Covid-19 Publications
"Relief or risk?: The hidden costs of government lending" by Michelle L. Rogers, Katherine L. Halliday, and Katherine Brockway Katz (National Law Journal)
There is no longer any question that the economy will take years, not months, to fully recover from COVID-19, and additional funding for government and government-backed loans seems inevitable at some point. Examining the programs from the initial COVID-19 relief package provides context for...
Articles"Reopening well: Balancing employee privacy with employee safety" by Elizabeth E. McGinn, Amanda R. Lawrence, James C. Chou, and David Rivera (Corporate Compliance Insights)
Consumer privacy has been a key area of focus over the past several years, but as companies begin return-to-work operations, they discover that employee privacy looms large as well. Well-intentioned companies seeking to keep employees safe risk incurring penalties from a variety of agencies based...
Articles"How to tackle coronavirus corruption" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Foreign Policy)
Latin America as a region has long had a problem with public corruption, and the coronavirus pandemic has made things worse. As governments shovel public funds to fight the pandemic and its economic fallout, public officials are swindling millions, including in the graft-prone public health sector...
Articles"Videoconferences are weak alternatives to in-person client meetings" by Nancy H. Turner
A century ago, the Spanish Flu ravaged the globe and impacted the legal industry in ways not dissimilar to what we are seeing today. Trials could not be held as attorneys and judges contracted the virus, courts —...
Buckley Commentary & Analysis"Resisting temptation in a crisis: Making sure ethics and compliance don’t get diluted under financial strain" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Compliance & Enforcement)
As the pandemic crisis begins its long process of receding, near the top of mind in companies of all sizes is how to thrive, or even survive, with the economy in turmoil. With such pressures, it would be easy for business executives to let compliance issues drop down on their list of priorities...
Articles"Price-gouging a priority as pandemic persists" by Michael N. Morrill
One of the federal government’s most immediate responses to the coronavirus crisis was a highly visible campaign against profiteering. While the absence of an overarching federal anti-price gouging statute has forced prosecutors to improvise and legislators to contemplate new laws in order to...
Buckley Commentary & Analysis"Accurate FCRA reporting during Covid-19" by Marshall T. Bell, Jonathan D. Jerison, and Jessica L. Pollet (Bloomberg Law)
As financial institutions respond to a flurry of regulatory recommendations and mandates in response to the Covid-19 crisis, those relating to consumer reporting may be among the most difficult to decipher and operationalize. Federal and state authorities have made it clear that they expect...
Articles"TCPA relief for Covid-19 communications could extend to financial institutions" by Ali M. Abugheida and Geoffrey L. Warner (Bloomberg Law)
Financial institutions face unprecedented and rapidly evolving challenges in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the need to communicate quickly and efficiently with customers in the face of government-issued stay-at-home orders. But the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, with its steep...
Articles"CARES Act puts inspectors general back in the spotlight" by Daniel R. Alonso, Preston Burton, & Meredith Leeson (New York Law Journal)
Federal Inspectors General—the nation’s watchdogs over government agencies and government programs—are back in the news. First, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act , received close attention not only for its $2 trillion infusion of taxpayer dollars into the U.S. economy, but also...
Articles"Battle over business interruption coverage already underway" by Fredrick S. Levin, Michael A. Rome, and Ali M. Abugheida (Law360)
Businesses across the country are reviewing their insurance policies to assess whether they have valid claims against losses suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and related government shutdown directives. Two types of insurance coverage are particularly relevant: business interruption...
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