Lack of Director Independence Under Delaware Law
As readers are well-aware, Sarbanes-Oxley, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ have established standards for director independence. These are not the only director independence standards that can affect a corporation and its board. Director independence is also significant under Delaware law. Although similar, the standards for director independence under Sarbanes-Oxley ('SOX'), stock exchange rules and Delaware law differ. A director who is independent under SOX may not be independent under stock exchange rules or Delaware law and vice versa.
Worst-Case Scenarios from the Files of an Employee Benefit Plan Litigator
Your company decides to establish a new employee benefit plan. As in-house counsel, you, naturally, are asked to get involved. The regulatory, compliance and tax issues will unquestionably be daunting. Qualified or non-qualified? Safe harbor? Contributory? Top-heavy? Defined benefit or defined contribution? All of these questions, and more, must be answered before you can finalize your company's plan. But there's more ...
Features
Don't Take a Beating on Your Hit Rate
Faced with ever-increasing litigation costs, in-house lawyers are searching for effective and legally defensible means of limiting the costs of electronic discovery. Legal teams can effectively incorporate search techniques into their best practices by considering critical issues before they review a single page. Doing so will only eliminate a major nightmare: excessive costs associated with over-collection and technical challenges that will require teams of project specialists to resolve.
Avoiding Contracts That Make You Sick
Even sophisticated companies expose themselves needlessly to contract disputes. The author says that from representing them in litigation, that might have been avoided or shortened if only they had inserted one of his "top ten prophylactics" for avoiding "contractually transmitted disease.
Features
Current Trends in IPOs
In 2007, Mergermarket was commissioned by Nixon Peabody LLP to conduct 'IPO Executive Insights 2007,' a survey of senior corporate executives (CEOs and CFOs) of 100 companies that had undertaken an IPO in the past three years (the 'Survey'). The Survey was designed to provide insights into key IPO market trends and issues related to the process of going public in the current regulatory environment that emerged after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ('SOX').
Exploring the Outer Limits of ' 363(f) Clearance
Bankruptcy offers an attractive platform for the sale of assets because it is injected with a statutory prerogative allowing for the clearance of third- party interests. Specifically, ' 363(f) of the Bankruptcy Code permits the sale of bankruptcy estate property 'free and clear of any interest [of any other entity] in such property' provided that certain conditions are satisfied. Notwithstanding that grant of authority, however, the Bankruptcy Code does not specifically define the phrase 'any interest in such property' or otherwise specify the scope of interests that the phrase is intended to cover.
Features
The Gavel Falls
The use of bankruptcy to protect an individual's home from foreclosure is sufficiently commonplace that practitioners would be well advised to understand the foreclosure process in their state and, in particular, when that process will be deemed completed for purposes of section 1322. This article explains why.
Features
Riding the Fulcrum Seesaw
Troubled businesses also may have turned to the distressed debt market instead of filing for bankruptcy protection due to recent changes to the Bankruptcy Code, which made bankruptcy a more complicated, expensive and uncertain alternative. As a result, when the next wave of Chapter 11 filings comes, hedge funds and other distressed debt investors will act to protect their unique interests and strategies, which will bring new dynamics to bankruptcy cases.
Features
Movers & Shakers
News about lawyers and law firms in the franchising industry.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- A Lawyer's System for Active ReadingActive 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.Read More ›
- The Brave New World of Cybersecurity Due Diligence in Mergers and Acquisitions: Pitfalls and OpportunitiesLike poorly-behaved school children, new technologies and intellectual property (IP) are increasingly disrupting the M&A establishment. Cybersecurity has become the latest disruptive newcomer to the M&A party.Read More ›
- The 'Sophisticated Insured' DefenseA majority of courts consider the <i>contra proferentem</i> doctrine to be a pillar of insurance law. The doctrine requires ambiguous terms in an insurance policy to be construed against the insurer and in favor of coverage for the insured. A prominent rationale behind the doctrine is that insurance policies are usually standard-form contracts drafted entirely by insurers.Read More ›
- Removing Restrictive Covenants In New YorkIn Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?Read More ›
- The New York Uniform Commercial Code Comes of AgeParties in large non-consumer transactions with no connection whatsoever to New York often choose its law to govern their transactions, and New York statutes permit them to do so. What most people do not know is that the New York Uniform Commercial Code is outdated.Read More ›