The legislative torrent has been virtually unprecedented in the area of workplace privacy.  In a single season, spring 2013, seven states enacted social media password protection legislation, bringing the total number of states to 11 since Maryland enacted the first such law in May 2012.  Bills are pending in more than 20 other states.  The current roster of states, dominated by the Rocky Mountain Region and the Far West, is as follows:  Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada,...

Federal agencies have released their spring 2013 regulatory agendas outlining the rules they will likely propose or issue in final form during the next six-month period.  While agencies often stray from their stated goals and deadlines, the agendas provide a glimpse of the issues and topic areas agencies such as the Department of Labor (DOL), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) consider priorities. The latest agenda reveals that the Obama administration plans...

Companies are facing more and more legal disputes and as a result, are increasing the size of their legal departments while focusing on a variety of alternative means of dealing with potential litigation, according to AlixPartners' Litigation and Corporate Compliance Survey.¹ As such lawsuits grow more costly and more complex, companies have begun to reassess their compliance programs and implement new tools and processes that can reduce litigation-related risks. Litigation—and Costs—on the Rise Amid tighter regulations and more and more regulatory...

For the third time in the last four months, the Trepp CMBS delinquency rate fell significantly. The rate dropped 17 basis points last month, bringing the delinquency rate for US commercial real estate loans in CMBS to 8.48% in July. This improvement comes on the heels of a 42-basis-point drop in June and a 47-basis-point plunge in April. Only a four-basis-point increase in May interrupted the recent gains in the delinquency picture. The Trepp delinquency rate is now 123 basis...

Second Highest Monthly Volume; Loss Severity Falls After a spike in loss severity last month, July saw a big jump in liquidated CMBS loan volume and a concurrent drop in loss severity. July brought the second highest liquidation volume since TreppWire started tracking the number in January of 2010. July liquidations totaled $2.05 billion, relative to the 12-month moving average of $1.35 billion. The highest monthly liquidated volume was in November 2011 with $2.10 billion in liquidated loans. While November 2011...

On July 18, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with various member states of the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) formalizing an agreement that facilitates the sharing of information and other assistance between the regulators in relation to private fund managers with operations that are subject to oversight in the United States and in one of the European jurisdictions. The SEC and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA),...

EACCNY member, NautaDutilh Brussels office published its first report on expectations in the Belgian private equity and venture capital sector. In addition to charting market expectations, the report highlights a number of specificities of the Belgian market, such as the importance of the life sciences and energy sectors, distressed M&A, and family businesses. A total of 57 respondents, including private equity and venture capital professionals, bankers, corporate finance advisors, and university professors, completed our online survey and provided valuable feedback. The...

EACC New York member, the National Corporate Theatre Fund reports that the 50th anniversaries of five NCTF theatres, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Guthrie, Hartford Stage, Seattle Rep and Trinity Rep, garnered a $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to fund new work.   This support celebrates the role of the Foundation in kicking off the regional theatre movement in full force 50 years ago, and we were delighted that Luis Ubiñas, President of Ford, bestowed our Achievement in Theatre...