Throughout the week over at Securities Docket, I highlight the most interesting columns and blog posts from around the web on the subjects of SEC enforcement and securities litigation. Here is a digest of my picks for the week ending October 14.

Something for (Almost) Everybody in Dodd-Frank: Racial, Gender, and Diversity Considerations in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

The Federalist Society | Christopher Byrnes | Oct 14, 2011

The provisions of the [Dodd-Frank] Act that deal with race, gender, and diversity generally fall into two categories: those that ask financial regulators to take these considerations into account in addressing systemic financial risk and those that ask these regulators to take these considerations into account in their workforces, the workforces of their contractors, and the businesses they regulate. All of these provisions raise various legal and policy issues.

A Recent District Court Decision Undermines the Supreme Court's Ruling in Janus

Kaye Scholer LLP | H. Peter Haveles, Jr., Aaron Rubinstein, Vincent A. Sam | Oct 14, 2011

In a September 30 decision released by the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York in City of Roseville Employees' Retirement System v. EnergySolutions, the court seized on the Supreme Court's phrase “ultimate control” to deny a motion to dismiss a complaint seeking to hold a parent corporation liable for alleged misrepresentations in a registration statement issued by its subsidiary. In doing so, the district court has potentially created a huge exception to Janus that is inconsistent with the Supreme Court's ruling.

Insider trading: Tipping the scales

The Economist | Oct 14, 2011

Other countries, particularly those with big stockmarkets, are getting tougher, too. “Seventy percent of all equity trading in the world takes place in London, New York and Hong Kong,” says Mark Steward, director of enforcement at Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). “It's not surprising to see all three jurisdictions take the same thing seriously.” .... Maria Helena Santana, who heads the CVM, Brazil's securities regulator, says that “after having investors consider our legislation and regulatory environment not safe enough or strong enough”, the CVM had to “gain credibility”. Fighting insider trading has become “the single most important task we have”. Earlier this year Russia made insider trading a criminal offence for the first time.

Prison Time for Inside Trading Is Climbing

WSJ.com | Chad Bray and Rob Barry | Oct 14, 2011

A higher percentage of those found guilty of such crimes are receiving significant time behind bars than in the past, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. In the past two years, defendants sent to prison on insider-trading charges in New York federal courts have received a median sentence of about 2½ years, according to the Journal analysis of white-collar sentencing data from court records and archives involving 108 cases. Just Wednesday, hedge-fund trader Michael Kimelman was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for inside trading.Those sentences compare with a median sentence of 18 months in the past decade and 11½ months from 1993 to 1999, according to the Journal analysis.

Rajaratnam prison term follows sentencing trends

Reuters | Andrew Longstreth | Oct 14, 2011

The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which went into effect in 1987, were meant to bring more consistency to sentencing. After a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005, the guidelines became advisory, giving judges greater flexibility.Judges, in fact, often find reasons to depart downward, according to a Reuters analysis of sentences imposed in 2009 and 2010. That analysis looked at 15 insider-trading cases brought by the U.S. Attorney in New York.Of the 15 sentences handed down in that time period for insider trading, 13 were lighter than the terms prescribed by the guidelines.

The End of an Era for Stock Option Backdating Scandals

Corporate Counsel | Shannon Green | Oct 14, 2011

Former Juniper Networks GC Lisa Berry's backdating settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week may have symbolized the end of an era. But the vigor with which the agency pursued a number of corporate executives on fraud claims has left a lasting impression on lawyers.... While stock options are an important tool to motivate executives and align their interests with those of shareholders, [Prof. Robert] Jackson says there's a lesson to be learned from the mass federal crackdown. Executive incentive is complex, he says, and governance protections are needed.

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