Features
Another Look at Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans
By establishing a prearranged plan to trade their companies' stock in compliance with SEC Rule 10b5-1, corporate executives avail themselves of the only formally codified affirmative defense against a charge of insider trading. However, statistical evidence demonstrating that executives in trading plans outperform their peers by 6% to 10% have twice brought trading plans under academic and journalistic scrutiny.
Features
With Virtual Currency, Does Virtually Anything Go?
In late 2013, a Subway sandwich franchise in Pennsylvania was making the news for being one of the first small American businesses to accept bitcoin as payment for purchases. According to press reports, that franchise generated a lot of interest among hungry bitcoin enthusiasts, who went out of their way to visit the store. Should this be dismissed as a mere publicity stunt, or is the use of bitcoin something that deserves some thought?
Features
Quarterly State Compliance Review
This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. It also looks at four recent decisions of interest from the Delaware courts.
Features
Supreme Court Leaves NY Online Sales Tax Law In Place
December 2 was an extraordinary day for Amazon.com Inc., the mammoth online retailer: Cyber Monday sales reached new heights, its fanciful plan to use drones to make deliveries was creating buzz ' and then the U.S. Supreme Court spoiled it all by turning down Amazon's challenge to online sales taxes.
Features
New Jersey's Offer of Judgment Rule
The New Jersey Supreme Court has vigorously defended its supremacy with respect to the administration of the courts from intrusion by other branches of government. The Separation of Powers Doctrine is premised on the theory that government works most efficiently when each of the three branches of government acts independently within its designated sphere.
Features
<i>Online Extra:</i> Hulu Loses Bid to Short Circuit Privacy Case
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler ruled Hulu's alleged disclosure of users' viewing selections is enough to sustain claims under the Video Privacy Protection Act.
Features
Are States Taking the Lead to Enforce Digital Privacy Laws?
Recently, 37 states and the District of Columbia reached a $17 million dollar settlement with Google over its intentional circumvention of Internet users' privacy settings. The case stemmed from 'Google's bypassing of privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser to use cookies to track users and show them advertisements in 2011 and 2012. In total, Google has paid approximately $40 million dollars to federal and state regulators for intentionally harming the personal privacy rights of Internet users.
Features
EU Parliament Overhauls Consumer Data Protection
Everyone, especially corporate leaders, got a little paranoid last year when NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden pulled the alarm on U.S. surveillance. That paranoia turned into palpable risk after reports emerged of the NSA tapping the phones of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and executives at a Brazilian oil company.
Features
News Briefs
Maryland Franchise Attorneys Discuss Possible Law Changes <br>Maine Franchisees Launch Association
Features
Your e-Discovery Bucket List
One of the most persistent problems encountered in e-discovery is that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. As a result, in-house teams that have been subject to resource constraints and staff reductions must approach their litigation more thoughtfully and creatively than ever before. They need to establish an e-discovery "bucket list" that contains both new tools and basic processes to use when things go pear shaped.
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
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis 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.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›
- What Does 2024 Hold for Cybersecurity?Our annual poll of experts on the trends and developments to watch out for in 2024 in AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, e-discovery and more.Read More ›