I. Why now? The rapidly increasing cost of health care, with the resulting increase in the cost of employer-provided health benefit plans, has caused employers to search for ways to contain their health plan expenses. Rising costs, along with general employee dissatisfaction with the lack of choice of health care providers under many plans and the perceived lack of quality within many of the networks available to employees, has created an environment ripe for new ideas ...
Florida West Coast Employee Benefits Council This outline looks at the privacy regulations as modified by the August 14, 2002, final modifications and how they apply to group health plans. This outline also considers the impact of the guidance issued by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services on December 4, 2002 ...
Florida West Coast Employee Benefits Council The following chart attempts to summarize some of the types of group health plans and which of the HIPAA privacy notice and administrative requirements apply to the plan. No one should rely on this as legal advice. In every situation, the application of the rules requires careful analysis of one's own counsel who is familiar with your particular situation ...
Introduction Copyrights are defined in the Copyright Act as “Original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device ...
On Wednesday, January 15, 2003, the SEC adopted rules implementing Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Act”). The SEC’s new rules under the Act require public companies to disclose in each annual report on Form 10-K (U.S. companies), Form 40-F (Canadian companies) or Form 20-F (non-U.S ...
On January 23, 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) published new rules under Section 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that will require public companies to disclose whether they have at least one “audit committee financial expert” serving on their audit committees. This Client Alert does not cover the rules recently adopted under Section 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that apply to registered investment companies ...
Presentation to the National Investor Relations Institute A Powerpoint presentation covering the following: Impact of SEC Rules Adopted in January 2003 Disclosure Controls and Disclosure Committees Accelerated Filings Real Time Disclosures Certifications M D & A News Releases Update on Regulation FD and Investor Relations Issues Enforcement of Reg ...
Department of Justice/Immigration and Naturalization Service: * INS has temporarily lowered its filing fees for certain petitions/applications. The fee change is due to a provision of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 requiring the elimination of a surcharge the INS previously attached in order to fund asylum and refugee services, fee exemptions and fee waivers ...
Annual International Business Law Institute, International Law Section, Dallas Bar Association A Powerpoint presentation covering the following: Introduction Political Developments Legal Developments Mexican Energy Issues Tax Developments Conclusion
As a part of sweeping corporate governance reforms mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the SEC adopted ethical rules for attorneys who represent public companies and their nonpublic subsidiaries. The SEC rules make it clear that “attorneys can’t get a pass” from participating in corporate wrongdoing and attempt to hold attorneys accountable much like accountants and bankers have been for their roles in corporate financial scandals ...
Common Evidence Problems Discovery for a New Millennium 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. Businesses are also managed in a wide variety of electronic formats, including spreadsheet programs, databases and computer aided design tools ...
First the auditors, then the bankers and now the lawyers. Many have questioned the role of lawyers in recent corporate scandals and expressed the view that lawyers should not be allowed to be bystanders and perhaps even facilitate (whether or not knowingly) corporate wrongdoings ...
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in July 2002 in response to several corporate financial and disclosure scandals. Section 307 of the Act directs the SEC to “issue rules, in the public interest and for the protection of investors, setting forth minimum standards of professional conduct for attorneys appearing and practicing before the Commission ...
The Department of Labor (“DoL”) has issued final rules that implement the pension blackout provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Act”). These rules require plan administrators of individual account plans to deliver advance notice of blackout periods and will be effective for blackouts which begin on or after January 26, 2003 ...
On January 29, 2003, pursuant to the requirements of Section 307 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the SEC issued a release adopting a new Rule 205 entitled “Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys Appearing and Practicing Before the Commission in the Representation of an Issuer” (the “Standards”) ...
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 ...
Legal Duties of Directors and Guidelines for Insulating Them From Liability After Sarbanes-Oxley
Now that the 60-day deadline for filing new legislation without suspension of the rules has passed, for all practical purposes all legislation that will be offered this session has now been filed. Bills that could impact Texas employers generally, are listed by bill number and contain author, the committee the bill has been referred to, and any action that has been taken. House of Representatives H.B ...
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 ...
A recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision underscores the importance to plan administrators of maintaining proper procedures for the distribution of summary plan descriptions (SPD’s) under ERISA. Each participant in a plan which is subject to ERISA must be furnished an SPD satisfying ERISA’s content requirements within 90 days after he or she becomes a participant ...
As seen in the Houston Business Journal ...
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
