Practitioner Contributions

Companies faced with the launch of a hostile tender or exchange offer for their securities generally consider a range of possible defensive measures. They may consider implementing a stockholder rights plan or amendments to their constituent documents, initiating a campaign in the media and with their significant stockholders, or undertaking a comprehensive review of strategic [...]

Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly referred to as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (Sunshine Act), mandates public disclosure of payments and “other transfers of value” by pharmaceutical, device, biological and medical supply companies to physicians and teaching hospitals for a wide array of purposes, including consulting, speaking engagements, [...]

Evaluations of a covered company’s stress plan include both company-run and supervisory stress tests. The Proposal requires each covered company to form a risk committee and name a chief risk officer. Ongoing compliance with stress test requirements under the Proposal are scheduled to coordinate with capital plan reporting requirements. On December 20, 2011, the Board [...]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“Patent Office”) recently announced expansion of its extremely successful Prioritized Examination Track (“Track I”) of the Enhanced Examination Timing Control Procedures to patent applicants that file a Request for Continued Examination (“RCE”).1 Even in its original form, the Track I “express lane” has brought unprecedented speed to patent examinations.2 [...]

In 2011, rising concerns about foreign-based Internet piracy of intellectual property led to the introduction of the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act1 (“PROTECT IP”) and the Stop Online Piracy Act2 (“SOPA”). In December, the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act3 (“OPEN”) was introduced as an [...]

For the fashionable, a shiny red sole on the bottom of a woman’s shoe is immediately recognizable as that of shoe designer Christian Louboutin. To put it more colorfully, as did the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York earlier this year, “when Hollywood starlets cross red carpets and high fashion [...]

Every year, law school graduates across the country choose to work at small to midsize law firms. What did they do to get such a position? They likely considered the characteristics valued by small firms and utilized these in their small firm job search. Opportunities in the small firm market are less likely to be [...]

It is reported that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is now attending the board meetings of large financial institutions considered a potential threat to the UK’s future financial stability, if not adequately supervised. This approach exemplifies the more pro-active and intrusive form of supervision that the FSA has adopted in recent years. The FSA’s CEO [...]

Anyone who has been involved in moderately complex patent litigation is aware of the immense time and expense devoted to electronic discovery (“e-discovery”). The laborious process of negotiating with adversaries over search terms, custodians and metadata and then culling, producing and reviewing the many gigabytes of electronic data, particularly electronic communications, often yield little probative [...]

In 2012, we no doubt will see the continuation of a significant trend towards the use of mediation to resolve financial services disputes. A perfect storm of economic, legislative, and regulatory conditions has been created with the potential to affect profoundly the likelihood that mediation will assume a larger role in the resolution of cases [...]

Introduction The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) added Section 14A to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, requiring companies to hold a non-binding, advisory vote on executive compensation and a separate non-binding, advisory vote on how frequently advisory votes should be held (with options for 1, 2, or 3-year frequencies). Enacted [...]

On December 8, 2011, Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey introduced a new bill in the House of Representatives entitled “The Global Online Freedom Act of 2011” (GOFA).1 According to Congressman Smith, GOFA is a response “to the growing use of the Internet as a tool of repression, and to changes in the technologies of [...]

On 9 April 2010, the heads of five leading multilateral development banks (MDBs) – the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the World Bank (WB) – signed an agreement providing for mutual and reciprocal enforcement of debarment decisions [...]

Physician referrals are the lifeblood of suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS). In recent years, common relationships between DMEPOS suppliers and physicians have come under regulatory attack, and ethical suppliers often face pressures to match arrangements offered by more aggressive competitors. Inconsistent guidance from enforcement agencies has led to conflicting rumors [...]

Electronic medical information is increasingly central to improving the quality of patient care and controlling costs. The electronic health record (EHR) brings together medical examination observations, medication records, prescription information, laboratory results, and even x-ray and CT images, into a device as agile and portable as a tablet PC. The EHR can vastly improve the [...]

Over the last few years, communication has advanced tremendously due in part to new and improved technology. One of the major advancements in electronic communication has been the creation of social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, and various interactive blogs). Through the use of social media, individuals as well as companies disseminate [...]

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice charged several U.S. executives of California-based Control Components, Inc. with violating the Travel Act1—a somewhat obscure U.S. law originally intended to combat organized crime—for bribing employees of private businesses overseas.2 In late September of this year, a federal district court rejected arguments by the executives in the case, [...]

A company under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors often seeks to resolve the investigation by entering into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) or non-prosecution agreement (NPA). In this way, the company can avoid the harm of an indictment and trial. At the same time, such agreements impose burdens and have collateral consequences. DPAs and NPAs [...]

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) entitled “Human Subjects Research Protections: Enhancing Protections for Research Subjects and Reducing Burden, Delay, and Ambiguity for Investigators.”1 The ANPRM seeks to revise and modernize the federal regulations that govern human subjects research, commonly referred to as [...]

On 16 November, following consultation,1 the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final advice2 to the European Commission on implementing measures to be adopted under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive3 (AIFM Directive). This article focuses on how ESMA’s final advice affects the position of depositaries under the AIFM Directive. Alternative investment fund [...]