Corporate Governance

Will Tough Economy Push Companies to Outsource Legal Work? Some companies see big savings in ?offshoring? legal work - But how?s the quality?

Posted on December 24, 2008
David Hechler Corporate Counsel December 22, 2008 Martin Shively directs the worldwide IP operations of Microsoft Corp. But he doesn’t commute to the company’s campus in Redmond, Wash., every day. The associate GC works in a remote office in New Delhi, where he’s been based for 18 months overseeing not call centers, but outsourced patent work...

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bernard L. Madoff and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (S.D.N.Y. Civ. 08 CV 10791 (LLS)) SEC Obtains Preliminary Injunction, Asset Freeze, and Other Relief Against Defendants

Posted on December 23, 2008
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on December 18, 2008, the Honorable Judge Louis L. Stanton, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, entered a preliminary injunction order, by consent, against Bernard L...

SEC Files Settled Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Charges Against Siemens AG for Engaging in Worldwide Bribery With Total Disgorgement and Criminal Fines of Over $1.6 Billion

Posted on December 23, 2008
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled enforcement action on December 12, 2008, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (”Siemens”), a Munich, Germany-based manufacturer of industrial and consumer products, with violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [...

SEC Files Settled Books and Records and Internal Controls Charges Against Fiat S.p.A. and CNH Global N.V. For Improper Payments to Iraq Under the U.N. Oil for Food Program ? Fiat Agrees to Pay Over $10 Million in Disgorgement, Interest, and Penalties

Posted on December 23, 2008
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed Foreign Corrupt Practices Act books and records and internal controls charges against Fiat S.p.A. and CNH Global N.V. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Fiat S.p.A., an Italian company, provides automobiles, trucks and commercial vehicles...

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SEC Files Settled Enforcement Actions Against UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Former General Counsel in Stock Options Backdating Case

Posted on December 23, 2008
Litigation Release No. 20836 / December 22, 2008 The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil injunctive action against UnitedHealth Group Inc., a Minnetonka, Minnesota health insurance company, alleging that it engaged in a scheme to backdate stock options...

Local Government Botches E-Discovery and Legal Hold ? County Underestimates Value of Its Own E-mail Records

Posted on December 22, 2008
Some public agencies don’t realize that in ligation their own good records can be their best defense. Commonly a defendant in a lawsuit is reluctant to search through its e-mails ? and incredulous that a court would force it to dig deep for them...

Desperate IT workers who have been laid off will go rogue in 2009, selling corporate data and using crimeware, reports have predicted

Posted on December 21, 2008
The credit crunch will drive some IT workers to use their skills to steal credit-card data using phishing attacks, and abuse their privileged corporate computer access to sell off valuable financial and intellectual information, forensic experts have warned...

When U.S. E-Discovery Meets EU Roadblocks

Posted on December 20, 2008
By Shannon Capone Kirk, Emily Cobb and Michael Robotti The National Law Journal December 22, 2008 One of the most challenging aspects of electronic discovery arises when U.S. litigation crosses borders into European Union countries with strong privacy laws...

25 Percent of Reported E-Discovery Opinions in 2008 Involved Sanctions Issues

Posted on December 18, 2008
Sheri Qualters The National Law Journal December 17, 2008 One-quarter of the reported electronic discovery opinions issued in the first 10 months of the year involved sanctions issues, according to a new Kroll Ontrack Inc. study. The Kroll Ontrack software division of risk consultant Kroll Inc...

Lack of policy adds to e-discovery cost and complexity ? Large percentage of companies lack legal holds

Posted on December 17, 2008
IT and legal teams must work together to establish e-discovery policies. In fact, one-third of companies lack formal policies and procedures for legal holds, according to a recent poll of attorneys and executives conducted by Deloitte. A legal hold is the process by which companies preserve evidence subject to discovery for lawsuits and other legal [...

Technology Predictions for 2009

Posted on December 16, 2008
By The CMS Watch Analyst Team 16-Dec-2008 It’s that time of year again. The CMS Watch analyst team ponders what to expect next year, and offers 12 predictions that we think will shape content technologies in 2009. Clearly, the economic downturn will have a substantial impact on buyers and vendors alike, and economic concerns underpin several of our [...

Law firm fees defy gravity

Posted on December 08, 2008
As the recession gathered, legal fees grew, and one firm broke the $1,200 per hour barrier. Leigh Jones / Associate editor December 8, 2008 Despite the rancid economy of 2008, attorney billing rates continued their escalation trend, with nearly 71% of law firms reporting an increase in the amount that they charged clients compared with 2007...

Judge Looks Past Inadvertent Disclosure Protection Rule

Posted on December 08, 2008
Shannon P. Duffy The Legal Intelligencer December 8, 2008 In one of the first decisions to interpret a new rule of evidence that governs “inadvertent disclosure” of privileged documents, a federal judge has held that if the “reasonableness” of the accidental disclosure remains in dispute, courts should continue to apply the traditional five-factor test to determine whether the [...

43% of Law Firm Leaders Surveyed Expect to Hire Fewer New Associates

Posted on December 05, 2008
Posted Dec 1, 2008, 06:13 am CST By Debra Cassens Weiss Only 38 percent of more than 100 leaders of large law firms who responded to a survey are optimistic about their firm?s prospects next year. Instead, a majority?53 percent?told the American Lawyer they were uncertain about the next year...

Things You Should Never Put in an E-mail

Posted on December 05, 2008
Posted Dec 3, 2008, 12:37 pm CST By Molly McDonough Over at the Wichita Eagle blog What the Judge Ate for Breakfast, there’s a caution about e-mail during office hours on office computers. Courts reporter Ron Sylvester quips, “My wife says you should never put anything in a company e-mail that you don?t want to be [...

Lexakos acquires IT staffing operation

Posted on December 03, 2008
Lexakos Consulting LLC, a company that focuses on legal compliance areas, announced Tuesday it acquired assets of The Wilson Group, an information technology staffing firm, including its recruiting team. Terms of the deal were not announced. The acquisition adds to Lexakos’ specialties, which include working with corporations and law firms to assist with records management, compliance [...

Lexakos Launches Second Annual Chief Legal Officer Strategic Planning Survey

Posted on December 03, 2008
Legal business consulting and IT staffing firm Lexakos is asking law department leaders again about plans for litigation support and records management compliance over the next year. Subjects covered include budget benchmarking, reporting metrics, outsource planning, litigation preparedness and privilege waiver management in relation to new Federal Evidence Rule 502 and other strategic priorities for [...

U.S. Federal Rule of Evidence 502

Posted on December 03, 2008
Ronald J. Hedges - December 2nd, 2008 The Federal Rules of Evidence have now been amended to include a new Rule 502 [PDF], which should represent a sea change in the law of waiver in the United States. Rule 502 is intended to introduce uniformity in the law of waiver of attorney-client privilege and work production [...

Rule 502 May Not Deliver Promised Cost Relief

Posted on December 03, 2008
By Thomas F. Munno and Benjamin R. Barnett New York Law Journal December 3, 2008 Federal Rule of Evidence 502, enacted on Sept. 19, 2008, has been heralded as a significant development which “will effectively limit the skyrocketing costs of discovery...

Lexakos Acquires Information Technology Staffing Group to Complement Growing Legal Business Consulting Practice

Posted on December 02, 2008
Corporations Focused on Mitigating Information Management Risk Have Struggled to Harmonize the Legal, Compliance, IT and Operational Components of Effective Compliance; Lexakos Consulting Stabilizes These Cross-Functional Challenges Through Specialized Technology Staffing Solutions on a Temporary and Permanent Basis NEW YORK, NY–(MARKET WIRE)–Dec 2, 2008 — Organizations seeking to reduce risk, contain [...

President Signs Bill for New Federal Evidence Rule 502

Posted on October 16, 2008
On 9/19/08, the president signed S 2450 (PL 110-322) to amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to address the waiver of the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine.       

FASB Delays Lawsuit Disclosures ? The board responds to companies? distaste for its proposed rule on contingent liabilities

Posted on October 16, 2008
Sarah Johnson - CFO.com The Financial Accounting Standards Board has changed the deadline for when companies would have been required to provide new disclosures about their contingent liabilities under a controversial proposal. Companies with a calendar fiscal year-end had been expected to comply with the rule in mid-December...

Remarks as Delivered by Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip at American Bar Association Securities Fraud Conference

Posted on October 16, 2008
Arlington, Virginia Thursday, October 2, 2008 - 12:30 P.M. EDT Good afternoon. It?s a pleasure to be here. I?m very grateful for the chance to speak about an issue that I know is of great importance to both this group and the Department of Justice: the role of attorney-client privilege in the investigation of corporations...

Justice Department Revises Charging Guidelines for Prosecuting Corporate Fraud

Posted on August 28, 2008
NEW YORK ? Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip announced today that the Department of Justice is revising its corporate charging guidelines for federal prosecutors throughout the country. The new guidance revises the Department?s Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations, which govern how all federal prosecutors investigate, charge, and prosecute corporate crimes...

H.R. 6610: To amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to address the waiver of the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine

Posted on July 29, 2008
Texas Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D) has introduced HR 6610, a bill that is in the first step in the legislative process toward having a new, codified law governing inadvertent disclosure and waiver of attorney-client and work product privileges...

Morning Bell: Time Running Out to Protect a Fundamental Civil Right

Posted on July 18, 2008
Posted July 17th, 2008 at 9.05am in Rule of Law. The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees that ?in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy ? the assistance of counsel for his defense.? Fundamental to ensuring the constitutional right to an attorney is the attorney-client privilege...

Responding to Auditors Without Waiving Attorney Work-Product Protection A practical guide for counsel

Posted on July 14, 2008
Alan I. Raylesberg and Lawrence E. Buterman Special to Law.com In order to comply with various provisions of the federal securities laws, a public company must have its financial statements audited by an independent accounting firm. In connection with the preparation of an auditor’s opinion as to whether those financial statements have been prepared in accordance [...

AG Mukasey Hints at Revision of McNulty Memo, Spars With Senators at Hearing

Posted on July 10, 2008
Pedro Ruz Gutierrez Legal Times Wednesday morning’s oversight hearing of the Justice Department by the Senate Judiciary Committee got off to a contentious start between Attorney General Michael Mukasey and the committee’s top senators. And then Mukasey dropped the bombshell: The so-called McNulty memorandum may be revised and is likely to be replaced by a new set of [...

Backers Expect Attorney-Client Privilege Bill to Pass

Posted on June 25, 2008
  Zach Lowe The American Lawyer 06-25-2008   A bill that would protect attorney-client privilege during federal investigations of corporations gained another major supporter Tuesday when Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., added his name to the sponsors list.   The bill, which passed the House of Representatives on voice vote, now has the backing of a dozen high-profile senators, 32 former federal prosecutors [...

Subpoenas Seeking E-Mails Meet Resistance

Posted on June 18, 2008
By Tresa Baldas The National Law Journal Civil litigants are increasingly trying to get their hands on e-mails to prove their cases, but Internet service providers are starting to challenge their subpoenas — and courts are starting to rule in their favor...

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