Employee non-competition clauses present a difficult challenge for in-house counsel because judges disfavor them and they are often difficult to enforce. Counsel must decide when to spend sometimes-significant legal fees attempting to enforce such clauses, considering all the underlying facts. ...
Read More »Avoiding An ‘Implied’ Employment Contract Or Drafting A Favorable One: A Primer
Employers sometimes inadvertently create employment contracts. This type of contract is implied by the employer’s actions and is binding on the employer, though it may be difficult to prove. Because an implied employment contract may arise during any communication with ...
Read More »Is Good Public Health Also Good Business?
Increasing use of defibrillators could mean greater exposure to companies. The author explains how.
Read More »Sarbanes-Oxley Heightens ‘Obligation’ To Disclose Potential Violations Of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Halliburton Co. recently announced its discovery of evidence that in 1995 a consortium it later acquired had considered making payments to Nigerian officials in order to win an energy contract. The announcement, made in a filing with the Securities and ...
Read More »Keep The ‘Home Court’ Advantage And Reduce The Cost Of IP Litigation
The author explains how to keep IP disputes in your "backyard" as a way to control litigation costs.
Read More »Sharing Information With Auditors Could Increase Risk Of Waiving Privileges
In a post-Sarbanes-Oxley world it might seem that a company can never disclose too much to its auditors. Unfortunately, caution must be exercised when sharing information with auditors to avoid waiving legal privileges. Courts have long recognized that when accountants ...
Read More »Securities Litigation Cases At Record High
The number of securities litigation cases nearly doubled in the third quarter of 2003 compared to the same period during the previous year and remains well above historical averages, according PricewaterhouseCoopers. The 69 cases marked the highest total for a ...
Read More »Agency Planning To Post Online Comment Letters And Responses
In the midst of all the Sarbanes-Oxley regulatory developments, it was easy to miss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s three-page release on June 24. After all, with the SROs remaking the rules of governance, with the SEC remaking the disclosure ...
Read More »Non-Compete Nonstarters: Avoiding The Seven Biggest Drafting Mistakes
Too often, a company loses a preliminary injunction motion to enforce a non-compete agreement because of mistakes made when it drafted the non-compete. Spending tens of thousands of dollars to get to the hearing is an expensive way to find out that your non-compete is not as enforceable as you hoped.
Read More »Stale Securities Fraud Claims Can’t Be Revived Under SOX
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 ...
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