Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

Sutherland is a law firm with global reach known for solving challenging business problems and resolving unique legal issues for many of the world's largest companies. Founded in 1924, the firm has grown to approximately 500 lawyers handling matters in every part of the world. Seven major practice areas — corporate, energy and environmental, financial services, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and tax — provide the framework that contains an extensive range of specialty areas, allowing its lawyers to serve a diverse client base that includes a number of Fortune 500 companies.

DOL opines that Security Interest in Non-IRA Brokerage Assets to Cover IRA Indebtedness is a Prohibited Transaction
December 9, 2009
In Advisory Opinion 2009-03A (October 27, 2009), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) opined that the pledge of an IRA owner’s personal accounts at a brokerage firm to secure the payment of any debt or liability in his self-directed IRA maintained with that firm would violate the prohibited...

Florida Supreme Court Ends Putative Class Action Alleging Numerous Florida Insurance Code Violations
December 9, 2009
The Florida Supreme Court recently brought an end to a state class action against New York Life Insurance Company when the Court declined to review the 2008 decision by Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, which affirmed the trial court’s dismissal with prejudice of the putative...

Proposed Federal Insurance Office Act of 2009 Moves Forward
December 9, 2009
On December 2, 2009, the House Committee on Financial Services passed H.R. 2609, the Federal Insurance Office Act of 2009 (FIO Act, or H.R. 2609). Representative Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) introduced the FIO Act earlier this year, and similar initiatives had been introduced in 2008. According to plans...