'Fraud Control Gap'
January 29, 2008
A 2007 study by the author's firm's Deloitte Forensic Center revealed relatively weak performance in many companies' fraud controls, raising concerns about the effectiveness of key aspects of corporate compliance, ethics and risk management programs. In-house counsel should consider how the findings might apply to their companies and what remedial steps they can take.
Can I Get a (GAAP) Witness?
January 29, 2008
John and Timothy Rigas ('the Rigases') were convicted in 2004 by a federal jury for their roles in looting millions of dollars from Adelphia Communications Co. and for failing to disclose billions of dollars in company liabilities on Adelphia's financial statements. In their appeal to the Second Circuit, the Rigases argued that because their convictions were predicated on Adelphia's accounting for liabilities in its financial statements, the prosecution was required to call an accounting expert to explain the technical aspects of applicable Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Second Circuit recently affirmed all but one of the counts of convictions. Here is an analysis of the case.
Tax Crimes: Has the Bright Line Moved?
January 29, 2008
The authors are longtime members of the ABA Section of Taxation Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties Committee. Their thrice-annual Saturday morning meetings used to involve continuing education only among lawyers joined by the common bond of representing clients who were not just aggressive in their tax affairs but who really cheated (or at least were thought to have by the government). For the past few years, though, their sessions have been packed with practitioners who never before cared much about developments in the world of criminal tax law. Here's why.
Key Employee Retention under BAPCPA
January 29, 2008
Given that the raison d'etre of KERPs was to retain top management, it is perhaps ironic that debtors now must show that a compensation plan is not retentive ' or at least that retention is not its primary purpose ' in order to obtain bankruptcy court approval. This article offers a complete explanation and analysis.
The Return of the Solvent Debtor Doctrine?
January 29, 2008
The First Circuit recently added its weight to the list of authorities allowing as unsecured claims unreasonable prepayment penalties asserted by oversecured creditors, but, by implication, the court may have added further fuel to the debate regarding the allowability of claims by unsecured creditors for contractual, post-petition attorney fees ...
2007 ABA Tech Report: Editor's Note
January 28, 2008
This month, LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter is proud to include its third annual special supplement highlighting and analyzing information from the 2007 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report. The article is written by Stephen Stine, a Research Specialist for the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center.
2007 ABA Tech Report: The 2007 ABA Legal Technology Survey
January 28, 2008
In 2007, the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center surveyed its lawyer members in private practice on their use of technology in the practice of law, and released its findings in the American Bar Association's 2007 Legal Technology Survey Report. What law office and mobile technologies are lawyers using to power their law practices? Are lawyers going paperless? Are they hopping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon? This article examines data from the survey to help answer these questions.
