On June 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a $490,000 settlement with the real estate services provider First American Financial Corporation (First American) for violations of disclosure controls and...more
On June 21, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. et al. v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System et al. The Court held that in ruling on class certification in a securities action,...more
6/25/2021
/ Arkansas Teacher Retirement System v Goldman Sachs Group ,
Basic v Levinson ,
Burden of Persuasion ,
Burden of Proof ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Investors ,
Presumption of Reliance ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholders
On Friday, June 11, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed its Agency Rule List for Spring 2021 with the Office of Management and Budget. The Agency Rule List gives clarity to when companies can expect to see...more
6/16/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
On June 7, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it seized 63.7 of the 75 bitcoins paid by Colonial Pipeline to ransomware attackers last month. The recovered bitcoins were valued at $2.3 million at the time of...more
6/10/2021
/ Asset Seizure ,
Bitcoin ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FBI ,
Hackers ,
Infrastructure ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Supply Chain
On June 3, 2021, President Biden issued the first National Security Study Memorandum of his presidency, in which he declared fighting corruption “a core United States national security interest.” The Memorandum sets out the...more
6/9/2021
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Biden Administration ,
Bribery ,
Corruption ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Financial Crimes ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Money Laundering ,
National Security ,
Presidential Memorandum ,
White Collar Crimes
On June 3, 2021, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Van Buren v. United States, narrowing the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). In resolving a circuit split in favor of a limited interpretation of the...more
On April 22, 2021, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision prohibiting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from using its preferred tool for regulating marketplace misconduct. ...more
On Feb. 4, 2021, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the new chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, introduced sweeping legislation ...more
On March 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had charged AT&T and three of its midlevel investor relations executives with violating Regulation FD, a rule that bars issuers from selectively...more
On March 4, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the creation of a Climate and ESG Task Force in the Division of Enforcement. Climate risks and sustainability have been of increasingly critical interest...more
3/8/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Business Strategies ,
Capital Investments ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment Management ,
Joint Task Force ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainability
The Government’s Antitrust Action Against Google -
On Oct. 20, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and 11 state attorneys general filed a significant civil antitrust lawsuit against Google LLC in the District of Columbia...more
10/26/2020
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Exclusionary Clauses ,
Google ,
Illegal Tying Arranegements ,
Monopolization ,
Online Advertisements ,
Search Engines ,
Section 2 ,
Sherman Act ,
Trump Administration
Funds — through their portfolio companies — may have a significant antitrust opportunity against the major U.S. railroad companies. ...more
8/3/2020
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
BNSF Railway ,
Competition ,
Damages ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Freight Forwarding ,
Portfolio Protections ,
Price-Fixing ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Railroads
On July 3, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released the Second Edition of their joint Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Resource Guide or Guide). ...more
On May 7, 2020, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the convictions of two public officials charged in the “Bridgegate” political corruption scandal. ...more
5/13/2020
/ Appeals ,
Bridgegate ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Federal-Program Fraud ,
Governor Christie ,
Intent to Obtain Money or Property ,
Kelly v United States ,
Political Scandals ,
Public Officials ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Wire Fraud
There are many litigation issues presented by the outbreak of and response to COVID-19 (the disease caused by the novel coronavirus). We address below several practical and legal issues to consider during this challenging...more
There are many litigation issues presented by the outbreak of and response to COVID-19 (the disease caused by the novel coronavirus). We address below several practical and legal issues to consider during this challenging...more
Over the past several years, a number of transactions in the credit default swap (CDS) market have been scrutinized by the public, market participants and regulators. These transactions — which we have labeled as...more
Congress is poised to overturn two recent judicial interpretations of the whistleblower protections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank). On Sept. 23, 2019, the Whistleblower...more
11/27/2019
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Binding Precedent ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Whistleblowers
On April 23, Kramer Levin reported on the European Parliament’s approved proposal for the adoption of a whistleblower protection directive. On Oct. 7, the Directive on protection of persons reporting breaches of Union law...more
11/15/2019
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Confidential Information ,
Disclosure ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Ethics ,
EU ,
EU Directive ,
Infringement ,
Internal Reporting ,
New Legislation ,
Public Disclosure ,
Sapin II ,
Third-Party ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
Brief Comments on The Director of the Serious Fraud Office v. Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2006 -
On Sept. 5, 2018, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down a unanimous...more
9/26/2018
/ Appeals ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Bribery ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Declaratory Relief ,
Document Productions ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Internal Investigations ,
Legal Advice Privilege ,
Litigation Privilege ,
Natural Resources ,
Self-Reporting ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
Brief Comments on The Director of the Serious Fraud Office v. Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2006....more
9/24/2018
/ Appeals ,
Bribery ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Declaratory Relief ,
Internal Investigations ,
Legal Advice Privilege ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mining ,
Natural Resources ,
Privileged Communication ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
Whistleblowers