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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Mobile TeleSystems, Russia's leading mobile communications operator and one of the largest mobile operators in Eastern Europe, has acquired a 57.7% stake in Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC), the second largest Ukrainian mobile operator, for €194.2 million. In November 2002 Mobile TeleSystems signed a purchase agreement for 57.7% of UMC's shares. Under the agreement, Mobile TeleSystems was to acquire the 16 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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
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
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 ...
As required by Section 403 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has adopted final rules and form amendments mandating the electronic filing, and website posting by issuers with corporate websites, of beneficial ownership reports filed by officers, directors and principal security holders under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) ...
Incoming Call ChargesIn February 2003 the Ukrainian Parliament overruled President Kuchma's December 2002 veto against an amendment to Article 12 of the Communications Law 1995. The amendment prohibits all telecommunications operators from charging their customers for incoming calls. On March 13 2003 the president duly signed the amendment, which will come into effect six months after its official publication (ie, on September 18 2003) ...
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (“BCIS”): * BCIS has announced the availability of electronic filing (e-filing) for two types of applications: Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, and Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization Document. Although many applicants will be eligible to take advantage of the e-filing system, some applicants will still need to make paper filings. Additional e-filing information may be obtained at www.bcis.gov ...
Discovery for a New Millennium I. THE CHALLENGES OF ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE 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 ...
On Monday, June 30, 2003, the SEC approved new rules proposed and adopted by the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”) requiring shareholder approval of equity compensation plans or material amendments to existing equity compensation plans ...
Introduction All companies that engage in international commerce, whether large or small, should develop and implement a corporate compliance policy and training program so that employees, whether based in the US or abroad, are aware of conduct that could create liability for themselves or their company ...
American Bar Association Annual Meeting 2003 Introduction Description of Revision Process How the 2003 Revisions Affect the Neutrality of Party-Appointed Arbitrators How the 2003 Revisions Affect Ex-Parte Communications Between the Arbitrators and the Parties and Between Themselves
I. Introduction The Institute for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Houston Law Center publishes “www.patstats.org,” providing United States patent litigation statistics. Specifically, with respect to the issue of validity, in 2000, the alleged infringer “won” the issue 53% of the time and the patent was held invalid, while the patentee “won” the issue only 47% of the time, and the patent was held valid ...
Attorneys and other service providers who deal with securities may unwittingly become liable for aiding and abetting violations of the Texas Securities Act. Introduction: A recent decision from the Fort Worth court of appeals should concern anyone who deals with securities transactions, because the burden of proof for imposing liability on a person as an aider and abettor under the Texas Securities Act (“TSA”) just became a little easier ...
The globalization of markets, the opening-up of world trade, and technological development have allowed multinational corporations to gain ground, arousing concerns related to the defense of competition. Some nations and regional blocks, such as the U.S.A ...
