Compliance Bits and Pieces for February 5

February 5, 2010

Here are some interesting stories from the past week: Can your Broker be your Facebook Friend? by Gil Yehuda on Gil Yehuda’s Enterprise 2.0 Blog Can brokers set up blogs? What about the comments that people post to their blogs? Can brokers give financial advice on discussion forums? What if a broker sets...
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Fraud Charges Against Ken Lewis and Joseph Price

February 4, 2010
Fraud Charges Against Ken Lewis and Joseph Price

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed securities fraud charges against former Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis and former Chief Financial Officer Joseph Price. The Attorney General claims that the two decided not to disclose the enormous losses at Merrill Lynch & Co. before getting shareholder approval to acquire the Wall Street firm. The...
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Zubulake Revisited: Six years Later

February 4, 2010
Zubulake Revisited: Six years Later

A new treatise has been written on field of electronic stored information and sanctions for spoliation. In the Amended Opinion and Order for The Pension Committee of the University of Montreal Pension Plan et al., v. Banc of America Securities, LLC, et al. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York,...
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SEC Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change

February 3, 2010
SEC Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to provide public companies with interpretive guidance on existing disclosure requirements as they apply to business or legal developments relating to the issue of climate change. The SEC has now released the text of the guidance: Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change Those who are fired up...
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Paying a Bribe with Zero

February 3, 2010
Paying a Bribe with Zero

In India, petty corruption is pervasive. Its citizens often face situations where they are asked to pay bribes for public services that should be provided free. The 5th Pillar is advocating for paying the bribe with a zero-rupee note. According Vijay Anand, president of the 5th Pillar, the idea is credited to an expatriate Indian...
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Boston Bar Association Presentation on Web 2.0

February 2, 2010
Boston Bar Association Presentation on Web 2.0

Martha Sperry of Advocate’s Studio asked me to join her in a presentation to the Boston Bar Association’s Computer & Internet Law Committee titled: Beyond LinkedIn: Advanced Social Media for Lawyers. Martha Sperry, OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd., and Doug Cornelius will lead a brown-bag lunch discussion for lawyers who are familiar with the various forms...
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The SEC and Climate Change

February 2, 2010
The SEC and Climate Change

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to provide public companies with interpretive guidance on existing disclosure requirements as they apply to business or legal developments relating to the issue of climate change. Chairman Mary Schapiro pointed out in her speech that the SEC is not commenting or opining on the issue of climate...
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Clothing Drive

February 1, 2010

This ad induced a huge spit take. I had to wipe off my monitor. Plenty to learn in this video about incentives and unintended outcomes. You can see the obvious HR issues. Bud Light | “Clothing Drive” commercial on YouTube
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Futures Trading and Social Networking

February 1, 2010
Futures Trading and Social Networking

With this week’s release of FINRA’s guidance on social media sites for securities traders, I thought it would be interesting to look at how the futures trading regulatory body is dealing with the issues. It turns out that the National Futures Association recently amended its rules to address social media and released new interpretive...
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Weekend Book Review: Sonic Boom by Gregg Easterbrook

January 31, 2010
Weekend Book Review: <em>Sonic Boom</em> by Gregg Easterbrook

You may know Gregg Easterbrook from his previous book The Progress Paradox (one of his six books) or his articles in The Atlantic. I know him mostly from his hobby: writing the Tuesday Morning Quarterback column on ESPN.com. Sonic Boom tries to look beyond the current recession. Easterbrook looks ahead to what to expect after...
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Compliance Bits and Pieces for January 29

January 29, 2010

Here are some interesting stories from the past week: French Supreme Court Limits the Scope of the Whistleblowing Process by Cecile Martin in the Privacy law Blog For the first time the French Supreme Court addressed the issue of the validity of a Code of conducts that had been implemented by a listed company (Dassault Systèmes,...
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Governing Social Media: How to Monitor, Manage and Make the Most of Employee Use of Social Media

January 28, 2010
Governing Social Media: How to Monitor, Manage and Make the Most of Employee Use of Social Media

Join me, Kathleen Edmond, Chief Ethics Officer, Best Buy, and Janice Innis-Thompson, SVP & Chief Compliance Officer, TIAA-CREF, as we discuss compliance and governance issues of web 2.0 and social networking. “Corporate Communication takes on a whole new meaning in a world of social media, where employees can freely post their views and spread documents,...
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