From a compliance perspective it is good to monitor what your employees are doing in the various social media sites. If you operate in a heavily regulated industry it may not only be a good idea, but be necessary. Don’t cross the line and ask for the passwords to those accounts. Learn from the City … Read more »
The State of Legal Social Networking
I have been a long time fan of social networking for lawyers. Capturing the conversation among colleagues is one of the best ways of capturing knowledge and finding expertise. Connecting with peers is the best way to stay up-to-date on the law. That was one of the primary reasons that bar associations formed. Can these … Read more »
SEC Case Against Mark Cuban is Dismissed
The SEC alleged that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was involved in insider trading when he sold shares in an Internet search engine company, Mamma.com Inc., after receiving confidential information about a private offering in 2004. The SEC said Cuban avoided a loss of $750,000 by selling his 600,000 shares, which represented a 6.3 percent … Read more »
Christopher Cox Joins Bingham
Christopher Cox, former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is going to join Bingham McCutchen LLP in their Orange County office. From 1977 to 1986, Cox worked out of the Orange County office Latham & Watkins. At the time of his retirement in 1986 he was the Partner in Charge of the Corporate … Read more »
New Massachusetts Campaign Finance, Ethics and Lobbying Law
After the well-publicized scandals with Salvatore DiMasi and Dianne Wilkerson, the lawmakers on Beacon Hill passed ethics legislation yesterday banning politicians from accepting gifts and upping the consequences for ethical violations. The Governor had threatened to veto a sales tax increase unless this act was passed, along with reforms in the pension system and the … Read more »
Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009
The Department of Treasury released its proposed legislation in increase the regulatory oversight on private investment funds: Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009. The Administration’s legislation would require that all investment advisers with more than $30 million of assets under management to register with the SEC. This is presumably the Obama plan and … Read more »
California Adopts e-Discovery Rules
Never mind the budget crisis or handing out IOUs, California has passed its own Electronic Discovery Act. California joins the 30 other states that have decided to include provisions in their rules aimed directly at the discovery of Electronically Stored Information. The Act amends the California Code of Civil Procedure by expressly permitting discovery of … Read more »
Special Report on Sovereign Wealth Funds
Pensions & Investments published a Special Report on Sovereign Wealth Funds. The report is based on a survey conducted in April by the Oxford University Center for Employment, Work and Finance: Oxford SWF Project. Sovereign wealth funds are perceived to be shrouded in mystery because, like many private investment funds, they do not publicly report … Read more »
Ethics and the Sales Relationship in World-Class Bull
The May issue of the Harvard Business Review offers up an ethics problem in its monthly case study: World-Class Bull (subscription required for full article). The three commentaries offer very different reactions to the facts presented in the case study’s fact pattern. John Humphreys, Zafar U. Ahmed, and Mildred Pryor penned the fact pattern. The … Read more »
Obama Plan for Financial Regulatory Reform and Private Investment Funds
Along with the Hedge Fund Adviser Registration Act of 2009, the Hedge Fund Transparency Act of 2009 and the Private Fund Transparency Act of 2009, we also have the Obama plan for financial reform: Financial Regulatory Reform – A New Foundation: Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation. Under the Obama plan, all advisers to private pools … Read more »