Our Insights
The Gloves Are Coming Off as Shareholder Activists Look Towards Europe: How Companies Can Prepare to Fight Back
While shareholder activism has historically been a US affair, it is starting to put down deep roots in Europe. In recent years, hedge funds’ underperformance relative to equities, combined with their contested fee structure and institutional investors’ increasing acceptance forread more
Batten Down the Hatches: The “Perfect Storm” for White Collar Crime is About to Hit China
After breaking up a fraud ring inside his US company’s operations in China, “Peter” (as I shall refer to him here) hardly had the chance to draw breath before discovering a separate group of coworkers engaged in the same scheme—fakingread more
Defending Against Shareholder Activist Attacks: Identifying Their Vulnerabilities (And Yours, Too)
Activist investors typically target a company due to perceived performance issues, questioning the merits of a company’s business strategy and lamenting weak shareholder returns. Such criticism is certainly fair game for any shareholder, and all companies should be prepared toread more
Finding the Skeletons in Your Closet—Before the Media Does
Front pages across America lit up in early February with the revelation that Virginia governor Ralph Northam was indeed one of those in a college yearbook photo showing one white person dressed in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan regalia.1 Justread more
On the Brink of Regime Change in Venezuela, Here’s Why Creditors Should Still Worry
With regime change in Venezuela appearing imminent, international creditors and companies seeking compensation for government expropriations may feel more hopeful about their chances of recovery than at any time in recent memory. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, these hopesread more
Japan’s Attempts to Help Banks Vet Yakuza Links Fall Short
When Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA) announced last January that it would allow Japanese banks to vet potential customers against its closely held database of organized crime or yakuza members, the news was met with cautious optimism. The yakuza – officially referredread more
Hot Topics and Current Trends in Public Corruption Investigations
Investigating and charging public officials for corruption is not new, but the number of arrests, charges, and convictions of public officials has increased rapidly over the last few years. With an eye to what is prevalent, this article will exploreread more
“Safeguarding” Aid Workers: The Importance of Rooting Out Bad Actors
A recent series of alarming revelations of widespread sexual misconduct by international aid workers – both against other workers and aid recipients – and attempts to cover up the scandals are fueling unprecedented pressure on aid organizations to step upread more
What China’s New Anti-Corruption Agency Means for Foreign Firms
[:en] China’s creation of a National Supervisory Commission, passed into law on 20 March 2018, marks the birth of a powerful new state body with broad powers to tackle bribery and abuse of office throughout the public sector. This potentiallyread more
Keeping Predators Out of the Corner Office
Not every noxious cloud has a silver lining, but the recent rash of sexual misconduct allegations and scandals, catalyzed by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, has had several. In addition to exposing and hopefully uprooting a culture of silence, itread more
The New Cyber Reality: A Perpetual State of Breach
Just as individuals and organizations were digesting the implications of the massive Equifax data breach, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped another cyber-bombshell last week, announcing a serious compromise in 2016 of “EDGAR,” the Commission’s system for housing documentsread more
The Equifax Data Breach – What You Need To Know
In the wake of Equifax Inc.’s recent data breach announcement, inpiduals and corporations around the world are asking “What does this mean for me?” and, more importantly, “What should I do about it?” What Happened On Sept. 7, 2017, Equifaxread more
The Case for Lateral Partner Due Diligence
A law firm’s reputation is built on the conduct of its partners. Firms have traditionally promoted from within, a thoughtful and incremental process. Today, however, it has become much more common to recruit partner-level candidates from competitors. Lateral recruiting canread more
Conducting Corporate Investigations in Africa
With some exceptions, corporate investigations in Africa present greater challenges and complexities than typically found in North America or Western Europe. While generalisation is dangerous in a continent of 55 jurisdictions with varying economic, political, social and linguistic characteristics, thereread more
Uber’s Rogue Investigators Cause Federal Judge’s Temper to Surge
Judge Jed Rakoff’s decision issued on July 25th in the Meyer v. Kalanick case pending in the Southern District of New York serves as a reminder of the ethical rule that as an attorney, the actions of your investigator areread more
Corporate Spies Must Toe the Line
Private investigators don’t do what Hollywood would have you think they do. Not legally, at least. They can’t smack people around, like Sam Spade did in The Maltese Falcon, or sneak into crime scenes, like Philip Marlowe did in theread more
Two Cheers for the Modern Slavery Act?
Though more than 150 years have passed since the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom, there are an estimated 21 to 35 million people working under slave-like conditions globally. In a recent attempt to address this shameful statistic, theread more
Murky Waters: Navigating Business & Politics in Asia
Politics and business intertwine in a unique way in Asia, where state-run economies, crony capitalism and social networks prevail. These three forces are present across the region, though they manifest differently from country to country; understanding their influence is essentialread more
Implications of the Panama Papers for Panama and Beyond
When the Panama Papers were first revealed last month, the country of Panama found itself at the center of a world-wide storm of financial disclosures. The largest data leak in history, the Panama Papers encompass 11.5 million documents from aread more
Investigative Due Diligence: Beyond Google
Due diligence has become a standard component of most major business transactions. Anti-corruption laws, such as the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act, and anti-money laundering laws, such as the US Patriot Act, place an onusread more
Independent Investigation into NYU Abu Dhabi Campus Allegations
As you may have seen, on April 16th we issued our report summarizing the results of our investigation into allegations made by several news organizations and NGOs about abusive labor practices for the thousands of migrant workers involved in buildingread more
Wasta: Connections or Corruption in the Arab World
In the wake of the Arab Spring, corruption has become one of the Arab World’s most talked about problems. Islam strictly prohibits corruption and there are undoubtedly many in the Arab World who take the Quran’s injunction seriously: “And doread more