mARCH 2012 6 World Report - USA ABA’s Congress Urge

Materials sent by banks to consumer financial protection bureau must remain privileged, ABA urges.

The American Bar Association is urging

Congress to create a single, consistent standard for the treatment of privileged information submitted to all federal agencies that supervise banks, including the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Such a standard would be established

by H.R. 4014 and S. 2099. The House Financial Services Committee recently approved the House version, which now moves to the full House for further consideration. The Senate companion bill has been referred to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee whose chairman, Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and ranking member, Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), are co-sponsors.

In Feb. 21 letters to key House and

Senate leaders, ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III notes that although it is settled law that privileged materials shared with federal banking agencies

Bon Jovi, MLB and others obtain First Circuit win in music copyright

lawsuits Skadden secured an appellate victory on behalf of the band Bon Jovi, band members John Bongiovi and Richard Sambora individually, and close to two dozen corporate and industry defendants, including Major League Baseball, Turner Broadcasting and the Boston Red Sox, in connection with four music copyright infringement lawsuits. On February 10, a panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a lower court’s 2010 decision (also handled by Skadden), in which a Massachusetts district court granted summary judgment dismissing the copyright claims.

remain privileged as to all other parties, the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requires that the relevant statutes, 12 U.S.C. § 1828(x) and 12 U.S.C. § 1821(t), be updated.

"Federal banking agency' is a defined

term in the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and that definition does not explicitly include the new Bureau," the ABA letters point out. They quote bureau director Richard Cordray, who has acknowledged "real concern" over the issue and expressed support for legislation that would resolve any doubt.

The bills ‘take the important step of

adding the Bureau to the list of agencies that may share privileged information with other agencies specified in the statute without causing a waiver’, the letters state.

"The attorney-client privilege," the

ABA explained, "is a bedrock legal principle that enables both individual and organizational clients to communicate with their lawyers in confidence, and it encourages clients to seek out and obtain

guidance to conform their conduct to the law. The privilege also facilitates self-investigation into past conduct to identify shortcomings and remedy problems, to the benefit of society at large." Therefore, the ABA letter continued, "the ABA strongly supports the preservation of the attorney-client privilege and opposes government policies, practices and procedures that have the effect of eroding the privilege."

In addition to protecting the privilege,

the ABA also noted that the bills would advance several important financial reform principles developed by the ABA Task Force on Financial Markets Regulatory Reform and adopted by the association in 2009. In particular, the bills would "help ensure a more integrated, consistent and coordinated approach to the regulation of financial services providers" and also would promote "uniform treatment of privileged materials by the Federal banking regulators and the CFPB," according to the ABA.

The US and Mexico sign oil deal

An agreement that will ‘ensure responsible energy exploration in the Gulf’ according to the US Secretary of State, has been signed by the US and Mexico at the G20 meeting between industrial and developing countries in Los Cabos, Mexico.

The two countries have vowed to

work alongside one another for the development of deep water gas and oil fields that lie across the border in the Gulf of Mexico.

Adding to Hilary Clinton’s comments

on the deal, Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, said it would ‘ease Mexican fears that their oil might be appropriated by the US’, the BBC reported.

Clinton added: "These reservoirs could

hold considerable reserves that could benefit the US and Mexico alike, but they don't necessarily stop at our maritime

boundary. This could lead to disputes.”

She added: "The agreement we are signing will help prevent such disputes."

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