In this two-part alert, Gibson Dunn lawyers examine key global legislative developments and proposals in the bourgeoning field of mandatory corporate human rights due diligence.
March 10, 2021
Gibson Dunn lawyers provide a look at personal data and other privacy-related legal developments across Europe for March 2021.
March 10, 2021
On March 5, 2021, regulators and industry groups provided market participants with much anticipated clarity by announcing the dates for the cessation of publication of, and non-representativeness of, various settings of the London Interbank Offered Rate which will allow market participants to identify the date that their financial instruments and commercial agreements that reference LIBOR will transition to an alternative reference rate (e.g., a risk free rate).
March 9, 2021
On Monday, February 22, 2021, the United States Supreme Court declined to resolve a prominent split between federal Courts of Appeal regarding the False Claims Act (“FCA”).
March 9, 2021
On March 2, 2021, Governor Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) into law. Gibson Dunn lawyers provide an overview.
March 8, 2021
On March 4, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the creation of the “Climate and ESG Task Force" in the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
March 5, 2021
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s antitrust enforcement remained robust in 2020. On the merger front, the State Administration for Market Regulation unconditionally approved more than 99 percent of the 458 deals reviewed and only imposed conditions in four transactions. SAMR also issued a flurry of new guidelines in the antitrust space that provide more guidance on its enforcement priorities and its interpretation of the law.
March 4, 2021
On February 26, 2021, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System issued a Supervision and Regulation letter containing its final supervisory guidance on the effectiveness of a banking institution’s board of directors. The Guidance applies to bank holding companies and savings-and-loan holding companies with total consolidated assets of $100 billion or more, with the exception of intermediate holding companies of foreign banking organizations. A separate Supervision and Regulation letter issued the same day revised twelve prior Supervision and Regulation letters touching on the subject and made nine additional prior Supervision and Regulation letters inactive.
March 3, 2021
Gibson Dunn lawyers discuss developments at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for February 2021.
March 3, 2021
On February 24, 2021, Allison Herren Lee, Acting Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), issued a statement titled “Statement on the Review of Climate-Related Disclosure” that “direct[s] the Division of Corporation Finance to enhance its focus on climate-related disclosure in public company filings”.
March 1, 2021
The California Supreme Court’s February 25, 2021 opinion in Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC is the most significant decision construing an employer’s duty to provide and record meal periods in nearly a decade. California employers may wish to assess their meal period policies and practices, including relating to the recordation of meal periods, in light of the Court’s guidance in Donohue.
March 1, 2021
Plaintiffs alleging claims of employment discrimination often prefer to file suit in New York City if they can plead a violation of the New York City Human Rights Law, which was enacted with the “desire that [it] meld the broadest vision of social justice with the strongest law enforcement deterrent.” Its application was nevertheless recently narrowed by the New York Court of Appeals in Doe v. Bloomberg L.P.
March 1, 2021
On February 3, 2021, the Administrative Court of Paris ruled that a liability action brought by several environmental protection associations against the French State, seeking recognition of its failure to act against climate change, was admissible, that the ecological damage alleged by the associations was established and that the French State was partially responsible for it.
February 26, 2021
On February 18, 2021, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, an agency of the Treasury Department that administers and enforces U.S. economic and trade sanctions, issued an enforcement release of a settlement agreement with BitPay, Inc. for apparent violations relating to Bitpay’s payment processing solution that allows merchants to accept digital currency as payment for goods and services. OFAC found that BitPay allowed users apparently located in sanctioned countries and areas to transact with merchants in the United States and elsewhere using the BitPay platform, even though BitPay had Internet Protocol address data for those users. The users in sanctioned countries were not BitPay’s direct customers, but rather its customer’s customers (in this case the merchants’ customers).
February 24, 2021
Gibson Dunn lawyers provide an update on shareholder activism activity involving NYSE- and Nasdaq-listed companies with equity market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion and below $100 billion (as of the last date of trading on December 31, 2020) during the second half of 2020.
February 22, 2021
At the end of the Trump Administration, the bipartisan Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 was enacted, requiring agencies to increase cybersecurity for IoT devices owned or controlled by the federal government.
February 17, 2021
As part of a year-end update, Gibson Dunn lawyers highlight what you most need to know in securities litigation developments and trends for the second half of 2020.
February 16, 2021
On February 11, 2021, in one of its inaugural foreign policy actions since taking office, the Biden Administration authorized new sanctions and export-control restrictions on Myanmar (also called Burma) in response to the Myanmar military’s recent coup against the country’s elected civilian government.
February 16, 2021
Now that the first 100 days of the Biden Administration are in full swing, its financial regulatory priorities are becoming clearer. In this Client Alert, we discuss where we expect the Administration to focus, with respect to the banking, fintech, and derivatives sectors.
February 16, 2021
The English Supreme Court's February 12, 2021 judgment in Okpabi and others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc and another [2021] UKSC 3 is a landmark decision in the field of human rights and environmental protection.
February 15, 2021