Internal Investigations Archives

In Corporate Compliance

Global: Annual Compliance Conference (6 September – 6 October 2022)

July 18, 2022 by Paul E. Amberg, Darryl Bernstein, Brian Cacic, Fiona Carlin, Kate Corby, Stephen Crosswell, Jannan Crozier, Borys Y. Dackiw, Reagan R. Demas, Meredith A. DeMent, Henry Garfield, Yindi Gesinde, Terence Gilroy, Tristan J. Grimmer, Kurt Haegeman, Joanna (Jo) Hewitt, Fung (Simon) Hui, Rod Hunter, Teisha C. Johnson, Olof König, Sylwia A. Lis, Montserrat Llopart, Nicole Looks, Joanna Ludlam, Sunny Mann, Geoff Martin, Jeffrey (Jeff) D. Martino, David McCredie, Samantha J. Mobley, Lerisha Naidu, María Carolina Pardo Cuéllar, Anne Petterd, Philippe Reich, Jennifer F. Revis, Francesca Richmond, James Robinson, Ana Royuela, Douglas Sanders, Dr. Anika Schürmann LL.M., Ben Smith, Katharina Spenner LL.M., Alison J. Stafford Powell, Graham J. Stuart, Virusha Subban, Eric Thianpiriya, Anahita Thoms LL.M., Mini vandePol, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., Julia M. Wilson, Lionel Van Reet, Reggie Mezu, Ario Dehghani, Serge Pannatier, Hanna Shtepa, Elizabeth Denham, Miriam Allena, Ross Evans, Mara Ioana Ghiorghies, Julian Godfray, Adeel Haque, Eunkyung Kim Shin, Rachel MacLeod, Jessica Mutton, Karoline (Karolina) Phillips, Joanne Redmond, Andrew Rose and Paulo Casagrande 1 Min Read

Annual Compliance Conference

Our popular Annual Compliance Conference, which attracts over 6,000 in-house senior legal and compliance professionals from across the world, will be held across five weeks from 6 September – 6 October 2022. We will be virtually delivering our cutting-edge insights and guidance on key global compliance, investigations and ethics issues. Our global experts will provide practical insights and analysis on significant developments across:
– anti-bribery
– corruption and economic crime
– customs and FTAs
– ESG, supply chain and product compliance
– antitrust and competition
– export controls, sanctions and foreign investment

Click https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/events/2022/10/annual-compliance-conference to register your interest in joining us virtually at this must attend global compliance conference for senior in-house legal and compliance professionals.

In Internal Investigations

Netherlands: Supreme Court judgment on legal professional privilege for in-house lawyers in the Netherlands

July 8, 2022 by Chr. Frank (Frank) Kroes, Sjef Janssen and Michiel Mulder 7 Mins Read

On 24 May 2022, the Dutch Supreme Court passed judgment between, on one hand, the Royal Dutch Shell PLC and 15 of Shell’s in-house lawyers (“Shell”), and on the other hand, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service.1 The Supreme Court held that both Shell’s and the Public Prosecution Service’s complaints were inadmissible because the decision of the court of first instance should be considered as an ‘interim decision’ (in Dutch: ‘tussenbeschikking’), and interim decisions are not open to cassation. The Supreme Court took the opportunity to provide some insights in relation to the scope and application of legal professional privilege of in-house lawyers by way of obiter dictum.

In Internal Investigations

Future of Disputes UK

July 6, 2022 by Steve Abraham, Yindi Gesinde, Edward Poulton, Ash Chandhok Tiwari, Dr. Markus Altenkirch LL.M., Mark Banks, Katia Finkel, Carinne Kamdar, Ben Ko, Ben Levitt, Richard Molesworth and Jack Secunda 4 Mins Read

Our Future of Disputes UK Virtual Programme brought speakers from leading in-house institutions – including AON, Gilead, GPW Group, HSBC, JP Morgan, Rio Tinto, Salesforce and Siemens – together with Baker McKenzie dispute resolution specialists to discuss key challenges in litigation, arbitration and investigations likely to arise over the next year.
We tackled the practicalities around contract disputes and termination, engaging with government and regulators, strategies to manage litigation risk arising from internal investigations, and provided an overview of how case lifecycles are likely to unfold following recent reforms of litigation and arbitration mechanisms. Our speakers share insights garnered from managing complex, multijurisdictional disputes and offer strategies to help you shape your organisation’s business resilience and readiness for litigation in the medium and long term.

In Antitrust / Competition

Hong Kong: Navigating Competition Investigations – Knowing Your Legal Rights and Protecting Your Business (Webinar Invitation – 7 July 2022)

July 1, 2022 by Stephen Crosswell 2 Mins Read

In 2008, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal issued a landmark judgment in Koon Wing Yee v Insider Dealing Tribunal deciding that if a regulator is seeking a financial penalty, the individual or company being investigated is, for human rights purposes, facing a criminal charge and entitled to fundamental Bill of Rights protections.

Hong Kong’s competition law was being drafted at the time. The enforcement framework and law were fundamentally rewritten because of Koon. The Administration said that appropriate criminal safeguards, including fair trial, protection against self-incrimination and standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt, must be in place both during investigation and trial to meet the requirements of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. In 2019, in the first case to come to trial, Hong Kong’s Competition Tribunal agreed.

In Asia-Pacific

Singapore: Duties and obligations during employment investigations (Case Update)

June 2, 2022 by Celeste Ang and Pradeep Nair 8 Mins Read

Dong Wei v Shell Trading (Pte) Ltd and anor [2022] SGHC(A) 8 concerned an appeal from the decision of the Singapore High Court in a case relating to the termination of an employee’s employment without cause and with pay in lieu of notice, following two investigations into allegations of conflicts of interest.

In Anti-Corruption

Spain: First steps of the Government to implement the EU’s Whistleblowing Directive

April 12, 2022 by Montserrat Llopart and Claudia Grau 6 Mins Read

On 4 March 2022, the Government approved the Draft Law on the protection of persons who report infringements of regulations and the fight against corruption, aimed at transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on whistleblowers’ protection.

In Internal Investigations

United States: Tales From the Trenches

March 3, 2022 by William Dugan, James (Joe) Ward, Jacob M. Kaplan, Christine Streatfeild, Alexander G. Davis, Sara Victoria Pitt and Erin Shields 2 Mins Read

Late last year, after a month-long trial, a Baker McKenzie team secured a complete defense verdict in favor of our client MedMen and its two co-founders. The trial was the culmination of three years of intense litigation. The result was publicized in Law360, among other outlets.
In this unique three-part webinar series, members of Baker McKenzie’s North America Trial Team will provide insight surrounding this litigation win and the steps taken to achieve it, from inception to defense verdict

In Africa

South Africa: Gag agreements – dishonest conduct will not see the light of day if employer consent is required

February 16, 2022 by Johan Botes 4 Mins Read

The Labor Appeal Court in South Africa recently considered the binding nature of confidentiality agreements in the workplace. Both employers and employees should note that the courts will consider each case on its merit and will consider the scope and reach of the agreement, and the substance of any disclosure that breaches this undertaking.

In Corporate Compliance

United States: This week in government enforcement

February 11, 2022 by 12 Mins Read

This week’s discussion will cover the following:
• Indictment of Belarus government officials for air piracy in connection with forced landing of Ryanair jet
• First DOJ indictment over threatening of election officials
• SEC v. David P. Forte, et al. – SEC and DOJ Continue to Pursue Insider Trading Based on Circumstantial Evidence
• Discussion of most recent tipper-tippee insider trading case

In Anti-Corruption

Switzerland: Compliance & investigations webinar series

February 11, 2022 by Christoph Kurth, Simon Ntah and Caleb Sainsbury 2 Mins Read

Baker McKenzie are now inviting you to join sessions on specific developments and areas of risk that are on the minds of risk managers and require forethought today. The Series is designed for legal and compliance as well as interested business leaders who want to invest 50 minutes every month to these topics and come away with ideas and practical guidance.