Supreme Court's Sentencing Guidelines Decision
On January 12 the Supreme Court, in <i>United States v. Booker</i>, found portions of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines unconstitutional. For the last few years corporate officers and directors have been forced to take a personal interest in criminal justice and in the Sentencing Guidelines. This has been especially true after the United States Sentencing Commission raised the guideline's penalties for white-collar crime in response to the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.
Beyond Sarbanes-Oxley: Conscientious Compliance
A confluence of various regulations and court decisions, beyond Sarbanes-Oxley, has made it de rigueur to adopt corporate codes of conduct or corporate compliance and ethic programs. But arguably, and not fully appreciated, the only thing that could be worse for directors and officers these days than not having adopted a corporate compliance program, is having adopted one and not effectively implementing it. Boards of directors and their advisors must now focus on not merely adopting programs, but on establishing procedures and processes that provide active oversight of directors of compliance programs.
Is The Government Losing Its Merger Home Field Advantage?
The conventional wisdom is that the government has a significant advantage when challenging mergers in court, and that this advantage is especially difficult to overcome when the government presents major customer witnesses opposing the transaction. However, three recent government court losses in which the FTC or Department of Justice teamed up with state attorney generals challenge that conventional wisdom.
$10K Raises For Philadelphia Associates
Three more Philadelphia law firms have joined in the parade to raise starting salaries. Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin and Saul Ewing both moved their starting wage from $105,000 to $115,000, and Fox Rothschild is jacking its rate from $100,000 to $110,000.
Survey Says ... In-House Lawyer Salaries Are On The Rise
For the past 30 years, Altman Weil, Inc. has conducted and published its annual Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey (the Survey). The Survey is an important tool that allows corporate human resource departments and CLOs to position lawyer compensation based on relevant benchmarks. Altman Weil's 2004 Edition of the Survey consists of salary, bonus and total compensation data earned by in-house lawyers in 2003. The Survey also reports specific information related to stock options and other incentives. <br>Surveys should never be the sole tool in determining lawyer compensation. They do, however, provide important benchmarking information to be used in conjunction with an individual's performance, professional background and specialty area, as well as other factors. This article focuses on the salaries of in-house lawyer positions.
Eight Ways To Save Money On Legal Fees
Some may wonder why a partner in a major law firm is going to tell you how to save money on litigation legal expenses. The answer is simple. My job, first and foremost, is to obtain the best possible result for my clients. In my view (and the view of my colleagues), achieving the best result includes cost efficiency and cost effectiveness. Over the course of 18 years, I have had a front row seat to a wide range of client approaches to managing ' or not managing ' legal fees.
Arbitration Clauses In International Contracts
Parties to all international contracts face different issues depending on whether the other contracting party is a privately owned enterprise or a State-owned entity. In both circumstances, the foreign investor may have legitimate concerns about the partiality the local judiciary may have towards parties from its own State if a contractual dispute arises and about the enforceability of any judgment against the local party. When the other contracting party is itself a Sovereign State, the foreign investor confronts the universal perception ' if not actual reality ' that a judiciary as a government entity may be controlled by the State and biased against the investor. <br>For international transactions, arbitration in a neutral forum offers the hope of reducing bias and avoiding parallel lawsuits in different countries.
The Tangled Web
Your marketing specialist approaches you with a great idea for Internet advertising ' purchasing trademarks of your company's competitors and for complimentary products as keywords to match Internet users conducting searches in your product category to an advertisement for your company. Do you advise your company to purchase third-party trademarks as keywords? How have the courts dealt with this scenario? How can you reduce risks associated with purchasing third party trademarks as keywords? What are the international implications? This article addresses these issues.
