Corporate

Expert Analysis

• Extreme Weather Fuels New Climate Change Litigation Trend

  

  As federal efforts to roll back environmental regulations from the Obama era continue, environmental groups have been increasingly filing lawsuits against industry alleging damages related to climate change impacts. The most recent lawsuits show that extreme weather events such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma likely will intensify this trend, say Michael McDonough and Stephanie Amaru of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

• When A SOX Whistleblower Claim Applies Extraterritorially

  

  The recent decision from the U.S. Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board in Blanchard v. Exelis Systems is important because it makes clear that, so long as the misconduct reported by the employee affects the United States in “some significant way,” the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will apply extraterritorially, says Matthew LaGarde of Katz Marshall & Banks LLP.

• Financial Crisis Anniversary

  2 Pillars Of Commonsense Reform

  

  The financial crisis was deepened by the unintended consequences of government action, and recovery was stifled by a regulatory response that neither addressed the fundamental causes of the crisis nor helped protect against a future one, says Norm Champ, partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and former director of the SEC Division of Investment Management.

• Financial Crisis Anniversary

  Trends In Credit Crisis Settlements

  

  Between 2007 and July 2017, settlements related to the financial crisis totaled $133.2 billion. Ten years after the onset of the crisis, members of NERA Economic Consulting analyze the “settlement ratio” for select mortgage-backed securities settlements and other trends.

• Equifax Brings Early Lessons On Insider Trading Policies

  

  Insider trading allegations have surfaced at Equifax, where three executives sold nearly $2 million in shares of the company’s stock days after the cyberattack was discovered but before the news was announced. The situation raises a number of fundamental questions about Equifax’s insider trading policy, say Gary Tygesson and Cam Hoang of Dorsey & Whitney LLP.

• Standard Insurance Policy May Cover Government Subpoena

  

  Even though most in-house counsel know all too well about the challenges and costs of defending government subpoenas, they may not realize that their existing insurance policies might provide coverage for these defense costs — even if those policies do not expressly address subpoenas, says Daniel Wolf of Gilbert LLP.

• A Guide To The Executive Branch Official Nomination Process

  

  Although the Trump administration has completed the vetting and confirmation of a cabinet and White House staff, thousands of senior positions remain unfilled throughout the executive branch. More than ever, people selected for those posts find themselves under close scrutiny, say Adam Raviv and Reginald Brown of WilmerHale.

• Fixing The Broken Software Supply Chain As Legal Counsel

  

  The supply chain for the software industry is inefficient and dysfunctional, costing tens of billions per year in waste while also injecting risk into companies, governments and households worldwide. In-house counsel for both software suppliers and buyers should work together in order to transform this supply chain, says Marty Mellican of Flexera Software LLC.

• Potential Perils Of Employer Parental Leave Policies

  

  In recent years, more and more private companies have been adopting parental benefit policies. However, as demonstrated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recent suit against Estée Lauder, the agency is focusing on alleged disparities in employers’ parental benefit policies, and good intentions can lead to unintended consequences, says Debra Friedman of Cozen O'Connor.

• 2 Cases Clarify Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Protections

  

  Recent decisions in Reyher v. Grant Thornton and Boyle v. Evolve Bank indicate that courts are not persuaded by whistleblowers' arguments that defendants or their publicly traded clients are generally covered by the Dodd-Frank Act, says Harini Srinivasan of Katz Marshall & Banks LLP.