The rapid disruption of the global economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated existing business issues to a crisis point and created problems that were unthinkable. Many companies are grappling with multiple operational, financial and humanitarian problems from displaced workforces, supply chain disruption and third-party contractual obligations to business insurance issues and share price declines. Clients will be considering rapidly evaluating various governmental stimulus programs as they relate to their company, industry and geographic situation.
A new perspective, Regulatory and Litigation impact: Recovery from COVID-19 looks at some of the types of issues companies may likely face and several broad considerations that fall within each of those issues.
Some of the trends, behaviours and strategies covered include:
Disputes and Litigation:
There are myriad actions resulting from the impacts of COVID-19...
but key themes include:
Operational issues such as contractual obligations, business and supply side disruptions and insurance claims
Government stimulus program funding policies that may set up contentious situations between commercial and governmental entities
Class actions may be brought around issues of securities fraud, employee health and welfare and product safety
Troubled M&A transactions may generate issues such as purchase price disputes, valuations and insolvency
There may be an increase in alternative dispute resolution and mediation activity
Online disputes and remote hearings may increase
Fraud, Waste & Abuse:
The greatest threat to companies in the COVID-19 world are...
bad actors going undetected. Some examples are:
Pre-COVID-19, emphasis lay in reactive investigations that respond to specific allegations and focused on mitigating past malfeasance. Proactive prevention of future issues did not receive the same level of attention
Today, establishing effective misconduct monitoring is critical considering the shifting regulatory and economic environment in a data-driven world.
Companies should consider embracing advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to identify adverse events coming out of COVID-19.
Investigations:
To enable a quick response to COVID-19,
many legal and regulatory frameworks have shifted, requiring a careful assessment by companies on how those laws and regulations should be interpreted working with legal counsel.
Examples include:
With social distancing and work at home protocols in place for the foreseeable future, companies will need to continue to remotely conduct investigations, depositions and other witness information gathering.
Technology-driven solutions are available to help perform data and information collection and analysis, plus provide virtual connectivity for interviews and collaboration needs.
Data Analytics and Technology:
Sophisticated data analytics capabilities are...
central to every company’s response to legal and regulatory scrutiny. Applications to consider are:
Asset tracing of misappropriated funds
Claims administration systems that enables affected companies to react quickly and scale up and down depending on the requirements
Contract extraction and analytics
Proactive and reactive eDiscovery system to perform local, remote, or covert data collections
