Expert Analysis

• Navigating OFAC's 50% Rule For Cross-Border Exec Mobility

  

  A recent Office of Foreign Assets Control guide signals that its 50% ownership rule can determine not only sanctions compliance but also whether a company can sponsor multinational executives for immigration, highlighting an often overlooked interaction between sanctions and immigration law, says Xuan Zhang at Reid & Wise.

• Preparing For Next Congress With Eye On Investigation Risk

  

  Rod Rosenstein, Brian Whisler and Bruce Linskens at Baker McKenzie offer advice for organizations seeking to build a proactive response plan to potential congressional oversight as the election looms.

• Tips For Investors, Creditors Before Venezuela Restructuring

  

  As Venezuela enters the first genuinely actionable phase of what may become one of the largest sovereign debt restructurings in modern financial history, creditors should strategically evaluate their claim types and investors should consider engaging before formal negotiations commence, says Rodrigo Carvalho at Winston Taylor.

• How To Brace For A Potential Democratic Oversight Push

  

  With the possibility of a shift in congressional control after the November midterm elections, companies and their general counsel should prepare now by mapping oversight exposure, reviewing government interactions, preserving records and developing coordinated communications strategies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

• Remote Work Rulings Show ADA Fights Hinge On Process

  

  Two opposite outcomes in recent Fifth Circuit and D.C. federal court cases underscore that the legality of denying employees' disability accommodation requests for remote work depends less on broad policy and more on how it's applied, says Paul Sweeney at Ice Miller.

• Protecting Quantum Innovation As The Sector Commercializes

  

  As quantum technologies continue to attract growing commercial investment and government interest, intellectual property protection is becoming an increasingly important consideration, says Michael Schallop at Van Pelt Yi.

• DOD's Cyber Certification Pause May Heighten FCA Risks

  

  The July 14 pause in implementation of the U.S. Department of Defense Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program places more weight on the accuracy of contractors' own compliance representations and thereby increases their False Claims Act exposure by leaving stringent self-assessment requirements intact, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

• Series

  Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

• Bid Protest Spotlight: Price Realism, High Bid, Interested Party

  

  In this month's bid protest roundup, Brian Doll at MoFo surveys three recent Government Accountability Office decisions that show a price realism argument cannot be repackaged as a disparate treatment challenge, an agency's allegedly misleading conduct must be connected to a concrete pricing decision, and interested-party status isn't just a pleading formality.

• Lessons On Contingency Planning From OFAC's Iran Reversal

  

  The Office of Foreign Assets Control‘s abrupt revocation of a recent license easing sanctions on Iranian oil products shows commercial dealings relying on OFAC licenses or with higher sanctions risks should expressly address what happens if a policy change makes performance prohibited, says Michelle Roberts at Berliner Corcoran.

• Reviving Prize Law Would Reshape Maritime Seizure Risks

  

  Recent U.S. maritime interdictions of sanctioned tankers and shadow fleet vessels raise urgent questions about whether civil forfeiture or prize law — a framework that has not been meaningfully tested since the Spanish-American War — governs and the potential impacts on vessel owners, charterers and insurers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

• CFIUS' Mandate Misses Foreign Risk In Project Subcontracts

  

  Recent calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review equity transactions like the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal miss a consequential oversight gap — CFIUS' inability to review the subcontracting layer of U.S. infrastructure projects, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

• Lessons From The DOJ's 1st Enforcement Policy Declination

  

  The first U.S. Department of Justice declination to prosecute alleged export control violations and national security offenses offers a window into the operation of the administration’s recently implemented corporate enforcement and voluntary self‑disclosure policy, and how companies' compliance and cooperation efforts should be targeted, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

• Series

  Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

• What Consent Decree Trends Mean For Deal Clearances

  

  With merger remedies back on the table under the current administration, an analysis of recent Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice consent decrees reveals that prior approval and prior notice provisions are no longer a foregone conclusion, and companies may be able to negotiate narrowly tailored obligations, say attorneys at Weil.