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• Employer Policy Changes: Notice By Email or Ink ( September 2004 )
  Paul R. Mastrocola of Burns & Levinson LLP

  An employer sends a company-wide email notifying employees about a new policy mandating arbitration of employment disputes. Later, an employee files a lawsuit in Court claiming that he was wrongfully terminated by the company because of a disability. The Court denies the employer’s request that the former employee should be required to arbitrate his claim according to the new policy, and allows the lawsuit to proceed in Court.

• Final NYSE and Nasdaq Corporate Governance Listing Standards Approved; Comparison Chart Updated ( November 2003 )
  Nils H. Okeson, Paul J. Nozick, Stephanie Johnston Thomas and David C. Lowance of Alston & Bird LLP

  On November 4, 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) approved significant changes to the listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq) that are intended to enhance corporate governance and bolster investor confidence following a number of well-publicized corporate failures among U.S. public companies. These listing standard changes are the culmination of nearly two years of deliberations among the Commission, NYSE and Nasdaq.

• NYSE and Nasdaq Corporate Governance Proposals Revisited: Comparison Charts Updated ( October 2003 )
  Paul J. Nozick, Stephanie Johnston Thomas and David C. Lowance of Alston & Bird LLP

  During the fall of 2002, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the New York Stock Exchange proposed changes to their corporate governance listing standards in an effort to bolster investor confidence following a number of well-publicized corporate failures among U.S. public companies. These listing standards supplement, rather than replace, the corporate governance reforms adopted by the SEC pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This spring, Nasdaq and the NYSE each filed amended proposals with the SEC reflecting a number of changes to their original proposals, including changes made in response to public comments and recent SEC rulemaking.

• Corporate Governance Seminar. Seminar Summary of Speaker Jeffrey Knetsch of Brownstein Hyatt & Farber ( October 2003 )
  Jeffrey M. Knetsch of FindLaw M V

  Jeffrey Knetsch, partner at Brownstein Hyatt & Farber, discussed the importance of the new attorney rules of conduct for securities lawyers at FindLaw Corporate Counsel Center's Corporate Governance seminar at Stanford University.

• How Does Sarbanes-Oxley Affect Me Now? ( September 2003 )
  Scott F. Duggan of Goodwin Procter LLP

  The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and various regulatory initiatives impose a variety of obligations and restrictions on public companies. The statutory and regulatory pronouncements include numerous dates and periods on or by which companies must act or refrain from doing certain actions.

• Amendments to NASD and NYSE Analyst Standards Rules ( August 2003 )
  Benjamin J. Catalano, Barri Lynn Bogner, D. Grant Vingoe and Olufolasade  Adamolekun of Dorsey & Whitney, LLP

  On July 29, 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") approved the proposed rule changes by the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. ("NASD") and the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. ("NYSE") (together with other self-regulatory organizations, the "SROs") that further address research analyst conflicts of interest in connection with equity research reports, and are designed to achieve full compliance with the mandates of section 501 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("SOA").

• SEC Approves NYSE and Nasdaq Rules Requiring Shareholder Approval of Equity Compensation Plans ( July 2003 )
  Shearman & Sterling, LLP

  On June 30, 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") issued an order approving certain proposed rule changes of the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") and the Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (the "Nasdaq") requiring shareholder approval of most equity compensation plans.

• Final NYSE Rules Regarding Shareholder Approval of Equity Compensation Plans ( June 2003 )
  Shearman & Sterling, LLP

  Over the course of the last several months, the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") and the Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (the "Nasdaq") have proposed broad corporate governance initiatives, including changes to their respective rules regarding shareholder approval of equity-compensation plans.

• Update: The New Audit Committee Rules ( January 2000 )
  Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

  This update summarizes the new audit committee rules which took effect in the year 2000.

• Ninth Circuit Limits Arbitration of Title VII Claims ( May 1998 )
  Michael J. Tonsing of Littler Mendelson, P.C.

  This article details a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco which has limited virtually every mandatory employment arbitration agreement in the western United States.