International Trade

Expert Analysis

• CFIUS Latest Annual Report Reveals Key Enforcement Trends

  

  Attorneys at Reed Smith discuss five takeaways from the new annual report of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which assessed the 229 notices and 21 declarations filed for CFIUS' review in 2018 and provided a first look at the impact of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act.

• Opinion

  Time To Consider Percentage Rental Agreements For Lawyers

  

  It has long been the law that attorneys cannot use percentage rental agreements because doing so would constitute an impermissible sharing of fees with nonlawyers, but such arrangements can help lawyers match expenses with revenues in lean times like now, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson at Holland & Knight.

• Auto Cos. Should Ramp Up Their Supply Chain Vetting

  

  Automotive companies procuring from new sources because of the pandemic or adapting to new requirements of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement can minimize their compliance risks by implementing full-spectrum, know-your-source due diligence and documenting every aspect of their vetting process, say Gregory Husisian and Jenlain Scott at Foley & Lardner.

• 'Settle And Sue' Malpractice Cases Have New Clarity In Calif.

  

  A California state appellate court's recent decision in Masellis v. Law Office of Leslie F. Jensen provides a road map for proving causation and damages in settle-and-sue legal malpractice cases — an important issue of long-standing confusion, says Steven Berenson at Klinedinst.

• A Midyear Look At Key US Sanctions Developments

  

  During an active first half of 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control strengthened its sanctions programs, issued new guidance documents and announced several enforcement actions, underscoring that even during a pandemic, sanctions compliance is indispensable, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• What You Say In Online Mediation May Be Discoverable

  

  Mediation conducted online with participants in different states makes it harder to determine where communications were made, increasing the risk that courts will apply laws of a state that does not protect mediation confidentiality, say mediators Jeff Kichaven and Teresa Frisbie and law student Tyler Codina.

• Will US Oil Cos. Follow OPEC's Lead On Production Cuts?

  

  Recent production cuts agreed to by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies gave markets confidence that Saudi Arabia and Russia are committed to stabilizing oil prices, but the question now is whether U.S. shale oil producers will continue to reduce their own production, say Denmon Sigler and Scott Shelton at Baker McKenzie.

• Strategic Considerations For The Escalating SEP Battles

  

  Recent developments in the standard-essential patent landscape affect licensing negotiations and litigation involving communications and networking technologies, and will lead to increased attention from regulators and potential inconsistencies among different agencies and forums, say Erik Puknys and Michelle Rice at Finnegan.

• 10 Tips For A Successful Remote Arbitration Hearing

  

  As I learned after completing a recent international arbitration remotely, with advance planning a video hearing can replicate the in-person experience surprisingly well, and may actually be superior in certain respects, says Kate Shih at Quinn Emanuel.

• Opinion

  To Achieve Diversity, Law Firms Must Reinvent Hiring Process

  

  If law firms are truly serious about making meaningful change in terms of diversity, they must adopt a demographically neutral, unbiased hiring equation that looks at personality traits with greater import than grades and class rank, says Thomas Latino at Florida State University College of Law.

• What Hong Kong Policy Shift Means For US Finance Cos.

  

  Now that the U.S. no longer considers Hong Kong autonomous from China, stateside financial services companies should monitor public company audit reporting, non-U.S. futures and swaps trading, and international capital reporting, say Matthew Kluchenek and Matthew Bisanz at Mayer Brown.

• USMCA's Labor Dispute Tool Raises Hurdles For Mexican Cos.

  

  The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s new mechanism for ensuring compliance with Mexico’s labor reforms poses unique challenges for Mexican companies, which now bear the burden of demonstrating that workers' rights are effectively protected, say attorneys at Akin Gump.

• Employers More Likely To Fight Visa Denials Amid Pandemic

  

  In the past, employers would commonly refile when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied employee visa petitions, but pandemic-related travel bans and suspended visa processing have made challenging such denials more attractive, say Lynn O'Brien and Kane Vongsavanh at Berry Appleman.

• Cybersecurity Steps For Law Firms Amid Heightened Risks

  

  With large swaths of the population indoors and primarily online, cybercriminals will be able to exploit law firms more easily now than ever before, but some basic precautions can help, says Joel Wallenstrom at Wickr.

• The Research Compliance Landscape Is Evolving Quickly

  

  Government actions against researchers with undisclosed connections to China, as well as legislation designed to safeguard U.S. research, reinforce the probability that new rules for global collaboration and foreign engagement are on the horizon, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.