorities the power to force US and foreign lawyers to report on many of their biggest clients.
The draft proposals, issued on 6 November by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), confirm a tough stance in implementing the anti-fraud Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed by the US Congress in July amid a stream of corporate scandals.
