By Jane H. Allen 

Founder | Counsel On Call

Change requires "doers."

 

I've been fortunate to work with some of the brightest minds in the legal industry-attorneys who have a real sense of where we are as a profession and where we need to go. However, in meeting regularly with these innovators, the most common question I'm asked after brainstorming ideas is, "How do we actually do this?"

 

The fact is that very few people take the initiative to actually do something about chronic problems in our industry. But I call those in that minority the "doers."

The doers have determined the issue to be this: Times have changed and the legal model needs to be reshaped to appropriately address today's challenges, which are just as much about business issues as they are legal matters.

Partner | Sidley Austin LLP

Texas, like a vast majority of states, has enacted legislation regarding the unauthorized use of personal identifying information (the "Act"). See Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Ann. § 11.521 (West 2015). This paper first explores the Act and then provides some guidance as to how a business should implement a cybersecurity plan.

• Notification Required Following a Breach of Security

• Implementing a Cybersecurity Plan

Partner | Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP

It is often said that the courts' role in interpreting contracts is to discern the intent of the contracting parties.  In discerning that intent, however, courts are principally concerned only with the parties' objective intent as manifested by the words that were actually used in the written agreement.  And when a particular word or provision has been interpreted by a court as manifesting a specific intent, that word or provision needs to be thereafter understood in light of that court's decision, particularly in that court's jurisdiction.  

By Deborah L. Lively Partner | Thompson & Knight LLP

By Nicole Williams Partner | Thompson & Knight LLP

For years, companies have engaged in different modes of advertising as a means to promote their products and services.  The Internet and the steady growth of social media have increased the potential liability a company can face through its online advertising and created confusion as to when there is potential liability.  One of the more difficult media to which to apply traditional advertising rules is Twitter.  Questions for companies include how best to engage in advertising on Twitter, and also whether and how to monitor actions taken by third parties on Twitter that endorse the company's products or services or impact the company's intellectual property.  

As a securities lawyer, I have to say "No." A lot. Every week, a partner or client calls with a transaction that makes perfect business sense, wanting to know if it passes muster under the securities laws. More often than not, I've had to deliver bad news:

 

"But we've been structuring transactions like this for years." No.

 

"I know dozens of deals getting done this way." NO.

 

"But it's such a small deal. The requirement can't apply to this." NO. NO. NEVER. NO. STOP IT. PUT THAT DOWN. NO .

 

I am the Idea Killer. The Deal Slayer. Johnny No-Fun. Grown women and men give me the same look I get from my kids when I say that it's time to get out of the pool. But it's not me that's shutting down the party. It's the SEC (or, depending on the complainant in question, the Texas State Securities Board, or the tornado sirens).

 

Luckily, the SEC and the TSSB, and even congress, have taken steps in the last few years to reduce the number of days I have to ruin by providing some common-sense exceptions to one of the more maddening registration requirements under state and federal securities laws. 

The Chapter recently recognized the Margolies summer intern recipients at the Golf Spa event in September.  The winners were Samantha Johnson, SMU Dedman School of Law and Jessica Lesnau, Texas A&M University School of Law.

 

For those who may not know, the Margolies summer internships were established 10 years ago to provide funding to law students interested in pursuing summer internships at designated pro bono organizations in the DFW area.  To increase the amount and funding for these internships, the Chapter also recently set up a separate, non-profit fundraising organization: DFW-ACC Pro Bono.  In this regard, the $1940 raised through raffle tickets purchased at the Golf Spa event will be deposited into the ACC-DFW Pro Bono account. 

 

For the 2015-2016 planning year, Chapter Leadership is focusing on further promoting this new entity as a way to fundraise from our law firm sponsors, corporate members, individual members, and the community.  Discussions are also underway to restructure the Margolies internships to make them more competitive with other summer stipends given to law students, and to provide students with practical guidance and advice on leadership and other skills critical to the legal profession.    

Questions?