Securities

Expert Analysis

• Early Securities Litigation Trends Stemming From Recent IPOs

  

  Attorneys at WilmerHale analyze Securities Act complaints against companies that went public immediately prior to and during the COVID-19-induced market volatility, providing preliminary insights into whether, when and on what basis recent issuers are facing securities litigation.

• Defending Remote Testimony In White Collar, Securities Cases

  

  The COVID-19 shift to remote witness testimony in white collar and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations changes how both sides handle documents, investigate and interact, and will require defense lawyers to reconsider how they present their clients, say attorneys at Richards Kibbe.

• 5 Ways To Reduce Post-Pandemic Legal Malpractice Exposure

  

  History suggests that legal malpractice claims will rise following the current economic downturn, and while a certain percentage of the claims will be unavoidable, there are prophylactic steps that law firms can take, says John Johnson at Cozen O'Connor.

• Justices' SEC Disgorgement Ruling May Shape FCPA Matters

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming opinion in Liu v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may call into question when Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements should be subject to disgorgement, say Matthew Rutter and Neal Hochberg at Charles River Associates.

• Opinion

  Credibility Concerns About Virtual Arbitration Are Unfounded

  

  Concerns that videoconferenced arbitration hearings compromise an arbitrator's ability to reliably resolve credibility contests are based on mistaken perceptions of how many cases actually turn on credibility, what credibility means in the legal world, and how arbitrators make credibility determinations, says Wayne Brazil at JAMS.

• Treat Internal Investigation Search Term List As Work Product

  

  Lawyers investigating allegations of a company's internal misconduct typically hand over their search term lists to outside auditors and government enforcers, but this puts clients' privilege arguments at risk, say Markus Funk and Chelsea Curfman at Perkins Coie.

• 2 New Accounting Fraud Cases Offer Lessons For Boards

  

  Luckin Coffee and TAL Education Group — two high-profile Chinese companies listed in the U.S. — recently announced suspected cases of colossal revenue fraud, and these case studies may help companies recognize the germinating seeds of accounting fraud, say Fabian Roday at Fangda Partners and William Fotherby at Meredith Connell.

• Human Rights Are Becoming A Compliance Issue

  

  A recent commitment from the European Union's commissioner for justice to introduce rules for mandatory corporate human rights due diligence next year may signal the arrival of this issue as a global business imperative, making it as fundamental as anti-corruption diligence, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

• How CFTC's Agricultural Enforcement May Evolve Amid Crisis

  

  The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently singled out agricultural commodities market manipulation as an area of focus, potentially representing a return to the agency’s core mission that could shape enforcement during the current crisis, say attorneys at Latham.

• A Lawyer's Guide To Client Service Continuity Planning

  

  Ensuring uninterrupted client service and compliance with ethical obligations in a time when attorneys are more likely to fall ill means taking six basic — yet often ignored — steps to build some redundancy and internal communication into legal practice, say attorneys at Axinn.

• A New Approach To OFAC's Rejected-Transactions Reporting

  

  Alexandre Lamy at Baker McKenzie proposes a common-sense framework for nonfinance companies, which in 2019 became subject to the Office of Foreign Assets Control's rejected-transaction reporting requirements, but have received little guidance about how to comply.

• Virtual Meetings Could Be Fertile Ground For Legal Discovery

  

  Many remote meeting technologies include recording features as default settings, raising three primary concerns from a legal discovery and data retention perspective, and possibly bringing unintended consequences for companies in future litigation, says Courtney Murphy at Clark Hill.

• Funding Considerations Amid COVID-19 Liquidity Crunch

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  Companies and creditors in search of funding during the pandemic should analyze available options under existing bond and term loan covenants, and explore creative ways to establish priority status where necessary in the critical search for liquidity, say attorneys at Shearman.

• Performance Vesting Is Trickier Than You Think

  

  Despite the general ubiquity of performance-based vesting in the capital structures of post-buyout and other growth companies, it is surprising how little attention is often paid to how performance vesting actually works, say John LeClaire and Chris Wilson at Goodwin.

• The Role Of Remote Mediation After The Crisis Is Over

  

  When the dark cloud of COVID-19 has passed and resolution centers are once again peopled with warring parties and aspiring peacemakers, remote mediations will likely still be common, but they are not going to be a panacea for all that ails the dispute resolution industry, says Mitch Orpett at Tribler Orpett.