As we enter 2008, all the trend lines for securities litigation and SEC enforcement are up, as litigation rates appear to have increased dramatically across a wide swath of corporate America by the end of last year. The headlines have focused on the sub-prime "meltdown," and the attendant class and derivative litigation that quickly has followed. But sub-prime related class action litigation will not be the only big story for 2008. Here is a quick run-down of Jonathan C. Dickey's "top five" litigation trends for the coming year.
At the General Counsel West Coast Roundtable, hosted by the Economist Group, FTI, and Corporate Board Member, GCs discussed executive compensation, managing risk, disputes (and when to litigate, or not), transparency, compliance, and their relationships with their boards.
They rank the national law firms and sound off about their jobs, their board relationships, and their own legal worries.
Results of the 2007
Corporate Board Member/FTI Consulting Study: Overall, while directors and general counsel opinions were in lockstep on many items in our survey, responses differed on a number of issues—from the influence of e-discovery to the hiring of outside legal and nonlegal counsel.
More in-house attorneys are finding themselves in legal hot water, says David Machlowitz, GC of Medco Health Solutions. He thinks boards should understand what the challenges are.
Yes, directors are busy people. But a general counsel must always be ready to insist on being heard, says Michele Coleman Mayes, GC of Pitney Bowes and a member of the board at Assurant Inc.
Here's what Heidi A. Lawson and Dora M. Gruner of Debevoise & Plimpton think boards should be doing.
In association with FTI Consulting, Corporate Board Member recently executed its sixth comprehensive study of U.S. directors and corporate general counsel in order to rank directors’ choices of the most respected law firms both nationally and by 25 metropolitan statistical areas. Surveys were mailed to 21,564 directors and 2,393 general counsel of publicly traded companies.
In addition to the rankings, the results of which were featured in the July/August issue of Corporate Board Member magazine, the study also gathered opinions and attitudes on today’s most challenging corporate legal issues and practices. This supplement to Corporate Board Member magazine features the full report of these results, along with relevant commentary from Corporate Board Member and FTI Consulting on related trends and analysis.
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has become an area of increasing focus in boardrooms. Directors, investors, and now rating agencies are demanding transparency about the risks facing an enterprise. While ERM is important for the sustainability of the business, the transparency of management’s approach to the identification and mitigation of risks may now affect market value.
The number of settlements with estimated damages above $1 billion is the lowest since 2003, but median settlement reaches highest level ever at $9 million.
Peggy A. Heeg, member of the Fulbright &
Jaworski Executive Committee, co-chair of the Fulbright & Jaworski Corporate Governance Practice Group, and partner in Corporate Section, discusses when getting outside counsel might be the right move and if trouble exists down the road with compliance.
The GC's mandate: leadership and accountability.
In these increasingly financially troubled times, a recent decision by the Delaware bankruptcy court should serve as a cautionary tale for directors and officers generally, and general counsel in particular.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently handed down a decision that recognized that liability may be imposed on in-house counsel in cases for poor oversight and monitoring allowing breach of fiduciary duty by the corporation’s directors and officers.
