Features
Al Capone's Downfall Is Still a Lesson: US Government Takes Tax Evasion Fight Worldwide
Todd Harrison
In the 1920s, Al “Scarface” Capone committed a lengthy list of substantial crimes, from homicides carried out at his behest to the manner in which he accumulated his US$100 million fortune. Ultimately, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison; not for money laundering or homicide, but for simple tax evasion.
Are No Hiring and No Poaching Agreements Enforceable in Germany?
Volker Teigelkötter | Bettina Holzberger
No poaching agreements between leading companies in the IT sector have recently caused a substantial scandal in Silicon Valley, California, resulting in tech industry business settling a major lawsuit by paying a reported US$324 million. Such agreements can be found all over the world; but are they enforceable in Germany?
COMESA Competition Commission Publishes New Merger Assessment Guidelines
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission (CCC) published highly anticipated Merger Assessment Guidelines (Guidelines) on 31 October 2014. The Guidelines provide some much needed clarity on the CCC’s jurisdictional scope and when transactions must be notified to the supra-national competition authority, as well as how the CCC will substantively assess mergers.
Conversion to a German Company: An Option for EU Businesses
Prof. Dr. Clemens Just | Dr. Kian Tauser
Cross-Border transfers of companies into or out of Germany have, up until now, been achieved as a cross-border merger. Case law now provides another option: companies may move from an EU Member State to Germany, or from Germany to another EU Member State, by means of a cross-border conversion (grenzüberschreitender Formwechsel).
E-Discovery: Pre-Emptive Measures to Keep Costs Down
The most expensive part of any document review process is the “eyes-on” review by lawyers. If you want to keep costs down, your ultimate goal is to minimise the number of irrelevant files that will need to be review by your document review lawyers.
Focus on Compliance
Avoiding Common Pitfalls During Internal Investigations
Dr. Wolfgang von Frentz
Corporate counsel tasked with running an internal investigation face many challenges early on. What to investigate? Who should lead the investigation? Who to interview? Where are the relevant documents? How to stop the alleged misconduct? How much will this cost? Who do I need to tell?
Defending Against Charges of Corruption in China: The Best of Chinese and US Styles
One afternoon in Shanghai, Joe Smith, an American lawyer new to China, was hired to represent the Chinese subsidiary (China Sub) of a multinational company (MNC) that was recently accused by the Chinese authorities of offering “kickbacks” to procurement specialists at a PRC state-owned enterprise (SOE) in an attempt to induce the SOE’s employees to purchase China Sub’s products rather than its competitors’. As the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) closely monitors developments in China, it swiftly sent a letter to the MNC’s general counsel asking for an explanation.
Disclosure Requirements in the Health Care Sector: The Sunshine Act and Its European Equivalents
Emmanuelle Trombe
The pharmaceutical industry has traditionally fostered a range of relationships with health care professionals (HCPs) in connection with the development and sale of medical devices and prescription-only medicines. Some of these relationships involve value exchanges, which can include payment for services rendered or, in some cases gifts, and are often considered to have the potential to create conflicts of interest.
EU and US Data Protection Standards - Finding Common Ground
The United States and the European Union take different approaches to privacy and data protection, each strict in its own way. For multinational organisations doing business on both sides of the Atlantic, the most successful compliance solution is to build a global data privacy programme that acknowledges the differences, builds on the similarities and finds common privacy ground.
How One Compliance Programme Can Meet Global Challenges
Neal J. White, PC
As regulatory oversight of companies – from Sarbanes Oxley and the Dodd-Frank Act to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK Bribery Act – becomes increasingly intrusive and complex, companies must focus on compliance. Failing to adopt preventive measures can, at best, result in time-consuming, expensive defences against accusations of misconduct and, at worst, in legal fines, penalties and public censure.