On May 4, investment banker Frank Quattrone was convicted of obstructing a grand jury investigation, obstructing SEC investigators and witness tampering. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and $500,000 in fines. Quattrone’s crime? Forwarding an e-mail ...
Read More »Key Considerations In Documenting A Joint Venture
Under certain circumstances, business considerations suggest that a company should pursue a new opportunity with one or more collaborators rather than alone. A businessperson might want to enter a new line of business or to conduct a business in a ...
Read More »The New 8-K Disclosure Rules Are Far-Reaching
For those who cannot sleep at night as they wrestle with securities disclosure issues (and I know from experience that this is not a farfetched scenario), the Security and Exchange Commission’s new 8-K rules offer no cure for insomniacs. The ...
Read More »Noteworthy Federal Appellate Opinions In New England
Below are summaries of important opinions affecting in-house attorneys issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, 1st and 2nd Circuits and Delaware Court of Chancery from late April 2004 through early July 2004. Readers can access the full text of the ...
Read More »Mixing Business And Legal Advice Can Waive Attorney-Client Privilege
Attorney-client privilege is one of those issues we all think we know about, but we really don’t. That may be a little harsh. Maybe the more accurate description is that we often know just enough to be dangerous. Let me ...
Read More »Former In-House Attorney Heads Up New Law Firm Compliance Risk Group
James E. Bowers, former vice president of corporate compliance at Aetna, has joined Day, Berry & Howard to lead that firm’s new Compliance Risk Services group, an interdisciplinary group of lawyers addressing compliance programs and compliance risk management issues as ...
Read More »GE Counsel Steps Down From Pro Bono Partnership Board
Robert E. Healing, soon-to-be-retired corporate counsel of General Electric Company in Fairfield, Conn., recently stepped down as chairman of the board of the Pro Bono Partnership. In 1997, Healing founded the Partnership, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services ...
Read More »Top Ten Reasons Why Risk Management Should Matter To In-House Counsel
If you are the general counsel of a small or medium size company in an unregulated industry, you may think risk management is an interesting topic, but that it isn’t a critical issue in your industry. This may not be ...
Read More »Obtaining Patent Protection Outside the U.S. Entails Many Factors
In deciding whether to obtain patent protection outside the U.S., there are a number of factors a company should consider. As a preliminary matter, it is important to understand that most foreign-filed applications will eventually be published. As such, a ...
Read More »Massachusetts Overhauls Century-Old Corporations Act
Massachusetts recently enacted a new Business Corporations Act, the first major overhaul of the law governing business since the statute was enacted over a century ago.
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