NYT taps legal experts to offer primer on what’s next in SEC vs. Goldman suit
By Flickr user srqpix
Binyamin Appelbaum continues The New York Times’ coverage of the SEC lawsuit against Goldman Sachs with a context builder to explain what each side is up against. He writes:
“To a layperson, the case against Goldman may seem clear cut.
After all, investors did not know some information about the product that they might have considered vital, and they lost $1 billion in the end. But the rules that govern these kinds of transactions are not so plain.”
Today’s Tip: Pull in the experts to set the stage.
The New York Times broke the story on Christmas Eve about the deal that triggered the SEC’s lawsuit against Goldman Sachs on Friday. This story on Monday gives readers – especially on news of Goldman’s $3.3 billion in Q1 profits Tuesday – what’s at stake and what potential hurdles have to be surmounted.
At Bloomberg, I worked with a few reporters who also had law degrees, so they understood some of the legalities. For those of us without that expertise, finding someone to offer perspective is key.
It sounds easy: look up lawyers online or use a university database of experts. As Larry Cornies notes in this piece for the Canadian Journalism Project, these databases may not be as reliable as you think.
To get the right voices and truly understand what’s going on, search news databases such as LexisNexis for references to major cases on your topic. In particular, look for lawyers or academics involved in those cases. You can use the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Network to track down the lawyers.
