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Corporate Governance Primer: Authority of the Board
As the ultimate repository of management authority, the board of directors is spared the often laborious process by which matters are presented to it for its determination. By necessity boards must, and are entitled to, rely on corporate officers and advisers to select, refine, and present crisply for resolution the issues that come before it. The cost of such efficiency is the risk that board meetings become formulaic, board action becomes automatous, and board members fail to learn the alternatives, procedural or substantive, that might be available. This article is intended as a corporate governance primer, identifying the toggles, levers, and switches the board can set, pull, push, in the cab of the corporate crane.
In general, management of a corporation is divided between the board of directors and officers. Officers are directly responsible for a corporation's day-to-day operations, whereas the board's role, generally, is supervisory. Therefore, the board need expressly authorize only those transactions that are material or otherwise outside the corporation's ordinary course of business. Examples of such transactions include issuances of securities, declarations of dividends, bank borrowings, mergers, business acquisitions, appointment of officers and setting their compensation, and authorization of significant contracts, including officer employment contracts and employee benefit plans. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires the audit committee of public companies to have direct responsibility for the outside audit function.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.