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TransPerfect Legal Solutions Hosts Panel Discussion on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) | Business Wire

December 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

TransPerfect Legal Solutions (TLS), the world’s leading provider of global legal support service, hosted a panel discussion in New York to address current trends and best practices associated with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The panel featured industry experts and was attended by approximately 100 representatives from leading Fortune 500 companies and firms nationwide.

“The DOJ’s FCPA Crackdown on the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Industry.”

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 is a United States federal law that makes it unlawful for US corporations to make payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business.¹ The FCPA also requires companies whose securities are listed in the United States to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation.²

The current number of active FCPA investigations in the Department of Justice (DOJ) pipeline stands at more than 120—a single-year record since its enactment. The overall dollar volume in fines in 2010 alone has exceeded all previous years combined. Furthermore, Lanny Breuer, the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, has made a point to root out widespread bribery in the pharmaceutical sector, and as a result, cases are picking up steam globally.³

According to TLS Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Brooke Christian, “With FCPA investigations taking such a drastic upswing in 2010, many companies are taking a fresh look at their compliance programs and wondering what more they can do to protect themselves. Our goal for this panel was to arm attendees with best-practice strategies that they could immediately implement across their organizations.”

The discussion featured the following panel of experts:

Barry Sabin – Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP

David Stanton – Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Elizabeth Zechenter – Senior Counsel, GlaxoSmithKline

Joseph Lee – Partner, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

Noreen M. Fierro – Vice President, AML/FCPA Compliance Officer, Prudential Financial Inc.

Sharie Brown – Partner, DLA Piper

via TransPerfect Legal Solutions Hosts Panel Discussion on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) | Business Wire.

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E-Discovery in Cross-Border Litigation: Taking International Comity Seriously | Venable LLP – JDSupra

November 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

With the possible exception of civil jury trials, no feature of the U.S. legal system is treated with as much apprehension abroad as pretrial document discovery. Most other national legal systems do not permit the kind of party-conducted and intrusive pretrial document discovery that U.S. litigators believe is essential to a full and fair settlement of disputes. Other countries restrict or prohibit parties from obtaining documents and often place pretrial investigation in the hands of judges. Differing fundamental views on the nature of state sovereignty and the proper balance of competing values in dispute resolution account for these differences in practice. The divergent value judgments have long been apparent in cases involving foreign litigants or witnesses in U.S. courts and have led foreign states to object to executing requests for documentary evidence for use in U.S. proceedings, sometimes frustrating the effective functioning of the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil and Commercial Matters.1 But the gulf between the United States and other countries when it comes to discovery practices has further widened with the rapid expansion of e-discovery in the United States.

This article discusses the ways in which the discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”) poses special challenges to foreign litigants (both parties and nonparty witnesses) in U.S. courts – who are often stuck between conflicting legal obligations – and strains the channels of international judicial cooperation. We suggest that international comity, which the Supreme Court has explained should play a prominent role in district courts’ regulation of international discovery and should have heightened application when it comes to requests for ESI because unfettered e-discovery is so offensive to many foreign legal systems’ concepts of fairness, privacy, and sovereignty.

via E-Discovery in Cross-Border Litigation: Taking International Comity Seriously | Venable LLP – JDSupra.

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How to Reduce Cost and Risk by Bringing E-Discovery In-House to Get Relevant Data Faster | AIIM Lunch-n-Learn

November 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

How to Reduce Cost and Risk by Bringing E-Discovery In-House to Get Relevant Data Faster

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010, 12:30 – 2:00 PM

Duane Morris LLP, Suite 2200, One Market Plaza, Spear Tower, San Francisco

1 hour of California MCLE credits is pending

There is no fee to attend this program

Moderator: George Socha, Esq., Co-Founder Socha-Gelbmann E-Discovery Survey, Co-Founder EDRM.

Panelists: Browning E. Marean III, Esq., Senior Counsel, DLA Piper; Adam Sand, Esq., General Counsel, ZL Technologies; Eric J. Sinrod, Esq., Partner, Duane Morris LLP; Mark Sweeney, Esq. Litigation Attorney, PG&E; Reg Thompson, Esq., Senior Corporate Counsel, Netflix.

via .

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Congress To Look At FCPA Enforcement – Corruption Currents – WSJ

November 18, 2010 By 1 Comment

The witness list is out, and by the looks of it, there’s going to be lots of FCPA-bashing.

The Justice Department will be represented in the first panel by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Greg Andres.

A second panel will include Butler University business law professor Mike Koehler, who writes the FCPA Professor blog and recently published a scathing critique of U.S. FCPA enforcement; Jenner & Block LLP partner Andrew Weissmann, who co-authored the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s recent proposal for reforms to the FCPA; and Mayer Brown LLP partner Michael Volkov, who was written extensively on the FCPA and has represented scores of clients in foreign bribery cases.

***

With increased enforcement comes increased scrutiny. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing entitled “Examining Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” for Nov. 30.

Enforcement of the antibribery law is at an all-time high, with criminal penalties in the past 12 months exceeding $1 billion. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which shares enforcement of the FCPA with the Justice Department, hauled in $404 million in disgorgement and civil penalties in the first 9 months of 2010.

via Congress To Look At FCPA Enforcement – Corruption Currents – WSJ.

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Roundtable: Compliance and Litigation Issues As Foreign Corr

November 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The fight against corruption and bribery has intensified. As a service to our readers, we present a roundtable discussing the implications for corporations consisting of the following partners of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP: Paul W. Butler, Mark J. MacDougall, Edward L. Rubinoff, Wynn H. Segall and Thomas McCarthy, Jr. , in Washington, D.C.

via Roundtable: Compliance and Litigation Issues As Foreign Corr.

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How organizing e-mails can save you time and money in litigation – John Shonkwiler, Novack and Macey LLP

November 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

What happens with e-mails that are subject to discovery in litigation?

Over the past decade, as litigators have tried to get their arms around electronic communication and how to handle it in terms of discovery applications, the ‘dump and search’ method has become common. In litigation, dump and search refers to the way information is obtained from the litigants, when massive amounts of data and information are dumped off of a server without any discretion. It is then transferred to where it can be electronically scanned and searched using search terms related to the litigation. Once that data is gleaned, a manual search is done for relevance and privilege.

Needless to say, the time and expense required to perform the dump and search process is typically proportionate to the size of the e-mail data dump — in many cases, massive — not the least of which is lawyers’ fees for reviewing the (often still massive) quantity of e-mail identified by the term search process. Then, even after that process is completed, the e-mails usually have to be processed and converted by a vendor so that they’re compatible with litigation software.

This is a long and complicated process for just one person’s e-mail. When you have to gather and produce several employees’ e-mail, it can easily take several months to perform the dump and search process. Perhaps the scariest part is that the quantity of e-mail generated in the workplace is only growing as we continue to develop into a community of BlackBerry and smart phone addicts. Because the process is expensive and burdensome, courts must be receptive to alternatives.

via How organizing e-mails can save you time and money in litigation – John Shonkwiler, Novack and Macey LLP.

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The Overseas Contractor Reform Act-Problematic Implications for All Government Contractors | McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP – JDSupra

September 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

McKenna Long & Aldridge Government Contracts attorney’s Fred Levy and Virginia Gomez outline the specific areas of concern in the newly passed Overseas Contractor Reform Act (H.R. 5366). This legislation is directed at “crooked contractors” but will impact all contractors who engage in overseas business activities subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

via The Overseas Contractor Reform Act-Problematic Implications for All Government Contractors | McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP – JDSupra.

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The Overseas Contractor Reform Act-Problematic Implications for All Government Contractors | McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP – JDSupra

September 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

McKenna Long & Aldridge Government Contracts attorney’s Fred Levy and Virginia Gomez outline the specific areas of concern in the newly passed Overseas Contractor Reform Act (H.R. 5366). This legislation is directed at “crooked contractors” but will impact all contractors who engage in overseas business activities subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

via The Overseas Contractor Reform Act-Problematic Implications for All Government Contractors | McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP – JDSupra.

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FTC Announces Important Changes to Hart-Scott-Rodino Program | Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP – JDSupra

September 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Federal Trade Commission has recently issued a series of proposed amendments to the rules governing the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Premerger Notification Program. It has also proposed significant amendments to the HSR Report form itself.

Please see full alert below for more information.

via FTC Announces Important Changes to Hart-Scott-Rodino Program | Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP – JDSupra.

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Court Grants Defendant’s Motion for Entry of Clawback Provision : Electronic Discovery Law

August 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Rajala v. McGuire Woods LLP, 2010 WL 2649582 (D. Kan. July 22, 2010)

Plaintiff, as Bankruptcy Trustee, brought suit against defendant, alleging several claims.  The parties could not agree on the entry of a clawback provision. Accordingly, defendant moved the court to enter such a provision.  Upon establishing its authority to enter such an order pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1) and analysis of the relevant facts, the court granted the motion, with modification, and indicated that a separate order setting forth a clawback provision would be entered.

via Court Grants Defendant’s Motion for Entry of Clawback Provision : Electronic Discovery Law.

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