In this bylined article for Forbes, Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses the safeguard and treatment of the voting rights during shareholders' meetings. She also examines recent recommendations and sanctions handed down by the AMF and offers guidance for how companies can better protect their shareholders' voting rights moving forward.

The explosive growth of SPACs (“special purpose acquisition companies”) as a mechanism for taking private companies public is leading to a similar increase in SPAC-related lawsuits. As both trends appear likely to continue, it’s important for SPACs, their sponsors and directors, and their targeted private companies to be aware of and take steps to manage potential litigation risks.

• The specific characteristics of SPACs present unique litigation issues.
• Understanding those issues are crucial to mitigating litigation risk and closing delay.
• There are several affirmative steps that SPACs, sponsors and directors, and advisors should consider to reduce both litigation risk and exposure.

In this client alert, Jeffrey Lang and Luke Appling examine the growing trend of SPAC litigation, the characteristics of SPACs that pose litigation risk, and provide seven affirmative steps SPAC sponsors, directors, and their advisors should take to mitigate litigation risk and potential liability.

In the latest “What’s On Your Wall” feature for the Federal Bar Council Quarterly, C. Evan Stewart pays tribute to Walter LaFeber, his friend and mentor.

In his latest column for the Federal Bar Council Quarterly, C. Evan Stewart discusses the origins of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and subsequent cases brought to the Supreme Court.

In this C&G client alert, lawyers from our New York, London, and Paris offices discuss the evolution of SPAC investment in the U.S., UK, and French financial markets and provide an in-depth analysis of the position taken by the regulatory authority in each of these prominent financial hubs to help potential sponsors, investors, and target companies determine the right market for their needs.

In this article for PLI Chronicle, C Evan Stewart explores the key issues that lawyers must navigate when practicing in multiple jurisdictions.

In this client alert, Jeffrey M Bronheim, Daniel H Mathias, and James R Mossetto detail key documentation considerations in where conflicts of interest may potentially arise, and why this trend is likely to continue. This article was first published on the-drawdown.com (subscription required).

Following several years of negotiations and political posturing, the United Kingdom left the European Union at the end of 2020. Throughout the negotiations, two issues, in particular, proved the most complicated:  First was the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and second was the treatment and recognition of regulations in the Financial Services industry. So what’s next for Financial Services in the UK? This C&G client alert examines the phrase “Brexit means Brexit” and explores its implications to answer what’s next for Financial Services firms operating in both the UK and EU. The authors look at the requirements for both international and UK-based firms and offer guidance for potential next steps.

In this bylined article for the New York Business Law Journal, C. Evan Stewart examines three recent federal court decisions related to attorney-client privilege and work product issues to provide a chronological review that should be helpful for litigators addressing these important matters.

Can an individual with a recent regulatory history resume a role in the financial services industry, and, if so, what is the process? This client alert discusses the FIT Test (as applied both by the FCA and firms under the SMCR), explores how the FCA will approach the authorisation process in non-routine cases, and offers practical guidance for individuals seeking to have such an application approved by the FCA.

In this bylined article for Forbes, Muriel Goldberg-Darmon discusses the new Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) trend in France and, in particular, its legal specificities and listing requirements.

The UK Supreme Court recently handed down its hotly-anticipated judgment in the business interruption insurance test case (FCA v Arch and others [2021] UKSC 1). The judgment extends, in certain respects, findings in favour of certain policyholders of business interruption insurance made by the High Court. In this client alert, Jumana Rahman, Thomas Shortland, and Charlotte Ritchie focus on the implications of the Supreme Court judgment for causation issues in insurance law and the wider law and address the consequences of the judgment for various key stakeholders.

On January 1, 2021, the Senate and the House of Representatives voted to override President Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, which introduced legislation that allows federal oversight for transactions involving antiquities and contains other provisions affecting the art market at large. In this C&G client alert, Christian Everdell and Barbara Luse discuss the impact of the new legislation and explore the question of what’s next for arts and antiquities businesses involved in high-value transactions.

In his latest column for Federal Bar Council Quarterly, C Evan Stewart highlights two judicial decisions, one by the Chief Justice of the United States and another by an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, which serve as bookends to help better understand President Lincoln’s track record on constitutional rights during the prosecution of the Civil War.

Daniel H Tabak and Drew S Dean discuss the opinion of Magistrate Judge Gorenstein of the Southern District of New York in Revive Investing LLC v. FBC Holdings S.A.R.L. After finding that a prior settlement agreement between the defendant and different plaintiffs was valid and contained a release that precluded the claim at issue, Judge Gorenstein recommended the grant of summary judgment to the defendant in a Section 16(b) “short-swing profit” action. Dan and Drew go on to explore the future implications of Judge Gorenstein’s opinion and explain what this will mean for Section 16(b) litigants going forward.

Non-U.S. banks that maintain correspondent accounts in the United States face the prospect of significantly broader subpoenas from the Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury as a result of the newly passed Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”), which became law on January 1, 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021. These new subpoenas represent a major expansion of the DOJ and Treasury’s investigative reach, but they are not without limitations.  This client alert examines the expanded subpoena authority under the AMLA, as well as potential ways in which non-U.S. banks can seek to limit or quash these subpoenas.

Nous profitons de notre première Newsletter de l’année pour vous présenter tous nos vœux pour cette nouvelle année qui s’annonce encore un peu particulière. L’activité partielle, l’APLD (activité partielle de longue durée) et le télétravail, qui sont devenus au gré de la crise sanitaire, incontournables en 2020, resteront des sujets d’actualité en 2021. Nous vous proposons d’analyser les principales nouveautés concernant ces dispositifs, sans oublier notre analyse des décisions qui ont marqué 2020.

Although a detailed Brexit agreement has been reached between the UK and the EU on trade in goods and certain services, further work remains on the treatment of financial services.  The EU must determine which UK financial rules and their applications will be deemed “equivalent” to EU rules, and therefore to what extent UK-based financial services firms will be able to operate in Europe.

With the shift to remote working and the convenience of chat applications for conducting business, it is critical for firms to understand that information relevant to their business may be created on personal devices and applications. The UK FCA’s failed prosecution of an investment banker for destroying WhatsApp messages taken together with the FCA’s ‘Market Watch 66’ publication highlighting the need to control electronic communications is a reminder to firms to address staff use of personal chat applications to conduct business.

Muriel Goldberg-Darmon and Guillaume Guérin discuss the 2020 recommendations made by the French AMF (France’s financial markets regulator) during the pandemic regarding the handling of financial communications for publicly traded companies. In this article, Muriel and Guillaume explore the lessons that public companies can learn from such recommendations.