In the global criminal and regulatory enforcement arena, robust enforcement actions against multinational companies are likely to continue worldwide in 2015. In North and South America, Europe and Asia, with criminal investigations and prosecutions across multiple areas, regulators are working together to comprehensively target alleged misconduct of global corporations and financial institutions.

In addition to U.S. enforcement activity, authorities outside the United States have increasingly pursued significant, complex international investigations of their own, a trend we expect to continue in 2015. Corruption investigations and enforcement have been particularly active areas in 2014 in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China and Brazil, as have antitrust and fraud actions. This same active enforcement environment has pushed important governance and criminal law issues to litigation in Europe, testing the boundaries of board of director duties in Germany and double-jeopardy protections in France. These legal questions are expected to be addressed further in 2015.