<HTML>In a message dated 8/16/02 5:49:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jmhayes@j-o-r-d-a-n.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">> So maybe the use of the name Chinese Wall to describe > something that sounds impermeable but wasn't was yet > another instance of unconscious truth-telling. I don't think that term was ever meant to mean impermeable: it was (and is) a symbolic gesture of investment banks resolve to attempt to keep the various sides of the house separate.  </BLOCKQUOTE> Absolutely. And with it, an internal terminology developed: The practice of 'wall-crossing' continues to be prevalent. So, employees who are technically on the 'public' side of the wall, dealing with end investors, i.e. traders, salespeople and research people have but to make a call to a compliance officer and get sign-off from a managing director to get 'crossed' to the 'private' side of the wall, i.e. the investment banking side, so they can work on a merger, acquisition, or otherwise complex transaction. This practice takes about 30 seconds. Research people, in particular, are 'crossed' all the time. Some managing directors sit 'on top of' the wall. They have to 'erect' a Chinese Wall in their heads. Nomi </HTML>