A Deloitte & Touche poll conducted late last year reveals that most companies have not crafted policies to ban pretexting. This lack of corporate attention to the issue is especially noteworthy in light of a new federal law that creates criminal penalties for illicitly obtaining or disclosing telephone records. For their part, some corporate counsel still maintain that existing policies cover potential problems, or that pretexting is rare in smaller or midsize companies.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Posted on Wednesday, February 7th, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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In concluding a $400 million racketeering case that seeks to strip accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers of its business license in Georgia, attorneys for the two brothers who sued PwC told jurors that the accounting giant aided a nursing home company in artificially enhancing its company profits as part of “a culture of genteel corporate corruption.” But an attorney for PwC and PwC partner Glenn Williams argued before the jury that the brothers were briefed on all of the company’s financial problems.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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Houston’s Reliant Energy wants a federal judge to give it permission to ignore a shareholder request to place a proposal on Reliant’s 2007 proxy statement that could make it easier in the future for shareholders to nominate board directors. The decision in the case before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas could ultimately make law in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that would help other corporations maintain control of what’s on their proxy statements.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Posted on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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Although memories of Enron may be fading from the public mind, jurors still voice significant distrust of companies. But in assessing potential jurors, companies shouldn’t rely on just one way of detecting or handling anti-corporate bias. Consultants Ken Broda-Bahm and Kevin Boully explain there are several different juror bias types, requiring just as varied an approach by litigators. For example, how would you approach the juror type known as the anti-corporate egalitarian?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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The beginning of the new year, before the proxy season gets underway, is an appropriate time for corporate boards to review policies on board composition and director qualifications. Although board composition issues are usually low-profile, they can become controversial, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s David A. Katz and Laura A. McIntosh write. For instance, making headlines recently is the issue of a mandatory retirement age for directors.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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The Bank of New York, which is operating under a Department of Justice nonprosecution agreement, is merging with Mellon Financial, which has its own nonprosecution agreement. Apparently there’s no precedent for the situation, so it’s raising new questions about whether the nonprosecution deals will undergo their own merger. In particular, since each agreement requires a federal monitor, will only one be necessary post-merger? So far, the feds aren’t saying anything definitive, and neither are the banks.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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General counsel have taken serious hits over backdating issues — several have been fired or otherwise jettisoned by big-name companies. But Novell GC Joseph LaSala has bucked the trend. Last month, even as the company remained in the middle of an internal probe into backdating launched in August, it awarded LaSala a $350,000 bonus for “exceptional contributions” to the business. Why? Possibly because Novell has enjoyed two major legal successes involving Microsoft, with LaSala at the helm.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Posted on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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In-house counsel may think that their ethical obligations primarily include ensuring corporate compliance with regulatory law. Assessing “corporate culture,” the unwritten rules of “how we do things around here,” isn’t typically in the job description. But consultant Lynn D. Lieber writes that new empirical evidence suggests corporate culture plays a defining role in whether an organization conducts business in an ethical manner — and that corporate counsel should be involved in shaping that culture.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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As the criminal and civil Brocade Communications cases slowly advance in tandem, tangles are occurring, and lawyers for ex-CEO Gregory Reyes are crying foul. Ex-employees recently invoked the Fifth Amendment in refusing to be deposed by Reyes’ attorneys in connection with the SEC’s civil charges. Those same witnesses were granted temporary immunity for an interview session with lawyers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the SEC — setting up what defense lawyers call an unfair advantage for the government.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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The McNulty memo, issued last month by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Paul McNulty as a revision of Justice Department guidelines for corporate attorney-client privilege waivers, seems to be garnering as much criticism as its predecessor. Critics say it merely recasts the former policy into a “don’t ask, don’t tell” version with little change in the pressures on companies. McNulty says he supports the idea of limited waivers, but the new Congress may not be satisfied with less than a ban on waiver demands.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007. Filed under: In-House Counsel, Law Misc
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