Where Privacy and Corporate Governance Laws Meet
As business information, particularly in electronic format, continues to proliferate, the need to maintain the security of this information is increasing. There are privacy and corporate governance laws that govern the obligation of a company to keep information secure. According to the Global State of Information Security 2006, a worldwide study by CIO magazine, CSO magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers representing the responses of almost 7800 senior executives, 'Noncompliance runs broad and deep in all industries, and ignorance of applicable law is a big factor.' This article provides an overview of two important information security obligations ' security procedures and practices and document destruction ' under privacy and corporate governance laws.
Voluntary Disclosures of Export Violations
The recent settlement agreement entered in the EP MedSystems matter (described below) does little to refute the common wisdom that the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security ('BIS') treats voluntary disclosures of export violations more harshly than other agencies that regulate exports from the United States. It also illustrates a potential, but avoidable, peril in the two-step voluntary disclosure process urged by BIS and other federal agencies. Finally, it serves as yet another example of the regulatory minefield that U.S. export laws present for U.S. companies with foreign subsidiaries.
Compliance with Non-U.S. Environmental Health and Safety Regulations
Most U.S.-based companies have fairly sophisticated environmental, health and safety ('EHS') programs that are designed to ensure compliance with applicable EHS rules and regulations. The reasons for such programs are obvious: EHS compliance represents the floor for most, if not all companies, and non-compliant companies are likely to experience adverse financial, environmental, health and safety impacts as a result of non-compliance.
Title VII Disparate Pay Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case of great importance to employers, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc. It will decide when the statute of limitations begins to run under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended) ('Title VII') for certain types of disparate pay claims.
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Litigation Readiness
With the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), precedent-setting adverse sanctions against some of the largest corporations and growing regulatory requirements, the need to become 'litigation ready' has been like a large snowball, gaining mass and momentum. The indisputable need to become litigation ready has arrived, and the snowball continues to get bigger and faster as it heads down the mountain. With the FRCP amendments, Dec. 1 has come and gone and guess what? Nothing has exploded.
The McNulty Memo
On Dec. 12, 2006 the U.S. Justice Department issued new guidance that will require federal prosecutors to seek approval from senior DOJ officials before requesting a waiver of attorney-client privilege and work product protection in corporate criminal investigations. The new guidance supersedes the existing language on waiver in the 'Thompson memo,' issued by then-Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson in January 2003.
Case Notes
Highlights of the latest product liability cases from around the country.
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The Michigan Dioxin Study: Help for Defendants in Toxic Tort Litigation
The first part of this article discussed dioxin litigation and the use of environmental and blood data, and the design and results of the University of Michigan study. The conclusion addresses how to use the study.
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Round Up the Usual Suspects: Traditional Methods of Selecting First-Chair Trial Counsel Exclude Women
'You can't be shining lights at the Bar because you are too kind. You can never be corporation lawyers because you are not cold-blooded. You have not a high grade of intellect. I doubt you could ever make a living.' Clarence Darrow to women lawyers. Morello, Bar Admission Was Rough for 19th Century Women, 189 N.Y.L.J. 19 (1983).
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