Corporate Responsibility: The Board of Directors’ Duty of Oversight: Part II – Practical Applications and Limiting Director Liability The information set forth below constitutes Part II of a two-part Alert regarding the board of directors’ duty of oversight. Part I of this Alert defined the duty of oversight and distinguished it from the board’s responsibilities in the decision making context. Part I is available on our website at [insert hyperlink to Part I] ...
Appeared in Lone Star Express, a puclication of the Lone Star Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, September 2002. The recent reports of corporate fraud, improper accounting practices, and mismanagement have resulted in new legislation and stock exchange standards for publicly-traded corporations. In order to restore confidence in the nation’s financial markets, President George W ...
To Our Public Company Clients and Friends: The SEC has adopted final rules effective August 29, 2002, under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Act”) requiring principal executive officers and principal financial officers of all public companies to certify the accuracy of their annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. These representations are new and are not part of the certification required under Section 906 of the Act ...
To Our Public Company Clients and Friends: The SEC has adopted final rules that shorten the filing deadlines for many public companies’ quarterly and annual reports. The new rules implement changes proposed by the SEC in April 2002 as part of the SEC’s initiative to restore investor confidence in public companies by improving public company disclosure ...
Approaching Compliance with Privacy Regulations Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, including Final Modifications In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”). In 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services issued final regulations under HIPAA establishing privacy standards for certain individually identifiable health information ...
To Our NYSE-Listed Clients: The New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed changes to its listing standards aimed at helping to restore investor confidence by adopting new corporate governance rules ...
The deadline for compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 final regulations regarding standards for electronic claims transactions, October 16, 2002, is quickly approaching ...
A PowerPoint presentationcovering the following: Senate Report on Board's Role in Enron's Collapse Typical Accounting Allegations Reasons for Restatements 1997-2000 Securities Suit Catalysts Messages to the Market... ...
ALI-ABA Pension, Profit-Sharing, Welfare, and other Compensation Plans; Washington, DC Many of the defined contribution health plans being marketed involve a higher deductible indemnity type of coverage either with or without a network of managed care providers (the “Policy”) accompanied by a “personal care account” or “PCA” which is funded either by employer, employee or both contributing to the PCA ...
A SUMMARY OF THE FINAL REGULATIONS ON THE STANDARDS FOR PRIVACY OF INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFORMATION ISSUED DECEMBER 28, 2000 AS MODIFIED BY THE FINAL REGULATIONS ISSUED ON AUGUST 14, 2002 CAVEAT: This outline summarizes the HIPAA Privacy Regulations as modified. No one should rely on this as legal advice. In every situation, the application of the rules requires careful analysis of a counsel who is familiar with your particular situation. I ...
The Department of Labor (“DoL”) has issued 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 ...
The recent accounting frauds and corporate scandals have many in-house counsel, as well as directors and officers, re-examining their responsibilities, obligations, and potential liabilities. New legislation, SEC regulations, stock exchange listing standards and public, media and shareholder scrutiny are imposing new or expanded processes for corporate accountability, financial reporting and business practices ...
Introduction Although companies may understand the importance of protecting their original ideas, many of them do not know how to do so most effectively. Without an effective intellectual property management system, such companies may be squandering business opportunities and allowing competitors to misappropriate their intangible assets. An intellectual property (IP) audit is a necessary first step for all companies interested in evaluating and maximizing their IP assets ...
On October 22, 2002, the SEC proposed rules implementing Sections 404, 406 and 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Act”) ...
Houston American Corporate Counsel Association Chapter
IBA International Business and Energy Law Conference, Nov. 14, 2002 A presentation outline covering the following topics: The Aftermath of the Enron Scandal - - - Negative Impact on the Capital Markets. The Regulatory Response to Restore Public Confidence. Overview of the Five Primary Goals of the Regulatory Response. The Changing Duties and Responsibilities of Corporate Board Members Under the Post-Enron Regulatory Scheme ...
The Internal Revenue Service previously announced that in order for qualified retirement plans to be in compliance with the requirements of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (“EGTRRA”), those plans must make the necessary good faith amendments by the later of (i) the last day of the plan year in which the EGTRRA changes apply, or (ii) the end of the GUST remedial amendment period for the plan. For most plans, the EGTRRA changes apply for the 2002 plan year ...
When Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) was first adopted over two years ago, there was widespread concern that it would have a chilling effect on the disclosure practices of public companies. On November 25, 2002, public companies received their first glimpse of the SEC’s enforcement policies with respect to Regulation FD when the SEC announced the first three enforcement actions under Regulation FD and issued an additional report of investigation relating to Regulation FD ...
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 ...
