Risky Business
Third-party facilitators have played a critical role in allowing corporate misconduct to happen," according to Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, Jr., head of the Justice Department's Corporate Fraud Task Force. Stephen Cutler, Director of Enforcement for the SEC, has warned that financial institutions violate the federal securities laws by "contributing to fraudulent accounting and manipulated financial results" of public companies. In a recent report, the Enron bankruptcy examiner described a financial institution as an "enabler" of violations by Enron's officers. In the Sarbanes-Oxley era, the government is not only rounding up the direct violators, but has also brought aiding-and-abetting charges against companies that entered into certain business transactions with other companies accused of securities violations, even though the alleged abettors themselves filed honest reports with the SEC.
Mixed Messages from Justice
The very public prosecution of Arthur Anderson LLP demonstrated the willingness of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to bring criminal charges against organizations no matter how large and prominent or how severe the collateral consequences. Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, moreover, the government has breathtakingly broad power to convict an organization based solely on misconduct by even just one employee. So, the reality is that corporate counsel must assess the potential criminal exposure of the entire corporation in nearly every government investigation of an employee. Assessing exposure has, in recent years, involved the factors set forth in the Holder and Thompson memos (June 16, 1999 and Jan. 20, 2003) on the "Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations." Recent pronouncements by the DOJ, however, cast some doubt on the continued significance of the Thompson Memo and have made it harder to assess a corporation's criminal exposure.
Can Law Firm Partners Sue the Firm for Employment Discrimination?
Part One of this article discussed why law firms are susceptible to discrimination suits by their partners ' especially large firms. It also covered the threshold requirements for law firm partners to do so. In Part Two, the authors examine case law on determining whether a partner is an "employee" and how a firm's size and type of ownership can affect a partner's ability to sue for employment discrimination.
Assimilating Lawyers
w firms are growing again through laterals and associate hires, but many of the laterals are creating "pods" which bring unique processes for delivering legal services, to the detriment of using the best experience in the firm and superior client service. While this is happening, there are major changes coming to the profession that will challenge the ability of the lawyers to train and transform young lawyers into strong contributors to the clients and the firm. At the same time, client loyalty is decreasing. When Ralph Nader wrote his book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," GM responded with denial. Now, lawyers are in denial as we focus on the changes required in the profession to simultaneously increase profits, lower legal costs to clients, and improve the quality of service. This article is provided to help lawyers overcome the old culture hurdle and get to higher profits and stronger client loyalty.
The Seven Deadly (Ethical) Sins
Law schools teach students the principles of legal ethics. Bar examiners test prospective attorneys on the rules of professional responsibility. But new associates, especially at big firms, typically are clueless when it comes to the practical implications of ethics rules upon their day-to-day lives. It is incumbent upon law firms to teach new associates about these practical implications. In the first place, law firms owe it to recent hires to teach them to act ethically and responsibly in their professional dealings ' just like firms try to teach new lawyers to become proficient writers and researchers. Moreover, a firm that fails to indoctrinate new lawyers on ethics issues risks serious harm to reputation, loss of business, and lawsuits arising from conflicts of interest and other ethical improprieties.
