Securities

Expert Analysis

• Del. Uber Ruling Reinforces High Bar To Prove Director Bias

  

  The Delaware Supreme Court's recent dismissal of a stockholder action alleging conflicts among Uber's board demonstrates how unlikely it is that independent directors would be held personally liable for fiduciary breaches, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

• And Now A Word From The Panel: MDLs Continue To Thrive

  

  The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created fewer new MDLs last year than the year before, but this belies an overarching storyline of growth — with proceedings encompassing over 130,000 individual actions pending at year's end, says Alan Rothman of Sidley.

• 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.

• 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.

• Avenues Of Relief For Cybersecurity Whistleblowers Increase

  

  Successful securities and False Claims Act lawsuits and a spate of state legislation over the past year have legitimized cybersecurity deficiencies as a basis for federal and state liability and strengthened protections for whistleblowers, says Matthew LaGarde of Katz Marshall.

• Consumer Finance Poised For Greater Scrutiny From States

  

  As state-level regulators step up consumer finance oversight to fill the void created by more restrained federal regulation in this area, financial institutions should keep an eye on developments and agencies in several key states, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.