Sky Blog
In addition to providing legal protection, patents serve a disclosure function aimed chiefly at inventors and technology customers. However, the effect of this disclosure on capital markets has been left largely unexamined in the literature, creating a gap in understanding …
The CLS Blue Sky Blog seeks to focus on current events, and the president has given us an opportunity. He has suggested a shift from a quarterly to a six-month reporting cycle. How would this proposal affect the cost of …
Commercial real estate (CRE) lending is a risky activity that still dominates the business model of many modestly capitalized small and medium-sized banks. Bank supervisory and regulatory reforms recently enacted have reflected some of the lessons from the Great Financial …
New legislation to reform review of foreign direct investment in the United States — the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA) — has just been signed into law. FIRRMA will bring significant changes to the framework according …
In a recent study, we examine the flow of workers between the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and large U.S. audit firms. The PCAOB, created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, oversees the audits of public companies by, among …
In 2000, Overnite Transportation Co. halted its IPO because of a highly disruptive 10-month strike by the Teamsters’ Union. Teamster officials said they had achieved some gains through the strike, noting that Overnite had increased its employees’ hourly wages by …
On June 28, 2018, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA” or the “Act”), which will take effect on January 1, 2020.[1] The Act applies to any organization that conducts business in California and satisfies one of …
With so much boardroom attention on cybersecurity, directors continue to focus on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidance issued earlier this year and its implications. The guidance adds specific expectations for disclosure controls and incident response procedures, and reiterates …
In the consolidated cases of Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris, and National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc.,[1] the U.S. Supreme Court held on May 21 that arbitration agreements in which …
On April 20, 2018, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held in Varjabedian v. Emulex Corp. that a violation of Section 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78n(e) (Exchange Act), which governs tender …
Once a legal unknown, Michael Cohen made it last week to the front pages of both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Charges swirl around him as the personal fixer for President Trump and the alleged …
Closing opinions are letters that attorneys issue for the benefit of parties to a transaction. With these letters, attorneys attest on behalf of their clients to the enforceability and legal status of deals. These letters can reduce information asymmetries and …
In a March 15, 2018 decision in Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. United States Department of Labor, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated in its entirety the so-called “Fiduciary Rule” promulgated …
Firms faced with a class action lawsuit experience reputational and financial penalties. [1] However, research has focused solely on the consequences for the defendant and, to our knowledge, no studies have examined whether the repercussions of alleged malfeasance range beyond …
VUCA is an acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity – four dimensions of risk – and a tool that can used to better manage legal risk. Designed by the U.S. military and reinforced by business,[1] it describes an …
On January 29, 2018, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC (the “Agencies”) released feedback letters to 19 foreign banking organizations (“FBOs”) that last filed plans by December 31, 2015 (the “FBO Feedback”).[1] The …
Watch lawyers, scholars, and a federal judge discuss the thorny issues involved in settling the high-profile class action filed by former players against the pro football league. John C. Coffee, Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia …
Courts in many countries, including the U.S., generally enforce contracts with clauses specifying international arbitration as the preferred avenue for resolving disputes. Accordingly, when drafting such provisions, due consideration must be placed on ensuring that such clauses are drafted to …
When Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, acknowledged paying $130,000 of his own money to Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels), the porn star who once claimed to have had an affair with Trump, Clifford’s lawyer announced that Cohen had …