New England Biz Law Update

In-house lawyers working in Massachusetts but licensed elsewhere will have to register and pay a registration fee annually to the Board of Bar Overseers under a new ethics rule adopted by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court.

Could it be that prosecutors have overreached? Judge Lewis A. Kaplan thinks so. Kaplan recently declared unconstitutional the Department of Justice’s policy of pressuring companies to stop paying the legal fees of top executives and other employees as a condition ...

If corporate America hasn't heard the alarm bells ring by now, the recent $1.45 billion fraud verdict against Morgan Stanley should surely do the trick. The Wall Street giant was slammed with the whopping judgment mainly because it repeatedly failed to timely produce e-documents as part of routine discovery requests, primarily e-mails stored on backup tapes.

Investors or employees involved in disputes with brokerage firms could ask for a written explanation of arbitration decisions under a proposed new rule, which, if approved, could dramatically change how arbitrations are decided in the securities industry.

Companies and their lawyers are scrambling mightily to comply with the sweeping provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act since its passage in July 2002, and as a result have been largely successful in setting up appropriate corporate governance procedures, experts tell New England In-House. But while compliance programs have been set up, in-house lawyers are now faced with an even harder task: Making it all work effectively.

A defendant in a trademark infringement case could assert it made “fair use” of a descriptive term without having to disprove any consumer confusion resulting from that use, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. “It takes a long stretch to ...

Securities fraud plaintiffs could not revive time-barred claims under the extended statute of limitations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. A three-judge panel of the court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that they could ...

In-house lawyers must make sure their companies conduct a comprehensive audit of their job descriptions, classifications and pay policies in anticipation of the Aug. 23 effective date of sweeping new overtime regulations, experts tell New England In-House. Equally important as ...

When federal prosecutors target a company for fraud, in-house counsel are increasingly facing a tough choice: voluntarily disclose sensitive internal information - at the risk of waiving the attorney-client and work product privileges - or stand firm against charges that can threaten the very survival of the company.

Imagine this scenario. A corporate client poses a business problem and wants a legal solution fast. But there’s no case law, no statute, and little if any guidance from treatises to help you. Panic city? Not at all, at least ...