This morning I presented to the Association of Legal Administrators. They asked me to give the view as a lawyer, law firm client, former legal administrator and blogger on what law firms should know about web 2.0. I also mixed risks, policies and compliance issues. The crowd was a diverse bunch in terms of how … Read more »
Evolving Employee Rights in the Age of Web 2.0
Morgan Lewis presented and informative webcast on Web 2.0 from the viewpoint of the company/employee perspective. These are my notes. Panelists: Renee Lawson Carla Oakley Howard Radzely Melinda Riechert James Walsh Companies cannot limit the personal use of these sites. But the line between personal and professional can be very fuzzy. You limit access over … Read more »
FTC and Bloggers
Back in December, the Federal Trade Commission released new guidelines that specifically required bloggers to disclose any material connections to a product or company they are writing about. The FTC had opened an investigation against Ann Taylor Stores for providing gifts to bloggers who the company expected would post blog content about Ann Taylor’s LOFT … Read more »
SEC is Probing Hedge Funds
They’re looking at you. Rob Kaplan and Bruce Karpati, co-chiefs of the Asset Management Unit of the SEC enforcement division, held their first full staff meeting last week. This new unit will be focusing on misbehavior by private-equity funds, hedge funds, buyout firms, mutual funds and other asset managers. The unit is one of the … Read more »
What About the Rating Agencies?
There has been lots of criticism aimed at Goldman Sachs over the Abacus 2007-AC1 deal. They help set up a CDO so their client, Paulson & Company, could make a bet on a downturn in the residential real estate market. To make that bet, they allowed Paulson to influence the securities that went into the … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for April 30
I was on vacation last week and apparently missed lots of big news. A volcano kept me from going to Europe, but nothing stopped the SEC from bringing a case against Goldman Sachs. Here are some recent compliance related stories that I found interesting. The SEC and the Rogue Inspector General by J Robert Brown … Read more »
Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?
It takes a village. Alexander Dyck, Adair Morse, and Luigi Zingales found that fraud detection does not rely on standard corporate governance actors. Instead they found that employees, short sellers and analysts are the top sources in uncovering corporate fraud. The three researchers studied reported fraud cases between 1996 and 2004 for U.S. companies with … Read more »
FINRA Guidance on Private Placements
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority released Regulatory Notice 10-22 reminding registered firms about their obligations regarding suitability, disclosures and other requirements for selling private placements to customers. A Broker-Dealer that recommends a security is under a duty to conduct a reasonable investigation concerning that security and the issuer’s representations about it. This is true regardless … Read more »
Quon Roundup on Employee Computer Privacy
Lots of discussion about the Quon case focused on the lack of technology expertise by the Justices on the Supreme Court. Actually, most people labeled them as Luddites. DC Dicta even claims that Chief Justice Roberts writes his opinions in long hand with pen and paper. This issue that I am hoping to see addressed … Read more »
FCPA Opinion Procedure Release 10-01
The Department of Justice released its latest Opinion Procedure Release under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It’s one of the quirks of the FCPA that you can ask the Department of Justice whether a particular situation would be a violation of the FCPA. This opinion is also quirky. The company requesting the opinion was in … Read more »