TheCorporateCounsel.net

February 17, 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Late Friday, Congress finished its conferencing and passed the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” – and law firms went to work drafting their memos analyzing this stimulus package (we’ll be posting all these memos in our “American Recovery Act” Practice Area). The final text of the legislation is posted on the White House’s site in five parts, along with the ability for anybody to post comments!

The most relevant part of the legislation for our members is the tax provisions in Division B, which includes the controversial executive compensation restrictions among others (eg. see this Hodak Value commentary) – even President Obama is not happy with what Senator Dodd inserted as the final exec comp language. Oddly, the stimulus legislation went from no new executive compensation restrictions on Friday morning to more restrictive than previously contemplated by the end of the day. More coverage to come…

Developments in Debt Restructurings & Debt Tender/Exchange Offers

One impact of the Recovery Act is a reduced tax burden for those companies that restructure or cancel debt, which may complicate tax planning. To learn about this and more, tune in tomorrow for this DealLawyers.com webcast – “Developments in Debt Restructurings & Debt Tender/Exchange Offers” – featuring:

– Alex Gendzier, Partner, Jones Day
– Jay Goffman, Partner, Skadden Arps
– Richard Truesdell, Partner, Davis Polk
– Casey Fleck, Partner, Skadden, Arps

Heightened Enforcement Activity for Financial Fraud

In this podcast, Sharie Brown of DLA Piper discusses:

– What important legislation has been introduced lately to curb white collar crime?
– Why is financial fraud likely to be an area of increased government enforcement focus?
– What can companies do pro-actively to improve their own fraud detection efforts?

– Broc Romanek