Taking Stock

The SEC is about to adopt sweeping changes to the rules on raising capital. The changes are nothing short of dramatic and promise more flexibility in how stocks are offered to the public. We take a look at these major reforms in our lead story, as well as in our regular feature, the SEC Watch.

The matter of law firm diversity is also front and center in this issue. Increasing demands by in-house counsel around the country that law firms staff legal work with more minorities is seemingly making an impression. Law firms are focusing on this as a selling point as never before.

But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Numbers don’t lie. Find out in our news story starting on page one if fundamental changes really are afoot.

Also covered on page one is the noteworthy trend of more and more companies farming out routine legal work – document review, contract analysis, legal research and the like – to “offshore” attorneys in India for as little as one-tenth the cost of domestic attorneys. Driven by the need to hold the line on costs, more in-house legal departments are taking a hard look at this opportunity.

We also examine the privacy rights of employees (if any) in work e-mail in the wake of a recent 1st Circuit ruling that a company official violated the federal wiretap laws by intercepting customer e-mails for commercial advantage.

Our guest writers as always provide insightful commentary on leading issues that you face, such as the dangers of toxic tort cases, assessing value of outside legal services, and the potential traps in classifying workers as independent contractors.

As always, give me a shout at (617) 218-8141 or [email protected] to discuss any issues or concerns you may have. I welcome your feedback.

Paul D. Boynton
Publisher