2004 Articles

Addressing employee misconduct with confidence By Craig Hunsaker February 2004 San DiegoAn at-will employee spends most of her working hours using your company's high-speed Internet access to download music files to her personal MP3 player.

American Jobs Creation Act has broad range By Ann Marie Breheny December 2004 In addition to the highly publicized new rules for nonqualified deferred compensation plans, the American Jobs Creation Act includes several other compensation and benefit provisions.

Be selective when labeling documents work product By Peter LaSorsa September 2004 When representing clients, attorney communications and works are subject to protection from disclosure-albeit not absolute protection.

Boardrooms and handcuffs-Not a pretty sight By Patrick Costello May 2004 With the recent corporate scandals at Enron, Tyco and WorldCom making front-page news, the sight of handcuffed corporate executives being escorted by armed federal marshals has become an all-too-common sight.

Can a foreign company do business in Mexico? The answer depends on the type of business it plans to do there By Alexander Olsansky, Jr. May 2004 The General Rule is that foreign companies are entitled to do business in Mexico to the same degree as Mexican-owned companies.

Controlling persons’ qualified privilege to influence corporate actions By R. Stephen Scott & Mark D. Thielen November 2004 In its recently published opinion in IOS Capital, Inc. v. Phoenix Printing, Inc., d/b/a Colortech Printing, et al.,1 ("IOS" hereafter), the Fourth District Appellate Court of Illinois reaffirmed Illinois' common law rule allowing a controlling shareholder/director the qualified privilege to influence corporate actions.

Editors’ note December 2004 In an effort to provide timely updates to our Section Council members, we have reprinted hereafter two articles dealing with pension and deferred benefit planning following the American Jobs Creation Act signed into law October 22, 2004

Illinois Supreme Court adopts rule to clarify UPL concerns for in-house counsel; Creates road-block for in-house counsel wishing to change jobs By Michael Todd Scott March 2004 On February 11, 2004, The Illinois Supreme Court adopted new Rule 716. This new rule clarifies the debate on whether in-house counsel who are located in Illinois, but who are not licensed in Illinois are engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.

International stock ownership as a benefits strategy By Randy L. Gegelman & Amy Seidel February 2004 A significant number of multinational corporations have implemented broad-based stock ownership arrangements extending to their foreign employees.

Is your business relationship a franchise? It might be By Robin M. Spencer March 2004 Legal terms often have specialized meanings that can surprise even a sophisticated party. The term 'franchise,' or its derivative 'franchisee,' is one of those terms." To-Am v. Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America, 152 F.3d 658, 659-60 (7th Cir. 1998).

Law department managers hold the line on spending despite tough economy, new survey reports By Altman Weil September 2004 Newtown Square, PA, September 8, 2004-The newly released Altman Weil Law Department Management Benchmarks Survey reports total corporate law department spending per lawyer did not increase in 2003 despite law firm rate increases and other economic pressures.

Law firm document retention policies By Sharon D. Nelson & John W. Simek June 2004 Lawyers and their clients tend to forget that saving unnecessary documents, paper or electronic, can constitute a significant danger.

Letter from the co-editors March 2004 In this issue of The Corporate Lawyer we have two articles we hope you find interesting.

Letter from the co-editors February 2004 In this issue of The Corporate Lawyer we have three articles we hope you find interesting.

Letter from the co-editors January 2004 In this issue of The Corporate Lawyer we have three articles we hope you find interesting. The first is an article on the mutual fund scandal and its impact on your retirement plans. T

The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002: What does it mean to industry? By Patrick Costello February 2004 Following the events of September 11, 2001, Congress expanded its pending maritime anti-smuggling legislation to include the increased threat of terror attacks at ports and other maritime locations, which constitute the hubs of American vessel traffic

The mutual fund scandals and your retirement plans By Ned Othman January 2004 Daily news reports headline that federal and state law enforcement officials, including New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, are investigating trading practices at a number of the nation's leading mutual fund companies.

New rules ahead for nonqualified plans By Ann Marie Breheny December 2004 President Bush signed the American Jobs Creation Act (H.R.4520) into law on October 22, 2004.

Phased retirement: A retention strategy whose time has come By Janemarie Mulvey, Ph.D. August 2004 Rather than stopping work altogether, many retirement-age workers today would prefer to simply shift into a lower gear.

Practical considerations in responsing to subpoenas and search warrants By Daniel M. Purdom July 2004 Veteran white collar criminal defense attorneys can provide a litany of horror stories in which seemingly inconsequential underlying conduct resulted in serious charges of obstruction of justice because of a poorly organized or supervised response to a subpoena or to the execution of a search warrant.

QDRO processing costs can be allocated to individual accounts By Michael Todd Scott January 2004 On May 19, 2003, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-3 to address the allocation of certain defined contribution plan expenses among participant accounts.

SAMPLE DOCUMENT RETENTION POLICY June 2004 A sample policy, for your consideration.

Subject index to substantive articles in volumes 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 & 41 of The Corporate Lawyer June 2004 "An in-house counsel's guide to dealing with cybersquatters-part I (ICCAN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy)"

Supreme Court rules ADEA does not prohibit reverse age discrimination By Kyle Brown August 2004 The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) does not prohibit employment or benefit practices that favor older workers over younger workers, even when the younger workers fall within the ADEA's protected class

What the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 means for associations By Henry Hart January 2004 On December 16, 2003 President Bush signed into law the "CAN-SPAM Act of 2003." The provisions of this Act that are most pertinent to a typical association are described below: