Law360.com, a premium website for US securities attorneys, may even be of interest to some of us who are simply focused on what’s happening in the capital market, particularly the financial media who, too often I think, get caught up in pushing the wrong buttons.
Let’s face it, the financial services industry as well as those who direct and manage public companies have for too long promoted self-interest ahead of their clients and investors. Simply being aware of the serious matters covered daily by law360.com can help improve the public’s awareness of the risks involved in investing.
Securities Cases To Watch In 2017
2017 is not likely to slow down the pace set by an exciting 2016 for securities, as the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s first insider trading case in decades reaches the lower courts, the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule faces an uncertain legal battle, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prepares to defend its ability to collect ill-gotten gains.Securities Regulation To Watch In 2017
Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency has sent stock markets climbing while investment firms jubilantly await a promised roll-back of the Dodd-Frank Act and other major securities rules. While campaign-trail promises often don’t work out as planned, with new faces in the White House and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one thing’s for certain — the financial industry is set for massive changes in the next twelve months.Banking Legislation And Regulation To Watch In 2017
The coming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump and Republican majorities in both houses of Congress mean that banks and other financial firms can expect to see some changes they had been pushing for come to pass in 2017, but when those changes come and what they will be remains highly uncertain.Delaware Chancery Cases To Watch In 2017
The Delaware Chancery Court is set to have a year where long-festering issues may finally come to a head and provide attorneys some definitive guidance. From how to deal with appraisal actions, to liability for financial advisers on a deal, some major questions may finally be answered in 2017 that are anticipated to have a profound impact on corporate litigation.M&A Cases To Watch In 2017
Mergers and acquisitions attorneys anticipate 2017 bringing clarity from the courts on a number of long-disputed matters, including appraisal arbitrage, post-closing stockholder litigation and stockholding structures, all of which they say could have significant effects on the deal-making world.White Collar Cases To Watch in 2017
The coming months will provide a glut of trials and enforcement cases to watch as federal prosecutors attempt to broaden foreign bribery liability, navigate a new public corruption landscape, shield corporate monitorships and convince juries that some bond sales practices are crimes.Texas Cases To Watch In 2017
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s expected jury trial over felony securities fraud charges is just one of several closely watched Texas cases poised for big developments in 2017, with appellate courts set to rule on two verdicts each tipping the scales at more than a half-billion dollars, and the Texas Supreme Court ready to decide major defamation and property tax cases.
Most of us think of the law as being black and white, but securities law is gray, sometimes a bit blacker, sometimes a bit whiter, but always gray and most times too confusing for a public jury to render a fair decision. Therein lies the Rule of Money. Those who have it are the usual winners in capital markets related legal disputes, social equity be damned.
Yesterday my wife and I discussed the widely varying quality of Casa Particular (bed and breakfast) industry in Havana, both agreeing that some of these homes and their owners are terrible and some are spectacular. Pat took the position that the authorities need to intervene and I said I think it best to leave the matter to the court of public opinion, expressed for all to see by reviews in Expedia and Airbnb. I further opined that if the authorities were to get involved in setting a quality standard here, and hopefully not, they could simply investigate those establishments that are lowest rated by the customers.
This conversation reminded me of a meeting I attended while a member of an Ontario government Task Force that had been mandated with the task of cleaning up the over-the-counter trading market in Ontario, hence Canada. There were as I recall four of us representing the securities industry, one for public companies and five for the government regulators and the Toronto Exchange regulation. At one point, the regulators were arguing the case for greater regulation and I took the opposite side. I asked, why not simply impose much bigger fines and sanctions against the miscreant actors? That would demand a greater burden on the prosecution, I’m sure, but in the end the public jury would decide what’s fair as they are the ones being taken advantage of by scoundrel operators.
At the end of the day, I want the capital markets to be ours because it is our capital that moves prices higher or lower. Regrettably, for almost ten years that has not been the case. Central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and Humongous Bank & Broker now are the controllers of market prices. That’s not fair, but it is what it is. There is not much we can do about this situation because securities law is created and overseen by the people we vote into office but who in short order we always discover are mostly members of the bought-and-paid-for club.
What we can do may not seem like much, but if enough of us do it, we could make an impact. We can become more aware of securities law and the cases being presented in regulatory hearings and in court. We can then submit our views to the media, to the financial services firms, to the public company executives, to our elected representatives, and to the securities regulators. We can show them that we care not to be taken advantage of by people who are using our capital for their purposes, against us.
Should enough of us decide to get involved, just maybe we can somewhat balance the scales of justice.
Enjoy your day,
/Bill
