Oakland, California—July 14, 2006- LAWFUEL – Press Release Service -Neil Rothstein, the Chief Managing Officer of Truth in Corporate Justice LLC (“TCJ”), parent to the Global Governance Center LLC (“GGC”), announces that applications from non-profit funds, foundations, endowments and other entities dedicated to helping others are now being accepted for membership into the Foundations, Endowments and Scholarship Project of the GGC. Mr. Rothstein, a class action securities attorney, former student of the violin, and person dedicated to helping institutions that help others, found it was imperative that the Worldwide Tree Group create a project dedicated to helping these institutions. That project was easy to find. Mr. Rothstein looked through a website highlighting foundations, charitable funds, and other non-profit organizations, and saw many that stated, “No applications for grants being accepted at this time.” It was realized that many of these organizations were unable to fulfill their goals due to severe stock market losses. From that, this project was born. The Foundations, Endowments & Scholarship Project of the Global Governance Center LLC (“GGC”).
The GGC is comprised of three sections: The GGC Board of Governors, the Foundations, Endowments and Scholarship Project (“FESP”) and the Retiree/Employee Aid Program for Pension/ERISA Action Response (“REAPPEAR”).
The Foundations, Endowments and Scholarship Project, of which NOT LESS than Ten Percent (10%) of the entities of the Worldwide Tree Group’s profits are dedicated. We offer to your non-profit organization:
• Pro bono legal services
• Daily stock portfolio monitoring
• Greater public and focused exposure
• Assistance in developing your organization
• Interaction with other non-profit organizations
• A place to resolve or give you the direction needed to resolve any concerns your organization may have
• Free total access to all services provided by the Worldwide Tree Group
• Access and interaction with the GGC’s other entities: the Board of Governors and REAPPAIR
• No less than ten percent (10%) of all profits from the Worldwide Tree Group’s entities are dedicated to this project
Any charitable organization may join except those that advocate or promote the use of violence or terrorism. For an application: please call 1/310-459-2560 or 1/800-610-4998 or go to www.worldwidetree.org and click on the GGC icon.
Our dedication to your organization includes the ability to utilize the services of the Worldwide Tree Group’s other entities, free of charge. Your duty is to help encourage and help empower other ethical organizations and further corporate governance in an ever changing global economy. Let us help you continue to help others. One lone voice can make a difference. Use our “Power to Empower” your organization and others in need.
*The GGC’s Board of Governors will be comprised of fifteen (15) diverse individuals bringing their vast experience together to reach consensus on demanding issues. Our Retiree/Employee Aid Program for Pension ERISA Action Response or “REAPPEAR” is set to assist those who are retired or employees with pension/ERISA problems and find themselves without a voice. There will be the needed support on the other end of the phone for those retirees who need action and empowerment. Just call the number listed above. Anyone who needs access to any paid services offered by any entity of the Worldwide Tree Group can apply for free access due to hardship.
TRUTH in CORPORATE JUSTICE LLC UPDATE: Class Action Caution…Test Your Attorney (TCJ OPENS WWW.BACKDATINGOPTIONS.COM)
This article is presented by Truth in Corporate Justice LLC (“TCJ”) of the Worldwide Tree Group. It is written by Neil Rothstein (nrothstein@worldwidetree.org ) its Chief Managing Officer, who has had experience in class action litigation since 1988. The entities of the Worldwide Tree group can be reached at www.worldwidetree.org or at 800/610-4998. Also see TCJ’s website regarding the news surrounding the investigations of companies who backdated stock option grants that are and may lead to many corporate restatement of earnings: www.backdatingoptions.com .
For years, I “paid to play.” Well, not in the sense of actually paying cash for a client. I paid with my phone to my ear, listening to as many shareholders as possible. Even in a class action, a person wants some individual attention. While it may be true that Taft-Hartley Funds and foreign funds are a bit hip these days, the question a fund manager must ask himself or herself is: how diligent is the top attorney for a firm if he or she must sell the firm only to those who will afford it a chance to take the “lead counsel” position? What is it that you are being sold? Does a great attorney need to sell himself or herself? Truth in Corporate Justice LLC (“TCJ”) believes that the individual investor and even more importantly, the foundation, non-profit fund, endowment or other non-profit organization may make a more zealous and ethical advocate for a purported class. Many of the lawyers and law firms that are currently under fire for their questionable behavior in “riding the line” or even crossing it in order to secure the title of “Lead Counsel” in class action securities cases are bringing to light the fact that certain Taft-Hartley pension funds and other public pension funds may not make the best lead plaintiffs. However, this does not infer that every attorney or law firm that has or is being investigated or indicted is guilty of any ethical violation or illegal act.
As a senior partner for nine years at a fine law firm that held on to its ethical standards, I hit the road and traveled to points of interest like Birmingham, Alabama, Topeka, Kansas, Detroit, Michigan, Dayton, Ohio and other exotic hotspots like all of Texas in order to meet the people that I represent (or “represented”) in such cases as Delphi, General Motors, Royal Dutch/Shell, etc. I carry a cell phone that I keep on 24 hours a day (619/251-0887). I was collecting evidence, talking to those affected by the trauma of lost equity and pension fund benefits, listening and selling my firm through its reputation. Amount of loss meant nothing to me. It is what it meant to these people that made a difference. In the office, I fielded thousands of phone calls. I gave people who had been financially injured, some devastatingly so, what they needed—a listener and a purpose. That voice of pain needed a person on the other end to explain the facts of the situation and to feel like their problem was being heard—by an attorney with substantial experience (as opposed to an associate, junior partner or “shareholder representative”). Who was I to judge another’s “financial interest” in the litigation at hand? I needed to know first hand the needs of the people that my firm was representing.
Time and again you will read on law websites or firm manuals or on power-point presentations that the law firm has your interest at heart. Over the past nine years, I spoke to thousands of shareholders. I did not care whether the person had 10 shares or 10 million shares. I did not care whether it was a person or a fund. Each had suffered and, in fact, the individual was almost always more devastated. Why? Because the individual owner of an equity that has dropped due to fraud usually sustains a larger percentage loss in his or her portfolio. I also spoke with as many shareholders as possible as individual investors usually watched their stocks more closely and therefore, provided the much needed evidence in order to plead fraud with the requisite specificity necessary to defeat the motion to dismiss the case.
Most of all, investors feel special when they speak to a name or senior partner. The investors feel well-treated and that they are in capable hands. Many firms claim to care about the investors they represent. Unfortunately, for the lawyers who believe that they can lure the same old pension funds to the table or entice foreign funds to get involved in the U.S. judicial system, those days will come to a halt as scandals come to a close and those that surround them drop by the wayside. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 does not say that it is the individual or person with the largest loss that prevails as Lead Plaintiff. It is that individual, person or entity with the LARGEST FINANCIAL INTEREST who also satisfies the four basic requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 23: Adequacy, Typicality, Numerosity and Commonality.
The Global Governance Center LLC, that contains the Foundations, Endowments and Scholarship Project, receives not less than ten percent of the profits made by Class in Action LLC, a subsidiary of TCJ and the Worldwide Tree Group’s evolving and unique Worldwide Tree Multimedia LLC. Those of us at the entities of the Worldwide Tree Group encourage foundations, charitable funds, non-profit organizations and other organizations dedicated to helping others to sign up and be a part of this project. Our resources, assistance and services are dedicated free of charge to these organizations. One need only look at the securities litigation case against Halliburton to see what one ethical voice can do—and how one voice can change everything (www.halliburtonsecuritieslitigation.com).
Let us use our power “Power to Empower” you. As to any fund – non-profit or not, take the test: call the firm that has promised you special attention and state that you have a few shares. I highly doubt you will get the partner on the phone who has skillfully lectured you about how much he or she cares about your importance. Call again and state you are from a large fund and see if you cannot get that partner off the phone. Then imagine: that first caller is your mother, father, friend or child, or someone else close to you. Or, it may be that the small, concerned shareholder that holds the knowledge to help your case succeed.
The question: test the water first. When I answer thousands of calls, I accumulate a great deal of information, knowledge, compassion and respect for those I represent. I was a senior partner at my former firm. As a fund manager of any type, would you want a family member or other loved one with fewer shares to get less respect or attention? Perhaps that individual lost fifty percent of his or her portfolio. A fund with $100 million dollars that loses $1 million dollars is the same as a person with a dollar losing a penny. To an entity or person who is worth, let us say, $100,000, who loses $15,000, that person has lost 15% of their net worth. So, who has the “largest financial interest” at stake? Might it not even be greater if that entity has dedicated that money to those in need? The foundation, charitable fund or endowment dedicates its money to others in need; they know their role as a fiduciary. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Congress need not rearrange the laws again. Truth in Corporate Justice LLC will hold those accountable who violate the spirit of the law committing fraud and those who abuse the use of the laws for their pure self-interest.
TCJ UPDATE: For more information on the “Backdating of Stock Option Grants”, please go to www.backdatingoptions.com . If you have any questions on this topic, please do not hesitate to call Truth in Corporate Justice LLC at 800/610-4998 or 619/251-0887 for more information.
