The Dodd-Frank Act provides for unlimited FDIC insurance for noninterest-bearing transaction accounts until December 31, 2012. If Congress does not act to extend the unlimited insurance, coverage will revert to $250,000 on January 1, 2012. The FDIC recently issued a Financial Institution Letter advising banks on procedures for winding down the program should Congress not extend it. In a recent Financial Services Alert, Goodwin Proctor explains what institutions must do and should do by the end of the year, according to the Financial Institution Letter.

The recent decision in In re Zappos.com Inc., Customer Data Security Breach Litigation considers the enforceability of “browsewrap” agreements, those in which users are bound to a website’s terms and conditions by accessing a website with posted terms.  Zappos.com sought to invoke the arbitration provision of its terms of use when users sued for an alleged security breach in which sensitive user data was revealed. The court held that the Zappos.com terms were unenforceable because the link to the terms was at the bottom of the page, requiring users to scroll to the bottom of the page, and were in the same size, font, and color as other non-significant links. Thus, users never actually assented to the terms. The court also found that the terms were illusory, and thus unenforceable, because Zappos.com retained the unilateral right to modify the terms without notice. In a recent client alert, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati explains the implications of the decision, as well as advice for making “browsewrap” agreements enforceable.

The Dodd-Frank Act contains 398 total rule-making requirements spread across various regulatory agencies. 133 rules have been finalized, and another 133 rules have been proposed, but not yet finalized. That leaves 132 rules outstanding.  In its recent Dodd-Frank Progress Report, Davis Polk breaks down the regulatory implementation of the Act across time, agency, and regulated activity. The Report also provides an overview of recently proposed and approved rules.

Last Year, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati surveyed the 45 venture-backed companies involved in the largest IPOs regarding their corporate governance and disclosure practices.  The firm recently published the results. The survey covers director selection, composition, and independence, as well as law firm and underwriter choice. Wilson Sonsini represented the most issuers, while Davis Polk represented the most underwriters. Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan were the most frequently chosen lead underwriters.

On October 11, the CFTC issued two interpretive letters offering guidance on which securitization vehicles and real estate investment trusts may enter swaps and still not register as a “commodity pool” subject to regulation and registration requirements of the CFTC. In general, the CFTC is “less likely to find that an entity is a commodity pool” if 1) the entity enters swaps only to hedge or mitigate risks from its primary business, and 2)the swaps are not expected to contribute materially to the profits of the entity.  In a recent News Bulletin, Morrison & Foerster explains the requirements and places them in the context of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Since even before Dale Carnegie’s day, it has been common knowledge among climbers in the business world that aptitude will only get you so far — the key to success is in managing relationships.  For a long time, the self-help industry appeared to have the market cornered on offering tools for cultivating better interpersonal relations.  But modern neuroscience indicates that mastery of interpersonal dynamics (sometimes called ‘emotional’ or ‘social’ intelligence’) is actually a teachable skill set.  “Skills of Exceptional Lawyers–Social Intelligence and the Human Dimension” a relatively new addition to Berkeley Law’s course catalog, seeks to help law students harness these powerful skills.

The course, now in its third year at Boalt, covers a wide range of interpersonal skills including body language and facial expression recognition, the art of “difficult conversations,” rapport-building, conflict resolution, decision-making, and cultivating meaningful self-awareness. (more…)

As we mentioned earlier this week, Professor Bartlett soon will be presenting his paper on the value of the 10b-5 action to institutional investors. The paper uses evidence of trading behavior following the Supreme Court case Morrison v. National Australia Bank (2010)—a case that dealt with bringing securities fraud claims based on securities traded on foreign exchanges.  This week, Latham & Watkins presents the challenges of litigating securities fraud actions against foreign-based issuers of securities traded on domestic exchanges. These actions present special challenges in the areas of jurisdiction, service, and discovery. The paper, published as part of Bloomberg’s Securities Regulation & Law Report, is available for download here.

Skadden presents “The 2012 U.S. Supreme Court Term: Business Cases to Watch.” The upcoming term has several important business-related cases, including three class action cases: Amgen, Comcast, and The Standard Fire Insurance Co.  The court will also be considering in Royal Dutch Patroleum whether actions may be brought against companies for human rights abuses committed in other countries.  Skadden’s update provides brief summaries of these and other business-related cases facing the Court this term.

On November 1, EU Regulation 236/2012, which regulates the short selling of stock and sovereign debt in the European Economic Area, will come into effect. The regulation also places restrictions on taking uncovered short positions.  In a recent client alert, Ropes & Gray explains the specifics of whom and what types of securities are covered, as well as the sanctions for failure to comply.