California Corporate & Securities Law

More than a decade ago, I expressedconcern about the Securities and Exchange Commission's predilection for targeting victims of crimes. That concern related to an enforcement action against a company that had been victimized by a multimillion...

In several recent posts, I have discussed Covington & Burling LLPs opposition to an SEC subpoena demanding that the law firm "name names".  See SEC Suit AgainstCovington& Burling Threatens More Than Attorney-Client Privileged Information, SEC...

As previously reported in this blog, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is attempting to force the international law firm of Covington & Burling, LLP to identify hundreds of its publicly traded clients.  See SEC Demands That...

I don't hear many securities lawyers talking about "ecosystems". Indeed, I think of the word as being more the province of environmental lawyers. The word itself is an amalgamation of two Greek words - οἶκος, meaning house, and σύστημα, meaning a...

Planning for a congregational picnic this Sunday past, a local Lutheran church sought permission to use the neighboring Catholic church's parking lot. The Catholic church graciously agreed to allow the use of its lot provided that the Lutherans...

"Nothing but blue skies From now on"

Recently, I enjoyed watching My Name is Bill W., a 1989 movie that starred James Woods, JoBeth Williams and James Garner. The film tells the story of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder William Griffith Wilson (aka Bill W.). In telling his story, the...

Insider trading cases remind me of the following joke attributed to stand-up comic Steven Wright:

In Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), the Supreme Court held that the prosecution has a duty under the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause to disclose evidence to a criminal defendant. The former Chief Executive Officer of IAR Systems...