Overall
Key cases
Industries
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
Securities
-
May 16, 2013
Empire State Building IPO Nears Full Shareholder Approval
The owners of the Empire State Building have received nearly all of the votes needed to pass their controversial plan to put the building in a publicly traded real estate trust, they said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
-
May 16, 2013
SEC Wins D&O Bar Against Alleged Hedge Fund Scammer
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can bar a private hedge fund manager accused of misusing investor assets from serving as director or officer of a public company, an Illinois federal court ruled Thursday, despite the defendant’s claims that such a ban was “totally unprecedented.”
-
May 16, 2013
Wells Fargo Can't Shake Suit Over Conflict As RMBS Trustee
A Colorado federal judge on Wednesday allowed most claims to continue in a hedge fund's lawsuit alleging that Wells Fargo NA breached its responsibilities as both a trustee and a servicer for certain residential mortgage-backed securities, costing the fund millions of dollars in losses.
-
May 16, 2013
AIG Docs In $46M SEC Case Stay Secret, Judge Rules
A Washington federal court on Thursday blocked a journalist’s access to confidential reports on American International Group Inc.'s accounting practices that were ordered as part of a $46 million settlement with securities regulators in 2004, saying a recent appeals court ruling had closed the issue.
-
May 16, 2013
Fla. Law Firm Lands Banking, Securities Pro In Tampa
Florida law firm Saxon Gilmore Carraway & Gibbons PA recently announced it has landed a banking and securities litigation partner formerly of Trenam Kemker to join its Tampa office.
-
May 16, 2013
11th Circ. Won't Let Fraudsters Off Hook For $18M Scheme
The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday dismissed appeals by the owner and office manager of a fraudulent investment firm, who had spent $18 million they collected from investors on spas, cars and office expenses, ruling that trial testimony didn't amount to conjecture about their states of mind.
-
May 16, 2013
Q&A With Foley & Lardner's Joe Edmondson
The language in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's Letters of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent could easily be changed to be more like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s settlement language, says Joseph Edmondson, a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP specializing in securities litigation.
-
May 16, 2013
Glencore Tightens Hold On Merged Co. As Xstrata Execs Axed
Glencore PLC tightened control over its newly expanded commodities empire on Thursday as shareholders voted out legacy directors from Xstrata PLC, whose grueling $33 billion tie-up with Glencore — billed as a merger of equals — closed just two weeks ago.
-
May 16, 2013
SEC Chairman White Disses GOP Cost-Benefit Bill
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Jo White told U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers Thursday she opposes a GOP-sponsored bill that would force the agency to more closely scrutinize the costs and benefits of its rules.
-
May 16, 2013
Wells Fargo Dodges Claim In $13M RE Investor Suit
A Nevada federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a claim of unauthorized mortgage banker activity in a suit filed against Wells Fargo Bank NA by a group of real estate investors that put $13.4 million into properties owned by a convicted Ponzi schemer, ruling that the claim was preempted by federal law.
-
May 16, 2013
BofA Wants To Keep $10.5B RMBS Suit In Federal Court
Bank of America NA on Wednesday pressed a New York federal judge to reject American International Group Inc.'s motion to move a $10.5 billion lawsuit over residential mortgage-backed securities to state court, arguing that remanding the case would dangerously split the case between federal and state courts and would adversely affect certain bankruptcy proceedings.
-
May 16, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Marine Harvest, Actavis, Elliott Management
Marine Harvest could ratchet up its bid for rival fish farmer Cermaq past the current $1.7 billion mark if the target company agrees to make certain concessions in the deal, while activist hedge fund Elliott Management continues on its tear this proxy season with new plans to shake up yet another company.
-
May 16, 2013
Hess Makes 11th-Hour Deal To End Elliott Proxy Fight
Hess Corp. will add three directors nominated by Elliott Management Corp. and six new independent directors, ending a long-running proxy contest just hours before Thursday's shareholder vote after the early tally showed Elliott's slate in the lead.
-
May 15, 2013
CSC Strikes $97.5M Deal In Suit Over Contracting Cover-Up
Computer Sciences Corp. has reached a $97.5 million settlement with a class of shareholders alleging CSC's stock price fell due to revelations that it hid accounting irregularities related to a $5.4 billion contract with Britain's National Health Service, according to a Wednesday court filing.
-
May 15, 2013
9th Circ. Remands Atty Fee Award In Davis Wright Fraud Case
Attorneys for investors on Wednesday won their bid for reconsideration of an award of $231,000 for their work on a class action against Davis Wright Tremaine LLP when the Ninth Circuit ruled a judge had not explained how he calculated the number.
-
May 15, 2013
Businessman Denies Blocking FCPA Probe Into Mining Co.
A French businessman linked to BSG Resources Ltd. pled not guilty Wednesday to charges that he obstructed a U.S. investigation into bribes the mining company allegedly paid to secure mining rights in Guinea.
-
May 15, 2013
Shearman Snags 3 Weil Attorneys For London PE Team
Shearman & Sterling has nabbed three partners from Weil Gotschal & Manges for its private equity team in London, including two merger and acquisition whizzes and an investment expert, the firm announced Wednesday.
-
May 15, 2013
Fitch Questions Seagram Building Loan's AAA Rating
Fitch Ratings Inc. expressed concern Monday about the AAA rating that other ratings agencies gave a commercial mortgage-backed securities loan used to finance the iconic Seagram Building in Manhattan, saying the building's estimated income had been inflated and could be at risk for default.
-
May 15, 2013
No Market Check? No Problem
A Delaware judge effectively blessed the sale of Plains Exploration & Production Co. last week even though Plains never looked for a higher bid — a reminder that boards have a lot of leeway in crafting an arms-length deal, even if shareholders don't like it, attorneys say.
-
May 15, 2013
Wall Street To FCPA Enforcers: Bring It On
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecutors have Wall Street in their crosshairs after suing two traders at New York broker-dealer Direct Access Partners LLC last week, but experts say the hyper-vigilant industry is ready for any clampdown.
Expert Analysis
-
Litigation Support At A Crossroads
Despite recession-driven cost pressures that have resulted in the downsizing of nonlawyer personnel at law firms, many litigation support departments are growing. In a recent survey, half of respondents indicated that their function has grown in size in the past three years, and more than half of respondents indicated that current staffing levels are inadequate for the projected needs of the coming year, say experts at Epiq Systems and Georgetown University Law Center.
-
The Business End Of Supreme Court's Current Term
This term marks a continuation of the Roberts court trend of close attention to business issues. From affirmative action and class actions to tort litigation, government enforcement and intellectual property, almost one half of this term’s argued cases are of interest to the business community, say Cliff Sloan and David Foster of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
-
An Insider’s View Of The FCPA Resource Guide
Recent commentary from the deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section, suggests that the government’s FCPA resource guide — rather than being an outgrowth of mounting criticism from the business community, defense bar and other legal commentators concerning the FCPA’s troubling ambiguity and opaque enforcement policies — was more a product of international treaty obligations, says Caryn Trombino of Perkins Coie LLP.
-
Unregistered Brokers May Bring Aiding And Abetting Liability
A pair of related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled enforcement actions recently demonstrated the potential liability of using an unregistered consultant. While these cases involve a private equity manager and its funds, they are significant to all private issuers of securities — including investment, real estate, venture capital and private equity funds, as well as operating companies, say Peter LaVigne and Elizabeth Shea Fries of Goodwin Procter LLP.
-
Forum Selection Clauses In The Intra-Corporate Litigation Era
The lessons of the Northern District of California ruling in Galaviz v. Berg inform that corporations will do well to ensure that shareholders consent to the adoption of a forum selection provision within their governing documents. This can be achieved in a few ways, says Onome Okpewho of McCarter & English LLP.
-
Arguing For Arbitration Clauses In Customer Agreements
In a landmark decision with potentially wide implications, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority hearing panel recently ruled that Charles Schwab & Company Inc. could include a provision in its customer agreements prohibiting customers from bringing class action claims against Schwab and requiring customers to arbitrate their claims. The decision should come as welcome news to brokerage firms and likely will prompt other firms to amend their customer agreements to include similar clauses, say Bradley Bondi and Jason Halper of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP.
-
Know Your Swap Reporting Rules Before April 10
On April 10, 2013, commercial end-users must begin reporting and maintaining records on all swaps to which they are counterparties under the Dodd-Frank Act. These new regulations will have significant impacts on firms’ swaps businesses as they not only apply to new swaps but also to historical swaps and certain physical transactions, say attorneys with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.
-
Where Privilege Protection Ends In Internal Investigations
Internal investigations by counsel into potentially illegal corporate conduct are generally considered to be protected by the attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product doctrine. It is less clear whether work that is unconnected or tangentially connected to such an investigation, including internal audits or anti-corruption risk assessments, may be conducted in a way that preserves privilege protections, say attorneys with Paul Hastings LLP.
-
7 Reasons To Do Pro Bono Work
Research shows that helping others and cultivating social relationships makes us happier and that generous people live longer, healthier lives. These are just a few of the countless reasons to create time in our busy schedules to do pro bono and charitable work this year, says Anne Brafford of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
-
On The Verge Of Fraudulent Transfer Litigation
The Boston Generating LLC litigation — like the Tribune and Lyondell bankruptcy cases — will pose the basic question of whether clever structuring by insolvency professionals can enable disappointed creditors to evade the safe harbor provided by Bankruptcy Code Section 546(e) for those that participate in the securities markets, say Harold Horwich and Sabin Willett of Bingham McCutchen LLP.