Capital Markets

Expert Analysis

• Rebuttal

  AI Can't Accurately Predict Case Length And Cost — Yet

  

  A recent Law360 guest article argued that artificial intelligence can precisely estimate the length and cost of a new case, but several limitations will likely delay truly accurate predictions for years to come, says Andrew Russell at Shaw Keller.

• Opinion

  PE Investors Should Reject Life Tenure For General Partners

  

  Institutional investors in private equity and venture capital funds should push back against limited partnership agreements that make it impossible to remove a general partner for any reason, say Kenneth Witt and Marc Lieberman at Kutak Rock.

• Boardroom Hot Topics: ESG, Purpose And Stakeholders

  

  Public company boards of directors should recognize environmental, social and governance issues as a growing priority for investors, identify the purpose of their corporation, and consider focusing on a broader set of stakeholders, say Valeska Pederson Hintz and James O'Grady at Lowenstein Sandler.

• Lawyers Can Build Trust Through The Spoken Word

  

  As attorneys, we may prefer the precision of written communication, but a phone call or an in-person conversation builds trust by letting others see and hear our authentic selves, rather than something constructed or scripted, says mediator Sidney Kanazawa of ARC.

• Crypto Bill Offers Basic Definitions The Industry Needs

  

  The U.S. House of Representatives' pending Crypto-Currency Act seeks to define today’s myriad digital assets and assign them to specific regulatory bodies, laying some of the requisite groundwork for industry oversight that has so far been lacking, says Fabio Canesin of Nash.

• FINRA's Changes To New-Issue Sales, Distribution Practices

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  Recently effective changes to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's initial equity public offering sales and distribution rules introduce new considerations for exempt investors, the types of securities offerings subject to the rules, and the types of investors broker-dealers can sell to, say Anna Pinedo and Ali Perry at Mayer Brown.

• Opinion

  Legal Prediction Is Demanding But Not Impossible

  

  The New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision in Balducci v. Cige incorrectly concluded that predicting the length and cost of a case is nearly impossible, and overlooked artificial intelligence's ability to do so, says Joseph Avery with Claudius Legal Intelligence.

• Trends In Recent FCPA And Cartel Cases Against Execs

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice has taken more white collar cases against executives to trial this winter, focusing on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and cartel allegations, and scoring noteworthy victories in a canned tuna price-fixing case and two rate-rigging cases, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

• 5 Executive Compensation Considerations For Proxy Season

  

  Companies preparing their 2020 proxy statements should keep several compensation plan and disclosure issues in mind on the heels of recent say-on-pay and executive remuneration policy updates from Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

• SEC Exam Priorities Highlight Flexible, Holistic Compliance

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently released exam priorities encourage firms to emphasize investor protection and consider compliance in light of evolving business and market demands, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

• Effective AML, Anti-Bribery Programs Hinge On Collaboration

  

  Amid increasing risk exposure from financial services companies' partners, clients and affiliates, opportunities exist to leverage processes across firms' anti-money laundering and anti-bribery and corruption programs, says Michelle Goodsir at K2 Intelligence.

• Understanding PE Employee Co-Investment Credit Facilities

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  Co-investment lines can offer the financing needed to make employee investment an attractive benefit, filling a growing demand for additional liquidity and flexibility at the upper levels of a private equity fund's corporate structure, say attorneys at Haynes and Boone.

• SEC Faces Several Hurdles In Telegram ICO Case

  

  A New York federal court scheduled to hear U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Telegram next week could hand the securities regulator its first loss related to initial coin offerings because the facts are so different from earlier ICO cases, says John Berry at Munger Tolles.

• Malpractice Landscape Is Becoming Riskier For BigLaw

  

  A recent survey of lawyers’ professional liability insurers revealed an increase in malpractice claims against law firms, suggesting clients will demand more accountability in the coming decade, say Gerald Klein and Amy Nguyen at Klein & Wilson.

• Perspectives

  Book Review: A Lawyer Reflects On Defending Guilty People

  

  In her new book, "Guilty People," Abbe Smith successfully conveys that seeing ourselves in people who commit crime may be the first step to exacting change in our justice system, says U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa of the District of Arizona.