On this episode of Women @ RopesTalk, hosted by health care partner Christine Moundas, life sciences regulatory & compliance counsel Beth Weinman interviews Jennifer Zachary, executive vice president and general counsel of Merck. Jennifer describes her unique trajectory from science major in college to associate chief counsel at the FDA to law firm partner and finally to her role as the top lawyer at Merck. She breaks down the differences and similarities between private and public practice, noting that the desire to protect the public health is just as strong in both places, and shares important advice for early career attorneys: work hard, seek out interesting cases, surround yourself with lawyers you admire, and make sure you’re having fun. Jennifer also describes the invaluable roles that mentorship, sponsorship and diversity efforts played in her transition in-house, and talks about the needle-moving diversity initiative she oversees at Merck.

COSO recently released supplemental guidance on achieving effective internal control over sustainability reporting. The guidance is very timely, given recently adopted, pending and proposed sustainability reporting requirements in several jurisdictions. In addition, companies are seeking to bring more rigor to their voluntary ESG disclosures, both to meet market expectations and to mitigate evolving litigation and enforcement risk. On this podcast, three of the principal authors, Doug Hileman, Shari Littan and Jeff Thomson, provide an introduction to the COSO framework and the supplemental guidance. They also provide insights and tips on applying the supplemental guidance and its relevance to specific types of sustainability disclosures.

The episode is hosted by Michael Littenberg, Ropes & Gray partner and global head of the ESG, CSR and business and human rights practice. Michael is the only private practice attorney listed as a contributor in the guidance. He also is quoted in the publication.

With a choppy fundraising climate and uncertainty about broader global macro trends, as well as in some cases heightened capital constraints, many LPs are keenly focused on ways to improve their investment processes. On this episode of Ropes & Gray’s Alternative Asset Insights podcast series, partners Isabel Dische, Vince Ip and Sean Seelinger focus on some best practices for operational due diligence (ODD) to assess potential risks stemming from a sponsor’s operations.

Join partners Greg Levine and Josh Oyster from Ropes & Gray’s life sciences regulatory and compliance practice group for a special edition of Non-binding Guidance, a podcast series which focuses on current trends in life sciences regulatory law as well as other important developments affecting the life sciences industry. On this episode, Greg and Josh discuss the publication of Ropes & Gray’s U.S. Medical Device Recalls Resource Manual, a reference tool to guide medical device companies considering, planning, or executing product recalls and other field actions.

While the overwhelming majority of Section 337 investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission involve patent infringement claims, the ITC is empowered to prohibit an extremely broad set of unfair trade practices and unfair methods of competition. In fact, courts have noted that Section 337 is “broad enough to prevent every type and form of unfair practice” associated with the importation of goods into the United States. On this episode of Talkin’ Trade, Ropes & Gray IP litigators Matt Rizzolo, Cassandra Roth, Matt Shapiro, and Brendan McLaughlin discuss the wide variety of claims that may be brought under this subsection of the statute and address some unique aspects of how the ITC adjudicates them. 

On this final episode of Ropes & Gray’s Value-based Care Collides with Competition podcast series, antitrust attorneys Jane Willis and David Young discuss the intersection between federal antitrust enforcement and state regulatory review of health care transactions.

On this episode of There Has to Be a Better Way?, co-hosts Zach Coseglia and Hui Chen talk to Antoine Ferrère, global head of behavioral and data science in the ethics, risk and compliance department at Novartis. With master’s degrees in both management and behavioral science, Antoine discusses how his multidisciplinary team at Novartis applies behavioral and data science at scale to drive ethical behaviors, reduce risks and ensure compliance across all areas of the company. He also discusses the multi-year studies his team has implemented to better understand the role of psychological safety in both speaking up and “listening up.” 

We are pleased to introduce a new Ropes & Gray podcast series, California Law for Asset Managers, which explores California state laws of importance to asset managers.

This series will examine California state privacy, lobbying, fee disclosure and other laws that are relevant to asset managers that are, or are thinking about becoming, active in the state. California’s privacy laws can implicate a wide range of managers—from those based in the state to those that simply have California investors. And given the importance to many sponsors of partnerships with state and local pension plans, two episodes will focus on lobbying and fee disclosure issues that asset managers must grapple with when dealing with these plans. We will look to provide updates on these matters and insights into other relevant California law matters for asset managers in later podcasts.

On this opening episode, asset management counsel Catherine Skulan is joined by data, privacy & cybersecurity counsel Kevin Angle to discuss recent developments in California privacy law. Catherine and Kevin delve into the implications for asset managers of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2020 and its amending legislation, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which becomes enforceable for violations on or after July 1, 2023.

On this episode of Ropes & Gray’s Value-based Care Collides with Competition podcast series, health care partner Christina Bergeron discusses the impact of current and proposed state laws regulating health care access, cost and quality on transactions involving management services organizations (MSOs) and dental support organizations (DSOs). 

On this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management attorneys Melissa Bender and Charlie Humphreville discuss the SEC’s proposed amendments to Rule 206(4)-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the so-called “custody rule,” and how they will impact registered investment advisers that hold and invest in crypto assets. Ropes & Gray has a number of resources regarding the proposed changes to the custody rule and how they will impact registered advisers. If you would like to learn more about these matters please contact your usual Ropes & Gray attorney contacts.