Features

Designated, reserved parking spaces appurtenant to office leases are highly valued by certain types of tenants, especially in the downtown, metropolitan markets. Thus, a tenant's counsel must carefully consider the parking provision when negotiating an office lease. Landlord-oriented form leases often give the landlord the right: 1) to expand or change any parking area, 2) to temporarily close off portions of the parking areas for purposes of expanding, repairing, restoring, constructing or reconstructing the parking decks, and 3) to change, from time-to-time, the rules and regulations with regard to the parking area. The tenant's counsel should always make sure that the lease properly limits these rights so that they cannot be used in a manner that will potentially, adversely affect the tenant's use of its parking rights. All new rules should be limited by a "reasonableness" qualifier, and the landlord should be required to enforce the rules and regulations in a "nondiscriminatory manner as against tenant."

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An expert retained in mass tort litigation may be required to focus on multiple cases consolidated for discovery and trial, involving thousands of pages of medical records, deposition transcripts, and other discovery material. Expert opinions in mass tort litigation must address both case-specific and generic issues. A statement that is innocuous in one case may be harmful when applied to another. Taken together with the technical sophistication of the issues involved in each case, these issues necessitate a measured approach for dealing with experts.

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Many observers have noted that e-mail use often replaces personal phone calls and for employers is a more efficient and less disruptive way for employees to maintain the personal and home contacts they need. The military and other agencies recognize that e-mail is a convenient way for troops to stay in touch with their families and have set up "cyber tents" where troops line up to log on. It is also clear, however, that damaging material carried by phone doesn't carry the risk that the same information poses when put in writing and sent electronically.

This month: <p>Second Circuit defines standard for loss causation pleadings<br>SEC liberalizes the Quiet-Period rule<br>Employer recovers legal fees for frivolous portion of discrimination claim<br>D.C. Circuit directs SEC to reconsider mutual fund governance rule<br>

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American companies and their officers and employees doing business overseas are learning the hard way about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). For many years after its enactment in 1977, the government initiated relatively few investigations and enforcement actions charging violations of the Act. This was largely due to the government's difficulties in evidence gathering. Recently, however, the number of such enforcement actions has increased significantly.

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Technology has not only changed the way we live, but also the manner in which companies and their employees conduct business in the modern world. Today,…

Features

On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (the Act). The Act made significant modifications to the United States Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. Section 101, <i>et seq.</i>) and related federal statutes. While initial focus centered on the Act's consumer bankruptcy provisions, the Act also contains provisions that significantly impact businesses and their representatives, including officers, directors and employees.

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