More substance on executive pay on the way
Posted on November 19, 2009 at 9:32 am
Bass Berry & Sims’ executive pay specialists say the Securities and Exchange Commission is getting serious about providing investors with more meat and less fat in 2010 proxy statements.
Parratt noted that there was too much discussion of the framework in which decisions are made and not enough insight into the reasons behind compensation policies and decisions. Therefore, for the upcoming 2010 proxy season, companies should present a thorough analysis of their compensation decisions, avoiding boilerplate and unnecessary information and instead providing the specific details of the actual decisions that were made.
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Bass attorney to chair new Cancer Society initiative
Posted on November 9, 2009 at 8:09 am
Mike Sontag, leader of Bass Berry’s tax group, is the first chair of an American Cancer Society group that seeks to increase the nonprofit’s planned giving operations. Sontag’s daughter is a cancer survivor.
When asked to chair the Nationwide Gift Planning Advisory Council, I immediately accepted this new challenge… I expect to challenge myself and the other committee members to develop a national strategy for the Society’s planned giving efforts.
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Think Halloween is scary? Try getting a bunch of lawyers to move by December 15
Posted on October 30, 2009 at 2:08 pm
That’s what the Bass Berry team needs to do.
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Looking for a cut-rate trial lawyer?
Posted on October 26, 2009 at 2:30 pmIt had to happen: In an era when the prices people are willing to pay for music, movies, art and even yoga lessons have fallen starkly, Bass, Berry & Sims is turning young associates into low-price litigation attorneys. WPLN’s Blake Farmer has the story.
Bass lawyer named Bond Counsel fellow
Posted on October 6, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Charlie Wray, the past chair of the public finance practice at Bass Berry & Sims, has been named a fellow at the American College of Bond Counsel. Wray, a former Oak Hill mayor, has been at Bass for 40 years.
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Bass attorney named Bar Foundation fellow
Posted on September 10, 2009 at 7:16 am
Leigh Walton, a 25-year Bass Berry & Sims partner and co-chair of its health care practice, has been named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The nonprofit ABF, which bills itself as “the nation’s leading research institute for the empirical study of law,” hosts its fellowships in residence at its offices in Chicago.
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Bass Berry is good for women
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 1:30 pmThe downtown firm has again been named one of the best places to work for women.
The winning firms have at least 8 percent lawyers working reduced hours (versus an average 5 percent nationwide) and at least 20 percent women equity partners (versus an average 16 percent nationwide). Bass, Berry & Sims PLC was recognized for a number of ongoing related initiatives, including increased use of flex-time, reduced-hour schedules, and other family-friendly policies.
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Opening up the proxies
Posted on June 15, 2009 at 5:24 pmCue the fireworks: The rulemakers at the SEC have released a draft set of guidelines that would, in the words of the corporate and securities team at Bass Berry & Sims, “appear to significantly increase the likelihood of companies being involved in an actual or threatened proxy fight with multiple dissidents.”
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Bass Berry, Waller lawyers on best-of list
Posted on June 12, 2009 at 2:02 pmAlmost 30 Bass Berry attorneys have been named to Chambers USA’s list of the nation’s top business law minds. Listed below are those attorneys as well as the 18 Waller Lansden lawyers also on the list. Stay tuned for announcements from other local firms.
Honorees from Bass:
Lee Barfield – Litigation, General Commercial; Litigation: Medical Malpractice Defense
Dewees Berry – Real Estate
Jim Cheek – Corporate/M&A
Michael Dagley – Litigation, General Commercial
Page Davidson – Corporate/M&A
Wallace Dietz – Litigation, General Commercial
Felix Dowsley – Real Estate
Karen Ellis – Labor & Employment
Tim Garrett – Labor & Employment
John Good – Corporate/M&A
Paul Jennings – Litigation, Bankruptcy
Howard Lamar – Corporate/M&A
Claire Miley – Healthcare; Healthcare Regulatory
Scott Noonan – Healthcare
Allen Overby – Corporate/M&A
William Ozier – Labor & Employment
Michael Peek – Real Estate
Cynthia Reisz – Healthcare
Todd Rolapp – Corporate/M&A
Cynthia Sellers – Banking & Finance, Transactional
Mark Sheets – Real Estate
Richard Spore – Real Estate
John Stemmler – Real Estate
James Tate Jr. – Banking & Finance, Transactional
Bob Thompson – Banking & Finance
Overton Thompson – Litigation, General Commercial
Mitchell Walker – Corporate/M&A
Leigh Walton – Healthcare
And those from Waller:
George W. Bishop III - Healthcare
Robert E. Boston - Labor & Employment and Litigation: General Commercial
Jeffrey A. Calk - Real Estate
Robert R. Campbell, Jr. - Real Estate
J. Chase Cole - Corporate/M&A
Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. - Labor & Employment
Marcus Crider - Labor & Employment
Paul S. Davidson - Litigation: General Commercial
Ames Davis - Litigation: General Commercial
James M. Doran, Jr. - Litigation: General Commercial
Matthew T. Harris - Real Estate
J. Reginald Hill - Healthcare
Nora L. Liggett - Healthcare and Healthcare: Regulatory
Gerald F. Mace - Banking &Finance: Transactional
E. Marlee Mitchell - Corporate/M&A
E. Andrew Norwood - Media & Entertainment
Patricia O. Powers - Healthcare and Healthcare: Regulatory
G. Scott Rayson - Healthcare
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Eight straight
Posted on May 21, 2009 at 10:03 amBass Berry & Sims has been named the top corporate and securities law firm for the Nashville area by Corporate Board Member Magazine. This is the eighth consecutive year the firm has taken hom top honors. The full list of the top firms in the top 25 metropolitan areas is available here.
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Bredesen: ‘More guidance’ needed from state on muni interest-rate swaps
Posted on April 10, 2009 at 8:33 amThe Governor tells the NYT that more education is needed on the use of municipal bond derivatives that have burned a number of Tennessee cities.
“I think what happened is you had a very sophisticated seller of these things, and some people who were just learning their way making the decisions about how to utilize them,” Mr. Bredesen told reporters.
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Tennessee’s loosey-goosey muni bond derivatives
Posted on April 8, 2009 at 8:05 amThe New York Times lifts the veil on the surprises a number of Tennessee cities have gotten after working with investment bank Morgan Keegan to issue debt. The municipal bond derivatives marketed by Morgan Keegan – which also ran educational seminars on the complex deals – resulted in payments jumping higher as the economy tumbled.
Municipal bond experts say they know of no other state where a firm was allowed to wear three hats; several states prohibit a single firm from acting as both adviser and underwriter. In Pennsylvania, which has such a prohibition, federal prosecutors are investigating accusations that investment banks and financial advisers conspired to sell bonds with inflated fees to school districts.
“It’s like the lion being hired to protect the gazelle,” Robert E. Brooks, a municipal bonds expert and a professor of financial management at the University of Alabama, said of the situation in Tennessee. “Who was looking after these little towns?”
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SoBro tower tops out
Posted on February 23, 2009 at 3:19 pm
From a release:
Construction of The Pinnacle at Symphony Place, a rising star on the Nashville skyline, has “topped out” with the pouring of the 29th and final floor. Downtown’s first LEED Certified building, The Pinnacle is the future home of law firm Bass Berry & Sims and will be the headquarters of Pinnacle Financial Partners.
Atlanta-based Barry Real Estate Companies is developing The Pinnacle, which was designed by internationally renowned architecture firm Pickard Chilton. Nashville Commercial | Cushman & Wakefield is the exclusive leasing and management agent, and Brasfield & Gorrie is the general contractor.
Adjacent to the Schermerhorn Sympony Center, The Pinnacle is the first office high-rise on the south side of Lower Broadway. The building encompasses 520,000 square feet and is currently 50 percent pre-leased. It is scheduled to open in January 2010.
While the final floor has been poured, the profile of the building will continue to rise, with the crowning of a 40-foot sculptural architectural element. Some of the most distinctive aesthetic elements of The Pinnacle are still to come, including ambient exterior lighting and elegant formal rooftop gardens, which contribute to the structure’s ecological sustainability.
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