A recent Stanford University study casts doubt on the validity of the corporate governance ratings provided by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and its principal competitors.

Governance rating firms seek to measure the effectiveness of a public company’s corporate governance.  They maintain that this rating is predictive of the company’s future performance.

Stanford’s study claims to be the first objective analysis of the predictive value of corporate governance ratings.  It examined more than 15,000 ratings of 6,827 separate companies from 2005 to 2007.

For each of the four rating firms examined, the study found only a substantively weak correlation between its ratings and any of five basic performance metrics:  accounting restatements, shareholder lawsuits, return on assets, Q Ratio (i.e., a measure of stock value determined by comparing the total market value of a company to the replacement value of its assets), and Alpha (i.e., a measure of performance on a risk-adjusted basis).  In the case of ISS, the study found no significant correlation between ISS’ corporate governance quotient (CGQ) and any of the five metrics.  In addition, the study found no relation between the CGQ and either ISS’ voting recommendations on shareholder proposals (which can influence 20% to 30% of the vote on a contested matter) or the actual votes by shareholders.

The study concludes that "the time and money spent by public companies on improving governance ratings does not appear to result in significant value for shareholders."

For a copy of Stanford University’s press release concerning this study, which contains a link to the full text of the study:  "How Good Are Commercial Corporate Governance Ratings?"

For further information on corporate governance ratings, please contact Peter M. Menard at (213) 617-5483.

The last time we heard about an anonymous hiring partner starting a blog, it was a ruse by Harvard law grad Jeremy Blachman, whose summer associateship at Willkie Farr & Gallagher provided him with enough fodder for both a blog and a book. We couldn’t help but think of Blachman’s “Anonymous Lawyer” this morning, when we opened up an email sent from hiringpartneroffice@gmail.com announcing a new blog, called — you got it — “Hiring Partner Office.”

We have no idea whether the author is, in fact, a “hiring partner at an office of an AM LAW 200 law firm,” as he/she claims to be. But here’s what the person says: “I decide which law students get offers to come to our office for a full day of interviews after an initial screening (aka ‘call backs’). I also decide which of these law students gets offers to join our summer associate program in my office. When the summer program ends, I decide who gets an offer of full time employment.”

The first post, published Friday, offers up a list of the “Top Ten Things Law Students Do that Annoy Your Hiring Partner During the Summer.” Here are the highlights:

      10) Ask to leave work early for various non-emergency related reasons (e.g. guests are coming and I need to clean up my house).

      9) Put in a request for reimbursement for a $1.85 cup of coffee you had while on brief work travel.

      8) “Personalize” your summer associate office as if it is your full time office — hanging pictures and diplomas on walls!

      4) Leaving summer associate events early — an obvious “no no” is leaving before anyone else without a valid excuse explained in advance. This is especially bad if it is a small event and people will notice your absence.

      2) Seeking to date support staff/attorneys. . . .You will have plenty of time for dating after the summer associate program is done. Be professional and focused.

      1) Failing to show up — for work, events, etc. If you are invited to a hiring partner’s house for a summer associate event — RSVP (by the deadline!) yes and show up on a timely basis. It is not appropriate to “pop by” at 10:00 p.m. These are people at home. They are hosting the event for YOU. Show up on time – do not bring guests unless guests are invited and you have RSVP’d. Be charming and pleasant. Be respectful. DO NOT take off your flip flops (btw, don’t wear flip flops!) and put your bare feet on the partner’s couch/chair, etc — YES, I saw this one happen myself. YOU ARE NOT AT HOME. Talk to the host’s wife/husband/partner, talk to the other attorneys and guests. Leave when others appear to be leaving. It would be nice to send a handwritten thank you the next day or two. Source

For lawyers, collaboration is not a new concept. To get things done, attorneys must work with others — clients, colleagues and even opposing counsel. What has changed over the past few years, however, is that technology has caught up with collaboration. Today it’s even easier to work with other people, whether they happen to be down the hall, around the corner or on the other side of the world. Most of these collaboration technologies have one thing in common: the Internet.

Microsoft Corp.’s Sharepoint, extranets, and even e-mail are well-known collaborative platforms. But there are innovative, new collaboration technologies that can be found "in the cloud" — Internet-based sites and services that aren’t necessarily designed for the legal community, but that lawyers can use to communicate and work with others no matter where in the world they happen to be.

SHARING LARGE FILES

YouSendIt, FileDropper and SendYourFiles are examples of Web sites that help users exchange large files with other people without using e-mail. They are especially useful for sending large items, such as WAV or graphics files, that exceed some organizations’ e-mail download limits.

But what if you want to share multiple files with your collaborators? Drop.io is a great alternative. Create your own secure "drop" with a customized URL, and upload any type file you like.

You get 100 megabytes for free, and 1 gigabyte of space for $10 a year. You can customize the drop to self-delete within a day, a week or as long as a year. Even better, certain types of files can be viewed (PDF) or listened to (MP3) within the site itself. There are sites that offer more space, but Drop.io is a great alternative to share files with others.

MIND-MAPPING

"Mind map" software creates a visual representation of a brainstorming session. This type of tool is invaluable for developing a litigation plan or business development strategy, or just about any type of planning.

Online mind-mapping services add a collaborative dimension to the process — people in multiple locations can log in and contribute to the mind map, often in real time.

Two popular, free products are MindMeister and Mindomo. If you own the MindManager program from MindJet, you’ll soon be able to use it to brainstorm with others online.

SCHEDULING MEETINGS

Gone are the days when scheduling a meeting meant rounds and rounds of multiple e-mails to and from your attendees, trying to find the best time for everyone to meet.

New online services like TimeBridge and Tungle provide an easy way to schedule meetings with a minimum of effort.

Just select some available times from an online calendar, and an e-mail is sent to your attendees, giving them the ability to select the best meeting times.

When a common time between all attendees is selected, the meeting is scheduled, and notifications are sent to all attendees. These services also provide plug-ins for Microsoft’s Outlook, so you can synchronize your meetings with your desktop calendar.

SCREEN SHARE

CrossLoop is a terrifically easy way to share your screen with another person or vice versa. Both users must download the CrossLoop software (based on the WinVNC engine), and when it’s installed all you have to do is enter an access code to take control of the other’s computer.

This tool is great to show documents or other files, or even for providing simple, basic tech support to those tech-challenged people in your life.

ChatMaker lets you create an instant chat room that anyone can use. Just type in your preferred name for the chat room, share the URL with your attendees, and the chat room is yours.

One good (or bad, depending on how you view it) feature is that the site does not maintain the logs of any chat sessions. This is a great way to get your team together for a quick chat with a minimum of setup and hassle.

These are just a few basic examples of the collaboration tools that are appearing on the Internet almost daily. Many others are more sophisticated, software-as-a-service applications. Jump in and take advantage of them; they all provide terrific, smart ways to work better with your clients, colleagues and even your opposing counsel.Source