Category Archives: Corporate Law

Treatise Update: Corporate Whistleblowing in the Sarbanes-Oxley/Dodd-Frank Era (Second Edition)

Corporate Whistleblowing in the Sarbanes-Oxley/Dodd-Frank Era (Second Edition)dives into the federal and state regulations and agency rules addressing whistleblowers and international investigations. It provides practical advice on minimizing the risk and damage of whistleblower complaints against employers and conducting effective internal investigations. Practitioners and business professionals dealing with SOX Act and Dodd-Frank whistleblower actions will find valuable insights into dynamic case law and evolving rules that shape the rights of whistleblowers and the responsibilities of their employers. Readers will gain thorough coverage of key topics, including the elements of a prima facie case, employer defenses, compliance and crisis communication strategies, whistleblower protections, bounty provisions, and more.

The new release includes the following updates:

  • Expanded section 2:1.3, Employees Outside of the United States, explores Daramola v. Oracle America, Inc., in which the Ninth Circuit held that in the case of a Canadian citizen working in Canada for the Canadian subsidiary of a publicly traded U.S. parent company, any domestic (that is, U.S.) duties the employee performed were incidental to his foreign employment and, therefore, the application of SOX under these circumstances would not be domestic in nature.
  • Revised section 5:5, Causation, explains Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, in which the Supreme Court held, that while a whistleblower bringing a claim under SOX must prove that the protected activity was a contributing factor in the unfavorable personnel action, a whistleblower need not also prove that the employer acted with retaliatory intent.
  • New chapter 7, EU Whistleblower Protection Directive, examines the Whistleblower Protection Directive 2019/1937 adopted by the EU to enhance the enforcement of EU law and policies in specific areas by laying down common minimum standards providing for a high level of protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law.

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Free Legal Form of the Month

PLI PLUS offers unlimited electronic access to more than 4,500 downloadable, searchable, and editable legal forms ready for use in your practice. In an effort to highlight this unique content type, we’ve selected one form per month and made it available for anyone to download for free – no subscription required.

June’s free form:

Framework of an Investment Management Agreement

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Treatise Update- International Corporate Practice: A Practitioner’s Guide to Global Success

International Corporate Practice provides guidance on building a comprehensive global legal department and includes advice on structuring, staffing, and budgeting, as well as the use of foreign legal consultants and outsourcing.

Written by some of the nation’s leading corporate attorneys, this book will help you to develop compliance programs that minimize clients’ legal exposure in foreign markets, commercialize intellectual property, evaluate successful mergers and acquisitions abroad, structure effective international project financing transactions, ensure clients satisfy international guidelines crucial to their global viability, and manage legal challenges facing clients overseas.

The new release includes updates to the following chapters:

The Index has also been updated for this release.

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Free Legal Form of the Month

PLI PLUS offers unlimited electronic access to more than 4,500 downloadable, searchable, and editable legal forms ready for use in your practice. In an effort to highlight this unique content type, we’ve selected one form per month and made it available for anyone to download for free – no subscription required.

February’s free form:

Checklist to Log SEC Document Requests

More information about Legal Forms & Checklists:

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New Title! Corporate Valuation in Mergers and Acquisitions

PLI Press is proud to announce the publication of the new treatise Corporate Valuation in Mergers and Acquisitions.

This book offers a solid primer on the legal, finance, accounting, and economic aspects of valuation in merger and acquisition (“M&A”) transactions.  It addresses a wide range of issues that can arise in the process of evaluating a target or acquirer in an M&A transaction. The book also provides helpful reference materials in each chapter that the reader may consult when facing a particular issue, along with many documentary appendices relating to valuation issues.

This book offers a solid primer on the legal, finance, accounting, and economic aspects of valuation in merger and acquisition (“M&A”) transactions.  It addresses a wide range of issues that can arise in the process of evaluating a target or acquirer in an M&A transaction. The book also provides helpful reference materials in each chapter that the reader may consult when facing a particular issue, along with many documentary appendices relating to valuation issues.

Notably, the book covers the following important topics:

  • Basic business and regulatory M&A principles (see Chapter 1)
  • Valuation due diligence (see Chapter 3)
  • The process for determining a target’s value (see Chapter 4)
  • The Relative Valuation Techniques (see Chapter 15)
  • Valuation issues in management-led leveraged buyouts of publicly held companies (see Chapter 18)
  • The valuation of commercial banks (see Chapter 19)
  • Arbitrage Pricing and Adjusted Present Value Models (see Chapter 20)

In addition, the book examines the role of investment bankers, valuation experts, and the courts in several instructive M&A cases.

We are excited to share this new title with you!

PLUS Subscribers can access this title with their subscription.

Order a print copy today.

 Is your library interested in subscribing to PLI’s Standing Order Plan (SOP)? SOP subscribers automatically receive print copies of new titles to review upon release.  If you decide to keep the title, you will receive a discount up to 25% off the title and all future supplements. Call 877.900.5291 or email libraryrelations@pli.edu to learn more.

Treatise Update – Directors’ and Officers’ Liability: Current Law, Recent Developments, Emerging Issues (Third Edition)

Directors’ and Officers’ Liability expounds the legal responsibilities of board directors and corporate officers of publicly-traded companies, the penalties that they face if they fail to meet their obligations, and the protections that are offered them under the law or by agreement.  The book also delves into director and officer duties, exculpation, indemnity, insurance, cybersecurity, and contested mergers and acquisitions. It highlights unique case studies relevant to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, hospitality, retail, and other sectors.

Highlights of this release include updated discussion of the following topics:

  • Board Diversity Legislation and Litigation: Litigation continues in challenges to California’s S.B. 826 and A.B. 979, which require public companies to diversify their boards. Both laws have been ruled unconstitutional, but appeals are pending before the Ninth Circuit in Meland v. Weber and Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. Weber. See § 2:3.3[C] for discussion of the latest developments.
  • Amendments to Rule 10b5-1: In December 2022, the SEC adopted amendments to Rule 10b5-1 to introduce new requirements for Rule 10b5-1 trading plans and elicit more comprehensive disclosure related to insider trading policies and the timing of certain option grants to officers and directors of public companies. See § 4:4.1[B] for explanation of the rule changes.
  • Anti-D&I Shareholder Derivative Litigation: As companies push to adopt D&I initiatives some have been confronted with an anti-D&I backlash in the form of shareholder derivative suits. One such significant case brought against Starbucks was recently dismissed by the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. See § 8:6.2[B] for discussion of the court’s holding.

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Treatise Update – Doing Business Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Second Edition)

Doing Business Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Second Edition) helps corporate lawyers, in-house sales teams, and other U.S.-based and overseas stakeholders understand the issues and rules they should consider when negotiating transactions or accepting compensation in compliance with the FCPA. Readers will learn the necessary, proactive steps for identifying and avoiding common FCPA transactional illegalities.

The book addresses key information regarding whistleblower considerations and harsh penalties for falsified books and records, mischaracterized payments, fictitious invoices, insufficient internal accounting controls, and more. This title also includes helpful sample acknowledgements, compliance plans, and agreement clauses that address FCPA considerations.

Key updates in the new release include:

  • The SEC’s Amended Whistleblower Rules:  Coverage of the August 2022 changes to the SEC’s final rules implementing the whistleblower provisions (see section 1:1).
  • Case Law Developments: Discussion of the holdings in United States v. Hoskins and United States v. Rafoi-Bleuler regarding the scope of the term “agent” as applied to a foreign national (see section 4:1.3).
  • The DOJ’s Updated Evaluation Guidance: Information regarding the DOJ’s March 2023 guidance emphasizing the importance of implementing compliance-promotion criteria in a company’s compensation and bonus system (see section 10:1).
  • New Appendix B62: Department of Justice FCPA Opinion Release— Situation Involving Extortion or Duress.
  • New Appendix B63: Department of Justice FCPA Opinion Release— Payment of Travel Expenses for Post-Adoption Supervision.

In addition, the book offers information on the latest cases, enforcement actions, and settlements and provides several adaptable forms and templates (see the Related Items tab under “Forms”).

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New Edition! Anti-Money Laundering Deskbook (Second Edition)

PLI Press is proud to announce the publication of the second edition of Anti-Money Laundering Deskbook.

This book is a comprehensive and accessible guide to the money laundering and anti-money laundering (“AML”) legal regimes and compliance requirements for U.S. financial institutions. Designed as a practical resource to serve a wide audience of professionals, the deskbook integrates real-world enforcement cases to illuminate complex concepts in a practical way and demonstrates how those cases have shaped AML policies and practices. It also provides insight into the intersection between the two legal regimes, offering a full view of the legal and regulatory landscape.

Some of the recent developments reflected in this new edition include:

  • Criminal money laundering laws: Explanation of the extraterritorial application of the criminal money laundering laws (see Section 2:3.4).
  • AML laws and regulations: Discussion of the AML Act and the expansion of U.S. AML laws and regulations (see Section 4:1.3).
  • AML compliance and enforcement: Coverage of new developments with respect to AML compliance in the digital assets industry and the role of state regulators in AML compliance and enforcement (see Section 4:2.5 and Chapter 8).
  • Money laundering risks: Identification and analysis of the money laundering risks of new financial technologies (see Chapter 12).

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Treatise Update – Hillman on Documenting Secured Transactions: Effective Drafting and Litigation (Third Edition)

Hillman on Documenting Secured Transactions offers grounded guidance on best practices for documenting and litigating secured transactions prepared pursuant to Revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.). It offers a working grasp of the legal, technical, and business aspects of Article 9 transactions and examines the effects of the 2022 Amendments on nearly every article of the U.C.C. To gain free access to Chapter 18, which addresses the 2022 Amendments in more detail, click here.

Among the many topics updated in this new release are the following:

  • Perfection: A table of the new perfection methods under the 2022 Amendments (see section 2:6.2).
  • Signed Security Agreements: A listing of the increased number of situations in which a signed security agreement is not necessary under the 2022 Amendments (see section 4:1.2).
  • After-Acquired Collateral: A summary of the ways in which the 2022 Amendments narrow the scope of the prohibitions against security interests in after-acquired consumer goods or commercial tort claims (see section 7:2).
  • Control Under the 2022 Amendments: A discussion of how the 2022 Amendments offer new ways to perfect security interests in digital assets (see section 18:4).
  • Unperfected Security Interests: An explanation of the changes the 2022 Amendments make to U.C.C. § 9-317(b) regarding buyers who receive delivery (see section 19:2.1).

Order a print copy today.

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Free Legal Form of the Month

PLI PLUS offers unlimited electronic access to more than 4,500 downloadable, searchable, and editable legal forms ready for use in your practice. In an effort to highlight this unique content type, we’ve selected one form per month and made it available for anyone to download for free – no subscription required.

August’s free form:

Trade Secret Protection Checklist

More information about Legal Forms & Checklists:

  • Forms & Checklists Flyer – This flyer provides an overview of the forms & checklists on PLI PLUS and highlights a handful of popular examples.
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