Keep your finger on the legal world's pulse

Several Big Law firms are enhancing their national security practices to meet the growing demands of clients focused on anti-money laundering, sanctions, and export control issues. Firms including Latham & Watkins, Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, and Morrison & Foerster have recently hired attorneys to strengthen their national security practices. Latham's Paul Rosen observes that enforcement activity by the Committee on Foreign Investment has been a notable driver of client demand. “There were a number of enforcement actions taken over the last four years in a way that were not taken before, both in numbers and in type of matters . . . But we’re also seeing in [the Trump] administration new types of enforcement,” Rosen said.

 

ABA Journal

Clifford Chance wants a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former partners Clifford Cone and Michael Sabin, who claim the firm is improperly trying to claw back nearly $5.8m in pay under a partnership agreement before the pair left this year for Sidley Austin. Cone and Sabin said in their lawsuit filed in Manhattan district court that ​U.K.-founded Clifford Chance was trying to claw back pay as a “punitive” and “anti-competitive” response to their January departure to ​a rival. The lawsuit by the pair “is a transparent attempt to hijack the arbitral process before it even begins,” Clifford Chance said in court filings Aug 14. 

 

Bloomberg Law

The Mexican banking affiliates of six international banks - Bank of America, Banco Santander, BBVA, Citigroup, Deutsche ​Bank and HSBC - have agreed to pay $86.4m ‌to settle an antitrust lawsuit by investors who accused them of conspiring from January 1, 2006 ‌to ⁠April 19, 2017 to fix prices and allocations of Mexican government bonds, including by suppressing prices of bonds they buy and increasing prices ​of bonds they ​sell. The ⁠banks denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

 

PYMNTS.com

Reuters

Workers at the Cargill plant in Fort Morgan, Colorado, have voted to approve a new contract, bringing an end to a labor dispute that had dragged on for three months. More than 1,700 union employees were locked out of the beef processing facility in May. Cargill said it had made the decision to lock the doors after the union voted against their latest contract offer and amid concerns about a possible strike. Employees, who said they felt like the move was a punishment for asking for better wages, have now voted overwhelmingly to accept a contract proposal from the company that they had previously rejected. Dean Modecker of the Teamsters Local 455 union said: "It's not ​the deal that we were hoping to get . . . But to be fair, our people work for a ‌living ⁠and they don't know anything else. We were getting worried just like anybody else."

 

CBS News

Reuters

Healthcare data giant Epic Systems is facing an antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, two sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters. Verona, ​Wisconsin-based Epic holds the medical records of hundreds of millions of Americans and its products are used by healthcare providers that collectively treat more ⁠than 280m people in the U.S. The sources say the agency has sent ​investigative demands to others in the sector seeking information about how Epic grants or withholds data access.

 

Reuters

Canada is preparing for new 50% U.S. tariffs on nearly $20bn of goods from Wednesday as negotiations with Washington remain far from an agreement, raising concerns over further job losses and weaker investment. The duties will cover products including wine, furniture, dairy, cement and clothing, affecting about 5.2% of the $383bn of U.S. goods imports from Canada in 2025, and will apply even to products qualifying for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Auto tariffs and Canada’s dairy system remain key sticking points in wider negotiations, while businesses have warned that a 50% levy could make some Canadian products uncompetitive in the U.S. and particularly hurt smaller exporters. The dispute also threatens to complicate the future of the USMCA after President Donald Trump declined to extend the agreement for another 16 years, leaving it subject to annual reviews.

 

US News and World Report

Personal information belonging to nearly 14,000 customers of hardware crypto wallet provider Trezor has been exposed following a data breach at one of its shipping providers, potentially increasing the risk of phishing, fraud, and physical attacks against digital asset holders. The breach exposed the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of 11,742 customers, while the names, cities of residence, and emails of another 1,947 customers were compromised. The affected customers are in the U.S., U.K., Sweden, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, and Portugal, and received their devices between May 10th and August 8th. The incident is the second security problem involving hardware, or “cold,” wallets in two weeks. More than $100m was stolen from Coldcard wallet holders on July 30th after a vulnerability resulted in private keys being generated without sufficient security, highlighting how self-custody can shift rather than eliminate risks for crypto investors.

 

Bloomberg

Financial Times

Timothy Clark has joined White & Case as a partner in its global investment funds practice and global private capital industry group in New York. Previously, he served as the global co-head of private funds and investment management at Mayer Brown. Clark specializes in advising private equity, credit, and sovereign wealth clients on various aspects of fund formation and transactions.

 

Bloomberg Law

France's Constitutional Council has struck down the country's ban on social media for under-15s, saying provisions in the law "disproportionately infringe freedom of expression and communication" without providing legal safeguards for those rights. President Emmanuel Macron has said Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will work "as quickly as possible on a legally robust proposal that takes into account the decision of the Constitutional Council as well as the European legal framework."

 

France 24

The Guardian

The Independent

The U.S. government has discussed new sanctions against Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, who it sanctioned last year on human rights grounds before overturning the measure.

 

Financial Times

A CNBC Generation Lab poll has found 46% of Americans aged 18-34 view democratic socialism favorably, compared with 23% unfavorably. Nearly 80% were negative about the U.S. economy, with housing and secure employment among the biggest financial pressures. Meanwhile, 45% expect AI to negatively affect their careers, most favor regulation, and large majorities distrust leading technology executives to act responsibly on AI.

 

CNBC