The Alien Tort Claims Act
March 30, 2009
In recent years, companies doing business in countries where human rights or environmental violations have occurred have found themselves dragged into U.S. courts as defendants in lawsuits brought by foreign plaintiffs to account for violations ' often committed by others, including foreign governments. Here's an update.
Mixing International Arbitration with U.S. Discovery
March 30, 2009
A recent United States court decision highlights the opportunities and pitfalls associated with the potential use of U.S.-style discovery to obtain materials for use in international arbitrations.
Quarterly State Compliance Review
March 30, 2009
This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect recently. It also discusses some recent decisions of interest, including one from the Delaware Supreme Court and two from the Delaware Chancery Court.
Second Circuit Reins in Risk of 'At-Issue' Attorney-Client Privilege Waivers
March 30, 2009
In law, exceptions can swallow the rules if the rule-makers are not careful. One area of particular concern is when the privilege over communications with lawyers is called into question because those communications have been invoked to show someone's good faith in attempting to follow the law.
Legal Economics
February 19, 2009
The upward spiral of legal costs, including the demands of Electronic Database Discovery (EDD) and the impact on early case assessment, puts pressure on departmental legal budgets. Artificial floors created by budgets derived from prior-year expenditures will give way to application of traditional return on investment (ROI) analysis to set appropriate cost levels.
The Whole Foods Antitrust Saga
February 19, 2009
A couple of years ago few people would have thought that a socially conscious company that specializes in selling organic groceries would find itself in a knock-down, drag-out brawl with the Federal Trade Commission. But that's just what has unfolded as a result of the FTC's challenge of the merger between Whole Foods Market, Inc. and Wild Oats Markets, Inc.
DOJ Antitrust Division Answers Questions Under Leniency Program
February 19, 2009
the Department of Justice Antitrust Division ("Division") recently issued an interesting policy paper that clarifies its position on certain issues under the leniencyprogram, which positions previously may have been known only to those who practice regularly in the field of criminal antitrust.
The Treasury Department's Guidelines on Executive Pay
February 19, 2009
The guidelines were designed to strike a balance between the financial industry's need to attract top talent to lead in the current economic climate and the public's interest in requiring transparency and accountability. They require not only disclosure of, but an explanation and justification of the policy supporting certain compensation decisions. Here's how they work.
Renewed Focus on Takeover Defenses
February 19, 2009
While attitudes a year ago might have suggested that 2008 would be a year of great stockholder activism with takeover defenses continuing to fade from the scene, the drying up of credit for M&A transactions and plunging stock prices and asset values actually caused public companies to re-examine their preparedness for hostile activity and, ironically, led to the re-emergence of a takeover defense that had fallen out of favor in recent years.
