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Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

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Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#2
They're all vice presidents there? American Psycho is becoming truer every day.

the ruling gives Goldman an incentive to keep the ambiguous language in place so it can reserve the right to make “unpredictable post hoc determinations about which former employees should be advanced attorney’s fees and which shouldn’t,” Fuentes wrote.

Maybe there's some selection bias going, or I'm a contrarian, but somehow dissents usually make more sense than rulings.

Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#3
The Delaware law provisions in question exist because the officers and directors of a corporation are often sued for the alleged misconduct of the corporation itself, and it's reasonable in those circumstances for the corporation to pay for their defense.

A VP at Goldman is, I think, the third lowest ranking front-office position. Not only is it not the sort of "officer" that Delaware law contemplates, but it's also not the sort of context Delaware law contemplates. Aleynikov wasn't accused of wrongdoing in his official capacity as an officer of the corporation. That might be something like a CEO being accused of funneling contracts to his brother's company. Aleynikov was accused of wrongdoing that was incidental to his employment.

Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#4
VP is common across the 'Murican banks. I am one, albeit in a different continent.

VPs don't need to manage a team, but they do often shoulder some responsibility for a project, or maybe, even run the project. Usually, it is the level of pay that bumps them into the VP bracket. Not much else.

Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#5

They're all vice presidents there? American Psycho is becoming truer every day. the ruling gives Goldman an incentive to keep the ambiguous language in place so it can reserve the right to make “unpredictable post hoc determinations about which former employees should be advanced attorney’s fees and which shouldn’t,” Fuentes wrote. Maybe there's some selection bias going, or I'm a contrarian, but somehow dissents usu…

Yeah, GS has something like 12,000 "Vice Presidents", or ~40% of their employees.

https://www.quora.com/How-come-Goldman-Sachs-has-12-000-VPs

Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#6

They're all vice presidents there? American Psycho is becoming truer every day. the ruling gives Goldman an incentive to keep the ambiguous language in place so it can reserve the right to make “unpredictable post hoc determinations about which former employees should be advanced attorney’s fees and which shouldn’t,” Fuentes wrote. Maybe there's some selection bias going, or I'm a contrarian, but somehow dissents usu…

Vice President is a mid ranking title in an investment bank for anyone with about 5 to 6 years experience.

Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#7

They're all vice presidents there? American Psycho is becoming truer every day. the ruling gives Goldman an incentive to keep the ambiguous language in place so it can reserve the right to make “unpredictable post hoc determinations about which former employees should be advanced attorney’s fees and which shouldn’t,” Fuentes wrote. Maybe there's some selection bias going, or I'm a contrarian, but somehow dissents usu…

That's how Bear Stearns was when I was there, 26, and a VP. The title is pegged to the salary, not responsibilities.

Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#8

They're all vice presidents there? American Psycho is becoming truer every day. the ruling gives Goldman an incentive to keep the ambiguous language in place so it can reserve the right to make “unpredictable post hoc determinations about which former employees should be advanced attorney’s fees and which shouldn’t,” Fuentes wrote. Maybe there's some selection bias going, or I'm a contrarian, but somehow dissents usu…

Someone once told me (but, I don't know if it's true) that you need the VP title to be able to sign off on trades, which is essentially a contract. That started a culture of proliferating the VP title.

Re: Sergey Aleynikov Loses in Goldman Fight Over Fees

#10
post #9

Why are legal costs so ridiculously high in the states?

Because we have many rich people and corporations willing to spend a lot of money to make sure they don't lose their cases. According to Wikipedia, Aleynikov was making over $1m per year at a Goldman competitor after he left.

And it looks like he got his money's worth. There was no dispute that he took the code. His "open source" defense apparently fell through, and a jury convicted him. He only won on appeal because he convinced the Second Circuit that software wasn't a trade secret within the Electronic Espionage Act, something which Congress went and explicitly my added in response to the court case.

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