Dirt Diggers Network: Digest No. 21
October 25, 2002
Editor: Philip Mattera
1. Standard & Poor's launches corporate governance/disclosure service
2. PricewaterhouseCoopers study touts social disclosure by multinationals
3. Who Defends Corporate America
4. European environmental law resource
5. The Business of War
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1. Standard & Poor's launches corporate governance/disclosure service
S&P recently announced the launch of an information service
on corporate governance and disclosure practices among large U.S.
companies (go to http://www2.standardandpoors.com & click on Corporate
Governance in the Special Coverage box). The service, which will supplement
one that S&P has provided on European and Asian companies since 2000,
will evaluate and score companies based on board issues, investor rights,
financial reporting and related matters. To kick off the service, S&P did a
disclosure study of the companies in the S&P 500.
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2. PricewaterhouseCoopers study touts social disclosure by multinationals
Big Four accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers issued a report recently
with the highly exaggerated title "New Era of Transparency" that suggests
that public companies are engaging in greater social and environmental
disclosure. The report, part of PwC's Management Barometer Surveys
(http://www.barometersurveys.com), claims that "Multinational companies
in Europe and the U.S. are expanding their corporate reporting to include
information on 'triple bottom line' -- economic, social and environmental --
performance in order to influence stakeholders and the global capital markets."
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3. Who Defends Corporate America
The National Law Journal has released the latest edition of "Who Defends Corporate
America," a listing of which law firms represent the 250 largest U.S. corporations
(http://www.law.com/special/professionals/nlj/2002/nlj_client_list_who_defends_corporate_america.shtml).
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom of New York retained its longstanding position
as the outside firm used by the most large companies. Kirkland & Ellis was not far
behind. Given the recent spate of corporate crime, defense lawyers are not hurting
for business.
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4. European environmental law resource
The European Environmental Law Homepage (http://www.eel.nl/ ) has set up a
searchable database (http://www.eel.nl/index3.htm) containing the full-text of
cases decided by the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance
related to issues of European environmental law. You can search by party
name or get a chronological list of cases
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5. The Business of War
On October 28 the Center for Public Integrity will release the findings
of a nearly two-year investigation into the business of war conducted
by its International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The study
of private military companies, arms smugglers and multinational corporations
that profit in war zones will be available on the Center's website at
www.public-i.org.
Philip Mattera
pmattera@goodjobsfirst.org