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Securities Class Action Trial Starts This Week Against Vivendi
U.S. Court News |
2009/10/05 15:29
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The litigation equivalent of Halley's comet is about to streak into view in Manhattan federal district court. Yes, folks, when trial in the shareholder suit against Vivendi and two of its former executives begins this week before Judge Richard Holwell, it may be your once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness a so-called f-cubed securities class action trial, involving foreign investors who bought shares of foreign companies on foreign exchanges. Paul Saunders of Cravath, Swaine amp; Moore giving the opening statement for the defendants and Arthur Abbey of Abbey Spanier Rodd amp; Abrams is appearing as lead counsel for the plaintiffs. James Quinn of Weil, Gotshal amp; Manges, our most recent Litigator of the Week, is cocounsel for the defense.
Plaintiffs in the case, which has been around since 2002, are shareholders across the U.S. and Europe who allege that Vivendi--then known as Vivendi Universal--made false and misleading statements in 2001 and 2002, when Vivendi's former CEO, Jean-Marie Messier, was transforming the French water company into a media conglomerate through a mad dash of acquisitions. Plaintiffs claim that Vivendi, Messier, and former chief financial officer Guillaume Hannezo concealed a liquidity crisis, whose revelation ultimately caused the stock to drop.
a href=http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/digestTAL.jsp?id=1202434303037amp;On_y_va_Extremely_Rare_FCubed_Securities_Class_Action_Trial_Starts_This_Week_Against_VivendiRead more.../a |
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Is the iPhone Ready for Law Firms?
Legal Opinions |
2009/10/02 16:14
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pIt used to be that the only thing lawyers tried to recruit was new clients. But these days, seemingly every firm has a group of attorneys pushing to bring aboard something else entirely: iPhones. And they want them badly./ppI have probably 15 people who continue to e-mail me about it, says the IT director at an Am Law 100 firm who asked not to be identified. This one attorney, he goes out and finds someone who says he can solve any iPhone problem for $175, he says. These attorneys, they want this thing so much, they are off trying to solve my problems. God bless them, but they don't know what they're doing. /ppThe issue isn't technical. It's relatively simple to hook an iPhone into a corporate network, since it can use the same Microsoft Exchange Server that most firms already use for their BlackBerrys. Instead, IT directors' reluctance boils down to this: The BlackBerry was designed from the ground up to do one thing: transmit e-mail securely. Other features have been tacked onto newer models, but robust, secure, immediate e-mail was -- and is -- at the BlackBerry's core. The iPhone, on the other hand, is more of a consumer device with e-mail tacked on. Law firms shied away from the iPhone because it couldn't match the BlackBerry on security. And security -- well, that's at the core of a law firm IT director's job. The original iPhone and the later 3G model had no local encryption, which meant that everything on the device was stored in clear text, says the IT director. The simple passcodes many users had -- if they used any passcode at all -- could be hacked, and then everything would be viewable. We told our attorneys this was a deal-breaker.
But with the release of the latest iPhone, the a href=http://www.apple.com/iphone/ target=new3GS/a, along with the new iPhone 3.0 operating system, the platform is looking more business-friendly. Forget about the consumer-oriented enhancements (like the upgraded camera on the 3GS, capable of shooting video). The real story, at least for law firms, is the vast array of enterprise-focused improvements. The 3GS phone now has local encryption along with more memory (up to 32 gigabytes) and a faster processor. And with the 3.0 OS, law firms running Exchange can require the use of strong passwords (the complicated ones, with numbers and letters, that no one except IT administrators want to take the time to create and use) and remotely wipe devices that have been lost or stolen. Users get a long-awaited, cut-copy-paste feature (a glaring omission on the iPhone until now), a landscape keyboard option for easier typing, and the ability to search the from, to, and subject headers (but not, alas, the body) on their e-mail, as well as their iPhone contact list, calendar and notes.
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Bondholders committee, board OK CIT restructuring
Law Firm News |
2009/10/02 16:12
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Struggling CIT Group Inc. has launched a debt restructuring effort it hopes will trim at least $5.7 billion from its balance sheet, but also is asking bondholders to approve a prepackaged reorganization plan in case it is forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
pNew York-based CIT, one of the nation's largest lenders to small and midsize businesses, has been devastated by the downturn in the credit markets and is attempting to restructure its operations to remain in business. CIT received $2.3 billion in federal bailout aid last fall, a $3 billion emergency loan in July from some of its largest bondholders, and bought back $1 billion in debt but still needs to reduce its debt burden to survive./ppThe company said late Thursday that its restructuring plan has been approved by its board and by the steering committee of its bondholders. Under terms of the deal, bondholders would exchange their current notes for a portion of five series of newly issued secured notes, with maturities ranging from four to eight years, and/or newly issued preferred shares./ppThe exchange offers will expire just before midnight Oct. 29. However, for the out-of-court debt restructuring to be successful, CIT said at least $5.7 billion worth of debt must be able to be wiped off of its balance sheet./ppTherefore, CIT also is asking most bondholders and other holders of CIT debt to approve a prepackaged reorganization plan so the company has the option of filing for and quickly exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the event the debt swap doesn't achieve its goals./p |
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Burford Capital In GBP200M IPO For Lawsuit Funding
Legal News |
2009/09/28 10:11
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Burford Capital Ltd., a closed-end investment company, said Mondayit wants to raise up to GBP200 million in a share placing on London'sjunior market to mark its place in a small but growing sector of fundsthat help finance companies' legal costs in commercial disputes. p Burford Capital said it will start out by investing in disputesbetween companies in the U.S., as well as in those going tointernational arbitration. Later on, it might expand into to otherjurisdictions, it said. A typical investment is expected to be for morethan $3 million and as high as $15 million. /pp By providing cash to companies to help foot their legal costs, theGuernsey company will be hoping to pick up a share of any awards orsettlements and then pay out money to its shareholders in the form ofdividends. /pp It didn't say what percentage of proceeds it would ask for, but similar funds take between 20% and 45%. /pp The company's investment adviser is Burford Group Ltd., set up by U.S. lawyers Christoper Bogart and Selvyn Seidel. /pp Third-party commercial dispute finance is a high growth market,helping plaintiffs or defendants get civil justice, Bogart said in astatement. He said these kinds of investment can generate highlyattractive returns that aren't tied to the performance of stockmarkets. /pp Bogart's previous jobs include serving as executive vice presidentand general counsel of Time Warner Inc., and as chief executive of TimeWarner Cable Ventures. More recently, he was CEO of Churchill VenturesLtd., a special purpose acquisition vehicle, or SPAC, that dissolved inDecember without having made an investment. He is also general partnerat a private fund, Glenavy Arbitration Investment Fund LP, with asimilar strategy to Burford Capital.
/ppa href=http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090928-702577.htmlRead more.../a
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