This is a well-deserved promotion for Katherine Darras who is a highly respected attorney and well qualified for this important position.

Central clearing might be a praiseworthy innovation, but it also shares a common trait with fire: it has to be contained. When the Dodd-Frank Act was adopted, central clearing was touted as a near-magical cure for financial product risk. However, it has significant limitations, such as its effectiveness only with products that are traded broadly. Though central clearing might increase netting and setoff with regard to individual products, it also lessens the degree to which counterparties…

When firms fail to live up to their own compliance procedures, their ensuing discussions with regulators are often not about guilt or innocence; they are about monetary penalties. Each business should review its self-imposed compliance obligations periodically and be confident that they are satisfied.

For the second time in twelve months, an investment entity suffered a major loss due to a procedural mistake in connection with a challenge to a merger price valuation. (See " Given the amount of money that could be lost, and the two recent cases that serve as warnings, advisers and funds should be sure to nail down the particulars of their process for dealing with merger challenges and other significant proxies, as well investors' rights.