White Collar

Expert Analysis

• 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.

• Opinion

  Flynn Contempt Inquiry Is Vital To Judicial Independence

  

  The D.C. Circuit should uphold the district court's authority to investigate whether Michael Flynn acted in criminal contempt, which is important for affirming judicial independence in this era of partisan prosecuting, says Harold Krent at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

• Federal Program Bribery Law May Reach PPP Loan Recipients

  

  Public and private entities receiving funds under the Paycheck Protection Program, and others engaged in business transactions with them, should be aware of potential criminal liability under the federal program theft and bribery statute — as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 regarding Medicare, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

• 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.

• FIRREA: A Powerful Enforcement Tool To Combat PPP Fraud

  

  As the Paycheck Protection Program provides federal coronavirus relief funding through a variety of financial institutions, the U.S. Department of Justice will certainly look closely at the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act — with its lengthy limitations period and statutory penalties — when contemplating enforcement measures, says Peter Hyun at Wiley.

• 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.

• Bridgegate Has The Potential To Upend A Raft Of Prosecutions

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's recent "Bridgegate" decision will undoubtedly create further hurdles for the government to prosecute schemes that are venal, deceitful and underhanded but in which the loss of money or property — while foreseeable — was not the objective, say Daniel Fetterman and Brian Choi at Kasowitz.

• Opinion

  9 Ways To Improve The Paycheck Protection Program

  

  The CARES Act's well-intentioned Paycheck Protection Program has problems, and Congress should take steps to better protect small businesses and define several terms that continue to cause confusion, says Samantha Block, a judicial clerk at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

• Opinion

  Flynn Judge Should Not Change Role Of Amicus Curiae

  

  As an appellate attorney who has authored numerous amicus briefs, I am deeply concerned about some fast-moving developments in the case of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, where a D.C. federal judge is transforming amici curiae into 11th-hour prosecutorial intermeddlers, says Lawrence Ebner at Capital Appellate.

• 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.

• Trapping Interpol Misuse: Inside The Proposed TRAP Act

  

  If the Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention Act is enacted into law, it could lead to increased controls and transparency in the Interpol notice and diffusion processes, and would likely scale back some of the U.S. immigration policies that appear to acquiesce to Interpol, say attorneys at Kobre & Kim.

• 7 Steps To Romancing The Virtual Classroom

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  For professors, trainers, lawyers, students and businesses grappling with the unexpected challenges of distance learning, trial attorney and teacher James Wagstaffe offers best practices for real-time online instruction.

• Bankruptcy Fraud Prosecutions May Increase Post-Pandemic

  

  While prosecutors have rarely pursued criminal bankruptcy fraud allegations against companies and executives, investigations invariably follow the money in pursuit of alleged fraud and thus bankruptcy is a natural area of focus in a financial crisis, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.