In the first of a series of dispatches from our team in northern California, Boris Feldman, Sarah Solum, Maj Vaseghi, John Fisher and Doru Gavril explore the impact of the COVID crisis on everything from shareholder activism to securities litigation.

The economic hardship caused by COVID-19 has resulted in an increase in firms in financial distress looking for a path forward through M&A. Jenn Mellott speaks with partners Alastair Chapman, Mary Lehner and Tone Oeyen to discuss how enforcement agencies view distressed firm transactions, how the agencies have responded to the unique financial conditions caused by the pandemic and what policies have been introduced to prevent hostile foreign takeovers of critical assets and technologies.

Employers are considering keeping the working from home set-up for some time to come, and (in some cases) possibly for good. There has been a lot of discussion about what that might mean from an oversight perspective, and how it might change employers’ risk profile. 

In this session, Ben Morgan, Caroline Stroud, Holly Insley and Olivia Radin consider how companies are approaching their compliance and oversight arrangements and the impact of the new working environment on whistleblowing. They also discuss the possible approach of regulators when it comes to evaluating oversight standards, as well as the challenges that the new working environment holds for in-house lawyers and compliance officers.

Data protection and cybersecurity are gaining more prominence in international arbitration and we expect this to continue, not least because the threat of significant fines has proved real.  Welcome industry guidance has recently been published, and we should see increased awareness of personal data and cybersecurity issues as well as heightened efforts to ensure compliance. 

In this podcast, partner Patrick Schroeder in Hamburg, and principal associates Niamh Leinwather and Désirée Prantl in Vienna, examine how the proliferation of modern data protection regimes has added complexity to cross-border disputes, pushing arbitration users to increasingly consider data protection obligations in arbitration proceedings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in rapid changes to the global foreign direct investment landscape as governments re-evaluate which assets will be critical to national security in the future. Many of these changes are here to stay.

Jenn Mellott speaks with partners Michele Davis, Aimen Mir and Hazel Yin about the most significant changes across Europe, the United States and Asia and discuss what deal-makers can do to navigate through this increasingly complex global regulatory landscape.

Apps that show the number of commuters on trains, passenger control systems that make offices look like airports, travellers put in military quarantine camps… as COVID-19 restrictions are eased we share lockdown stories from across the world - and discuss how workplaces are being adapted to allow people to return

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented change in the way we work. As global lockdown measures begin to lift, the question of what the ‘new normal’ will look like is at the forefront of employers’ and employees’ minds. As part of the WorkLife 2.0 series, we will explore the future working landscape, and the challenges and opportunities it presents, through a series of blog posts, briefings and podcasts.

In this session, speakers Timothy Wilkins, Holly Insley, Karin Buzanich-Sommeregger and Oliver Dudok van Heel discuss changing attitudes to working from home, and the challenges employers and employees may face when returning to the workplace.

Competition for assets in the payments space has been fierce in recent years. In our latest podcast, partners Cyrus Pocha, Keir MacLennan and Martin McElwee discuss what’s driving the run of deal activity, what buyers need to look out for – and how to approach antitrust regulators as the sector consolidates.

The US Federal Trade Commission has been highly successful in blocking mergers in court over the past several years, but it recently lost its challenge to the Evonik/PeroxyChem merger. Jenn Mellott speaks with Eric Mahr, Andrew Ewalt, and Laura Onken, members of the Freshfields antitrust team who worked on the litigation, about the case and what businesses should take away from this significant win against the FTC.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his first Budget as Chancellor. Freshfields partners Helen Buchanan, Jill Gatehouse and Paul Davison join associate Josh Critchlow to discuss the key takeaways for companies, including the digital services tax, entrepreneurs’ relief, new compliance and disclosure rules and reliefs for intellectual property.