On Monday, August 7, 2006, the Ninth Circuit reinstated a lawsuit brought by residents of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (“PNG”) against London-based Rio Tinto PLC (“Rio Tinto”) under the Alien Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C.
August 10, 2006
The Congress has passed major pension legislation, the "Pension Protection Act of 2006" (the "Act"), which President Bush has promised to sign into law. We describe below some of the most important changes the Act makes and attach a detailed chart [PDF] summarizing many of the key benefits provisions of the Act. In addition, a Gibson Dunn update is available on certain changes affecting investment funds.Funding of Defined Benefit Plans. The Act significantly changes the defined benefit plan funding rules, generally effective for plan years beginning in 2008. Plan sponsors may want to discuss these changes with their actuaries and consider whether additional contributions should be made before 2008. In particular, plans that are “at risk�
August 8, 2006
The House and the Senate have passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 ("Act"), and the President is expected to sign the Act into law. Most of the public scrutiny has been on the Act's significant tightening of the pension plan funding rules.
August 7, 2006
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is under new leadership. On August 1, 2006, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson named Adam Szubin as the new Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC.
August 3, 2006
On August 2, the Federal Trade Commission issued its long-awaited ruling in the agency’s monopolization suit against Rambus Inc., a semiconductor technology firm based in Los Altos, California.
August 3, 2006
On August 1, 2006, President Bush signed a bill renewing the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 (BFDA). This bill renews sanctions against Burma under the BFDA for an additional year and amends the BFDA to allow annual renewal of this law for up to six more years. The BFDA imposes a general import ban on products from Burma and bars investment in Burma.
August 2, 2006
Gibson Dunn partners Joseph West and Timoth Hatch are the authors of "Suspension & Debarment" [PDF] which appeared in the August 2006 issue of Briefing Papers.
August 1, 2006
Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted unanimously to adopt new rules that will revise the disclosure requirements for executive and director compensation, related-party transactions, director independence and other corporate governance matters.
July 26, 2006
Gibson Dunn of counsel Malcolm R. Pfunder is the author of "Shareholder Activism and the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Exemption for Acquisitions of Voting Securities Solely for the Purpose of Investment" [PDF] which appears in the Summer 2006 issue of Antitrust magazine, published by the American Bar Association.Reprinted with permission from Antitrust, Vol.
July 25, 2006
On July 7, 2006 the German General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz) (hereinafter the "Act"), which mainly relates to discrimination in the context of professional life, was adopted by the German parliament.
July 20, 2006
Jonathan C. Dickey, Daniel Floyd and Paul J. Collins are authors of "Current Trends in Federal Securities Litigation" prepared for the ALI-ABA Course of Study Postgraduate Course in Federal Securities Law: Current Developments, July 20-22, 2006.
July 20, 2006
The U.S. Department of Commerce recently proposed changes in export rules for the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC”). The proposed changes will purportedly loosen controls on many exports intended for civil end-use while tightening restrictions on exports that may contribute to the PRC’s military capabilities.
July 19, 2006
Gibson Dunn partner Karen Manos is the author of "Estoppel Against The Government: What Does 'Affirmative Misconduct' Have To Do With It?" [PDF] which appears in the July 2006 inaugural issue of Government Contract Costs, Pricing & Accounting Report, a bi-monthly newsletter published by Thomson/West. Reprinted with permission, © July 2006 Thomson/West.
July 18, 2006
Washington, D.C. partner F. Joseph Warin, David P. Burns and associate John W.F. Chesley are the authors of "To Plead or Not to Plead? Reveiwing a Decade of Criminal Antitrust Trials" [PDF] published in the July 2006 issue of ABA's The Antitrust Source.
July 11, 2006
Two recent court decisions make important contributions to the developing caselaw on the obligation that ERISA fiduciaries may have to remove company stock from employee benefits plans when the stock is declining in value. In Summers v. State Street Bank & Trust Co., Nos.
July 7, 2006
Gibson Dunn's Theodore B. Olson is named among the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in the country by the National Law Journal. Olson is featured in the article, "Profiles in Power," in the June 19 issue.Reprinted with permission.
July 7, 2006
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