White Collar

Expert Analysis

• How To Cope With Increased Whistleblower Complaints

  

  Up during the pandemic, whistleblower investigations require employers to question why a complaint was made and what the most reparative course of action entails, not the identity of the person who made the complaint, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

• Law Firms Should Note GCs' Growing Focus On Biz Strategies

  

  Amid the challenges of the pandemic, a shifting digital landscape, and increasing calls for diversity and inclusion, general counsel responsibilities are expanding into six new areas, highlighting the need for both in-house and outside counsel to serve as strategic and empathetic business leaders, say Wendy King at FTI Consulting and David Horrigan at Relativity.

• Energy Antitrust: The Year In Review And What Lies Ahead

  

  Antitrust enforcement and litigation in the energy industry remained steady in 2020, despite challenges imposed by COVID-19 — and as 2021 unfolds, both regulatory action and private litigation will likely increase, say attorneys at V&E.

• What New AML Law Means For Correspondent Banking

  

  In light of the National Defense Authorization Act’s recent overhaul of the Bank Secrecy Act and related anti-money laundering laws, foreign banks maintaining correspondent bank accounts in the U.S. should be aware of law enforcement's expanded authority to access bank records for their transactions, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• SEC Enforcement Expansion May Face Constitutional Limits

  

  Although the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act seems to restore the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority to seek disgorgement in enforcement cases — which the U.S. Supreme Court previously narrowed in its Kokesh and Liu decisions — the law may run afoul of the U.S. Constitution and the law of unintended consequences, says Joshua Robbins at Buchalter.

• 6 Changes The Legal Industry Should Prepare For

  

  As clients increasingly demand better efficiency, predictability and cost-effectiveness from their legal partners, especially during the pandemic, law firms and other legal service providers may need to explore new ways to bundle and deliver services — and move away from billing by time, says Joey Seeber at Level Legal.

• Arizona May Have Nudged US Law Firms Toward Future IPOs

  

  No U.S. law firm has its shares listed on a public stock exchange unlike some lucrative overseas counterparts, but by allowing nonattorneys to become stakeholders in law firms, Arizona may have paved the way for this to change should other U.S. states — particularly New York — follow suit, says Marc Lieberman at Kutak Rock.

• Addressing The Security Risks Of University Foreign Funding

  

  Higher education institutions that accept foreign funding should address serious concomitant security risks by identifying specific sources and establishing compliance procedures that promote transparency, protect data and research, and account for U.S. national security interests, say attorneys at Manatt.

• FTC Authority To Obtain Monetary Relief May Be Under Threat

  

  Although justices asked difficult questions of both sides at the recent U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in AMG v. Federal Trade Commission, they expressed significant skepticism of the FTC's implicit authority to seek restitution and disgorgement of the proceeds of fraud and other misconduct, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

• How Fund Managers Can Avoid Political Contribution Missteps

  

  In this brief video, Peter Chan and Karl Egbert at Baker McKenzie, and Suzan Rose at the Alternative Investment Management Association discuss fund manager compliance and monitoring issues related to state and federal rules on campaign contributions, particularly in light of the recent election cycle.

• DC Circ. Lobbyist Ruling May Lead To 1st Amendment Clarity

  

  The D.C. Circuit’s recent opinion in Akhmetshin v. Browder, leaving the government contacts exception's application to foreign lobbyists unsettled, may compel courts to clarify the availability of First Amendment defamation defenses to foreign companies involved in lobbying, says Joe Meadows at Bean Kinney.

• 4 Legal Industry Trends Litigation Financiers Are Watching

  

  Some recent litigation developments demonstrate efforts by law firms and their clients to search for opportunities in the COVID-19 economic fallout, while others — such as the rise of contingency fee arrangements — reflect acceleration of tendencies that were already underway, says William Weisman at Therium Capital.

• Pandemic Is Changing Compassionate Release Calculus

  

  Whereas compassionate release applications for white collar defendants were previously rare, courts are now approaching these applications with greater leniency to reduce sentences or to impose sentencing alternatives in the appropriate circumstances, which may continue beyond the pandemic, say Jamie Furia and Carly Coleman at Lowenstein Sandler.

• A Lawyer's Guide To Setting Well-Being Goals In 2021

  

  In the face of rising client demands due to the pandemic and the changing regulatory environment, and with remote work continuing for the foreseeable future, lawyers should invest in their well-being by establishing inspiring yet realistic goals for 2021 — one month at a time, says Krista Larson at Morgan Lewis.

• Opinion

  Congress Must Fix The AML Whistleblower Law

  

  Fundamental differences between whistleblower provisions in the recently passed Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Dodd-Frank Act will render the new law ineffective until Congress amends it to fully conform to Dodd-Frank's highly successful reward provisions, says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.