Introduction: Name, Image and Likeness Compensation in the NCAA In October 2019, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced a major change in its rules: student-athletes will be permitted to receive compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).1 The announcement represented a reversal from the NCAA’s previous position that “in order…
Category: Blog Articles
Corporate Compliance: Imagining a New Collaborate Framework
In the past decade, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division (DOJ) has leveraged its use of corporate monitorship against companies to achieve several goals: to deter companies from wrongdoing through the threat of costly oversight, to incapacitate a company from further wrongdoing, and to reform a company’s internal compliance mechanisms.1 To preface, corporate monitorships are…
Regulation of Social Media Influencers
If you’ve engaged with social media in the past few years, the chances are high that you’ve encountered an influencer. You probably even follow them, interact with their content, and the chances are high that you’ve actually been “influenced” by at least one. Influencers are social media content creators with significant followings. They share their…
23andMe(and Almirall and GlaxoSmithKline and now Virgin Group Too?)
In February 2021, 23andMe announced its intention of going public via a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) IPO backed by Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group.1 The deal currently values 23andMe at $3.5 billion dollars, and Wojcicki and Branson each invested $25 million of their own money as part of the $250 million fund formed to…
Another Approach to Interpreting whether Prior Pay is a “Factor Other than Sex” Under the Equal Pay Act
Background The Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying one employee less than another employee of the opposite sex when the two do equal work.1 There are four exceptions.2 Employers can pay an employee of one sex less than another of the opposite sex if the pay differential is pursuant to “(i) a seniority system,…
Crossing the Rubicon: The Consequences of National Securities Exchanges Suing the SEC
In 2019, the three largest American stock exchange groups, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq, and Cboe (formerly known as the Chicago Board Options Exchange) sued their regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).1 The lawsuit was over the SEC’s Transaction Fee Pilot.2 The novelty of suing one’s own regulator was not lost on the…
A Primer on the (Not So) Special Purpose Acquisition Company Boom
Despite the unprecedented nature of 2020 and the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) cemented their place in, and return to, the world of finance. SPAC initial public offerings (“IPOs”) erupted in 2020, with greater average size and overall frequency. In 2020, SPAC IPOs raised over US$89 billion in gross…
AB 5: California’s Cautionary Tale of Independent Contractor Regulation
Introduction Over a century ago, IRS form 1099 created a formal tax classification for freelance workers. Debates over the designation of workers as employees or independent contractors have existed in the political landscape of the United States ever since. Employment laws that establish rights for employees and requirements of employers have led many corporations to…
Modern Anti-Manipulation Laws in a World of Social Media and Increased Retail Trading
In January and February of 2021, as the world continued to struggle through the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States’ stock market experienced its own unprecedented event. A group of retail investors who were active participants on r/wallstreetbets, a thread on the social networking website Reddit, became aware that several large hedge funds held extreme short…
Two Years in Review: Are the Commonsense Principles of Corporate Governance 2.0 a Reagent for Success or Just Feel-Good Platitudes?
Just over two years ago, twenty-three prominent executives representing some of America’s largest corporations and investment firms, including J.P. Morgan, Berkshire-Hathaway, and IBM, published and endorsed the Commonsense Principles of Corporate Governance 2.0. The 2.0 Principles were drafted to serve as a “basic framework for sound, long-term-oriented governance” that were flexible enough to accommodate the…