Daily Archives: May 13, 2005

U.S. Attorney calls it quits

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shelby.jpgMichael Shelby, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas for the past three and a half years, announced his resignation today to enter private practice.
The U.S. Attorney’s position in Houston has been a revolving door for years. It’s a big district with a ton of drug and immigration cases, and — despite the ongoing Enron prosecutions — has really never been a particularly active office in pursuing the juicier white collar criminal cases. Moreover, because of a myriad of conflicts, Mr. Shelby withdrew the local office early from investigating or prosecuting any of the Enron cases, which have been handled by a special Enron Task Force comprised of prosecutors primarily from New York City and Washington. Here’s hoping that the local bar committee will be able to come up with a candidate for the position who will be able to stay for a prolonged period, say a decade or so. My sense is that the assistant U.S. Attorneys in the local office would really appreciate the stability that such a long tenure tends to promote.

Discovery’s Great American Tour hits Houston

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discovery.jpgOver the past several months, The Discovery Channel has been promoting an interesting project called the Greatest American of All Time. During a road show promoting the contest, Americans from all over the country have been nominating other Americans who they believe have had the greatest influence on what it means to be an American.
The road tour kicked off last month in Boston and is stopping in Houston over this weekend. The Great American Tour Bus will be at the Art Car Parade on Saturday between 10 and 3 and at the Galleria on Sunday between 11 and 7. Attendees have the opportunity to write a short blog entry essay or give a video testimonial on who they think deserves to be the Greatest American.
The road tour will conclude in June and be followed by a TV series with Matt Lauer of the Today Show that counts down the top 100 nominations to No. 1, who will be named the Greatest American. This appears to be a great project to introduce young children (and older ones, too) to great Americans, so check it out if you’re in the neighborhood this weekend.

The Day of the Hedgies

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hedge funds.gifAfter last week’s entertaining analyst conference call for Blockbuster, Inc., you have probably heard by now that Carl Icahn won shareholder approval this week for planting himself and two friendly directors on the Blockbuster board. Mr. Icahn’s moves prompted an interesting discussion between two of the blogosphere’s most insightful commentators regarding corporate law issues.
First, Professor Bainbridge posted this analysis in which he predicts that the current trend of hedge fund activism is unlikely to alter the basic precept of corporate law and governance — i.e., separation of ownership and control.
SpitzerGov7.jpgThen, Professor Ribstein responded with posts here and here in which he suggests that hedge funds may be able to minimize the “agency costs” that result from the separation of ownership and control in corporate governance, particularly the cost of managerial misconduct.
Meanwhile, my sense is that the recent hedge fund activity in corporate governance signals that it is only a matter of time before the Lord of Regulation deems it necessary to substitute his wisdom regarding such matters for that of the market.

Morgenstern on the state of Hollywood filmmaking

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Joe morgenstern.jpgJoe Morgenstern is the film critic of The Wall Street Journal, where he writes the Friday “Review/Film” column in the Weekend Journal and supervises the Leisure & Arts page’s coverage of the business of Hollywood. Mr. Morgenstern won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism “for his reviews that elucidated the strengths and weaknesses of film with rare insight, authority and wit.”
A good example of that insight appears in Mr. Morgenstern’s column in today’s WSJ ($), in which he pans the new Jennifer Lopez-Jane Fonda movie, Monster-in-Law, and observes the following about the current trend in Hollywood filmmaking:

Films like this — as well as two other clumsy features opening today — are emblematic of Hollywood’s relentless dumbing-down and defining-down of big-screen attractions. There’s an audience for such stuff, but little enthusiasm or loyalty. Adult moviegoers are being ignored almost completely during all but the last two or three months of each year, while even the kids who march off to the multiplexes each weekend know they’re getting moldy servings of same-old, rather than entertainments that feed their appetite for surprise and delight. “Life’s too short to live the same day twice,” Charlie says in “Monster-In-Law,” quoting her father. It’s also too short to keep living the same weekend, though that’s what the movie going experience is starting to feel like — an extended Groundhog Day of amateur nights.

Would you please pass the coffee?

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sleeping_in_chair1.jpgThis earlier post noted that, after some early sparks, the ongoing criminal trial of the Enron Broadband case has not exactly been a toe-tapper.
In that regard, the Wall Street Journal passes along the following exchange that took place earlier in the trial between defense lawyer Jack Zimmermann and U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore:

Mr. Zimmerman: Judge, while we don’t have the jury here, can I get some guidance? If we see a juror that’s sleeping, what do you want us to do?
Judge Gilmore: That’s y’all’s problem. That means the case is boring.
Mr. Zimmermann: How do we alert the Court?
Judge Gilmore: What am I supposed to do? Y’all are boring them to death. Does anybody else want to see that? It says just what I said. What are we supposed to do? God, how are we going to stay awake through two months of this? I can barely stay awake. I don’t even drink coffee and I’m drinking it every day.

SEC lawyer who headed Enron investigation named Enforcement Division chief

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SEC.jpgThe Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who headed the agency’s investigation into Enron Corporation has been named to head its enforcement division. Here is the SEC’s press release on the appointment.
Linda Chatman Thomsen, 50, will be the first woman to hold the top enforcement position at the SEC. She has been the enforcement group’s deputy director since 2002 and succeeds Stephen M. Cutler, who ran the enforcement division for several years before resigning last month.