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In this age of regulatory and prosecutorial focus on corporate compliance, companies increasingly are relying on special outside counsel to conduct internal investigations into potential wrongdoing. Sometimes, these investigations are prophylactic: A company may want to understand the consequences of its current hiring practices so it can develop standard operating procedures to better ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Because this sort of proactive, self-reflective investigation generally proceeds without outside scrutiny, counsel has the time and space to conduct a deliberate investigation.

In the new age of the whistleblower, an employment lawyer who one day advises on a routine employee discipline or discharge may the next day find him- or herself directing a multi-disciplinary investigation of alleged corporate malfeasance, guiding a team of forensic accountants, private investigators, and public relations experts.

Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.

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Although difficult to imagine, your best worker may hold the key to your company's worst security nightmare. Technologically armed employees who routinely use BlackBerry devices, personal digital assistants, laptops, and tiny flash drives to transport critical information to and from the office can wreak havoc on a corporation '' with no intention to do so.

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The current popularity of real estate as an investment class has fostered a favorable environment for the sale of shopping centers, among other properties. With demand seeming to outstrip supply and competition fierce among institutional purchasers, many shopping centers are now sold before the retail spaces therein are fully leased and income producing. Because institutional purchasers typically require a minimum level of return on their investment dollar, they typically will not accept full responsibility for the completion of project leasing. Accordingly, in such early sale transactions, sellers frequently retain some measure of post-closing leasing risk.

A landlord secures an anchor tenant with a big-name, stable, and successful chain store. The landlord negotiates that a percentage of this successful tenant's gross sales out of the landlord's location will constitute a portion of the rental payments. In order to protect his percentage rent, the landlord ensures that the lease contains a provision that (it thought) would forbid the tenant from opening another store in close proximity to the landlord's property. Therefore, the landlord has sufficiently guaranteed not only a base rental payment, but also a portion of the tenant's success, and it is confident the tenant will be very successful in the area. The landlord is thrilled, right? Maybe not. New case law indicates that courts may interpret the landlord's lease provision protecting against a new store, a radius clause, in a manner different from the way the landlord had intended.

When involuntary employment terminations become necessary, employers often seek protection from possible post-employment claims by conditioning severance pay on the signing of a general release and agreement not to sue. As a general rule, such waivers are enforceable if they are 'knowing and voluntary.' Less clear, however, is under what circumstances an employer may condition severance payments on a promise by the departing employee that he/she will not pursue a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in connection with an allegation of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.

Features

An improperly drafted description of the premises can produce unintended results such as changes in the rent, the granting of unintended tenant rights, or even termination of the lease.