SOX and Lawyers

     Page One of the New York Times feaures "After Scandals, New Legal Stars Rise on Wall St." They are compliance lawyers that lead boards of directors through the legal thicket that came with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.  Many, including myself, predicted that SOX would empower lawyers in the board room.  It has.  Whether or not this is good remains to be seen.  On the positive side, one could argue that boards will manager better.  On the negative side, one could argue that boards will do what they always have done but with more time and expense spent on clever procedural and structural innovations, designed by lawyers, to lower the risks of the new exposure to liability under SOX.