Philip B.Sailer

The SEC recently announced the creation of a Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU) that will focus on fraudulent conduct in cybersecurity, digital assets, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. For public companies, the announcement indicates that the new unit will focus on combatting fraud and other “cyber-related misconduct,” including “public issuer fraudulent disclosure relating to cybersecurity.”

On February 28, 2023, The Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party held its long anticipated first hearing. The hearing, which lasted approximately three hours, served as a preview for the Committee’s investigative interests, which include US company activities in the China market, China’s human rights and free speech abuses, and countering China’s increasing aggression toward Taiwan.

In 2022, the failures of prominent crypto companies overshadowed broader discussions in Congress about how crypto assets should be regulated. This Congress, both chambers are likely to continue to investigate, hold hearings, and propose legislation regarding the crypto asset industry and adjacent financial sectors. Now is the time for responsible industry participants to decide whether and how to engage with Congress to proactively and positively impact legislation.

On September 15, 2022, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco issued a memorandum and delivered a speech, announcing several revisions to the Department of Justice's (DOJ)’s corporate criminal enforcement policies and practices. The new revisions reflect input from DOJ’s Corporate Crime Advisory Group, which DOJ convened in late 2021 to review and recommend improvements to DOJ’s approach to prosecuting corporate crimes, and the imprint of DOJ’s compliance-minded leadership.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently filed a complaint against a data broker alleging that the collection and sale of precise location data significantly harms consumers, especially if the data contains information regarding travel to and from specific sensitive locations, such as reproductive healthcare clinics. The outcome of the case could have a substantial impact on the FTC’s authority to enforce consumer protection laws and will likely inform how companies handle consumer data to wh

Causation is a crucial factor when determining liability in cases involving civil RICO claims. Courts have long held that plaintiffs must show both factual (“but for”) causation and proximate causation to sufficiently allege a civil RICO claim and that there must be “some direct relation between the injury asserted and the injurious conduct alleged.”[1]

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In their Insurance Law Update, Jenner & Block Partner Jan A. Larson and Associate Philip B. Sailer examine the conflicting insurance regulatory schemes that policyholders face in the cannabis space. The authors identify the complex issues the judiciary is currently facing and outline proposed legislative solutions that could begin to reduce the challenges both policyholders and insurers must face in this ever-changing industry. Former associate Kara Crutcher contributed to this article. The IL

The Pro Bono Institute (PBI) honored Jenner & Block with its Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) Partner Award for the collaborative efforts with McDonald’s Corporation and the National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC) in achieving asylum for several pro bono clients.For several years, volunteers from the legal department of McDonald’s have partnered with Jenner & Block and Goldberg Kohn Ltd. on approximately 20 cases referred by NIJC, working collaboratively to represent immigrants applying for asylum.B

On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14036, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy" (the “EO”). The sweeping competition EO, coupled with six competition bills advanced by a bipartisan vote of the House Judiciary Committee in June, signals a sustained focus on competition policy from both the White House and Congress, and that focus is set to only intensify over the next year in the lead up to the midterms.

Litigation Department Co-Chair Reid J. Schar, together with E.K. McWilliams and Philip B. Sailer, have released an updated edition of A Guide to Civil RICO Litigation in Federal Courts, one of Jenner & Block’s Practice Series Guides. This 300-plus page publication is designed to assist lawyers, both in-house and in private practice, as they navigate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) in civil cases. This fully revised and updated treatise seeks to demystify RICO by f

During his second week in office, President Biden issued an additional tranche of 12 official presidential actions, several of which rescinded actions by the Trump Administration. Our team’s analysis of President Biden’s week-one executive actions can be found here. The Biden Administration’s executive orders (EOs) and other presidential actions in week two are focused on slowing the spread of COVID-19, increasing access to health care for underserved communities, and creating a whole of gover

President Biden issued 30 official presidential actions during his first week in office. These executive orders (EOs), presidential statements, and memoranda rescind dozens of Trump-era policies. They also set forth a more assertive approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, establish stronger ethical standards for political appointees, and present a policy agenda focused on climate change, labor rights, social justice, and immigration reform.

Published annually by Jenner & Block’s Investigations, Compliance and Defense team, this 2020 Year in Review provides a comprehensive analysis of developments international anti-corruption laws and practice over the last 12 months. This update includes a new deep dive on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement trends, including charts and visualizations of key statistics, as well as chapters on SEC enforcement, corporate criminal liability in the United Kingdom, the impact of the COVI

On December 21, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a massive legislative package that provided $1.4 trillion to fund the federal government and $900 billion in long-delayed stimulus to respond to the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic (the Supplemental Stimulus Act).[1] After initially signaling that he might veto the law, President Trump eventually signed the bill into law on December 27, 2020. After last March’s stimulus legislation (the Coronavirus Ai

On January 1, 2021, Congress made several important changes to the US securities laws that will impact the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ability to pursue and recover funds through disgorgement.

An updated version of this alert was published on January 8, 2021. Please find it here.

Since our last report on the state of litigation under COVID-19, the disease continues to spread throughout the country and impact all aspects of American life. We hope that you and your loved ones are well and remain safe.

Colleges and universities adapting to COVID-19 will soon receive billions of dollars authorized by Congress through the CARES Act.  Attendant with that funding will come legal obligations that colleges and universities must carefully understand and obey.  Below, we discuss those obligations as well as best practices for colleges and universities to avoid missteps—to ensure that the aid serves its purpose of facilitating schools’ educational mission without raising unforeseen problems.   

Now that Congress has passed, and the President has signed, historic stimulus bills in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the practical realities of dispersing trillions of dollars in federal funding and overseeing that distribution have taken center stage.  Between the three bills that have been enacted to address this unprecedented crisis so far, various agencies across the federal government will provide over $2.2 trillion to companies across a number of industries that have been hit hardest