Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
Here are some policies that I like for dealing with blogging and social networking sites:
Kevin O’Keefe, of Real Lawyers Have Blogs, put together his thoughts on what are the best social internet places for a lawyer or law firm to spend their resources: Lawyers and Social Media – It the Big Three. Kevin picks Blogs, Twitter and LinkedIn.
As usual, I agree with Kevin.
Every professional should have a profile on LinkedIn. Lawyers may rely on their law firm website, but lawyers do not stay at the same law firm for their entire career any more. I was at The Firm for 13 years, but everyone else I keep in touch with from law school had moved to a new place. I was the last person who was still at the same place. LinkedIn is great at keeping track of your job history. LinkedIn is the place to answer the question: How Ddo I know you? When I am planning to meet someone I always run a Google search and a LinkedIn search.
I have found this blog to be a wonderful networking tool. I have created and maintain many relationships through this blog. There is no better way to stay connected, develop your expertise and showcase your abilities than through a blog. It has been tough for me to give up on this blog since moving from knowledge management to compliance. (And obviously unsuccessful.) Compliance Space will come out of the dark in the near future. Although most of you will not be interested in it.
Twitter has exploded as a idea tool. As with most people, I was skeptical of what to do with a 140 character messaging system. But the open design has produced remarkable results for me.The micro-blogging aspect allows me communicate with people in a quick and easy way. Bigger thoughts end up in the blog. Lots of the background communication happens in Twitter.
I also use Twitter for research. Several times a day I search for “compliance”, “FCPA”, “CFIUS,” “Ethics”, and lots of other compliance terms. These tweets connect me with people, news, thoughts, thought-leaders and a plethora of information that helps me with my new role as Chief Compliance Officer.
One of the challenges of taking the new position, in this new area was the great network I had developed in the knowledge management and enterprise 2.0 areas. LinkedIn, blogs and Twitter are helping me to rapidly build a new network in the compliance area.
Facebook is great aggregator of information. I use it largely by having Facebook applications pull posts from blogs, my twitter updates and other sources rather than using Facebook as the primary creation point.
Unlike Kevin, I am still trying out new social internet sites. I still think Legal OnRamp has a bright future. Martindale-Hubble Connected has huge information repository that could create an incredibly powerful tool.
I try others to see what may develop. Eighteen months ago, I thought LinkedIn was boring and would not amount to much. I was wrong. It took a while for Twitter to catch on. I jump on others just to grab my name and to see what may happen. Usually I just waste 10 minutes to create profile (unfortunately, much longer for ABA’s LegallyMinded), see who else is there and explore the feature set. I have long list of bookmarks for dead social internet sites.
As with Kevin, I spend the vast majority of my time with the big three. You should too.
Originally posted on KM Space.
Jane K. Storero and Yelena Barychev of The Legal Intelligencer and Law.com authored an article that the system of reviewing and monitoring information posted on a company Web site should be part of the disclosure controls included in the enterprise-wide risk management system established by the company: Corporate Governance of Public Web Sites.
This article describes methods of effectively complying with the SEC guidance related to company websites: Commission Guidance on the Use of Company Websites (Release 34-58288, August 7, 2008).
That release gave some guidance as to whether a company’s website is a means of public dissemination of information under Regulation FD.
It also addresses how the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws can be applied to a statements made on the internet. One issue is whether historical information is considered “republished” each time the material is accessed on the company’s website. If they are considered republished, then the company would have a duty to update the materials.
As a general matter, we believe that the fact that investors can access previously posted materials or statements on a company’s web site does not in itself mean that such previously posted materials or statements have been reissued or republished for purposes of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, that the company has made a new statement, or that the company has created a duty to update the materials or statements.
The release also notes that hyperlinks to third party information could be implicated as part of the anti-fraud provisions. The key is the context of the hyperlink. If explicit approval or endorsement is plainly evident, then the hyperlink to a third party statement can be found to be a implicit approval of the statement in the hyperlinked web page.
The release also endorses the use of blogs:
We acknowledge the utility these interactive web site features afford companies and shareholders alike, and want to promote their growth as important means for companies to maintain a dialogue with their various constituencies. As we noted in the Shareholder Forum Release, companies may find these forums “of use in better gauging shareholder interest with respect to a variety of topics,” and the forums “could be used to provide a means for management to communicate with shareholders by posting press releases, notifying shareholders of record dates, and expressing the views of the company’s management and board of directors.”
Statements made on a blog or forum will not be treated any differently than any other statements made by the company for purposes of anti-fraud provisions.