Federal Reserve Board Aids in Implementing Title VII The Federal Reserve Board is taking seriously its share of responsibility under the Dodd-Frank Act. Michael Gibson, the Senior Associate Director of the Division of Research and Statistics on the Federal Reserve Board spoke before members of Congress last week (June 15, 2011) to communicate the Board’s…

Law firms need to take a lesson from their business-clients by utilizing technology to become more efficient and cut costs to clients. During the economic downturn, the quest for efficiency has been a primary focus for many companies struggling to adjust to the new business climate.  Many companies are finding that Web 2.0 technologies are…

Being that my brand is BrandGeek®, when I saw the Wall Street Journal headline, “Now That Everyone Wants to Be a Geek, Lawyers Have Been Called,” I thought trouble surely was headed my way.  Thankfully, I’m not pedaling electronics, nor religion via VW Beetle, so it appears I’m safe.  For now.  Imagine the panic when…

Canadian Entities Aim for OTC Derivatives Regulation Though Canada represented only $9 trillion of the $600 trillion OTC derivatives market last year, Canadian investors were not exempt from the fury of the recent market meltdown. In 2007, Canadian investors involved in the asset-backed commercial paper market suffered losses of $35 billion. But, losses notwithstanding, our…

On June 20, 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program, first introduced in 2008.  The program will greatly increase the number of gTLDs allowed for use on the internet, which is currently limited to 22 (such as .com, .org, and .net). It allows new…

SEC Provides Guidance and Temporary Relief Regarding Security-Based Swap Provisions of Dodd-Frank Act The SEC today issued guidance as to whichTitle VII requirements will apply to security-based swap transactions when Dodd-Frank goes into effect.   It also granted temporary relief to market participants from compliance with most of the new Exchange Act requirements that would otherwise…

On March 14, 2011, Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar introduced a bill titled the Startup Visa Act of 2011, which is an updated version of a 2010 bill.  If passed, the act would provide temporary work visas to various kinds of foreign workers if certain financial benchmarks are met. 1.       For foreign entrepreneurs: (a) a…

The Status of Regulation in the European Union With Dodd-Frank taking effect in less than a month, officials on both sides of the Atlantic have been pressuring one another to implement stricter financial regulations, while equivocating on the regulations that they are willing to accept at home.  Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and…

Testimony by Mary Schapiro on Financial Regulatory Reform: The International Context In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro noted that the US regulators have consulted, and will continue to consult with, international securities regulators that are considering OTC derivatives market reforms.  Schapiro explained that because the OTC derivative marketplace already…

As discussed in my December 13, 2010 post, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBBs) offers a streamlined, self-regulatory mechanism for remedying false advertising claims made in nationally distributed advertisements.  While NAD has a 95% success rate, those advertisers who fail to follow NAD’s recommendations may find themselves before the FTC upon NAD’s recommendation. On February 16, 2011,…