Sanctions on Russia have evolved significantly in the past six years.  Where are sanctions on Russia going with the Biden administration, the US Congress, and other jurisdictions?

In this podcast, Mark Goldberg joins Nabeel Yousef to discuss President-Elect Biden’s approach to Russia based on recent statements, past actions, and appointees, as well as how the US Congress, the executive branch, and other countries might respond.

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Despite the gradual return of employees to the workplace, employers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) face continuing challenges around improving productivity and compliance with company policies among their remote workers.

Freshfields’ global investigations lawyer Zara Merali in Dubai is joined by Sundaraparipurnan Narayanan from business advisory firm Nexdigm (SKP) and Shiraz Sethi from law firm DWF to discuss the:

challenges employers are facing;

regulatory framework, pitfalls and responses; and

best practices for employers to focus on now.

US international trade policy looked very different in 2020. So what should we expect in 2021? In the latest edition of the Freshfields podcast, Aimen Mir joins Nabeel Yousef to discuss the expected international trade, foreign policy, CFIUS and national security direction under a Biden administration - and the trends to watch in the year ahead.

Competition authorities’ global quest to oversee a greater number of deals involving nascent competition looks set to intensify in the year ahead, making deal-making even more complex. Jenn Mellott speaks with Ninette Dodoo, Jan Rybnicek and Sharon Malhi to discuss the evolution of an increasingly interventionist approach to nascent competition across the US, UK, Europe and Asia and how multi-national companies can best navigate the heightened global scrutiny.

But tech deals aren’t like other types of transactions – their value resides in an unusual combination of assets, and the rapidly evolving antitrust and national security landscape makes them challenging to execute. In this podcast – part of our 2021 board memo series – partners John Fisher, Aimen Mir and Alan Ryan explain what directors need to know.

Board evaluations are a vital way to gauge the health of a company. But what does a good evaluation look like? How are they best implemented? And should you disclose the results? In the latest instalment of our governance mini-series, Pamela Marcogliese and Leza Bieber reveal all.

Few issues have grabbed the attention of investors in recent years quite like human capital management. In episode no. 5 of our governance capsule collection, Pamela Marcogliese, Leza Bieber and Maj Vaseghi discuss why you should be engaging with stakeholders now rather than waiting for proxy season, the role of the board in managing human capital – and whether HCM should be a metric when setting executive compensation.

As more employees are paid in stock – and social media gives everyone a voice - employee activism is on the rise. So what’s the best way to engage with this vital stakeholder group?

In the latest edition of our governance capsule collection, Sarah Solum joins Pamela Marcogliese and Leza Bieber to discuss the tricky topic of intercompany communications.

You may have a great CEO or CFO, but are you prepared if they leave?

In the third instalment of our governance capsule collection, Pamela Marcogliese and Leza Bieber are joined by Lori Goodman to discuss the ins and outs of succession planning. Why is it such a hot issue right now? What does good planning look like? And how should you communicate your progress?

Few people had experience of staging virtual shareholder meetings – then the pandemic struck in the middle of proxy season and everyone had to get up to speed overnight.

In the second episode of our governance mini-series, Pamela Marcogliese and Leza Bieber explore what we’ve learnt – and ask whether the traditional in-person model will ever return.