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Encyclopedia > Chinese wall

In business, Chinese Walls are information barriers implemented within firms to separate and isolate persons who make investment decisions from persons who are privy to undisclosed material information which may influence those decisions. Penn Center Penn Center is the heart of Philadelphias Central Business District. ... The Great Wall of China (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Long wall) or (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The long wall of 10,000 Li (里)[1]) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th...


In general, all firms are required to develop, implement and enforce reasonable policies and procedures to safeguard insider information, and to ensure no improper trading occurs. Although specific procedures are not mandated, adopted practices must be formalized in writing and must be appropriate and sufficient. Procedures should address the following areas: education of employees, containment of inside information, restriction of transactions, and trading surveillance. Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... There are two kinds of trading that are referred to as insider trading: Trading of a security of a company (, shares or options) based on material nonpublic information. ... In mathematics, a function is a relation, such that each element of a set (the domain) is associated with a unique element of another (possibly the same) set (the codomain, not to be confused with the range). ... A transaction is an agreement, communication, or movement carried out between separate entities or objects. ... For other uses, see Surveillance (disambiguation). ...

Contents

Potential phrase origins

The term was popularized in the United States following the stock market crash of 1929, when the U.S. government legislated informational separation between investment bankers and brokerage firms, in order to limit the conflict of interest between objective analysis of companies and the desire for successful initial public offerings. Rather than prohibiting one company from engaging in both businesses, the government permitted the implementation of Chinese wall procedures. A stock market is a market for the trading of company stock, and derivatives of same; both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately. ... The Great Depression was a global economic slump that began in 1929 and bottomed in 1933. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... “IPO” redirects here. ...


The term "Chinese Wall" may refer to the Great Wall of China, and its scale and effectiveness at separating one side from the other. Alternatively, the term may originate from a reference to chinese standing screens which allow for the temporary installation of a wall in a room lacking the permanent architectual feature. This origin seems fitting for its usage in organizations such as law firms that create ad hoc barriers between offices or lawyers in order to protect against a conflict of interest. The Great Wall of China (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Long wall) or (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The long wall of 10,000 Li (里)[1]) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th...


Objection to use of the phrase

At least one California judge has taken offense to the phrase Chinese Wall. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. v.Superior Court 200 Cal.App.3d 272, 293-294, 245 Cal.Rptr. 873, 887-888 (1988) (Low, Presiding Justice, concurring), wrote:

I concur in the opinion of Justice Haning, but write separately to comment on the apparently widespread use of the term "Chinese Wall" to describe the type of screening mechanism discussed in this case. While our opinion uses the term "screen," both the parties and the trial court used the term "Chinese Wall,"which seems to have become a term of art. I write to express my profound objection to the use of this phrase in this context.
The origin of the use of "Chinese Wall" in the context of confidentiality is unclear. Evidently, the term was casually coined in some appellate opinion, then picked up and used without question or explanation by courts and commentators. The unquestioned use of the term was perpetuated by a leading note on the subject, The Chinese Wall Defense to Law Firm Disqualification (1980) 128 U.Pa.L.Rev. 677, which is otherwise analytical and informative. (See lead opn., fn. 2, p. 878.)
The enthusiasm for handy phrases of verbal shorthand is understandable. Occasionally, however, lawyers and judges use a term which is singularly inappropriate. "Chinese Wall" is one such piece of legal flotsam which should be emphatically abandoned. The term has an ethnic focus which many would consider a subtle form of linguistic discrimination. Certainly, the continued use of the term would be insensitive to the ethnic identity of the many persons of Chinese descent. Modern courts should not perpetuate the biases which creep into language from outmoded, and more primitive, ways of thought.
It may be sobering to recall that little more than a century ago our own Supreme Court held that persons of Chinese ancestry could not testify in court against a person of Caucasian descent. In People v. Hall (1854) 4 Cal. 399, 404, the court, speaking through Chief Justice Hugh C. Murray, declared that "[t]he same rule which would admit them to testify, would admit them to all the equal rights of citizenship, and we might soon see them at the polls, in the jury box, upon the bench, and in our legislative halls." It is worth noting, given recent events on the American political stage, that language and attitudes once embodied in a judicial opinion would now lead to the removal of a Governor, and membership in groups adhering to those attitudes could lead to denial of confirmation for high public office.
Aside from this discriminatory flavor, the term "Chinese Wall" is being used to describe a barrier of silence and secrecy. The barrier itself may work to further the cause of ethics in litigation; but the term ascribed to that barrier will necessarily be associated with constraints on the freedom of open communication. To employ in this context the image of the Great Wall of China, one of the magnificent wonders of the world and a structure of great beauty, is particularly inappropriate. One can imagine the response to the negative use of the images of the Eiffel Tower, the Great Pyramids of Cheops, or the Colossus of Rhodes.
Finally, "Chinese Wall" is not even an architecturally accurate metaphor for the barrier to communication created to preserve confidentiality. Such a barrier functions as a hermetic seal to prevent two-way communication between two groups. The Great Wall of China, on the other hand, was only a one-way barrier. It was built keep outsiders out-not to keep insiders in.
It is necessary to raise a clenched cry for jettisoning the outmoded legal jargon of a bygone time. If the image of a wall must be used, perhaps "ethics wall" is more suitable phraseology.

Another alternative phrase is "firewall"


Finance

A Chinese Wall is most commonly employed in investment banks, where such banks offer corporate finance services to companies (raising capital, for example), while at the same time providing financial research to a more general audience. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...


In spite of Chinese Walls, these conflicts of interest allegedly arose during the heydays of the "dot com" era, when research analysts published allegedly dishonest positive analysis on companies in which they, or related parties, owned shares. The U.S. government has since passed laws strengthening the Chinese Wall concept (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley Act) with the desire to more carefully formalize and prevent such conflicts. Dot-com (also dotcom or redundantly dot. ... Before the signing ceremony of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, President George Bush meets with Senator Paul Sarbanes, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and other dignitaries in the Blue Room at the White House on July 30, 2002. ...


Journalism

The term is also used in journalism to describe the separation between the editorial and advertising arms of a media firm.[citation needed] Journalism is a discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. ... Advert redirects here. ...


Law

Chinese Walls are used in law firms when one part of the firm, representing a party on a deal or litigation, is separated from another part with contrary interests. In the United Kingdom a law firm may represent competing parties in a suit, but only if there is no communication between partners.[citation needed] A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in order to recover a right, obtain damages for an injury, obtain an injunction to prevent an injury, or obtain a declaratory judgment to prevent future legal disputes. ...



The Chinese wall is regarded as breached for advertorial projects. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...


See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
Chinese wall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (929 words)
A Chinese Wall is most commonly employed in investment banks, where such banks offer corporate finance services to companies (managing the fund-raising, for example), and at the same time also provide financial research information to a more general audience.
The Chinese wall is also used in law firms in situations where one part of the firm, which is representing a party on a deal or litigation, is separate from another part of the firm that might otherwise have an adverse effect on the party's interests.
The term Chinese wall may also refer to a myth that the Chinese community in countries such as Australia, Europe and United States (where Chinese immigration is rife) tend to isolate the rest of the community and only communicate and associate with their own ethnic group - particularly the more recent immigrants.
Great Wall of China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1679 words)
The Wall stretches over a formidable 6,350 km (3,946 miles), from Shanhai Pass on the Bohai Gulf in the east, at the limit between China proper and Manchuria, to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (refer to University of Washington: A.
The Great Wall seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty, on a much larger scale and with longer lasting materials (solid stone used for the sides and the top of the Wall) than any wall built before.
The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people, who could climb the wall, but make it difficult for semi-nomadic people outside the wall to cross with their horses or return with stolen property.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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