Hiring a fee-only financial planner.
This is the second column to expand on the suggestions made in my January "New Year's Resolutions" column. (The January column can be found in the archives at www.skinandallergynews.com.) The suggestion on long-range financial planning generated a lot of feedback. It seems that many readers are concerned...

Sorting out prerogatives.
Now playing on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives is that feel-good legislative proposal of the year known as NARAB II. While most Roman-numeraled sequels fail to satisfy fans of the original, NARAB II solves this dilemma because there was never really a NARAB I to pale...

Company Watch - Cathay Pacific Airways.
Feb 18, 2008 Cathay Pacific Airways raised its stake in Air China from 17.5% to more than 18% through the Feb. 6 purchase of 15 million H shares, according to a statement released by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week. Air China Board Secretary Huang Bin...

Harold Maier, comity, and the foreign relations restatement.
Hal Maier's career and mine have interacted in several respects. We have both served in the Legal Adviser's Office of the State Department; we have both taught Conflict of Laws as well as International Law; and we have both tried to show--I believe successfully--that there is no sharp divide...

Financial institutions fraud.
I. INTRODUCTION II. BANK FRAUD STATUTE A. Purpose and Scope B. Elements of the Offense 1. Knowledge 2. Executes or Attempts to Execute 3. Scheme or Artifice 4. To Defraud or Obtain Monies By False or Fraudulent Pretenses a. Defrauding a Financial Institution b. False or Fraudulent Pretenses 5....

Financial institutions fraud.
I. INTRODUCTION II. BANK FRAUD STATUTE A. Purpose and Scope B. Elements of the Offense 1. Knowledge 2. Executes or Attempts to Execute 3. Scheme or Artifice 4. To Defraud or Obtain Monies By False or Fraudulent Pretenses a. Defrauding a Financial Institution b. False or Fraudulent Pretenses 5....

A devil disguised as a corporate angel? Questioning corporate charitable contributions to "independent" directors' organizations.
A director's greatest virtue is the independence which allows him or her to challenge management decisions and evaluate corporate performance from a completely free and objective perspective. A director should not be beholden to management in any way. (1) INTRODUCTION Enron. (2) WorldCom. (3) Tyco....

Indicting corporations revisited: lessons of the Arthur Andersen prosecution.
I. INTRODUCTION In June 2002, a federal jury in Houston, Texas convicted the major accounting firm of Arthur Andersen (1) of obstruction of justice in connection with its destruction of documents relating to its accounting work for Enron Corporation. (2) The film agreed to stop auditing public...

Dubai ups the ante: the opening of a new financial exchange in Dubai's International Financial Centre is attracting enthusiastic international attention.
DESPITE THE PRESENCE OF several stock exchanges in the Gulf, the lack of access to international investment remains a major obstacle to the growth of the non-oil economy in the region. Now, however, the developers of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) hope their venture will provide a genuinely...

Safe passage in approving pay plans: executive pay decisions are ending up in court. Here are processes for a compensation committee to implement to make appropriate decisions and help shield itself from liability.
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION has been a lightning-rod issue since at least the early 1990s, the beginning of the current "modern era" of interest in corporate governance. Directors are now, in a wide range of contexts, being forced to defend themselves for actions taken (or not taken) with respect to executive...