Welcome back to 1997. Tiger Woods won his first green jacket at the Masters at age 21, Steve Jobs returned to the corner office at Apple, and the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 7,000 for the first time...

Presentation by Jamie Grant to a group of Boston attorneys. Covers current trends in bank lending, commercial paper, secondary market, interest rates and the impact of the recent credit crisis on leveraged buyouts and M&A.

Recent corporate earnings announcements from companies such as General Electric (47% decline in Q4 earnings) and State Street ($800 million in earnings charges in Q4, and $9.1 billion in unrealized losses on its books) have roiled the markets and helped usher in a return of the market volatility that peaked in late November...

Economic uncertainty continues to rule the day, with the continuing market volatility and last weeks sell-off dropping major indices to five-year lows. The markets are expected to continue to fall, due to ongoing credit concerns and the anxiety surrounding the auto industry and broader economy...

In our 22 years of experience advising middle market companies, we have found that in times of financial distress and market dislocation, business leaders are often too slow to recognize a trend, and therefore too slow to make the critical changes that are necessary to avoid losses. Such hesitation is natural, especially for entrepreneurs. But there is also a false sense of security that many executives and board members share, that stems from a common misconception of fiduciary duty. Fiduciaries generally understand their duty as “generating value for shareholders”, which is only part of the equation...