The Advisors' Blog

– Broc Romanek, CompensationStandards.com

Thanks to Brink Dickerson of Troutman Sanders, who sent me this form of letter that Troutman is using in order to provide compensation committees with the information that they need in order to consider the independence of their outside legal counsel. According to Brink, Troutman considered a number of different approaches but ultimately decided to:

(i) cover a specific time period (which it expects to be the prior fiscal year of the client), and
(ii) define the terms used in the NYSE rule so that there would be clarity in the response. They also decided to solicit input from all relevant attorneys, much as they would do in preparing an audit response letter.

I know many law firms are just starting to think how they will deal with this new independence issue. Drop me a line and let me know what approach your firm is thinking of taking. I will keep it confidential unless you tell me otherwise. I am posting any samples that firms decide to make public in our “Outside Advisors” Practice Area.