Assistant Attorney General Jonathan S. Kanter spoke about his work to modernize antitrust law at a Harvard Law School event on Monday. The discussion, titled “Changing Antitrust Strategy,” was hosted by the HLS Antitrust Association and moderated by HLS professor Einer R. Elhauge ’83. During the conversation, Kanter discussed his work at the Department of Justice to change the way the antitrust law was enforced, citing a system that was “out of touch” with current markets. Kanter, who was confirmed to the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division in 2021 after previously working at the Federal Trade Commission and in the private sector, said the current metrics used to determine antitrust violations are “incompatible with market values.”…

Stylised graphic showing Beechwood House, Lubov Chernukhin and Alisher UsmanovOwners of around 50,000 UK properties held by foreign companies remain hidden from public view, despite new transparency laws. The Register of Overseas Entities, launched in August 2022, was meant to reveal who ultimately owns UK property. But analysis by BBC News and Transparency International found that almost half of the firms required to declare who was behind them failed to do so. Labor MP Margaret Hodge said the legislation was not “fit for purpose”. A UK government spokesperson said the register has been an “invaluable source of information for law enforcement, and tax and revenue services”.…

The impact on working arrangements caused by the pandemic has led many workers to re-evaluate what they want from a job, with considerations such as flexible and remote working becoming both more desirable and attainable. This is affecting businesses in all sectors, and the impact it can have is not only on a business’s workforce but also on its customer base that is far reaching. One of the most important things to consider when a worker leaves a business is restrictive covenants. These are often contained in the employee’s employment contract, service agreement or, in some circumstances, a shareholders agreement. Restrictive covenants are contractual restrictions that prevent individuals from doing certain things after their employment ends.…

In our previous article about post-termination restrictive covenants we discussed the High Court case of Dwyer (UK Franchising) Limited v Fredbar Limited [2021] EWHC 1218 as an example of covenants being found unreasonable and therefore unenforceable. Since then, the Claimant has appealed the judgment and the Court of Appeal has once again found in favor of the Defendant. So what does this mean for those trying to enforce, or avoid, restrictive covenants? The Facts The facts of the case are set out in our previous article (link above). However, in short, the Claimant (Dwyer) is the franchisor of ‘Drain Doctor’, a very large emergency plumbing and drainage franchise.…

On August 2, 2022, Senators Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) introduced the Sanctioning Supporters of Slave Labor Act, legislation that would expand the categories of persons that could be sanctioned under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (UHRPA). Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana) filed a companion in the House of Representatives. Currently, UHRPA imposes sanctions on certain entities and individuals named by the President as allegedly having committed certain human rights violations in Xinjiang. The bill would expand the scope of this reporting requirement to include “every foreign person who knowingly provides significant goods, services, or technology to or for a person identified in such a report; and each foreign person that knowingly engages in a significant transaction relating to any of the acts described” in UHRPA.…

On August 4, 2022, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as the Chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), formally published the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List. The Entity list is a consolidated register of the four lists required to be developed and maintained pursuant to Section 2(d)(2)(B) of the UFLPA. DHS also released details on seeking changes to the UFLPA Entity List, including requests for removal from the list. For our previous blog entries on the UFLPA and its implementation, see posts here, here, here, here, here and here. UFLPA requires the Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to apply a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced, or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor, and therefore, are prohibited from importation into the United States under 19 USC 1307.…

Please join us on Thursday, October 13 at 12PM EDT for 2022 Chemicals Workshop Webinar Series: PFAS, REACH and Other Chemical Regulatory Issues. Join Allen Kacenjar, Lianne Mantione and Anita Lloyd for the second webinar in our two-part 2022 Chemicals Workshop webinar series, in partnership with the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council (OCTC). In this session, we will provide an overview of the rapidly evolving landscape related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including proposed listing of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation , and the Liability Act (CERCLA), regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and the practical strategies, considerations and measures to assess legacy and current risks.…

As we predicted, earlier today, 100 industry organizations submitted a request to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to extend the comment period for its proposed rule banning non-competes nationwide by an additional 60 days. According to the letter, “[t]he regulated community should be given sufficient time to assess the potential consequences of the rulemaking and develop insightful comments for the Commission to consider.” The letter further states:This rulemaking, as the FTC itself acknowledges, will impact a significant portion of the economy. Given the breadth of the rules, a sufficient comment period is needed to ensure the regulated community can fully assess its effects.…