The focus of securities litigation broadened in 2011, yet the credit crisis remains a source of important cases and a driving factor in enforcement. This Ross Roundtable, co-sponsored by NYU's Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research and NERA Economic Consulting, will bring together a panel of top experts from a range of perspectives to examine in-depth recent developments in shareholder litigation and regulatory enforcement, the impact of regulatory reform, and current academic research. NERA Senior Vice President Dr. John Montgomery and Vice President Dr. James Overdahl will both participate in the discussion, and Senior Vice President Dr. Elaine Buckberg will serve as moderator, with host NYU Stern School Professor Baruch Lev, Director of the Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research. Other panelists will include George Canellos, Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office; Jonathan Streeter, Dechert LLP and former Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York; Jonathan Macey, Yale Law School; Michele Rose, Latham and Watkins LLP; Mary Billings, NYU Stern School of Business; Mark Kornfeld, Baker and Hostetler LLP; and Hilary Williams, UBS Investment Bank.

January 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of NERA’s Tokyo office. To celebrate this milestone, we are pleased to host a seminar covering a broad range of our practices. NERA provides practical and realistic solutions through innovative application of microeconomic frameworks to complex litigation and regulation issues in the areas of international transfer pricing, securities and finance, antitrust and competition policy, intellectual property, energy, telecommunications, and healthcare.

With increasingly stringent laws and regulations in an increasingly globalized economy, companies are facing more involvement in litigation and disputes, and it has become critical for companies to secure fair and reasonable benefits from these challenges. NERA has supported these companies by providing quantitative and objective analyses to resolve complex legal problems.

In this seminar, our experts will explain how economic analysis can provide practical solutions to such problems by providing examples of NERA’s experience in Japan with international transfer pricing, securities and finance, antitrust, intellectual property, and international arbitration cases.

To attend this free seminar, please reply by February 21 to infotokyo@nera.com.

This annual conference, to be held in Gainesville, Florida on 15-16 February 2012, brings together key leaders in industry and academia, primarily from Florida and the Southeast, to discuss issues facing utility service providers, policymakers, and regulatory agencies. This year's conference will cover a number of timely topics, including the ongoing battles in the energy, telecommunications, and water industries and whether these battles are necessary or merely legacies from previous eras; whether public priorities are based on realistic views; and new technologies, social developments, and information that should be considered by decision-makers. NERA Vice President Edward Kee has been invited to participate in a session on the future of the nuclear energy industry.

To learn more or to register for this event, please visit the PURC website.

NERA Vice President Dr. James Overdahl, a former Chief Economist at both the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has been invited by George Washington University to discuss his personal view of the world of quantitative finance. The recent explosive growth in quantitative finance has led mathematics, physics, computer science, and engineering students of all levels to wonder whether a career or an advanced degree in quantitative finance is right for them. With the rapid increase in sophisticated quantitative and computational techniques employed in financial firms, there has been increasing demand for students with highly quantitative backgrounds to work in the financial field and an increase in advanced degree programs covering these topics. Dr. Overdahl will share his professional experiences, engage in a moderated discussion, and participate in a Q&A session with the students.

Learn more about this event via the IAFE website.

NERA Director Dr. Francesco Lo Passo will deliver a presentation on natural gas distribution at a forum to be held in Milan on 10 February 2012. The seminar will focus on the new rules and deadlines for the assignment of Italy's local public services, as well as on the reform of natural gas distribution services. Dr. Lo Passo's presentation, "Regulated Revenues and Determination of Natural Gas Distribution VIR," will examine a number of critical issues in the new regulations: the calculation of the regulated revenues of distribution, metering, and sale activities; operating expenses, depreciation, and remuneration of recognized investments for tariff setting; concession grant and remuneration of the assets of shippers and municipalities; the Regulatory Asset Base (RAB) and deduction of public contributions; ownership of assets; value of assets at the end of the concession period; and tariff equalization.

This Law Seminars International conference, to be held in Las Vegas on 2-3 February 2012, will examine how recent challenges -- including environmental requirements, aging infrastructure, volatile fuel prices, new generation and transmission projects, smart grid issues, and new technologies to deal with greenhouse gas emissions -- are affecting the current ratemaking environment for regulated gas and electric companies. On the first day of the conference, NERA Senior Consultant Kurt Strunk will deliver a presentation entitled "Marginal Cost Pricing for Rate Design: Is It Still Reasonable When There is No New Generation Needed for a Period of Time?" Mr. Strunk will present arguments and decisional trends on various approaches to assessing demand components for future generation. On the second day, Senior Vice President Dr. David Harrison will participate in a session entitled "Air Quality Regulation: What Are the Prospects for New EPA Rules? What are the Ratemaking Implications?" The session will address recently resolved and currently pending issues in rulemaking and enforcement appeals, decisional trends and the extent to which they provide guidance for utility planners and regulators, and legislative developments. Dr. Harrison will discuss the implications of these regulations for issues likely to come before Public Utility Commissions, including potential plant retirements, capital and operating cost increases, and impacts on electricity rates.

Learn more or register for this event via the LSI website.

Pursuing and Defending Investors, Issuers, Underwriters and Other Stakeholders in MBS Claims

NERA Senior Vice President Dr. Faten Sabry presented as part of this live 90-minute CLE webinar on recent trends involving residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities suits and the complexities involved in representing the various stakeholders. Dr. Sabry discussed recent trends in MBS litigation, and also provided an economic perspective of the RMBS litigation. Other presenters included Murphy & McGonigle Partner James K. Goldfarb and Christopher Lometti, Of Counsel with Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.
 
Specific questions addressed by the presenters include:

• What are the bases for suits regarding mortgage-backed securities?
• What challenges do plaintiffs' counsel face in pursuing MBS claims?
• How will the FHFA's suits impact the future of MBS litigation?
• What are the most recent developments in settlement of MBS suits?
• How will the recent New York court rulings on class certification impact class litigation of MBS claims?

The presentations were followed by an interactive Q&A. Learn more here.

On 8-9 December 2011, NERA joined with the Electricity Policy Research Group at Cambridge University to present a research seminar on European Gas and Electricity Policies. At the pre-seminar dinner, Senior Vice President Dr. Jeff D. Makholm delivered the keynote speech, "The Trouble With Europe: Infrastructure, Institutions & Investment," in which he presented an economic critique of the European model for gas markets. In the seminar itself, Director Graham Shuttleworth delivered a presentation entitled "Intermittency and Generation Investment" in the session on renewables and the electricity market. Mr. Shuttleworth explained the economics of intermittent wind farms and the implications for electricity market design.  Associate Director Daniel Radov also spoke about the UK's plans to implement a carbon price floor within the electricity sector, in a session entitled "EU v. Member States: Issues in Policy-Making." Other speakers included David Newbery of Cambridge University and representatives of major energy companies.

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York hosted a securities CLE program on 6 December 2011. At this program, an expert faculty of highly experienced and well-known securities litigators discussed recent court decisions that have dramatically altered the securities litigation landscape, as well as the impact of new enforcement and regulatory initiatives. NERA Senior Vice President Dr. Marcia Kramer Mayer participated in a session entitled "Securities Class Actions: Trends, Developments, and Hot-Button Issues," where she focused on merger objection litigation. The topics Dr. Mayer addressed included: how merger objection cases differ from standard securities class actions; recent trends in the number of litigated deals in both state and Federal courts; the distribution of litigated deals from announcement to first filing; the factors associated with whether a deal gets litigated; patterns and trends in the size and composition of settlements; and the top 10 settlements.

Other program topics discussed included: Corporate internal investigations; settlement trends, mediation and D&O coverage issues; corporate governance litigation; SEC and PCAOB investigations and enforcement proceedings; and DOJ investigations and prosecutions.

Learn more via the New York City Bar website.

California dramatically adjusted its Renewable Portfolio Standard in April 2011, with the goal of increasing the percentage of renewable energy in the state's electricity mix to 33 percent of retail sales by 2020. With this in mind, industry experts convened at this Infocast summit in San Diego on 5-6 December to discuss approaches and challenges to renewables development in the West. On the first day of the summit, NERA Vice President James Heidell participated in a panel session examining current development opportunities in the solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass renewables sectors.

To learn more, please visit the Renewables West Summit website.

The economic and reputational impact of a securities class action can be devastating for a company. This seminar and teleconference, hosted by Heenan Blaikie LLP on 30 November 2011, focused on how economic experts, communications professionals, and litigation counsel can work to advise and defend issuers to manage and mitigate these costs. NERA Senior Vice President Mark Berenblut participated in a discussion on a number of timely topics, including current trends in securities litigation; economic issues in the analysis of materiality, causation, and damages; and recent Canadian legal developments, including certification of global classes.

India's new competition law regime has played a crucial role in creating an environment conducive for investment and good corporate governance. This international conference, held in New Delhi on 25-26 November 2011, examined the impact and status of the India competition law regime on a globalized India, and the role of competition law and policy in promoting economic growth and prosperity. NERA Associate Director David Matthew participated in a session on "The Role of Economics in Competition Law," in which he discussed the importance of rigorous economic analysis in merger, dominance, and cartel cases.

Learn more about this event via the International Academy of Law website.

NERA's Global Transfer Pricing Practice and Dechert LLP's London Tax Practice jointly presented a seminar in London on 24 November 2011. The financial turmoil and changes in the taxation and regulatory environment have significantly increased the tax and compliance burden for investment management companies. In addition, the international nature of the industry combined with stress on public finances have led to increased scrutiny from tax authorities, particularly with respect to intra-group transactions concerning non-UK companies. In this regard, the potential risks and rewards of international structuring and transfer pricing have never been higher. During this seminar, Dechert lawyers and NERA economists discussed tax and transfer pricing implications of cross border arrangements for investment managers. Speakers included Associate Director Dr. Emmanuel Llinares and Senior Consultant Amanda Pletz of NERA, and Partners David Gubbay and Mark Stapleton of Dechert. The speakers provided an overview of main tax and legal considerations as well as an overview of popular structures. They also discussed the main considerations in intra-group pricing for investment managers and presented a case study.

Cleary Gottlieb held its 10th annual seminar at Harvard Law School on 21 November 2011. This year's program examined the latest developments in EU and US antitrust law. NERA Vice President Dr. Elizabeth M. Bailey delivered a presentation entitled "The Big Swap: Financial Derivatives Agreements and Alleged Anticompetitive Conduct in U.S. v. KeySpan."

Learn more via the Cleary Gottlieb website.

The ABA Section of Antitrust Law hosted its annual Fall Forum in Washington, DC on 17 November 2011 to discuss the latest cutting-edge issues in competition and consumer protection enforcement. NERA Senior Vice President Dr. Lawrence Wu participated in a panel session entitled "Health Care: Accountable Care Organizations" along with The Honorable J. Thomas Rosch, Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC); Fiona M. Scott-Morton, Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division; and Joshua D. Wright, Professor of Law at George Mason University. The panel, moderated by Seth C. Silber of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC, discussed the recently enacted US health care reform, which seeks to improve access to health care while making the system more efficient. A key component of those reforms is the authorization of accountable care organizations (ACOs) that are intended to enable progress on both fronts. At the same time, ACOs present significant antitrust issues. The panel examined how the DOJ and FTC are approaching ACOs as well as other competition issues in the US health care system.
 
To learn more, please visit the ABA Section of Antitrust Law website.

The UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recently launched its analysis of UK shipping emissions. On 17 November 2011, Neil Golborne, Team Leader for Transport and Agriculture in the Secretariat for the CCC, visited NERA's London office to present the analysis to members of the British Institute of Energy Economics (BIEE). International aviation and shipping emissions are not currently included in the UK's target for emission reduction in the Climate Change Act, which leaves a part of UK emissions not fully accounted for. However, the Climate Change Act also requires that the exclusion from UK carbon budgets be revisited by the end of 2012. The CCC will provide its advice on the issue next spring, and in developing that advice, the CCC has been looking at the possible future path for shipping emissions. In this seminar, Mr. Golborne presented estimates of the UK's share of current international shipping emissions; the options for emissions abatement; projections to 2050, under various assumptions for demand growth and emissions abatement; and options for inclusion in the UK's emission abatement target and carbon budgets.

Learn more about this event via the BIEE website.

Georgetown Law held its annual Advanced eDiscovery Institute, Making the Case: Developing Legally Defensible eDiscovery Best Practices, in Arlington, Virginia on 17-18 November 2011. NERA Senior Vice President Dr. David Tabak was invited to participate in a panel discussion entitled "Statistics and Sampling for Lawyers: How to Apply a Well-Accepted Methodology in the World of eDiscovery." The panel, which was moderated by the Hon. James C. Francis, focused on how to analyze large volumes of electronic evidence in litigation through the use of statistical methods. Statistics provide a principled framework for proving that certain information gleaned from a sample can be extended, with reliability and validity, to the whole population, and also provide well-accepted measures of quality control and reasonableness. Dr. Tabak and his co-panelists provided an overview of basic statistical reasoning that can be applied in the eDiscovery context to help tackle voluminous and complex sets of data in a streamlined and cost-effective manner.

Learn more about this event the Advanced eDiscovery Institute website.

The Northeast Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) hosted a program in Needham, Massachusetts on 16 November 2011 that featured a series of panels and keynote addresses on the topic of risk management and assessment. NERA Vice President Dr. Thomas Porter participated in a session entitled "Gap Analysis and Prioritization of Enterprise Risk." The session was moderated by Megan Gates of law firm Mintz Levin, which is sponsoring the event.

Learn more about this event on the ACC website.

On 15 November 2011, NERA Director Graham Shuttleworth spoke at an energy seminar in Bilbao, Spain that was organized by the Club Español de la Energia. Mr. Shuttleworth discussed the various "roadmaps" that have attempted to set out a path toward meeting EU targets for reducing CO2 emissions by 80% or more by 2050. The theme of his presentation was the need to move on from "Forecasts, Planning, and Targets" to "Incentives, Markets, and -- above all -- Economic Efficiency."  Mr. Shuttleworth queried whether the EU's targets were really credible, given their implications for the cost of doing business in Europe, and the little regard for economic efficiency shown in some of today's policy discussions.

Download Mr. Shuttleworth's presentation.

This Global Competition Review (GCR) conference, held in association with NERA in Brussels on 15-16 November 2011, addressed significant developments in the field of competition law and policy over the past year. GCR brought together leading figures in the field from across Europe, including representatives from the European Commission, in-house counsel, lawyers in private practice, and consulting economists. NERA Director Dr. Mark Williams, who leads NERA's European competition policy group in Brussels and London, co-chaired the event along with Gerwin Van Gerven of Linklaters LLP. The program covered a number of timely topics, including: the main competition law developments in cartel enforcement, merger control, and abuse of dominance; the role of the hearing officer; the latest trends in referral decisions between the European Commission and the national competition authorities in merger cases; and competition in the financial and high-tech markets.
 
Learn more about this conference via the GCR website.

Employment and labor experts convened at this Practising Law Institute conference in San Francisco on 9 November 2011 to examine recent case law and regulatory developments in California. NERA Senior Vice President Dr. Jon Wainwright participated in a panel discussion entitled "Conducting Employment Audits Thoroughly and Ethically." The panel -- which also included Andrew Livingston, Partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, and Louisa Holzschuher, Senior Director of Employment Law and Associate General Counsel, Juniper Networks, Inc. -- explored ethical considerations when conducting employment audits.

Learn more about this event on the PLI website.

On 8 November 2011, the National Chamber Foundation (NCF) and GFI Group hosted the third event of a series of quarterly economic briefings led by Dr. Martin Regalia, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for the US Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Regalia delivered a keynote address based on GDP data released by the US Department of Commerce from the previous quarter, before leading a panel of economists representing crucial sectors of the economy. NERA Vice President Dr. Sharon Brown-Hruska, a former Commissioner and Acting Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was invited to join the panel. Dr. Brown-Hruska discussed the efforts of the Federal government to stimulate economic recovery through monetary policy, and the prospects for the financial services industry given the weight of sweeping financial reform.

The Global Airport Development (GAD) conference, now in its 18th year, brings together over 300 market leaders and representatives from all sectors of the airport management and development communities. This year's event was held in Barcelona on 7-10 November 2011. On 9 November, NERA Director Dr. Francesco Lo Passo delivered a presentation entitled "The Landscape of Italian Airports."

To learn more about GAD 2011, please visit the conference website.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hosted its 17th annual capital markets conference on 7-9 November 2011. The conference is organized each year as part of the training program for regulatory and supervisory senior staff within the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). NERA Vice President Dr. James Overdahl, former Chief Economist at both the SEC and the CFTC, moderated a panel discussion entitled "Trading in 21st Century."

Industry experts convened at this Law Seminars International conference in San Francisco on 3-4 November 2011 to examine the interface between the need for flexible generating resources to fill in for variability in California's energy supply, and the challenge these resources face in terms of fuel supply and economic viability. Mike King, Senior Vice President and Chair of NERA's Global Energy, Environment, and Network Industries Practice, delivered a presentation entitled "Natural Gas in the Energy Mix: Is It a Bridge to Renewables?" Mr. King provided an overview of California's supply and demand outlook for natural gas. His presentation covered the Rocky Mountain reserves, Alaskan and Canadian exports, foreign demand, pricing trends, the economics of gas peaking plants to balance intermittent renewables, and the likely impact of fracking concerns.
 
To learn more about this event, please visit the LSI website.