Expert Analysis

• Is It Time To Prosecute UK Cos. For Human Rights Violations?

  

  The idea of holding companies criminally liable for human rights abuses committed overseas has gained traction over the past decade. Though the U.K. government has made it clear that it has no immediate plans for further legislation in this area, calls for corporate criminal liability are only likely to get louder, say Andrew Smith and Alice Lepeuple of Corker Binning.

• UK Employment Law Risks In Cross-Border M&A

  

  U.K. employment law has developed in myriad ways and continues to do so. The acquisition of U.K.-based companies or assets will therefore often give rise to employment law considerations that are unfamiliar to U.S. buyers, says Richard Moore of Lewis Silkin LLP.

• 4 Questions About Whistleblowing In The UK And Beyond

  

  Following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's announcement of its biggest-ever Dodd-Frank whistleblower awards, Chris Warren-Smith of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP discusses whistleblowing in financial service industries in different jurisdictions with other Morgan Lewis attorneys based all around the world.

• Revamping Contracts For GDPR: 3 Ways To Prepare

  

  The EU's General Data Protection Regulation requirements — which take effect May 25 — create a substantial hurdle for thousands of companies worldwide and affect millions of vendor contracts, which now need to be reviewed, amended and potentially renegotiated, say Mathew Keshav Lewis and Zachary Foreman of Axiom Law.

• Keys To Corporate Social Responsibility Compliance: Part 1

  

  2018 may be the year that corporate social responsibility compliance becomes a core duty of in-house legal departments. Not only have legal requirements proliferated in recent years, but new disclosure requirements and more regulation are on the horizon, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.

• A Guide To Anti-Trafficking Compliance For Food Cos.

  

  Despite the 2016 dismissal of federal human rights cases against food companies in California, a similar class action — Tomasella v. Hershey Co. — was recently filed in Massachusetts federal court, and it’s one that companies in the sector should watch closely, says Markus Funk of Perkins Coie LLP.

• Human Rights Benchmarks: A Primer For In-House Counsel

  

  A number of corporate institutions and nongovernmental organizations have partnered together to “benchmark” how peer companies compare to each other in the area of human rights compliance. The reputational damage that these studies can cause should not be underestimated, say Viren Mascarenhas and Kayla Winarsky Green of King & Spalding LLP.

• Basic Human Rights: Whose Job Is Enforcement?

  

  The cases of Jesner v. Arab Bank and Doe v. Cisco Systems pose different legal tests under the Alien Tort Statute. But these decisions could hold major consequences for environmentalists, human rights activists and even individuals who have turned to ATS to go after transnational corporations, says Dan Weissman of LexisNexis.

• Cos. Should Note Guidance From Gov'ts On Human Rights

  

  Recent legislative and courtroom developments in the U.K., the U.S. and further afield may have a significant impact on human rights compliance requirements for companies doing business internationally, say attorneys with Covington & Burlington LLP.

• Preparing For UK Litigation As A US Lawyer

  

  Counsel fees, issue fees, risk of loss and the “additional” cost of a barrister mark significant differences between the U.K. and U.S. legal processes. The good news is that the bond between the U.K. and the U.S. arising out of our common history and law renders retaining and working with U.K. counsel seamless and rewarding, says Richard Reice of Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney LLP.

• Whistleblower Protection: When Private Turns Public

  

  In Chesterton v. Nurmohamed, a U.K. appeals court recently found that disclosing a breach of a worker's contract may satisfy the public interest requirement for whistleblower protection if a sufficiently large number of other workers are affected. This decision may cause some concern for well-known employers, say Emma Vennesson and Katherine Newman of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

• Uber May Have Met Its Waterloo In Europe

  

  Recent developments in Europe suggest that Uber’s business model — built on its claims that it is a digital platform between consumer and driver, not a transportation company, and that its workers are merely independent contractors, not employees governed by local labor laws — may be approaching collapse on the continent sooner than anticipated, says Thomas Dickerson of Herzfeld & Rubin PC.

• Harmonizing US And UK Workplace Dress Codes

  

  Given recent publicity surrounding workplace dress codes for women in both the U.S. and U.K., it's likely the issue will be subject to greater scrutiny going forward. Companies with an international reach must exercise particular caution when seeking to coordinate workplace dress codes across the business as considerations may differ widely, says Furat Ashraf of Bird & Bird.

• Top 5 Business And Human Rights Concerns For Companies To Monitor

  

  Businesses are being bombarded with information about their responsibilities toward global human rights and other nonfinancial efforts. According to Covington & Burling LLP attorneys Christopher Walter and Hannah Edmonds, U.K. businesses should be actively monitoring five key developments.

• FCA's Work In Progress: Individual Accountability

  

  In the case of the U.K. accountability regime, the sea change seems to have been more about the Financial Conduct Authority sending a message to firms, leaders and the public that things would be different — rather than replacing an ineffective regime. We anticipate a change within the financial services sector, as individuals are likely to want to eat more carrots and feel fewer sticks, say members of Taylor Wessing LLP.