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By Andrew Schumacher and Brad Monk

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a sudden disruption to businesses and halted almost all forms of global commerce. Contractual parties, lenders and borrowers, and parties to Merger and acquisition agreements are now closely reviewing their contracts, loan agreements and, in particular, any Material Adverse Change clause (also called Material Adverse Effect) (“MAC”) in the contract to analyze what options they might have.  …
Continue Reading What a Business Should Know Before Triggering a MAC Clause Based on COVID-19

By Toby M. Galloway,  Matthias Kleinsasser,  Joe Wielebinski

In sports, it is often said that “winning cures everything.”  The same concept applies to uncovering fraud.  When the economy is strong and most investors are making money, there is little incentive to ask difficult questions about a company’s performance.  Once the economy craters, however, investors begin demanding answers and harsh truths are often revealed.  As Warren Buffett has said, “only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”…
Continue Reading Fraud in the Time of Covid-19

Management.com has a new article, found here, that points to the importance of an investment adviser or RIA firm borrower getting their SBA Paycheck Protection Program loan application right the first time: “What you don’t want is to submit an application that’s incomplete and you have to fix it … [because then] you [fall]…

As everyone in the securities industry appreciates, a registered representative’s departure from one broker-dealer firm to join another is a not uncommon event. Such departures, even when voluntary and made on good terms, can and often raise a host of issues. Just last year for instance, FINRA issued Regulatory Notice 19-10 (April 5, 2019), which can be found here.
Continue Reading Risky Business: How Departing Brokers Can Unintentionally Trip Reg. BI

Last year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved Regulation Best Interest (“Reg BI”).[1] Reg BI requires broker-dealers and their associated persons to act in “the best interest” of a retail customer when recommending a securities transaction or investment strategy. Reg BI applies not only to broker-dealers but also to investment advisors.[2] It will take effect in June of 2020.[3]…
Continue Reading It’s the Final Countdown: Being Prepared for Regulation Best Interest

An opinion this week from the Southern District of New York, SEC v. Alderson[1] [click here], held that an RIA’s communications with lawyers associated with its third-party compliance consultant were not protected by the attorney-client privilege or the attorney work-product doctrine. As a result, the district court compelled disclosure of over 230 communications passing between the RIA’s in-house counsel and its third-party compliance firm (staffed with licensed attorneys) before and during the course of an examination of the RIA by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).[2] This ruling raises important considerations for an RIA or broker-dealer when engaging outside compliance consultants and lawyers, especially if the firm intends for certain of or all of those communications to be cloaked with privilege.
Continue Reading An RIA’S Communications with Attorney Consultants Associated with its Outside Compliance Firm are Always Privileged, RIGHT? Well, That Depends . . .