As seen in the Houston Business Journal
On April 9, 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued a new rule directing the national securities exchanges and national securities associations to prohibit the listing of any security of a company that is not in compliance with the audit committee requirements mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The new rule implements the requirements of Section 10A(m)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) by adding new Exchange Act Rule 10A-3 ...
The SEC’s Final Rules regarding Implementation of Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys purport to allow attorneys who appear and practice before the Commission to disclose client confidences to the Commission in three situations: (i) To prevent the issuer from committing a material violation that is likely to cause substantial injury to the financial interest or property of the issuer or investors; (ii) To prevent the issuer, in a Commission investigation or administrative proce
Capital Committed to VC Funds in the US ($) and Return Importance of Angel Investors • 80% of recent Inc. 500 bootstrapped initial capital using non-traditional source of funding1 • 5% raised initial capital from venture capital1 • 1996 - $30 billion angel funding $10 billion venture capital2 1. Angel Profile • Do’s for Entrepreneurs ...
The Most Common Legal Problems Entrepreneurs Encounter and How to Solve Them How to Avoid Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory The Most Common Legal Problems Entrepreneurs Encounter and How to Solve Them Rob Kibby Chuck Powell Haynes and Boone, LLP Areas of Concern Areas of Concern • Ownership Ownership • Employees (and Independent Contractors) Employees (and Independent Contractors) • Tax Matters Tax Matters • Securities Law Matters Securities Law Matters • Accounting M
As seen in Oil & Gas Journal
Two Class Certification Denials Reinforce Rule 23 Adequacy Principles, While Exposing the Fiction of “Lead Plaintiff Groups” Introduction A decade ago, William S. Lerach, of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, infamously declared, “I have the greatest practice of law in the world. . . . I have no clients ...
Department of Homeland Security/Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service: * BCIS announced plans to implement electronic filing (e-filing) as an option for two of the most commonly submitted immigration applications, the Application to Renew or Replace a “green card” and the Application for Employment Authorization. BCIS plans to launch e-filing for these applications in May 2003 and to further expand e-filing to other applications and petitions in fall 2003 ...
As seen in the Houston Business Journal ...
A recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision underscores the importance to plan administrators of maintaining proper procedures for the distribution of summary plan descriptions (SPD’s) under ERISA. Each participant in a plan which is subject to ERISA must be furnished an SPD satisfying ERISA’s content requirements within 90 days after he or she becomes a participant ...
Department of Homeland Security/Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service: * Immigration benefits previously provided by the Department of Justice’s Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) are now the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS). All familiar customer services are to remain in place ...
Now that the 60-day deadline for filing new legislation without suspension of the rules has passed, for all practical purposes all legislation that will be offered this session has now been filed. Bills that could impact Texas employers generally, are listed by bill number and contain author, the committee the bill has been referred to, and any action that has been taken. House of Representatives H.B ...
Legal Duties of Directors and Guidelines for Insulating Them From Liability After Sarbanes-Oxley
Supreme Court resolves Circuit split by setting forth standard that owners of famous trademarks must prove “actual dilution” as opposed to “likelihood of dilution” in order to prevail on a Federal Trademark Dilution Act (FTDA) claim.The Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Moseley dba Victor’s Little Secret v ...
Department of Justice/Immigration and Naturalization Service: * DOJ’s Immigration and Naturalization Service becomes part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 1, 2003. Within the DHS, the Bureau for Citizenship & Immigration Services (BCIS) will handle the immigration benefits function, including employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant petitions and applications for adjustment of status. The new Director of the BCIS is Eduardo Aguirre ...
25th Annual Conference On Securities Regulation and Business Law Problems, Dallas, Texas 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Scope of Outline. In the aftermath of the recent failure of Enron and other major companies and the resulting loss of public confidence in the capital markets, the U.S. Congress conducted lengthy investigative hearings to determine the root causes of these problems ...
We have identified various venture capital deal terms which have become more onerous as a result of the current state of the venture capital and technology industry. Understanding the impact of those terms is important to angels in structuring their initial investment as well as situations where they have made an investment and then solicit subsequent professional venture capital funding for the portfolio company ...
Reprinted with the permission of the Houston Business Journal
On January 29, 2003, pursuant to the requirements of Section 307 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the SEC issued a release adopting a new Rule 205 entitled “Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys Appearing and Practicing Before the Commission in the Representation of an Issuer” (the “Standards”) ...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recently issued a proposed rule and a notice of future of rulemaking under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) regarding standards for “all appropriate inquiry,” which are important to a variety of businesses, especially those engaged in real estate transactions ...
The Department of Labor (“DoL”) has issued final rules that implement the pension blackout provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Act”). These rules require plan administrators of individual account plans to deliver advance notice of blackout periods and will be effective for blackouts which begin on or after January 26, 2003 ...
Common Evidence Problems Discovery for a New Millennium Computer usage now pervades all elements of society. Most businesses and many individuals conduct a significant percentage of communications through electronic media. E-mail, facilitated by the Internet, has become the dominate form of inter-office and intra-office communication. Businesses are also managed in a wide variety of electronic formats, including spreadsheet programs, databases and computer aided design tools ...
As a part of sweeping corporate governance reforms mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the SEC adopted ethical rules for attorneys who represent public companies and their nonpublic subsidiaries. The SEC rules make it clear that “attorneys can’t get a pass” from participating in corporate wrongdoing and attempt to hold attorneys accountable much like accountants and bankers have been for their roles in corporate financial scandals ...
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in July 2002 in response to several corporate financial and disclosure scandals. Section 307 of the Act directs the SEC to “issue rules, in the public interest and for the protection of investors, setting forth minimum standards of professional conduct for attorneys appearing and practicing before the Commission ...
The Internal Revenue Service recently issued Revenue Ruling 2002-83 dealing with like-kind exchanges between related parties and unrelated qualified intermediaries ...
