Gibson Dunn partner Barry Goldsmith, the former Executive Vice President for Enforcement of NASD and Chief Litigation Counsel at the SEC, is interviewed in "Former Senior Enforcement Official Discusses SEC Expectations, Enron, SRO Consolidations and the Pros and Cons of Cooperating with Regulators," published in the June 2006 issue of Securities Litigation Report.
June 30, 2006
"Don’t break the anti-trust rules; if you do, stop it as quickly as possible, and once you’ve stopped, don’t do it again." With these words, Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for Competition, has announced new Guidelines on the setting of fines for infringements of the EU antitrust rules, relating to restrictions of competition and abuse of a dominant position. The new Guidelines replace those adopted by the Commission in 1998 and will come into force as soon as published in all official EU languages.
June 28, 2006
In a closely watched matter, the Supreme Court tossed out a patent case that it had earlier agreed to hear. The result is that the "law of nature" doctrine in patent law remains unchanged.The case was LabCorp v. Metabolite. Metabolite, an affiliate of the University of Colorado, was set up to bring an invention by two of its medical school professors to clinical application.
June 28, 2006
The Court's DecisionThe Federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has vacated the SEC's rule regulating hedge funds under the Investment Advisers Act.
June 26, 2006
On June 22, 2006 the Supreme Court resolved a significant rift among lower courts and established broad protection for employees claiming retaliation based on complaints of workplace discrimination.
June 23, 2006
In order to better control market abuses and insider trading, EU Directive n° 2003/6/CE, dated January 28, 2003, on insider trading and market manipulation has been recently transposed into French law, through Law N° 2005-811 dated July 20, 2005. Pursuant to this law, article L.
June 12, 2006
On May 15, 2006, the United States Department of State announced an arms embargo against Venezuela, identifying that country as not fully cooperating with U.S.
June 8, 2006
In a May 15, 2006 announcement, the Bush Administration signaled Libya's removal from the list of countries not supporting U.S. antiterrorism efforts and the reopening of diplomatic relations with Libya.
June 8, 2006
On 30 May 2006 the European Court of Justice ('ECJ') annulled the decisions of the European Commission and the Council that led to the transfer of personal data relating to passengers on flights to, from or across US territory to US authorities.
June 1, 2006
London Partner Cyrus Benson is the author of "Wanted: An Ethical Compass" [PDF], which appeared in Global Arbitration Review, Volume 1, Issue 3, June 2006.
June 1, 2006
Gibson Dunn partner Jon Dickey and associate Daniel Muino are authors of "Audit Committee Liability: Recent Actions Against Audit Committee Members," prepared for a July 19, 2006 PLI Audit Committee Workshop.
May 31, 2006
The Supreme Court’s decision yesterday regarding the First Amendment rights of government employee “whistleblowers” may also have important implications for whistleblower litigation involving private employers, including litigation under the whistleblower protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that statements made by public employees in the course of performing their official job duties are not protected by the First Amendment and may be the basis for discipline by the employer.
May 31, 2006
When a company engages in settlement discussions with the federal government or a civil plaintiff in one case, can those communications be the subject of discovery in a different lawsuit?
May 25, 2006
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB") issued separate press releases on May 17, 2006, announcing their plans to improve the implementation of the Section 404 internal control reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
May 23, 2006
Effective May 10, 2006, OFAC amended its Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, Terrorism Sanctions Regulations and Foreign Terrorist Organizations Sanctions Regulations to add general licenses (referred to below as "the May 10 amendments") authorizing certain transactions with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
May 17, 2006
Munich partner Philip Martinius and associate Markus Nauheim are authors of "Acting in Concert" [PDF in German] published in the German capital markets magazine GoingPublic. The article deals with the legal watch-outs regarding the acting in concert of investors as stock holders of German companies.Reprinted with Permission
May 13, 2006
On April 1, 2006, France implemented the April 21, 2004 EU Directive on Takeovers.
April 27, 2006
On April 19, 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") approved new auditor independence and ethics rules proposed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB"). These new rules focus on an auditor’s provision of tax services to public company audit clients and prohibit contingent fee arrangements for services provided to audit clients.As discussed in more detail below, the PCAOB’s new rules include several important matters for issuers to consider. For example, the PCAOB’s new rules include specific guidance regarding the manner in which audit committees are to pre-approve permissible tax services to be performed by the outside auditor. The rules also restrict an outside auditor from providing tax services to persons at a
April 26, 2006
Gibson Dunn partners Amy Goodman and Tim Roake participated in a recent Corporate Governance Forum hosted by the Daily Journal Corporation and reprinted in the Spring 2006 issue of 8-K magazine.
April 25, 2006
In a case that demonstrates the risks associated with the cross-utilization of even minor components in military and commercial applications, a major aerospace company recently agreed to pay $15 million to settle allegations that it violated the Arms Export Control Act ("AECA"), as implemented by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations ("ITAR").
April 17, 2006