Member News

Pepper Hamilton Closes More Than 90 Deals In 2018

FIRM REPRESENTED BLUE CHIP CLIENTS IN MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS, ASSET PURCHASES AND STOCK PURCHASES January 31, 2019   Pepper Hamilton LLP today announced results of the deals closed during the 2018 calendar year. The firm advised on more than 90 deals, with combined transaction values exceeding $10.5 billion, including cross-border deals in the United Kingdom, Canada and Turkey. The firm closed out the year strong, with Q4 bringing the highest number of overall deals as well as the highest total dollar value...

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Member News

The Weekly Vulcan View For The 28th Of January To The 1st Of February Featuring Analysis Of The Latest EU Developments

VULCAN VIEW - KEY EVENTS THIS WEEK: May trying to renegotiate Backstop with Brussels On Tuesday the House of Commons narrowly voted in favour of an amendment tabled by Conservative MP Sir Graham Brady to provide “alternative arrangements” for the Irish backstop. Prime Minister May hailed this outcome as ‘a route that can secure a substantial and sustainable majority in this house for leaving the EU, with a deal.’  MP Yvette Cooper’s amendment to extend Article 50 if no agreement was reached,...

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Member News

#FINUS100 Campaign – 100 Years of Finland – U.S. Diplomatic Relations

A rousing new social media campaign highlighting the centennial of Finland - U.S. diplomatic relations is underway! Every weekday the Embassy of Finland in DC and the U.S. Embassy Finland post photos online that commemorate the 100 year journey of upholding US and Finnish relations. The Finland - U.S. centennial social media campaign explores shared moments in our nations’ histories that include political encounters as well as important cultural exchanges. Who could forget the Reagans visiting Helsinki in 1988, or how Paavo Nurmi (a.k.a....

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Member News

DSM announces new Chief Innovation Officer

Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, today announced that Rob van Leen, Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and member of the Executive Committee, has decided to step down from his position and focus on non-executive roles outside of DSM in the second half of 2019. Patricia Malarkey, in her most recent executive role Head of Research & Development and member of the Executive Committee at Syngenta, will join DSM as of 15 March to...

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Member News

Thompson Hine’s “Trade Secret Quarterly”; Winter 2019

Reliance on Technology May Compromise Your Ability to Protect Your Trade Secrets The use of smartphones, tablets, laptops and other personal devices in the workplace is commonplace. But allowing your employees to access trade secret information on them without implementing appropriate restrictions or protections could be fatal to a later enforcement action. A recent decision by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals underscores a company’s obligation to take sufficient steps to protect its electronic data if the company later wants to...

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Member News

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for a Limited Number of H-1B Petitions

By Melissa Manna, Ogletree Deakins U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the reinstatement of the premium processing program for a limited number of H-1B petitions. Premium processing will resume on January 28, 2019, for fiscal year (FY) 2019 H-1B cap cases (those subject to the annual quota). FY 2019 H-1B cap cases were those that were filed in April 2018 and were subject to the annual H-1B lottery. Because most of those cases have already been adjudicated, the resumption of premium processing is...

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Chapter News, News

VIDEO: Fed Signals End of Interest Rate Increases

Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman /Getty Images By Binyamin Appelbaum, New York Times Jan. 30, 2019 WASHINGTON — In suspending its previous plans to continue raising rates this year, the Federal Reserve signaled that its march toward higher interest rates may be ending sooner than expected. The Fed’s chairman, Jerome H. Powell, said economic growth remained “solid” and the central bank expected growth to continue. But in a sharp reversal of the Fed’s stance just six week ago, Mr. Powell said the...

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Brexit News, Chapter News, News

Speeches by President Juncker and Chief Negotiator Barnier at the Plenary session of the European Parliament on the occasion of the debate on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU

Brussels, 30 January 2019 Speech by President Jean-Claude Juncker Mr. President, Honourable Members, In less than 60 days, the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union. This is a bad decision, as I find. Even as the Commission has defended the interests of the European Union, this spirit of respect and friendship has accompanied us at every step in these negotiations. The Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration agreed by all 27 Leaders and the United Kingdom government is the result of that....

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Brexit News, Member News

WEBCAST| Brexit update, 30 Jan: How should business interpret yesterday’s vote in UK Parliament?

By Mats Persson, EU UK& Brexit Lead & Specialist Advisor to the UK Prime Minister 2015-2016 Webcast today We will host an update webcast discussing yesterday’s developments including whether the EU will allow for any renegotiating of the Withdrawal Agreement, with Jan Grauls, a former senior Belgian Diplomat and Mats Persson, former Special Advisor to the UK Prime Minister. Register now. Wednesday 30 January, 14:00-14:30 then available on-demand using same link.   Latest developments: The UK Parliament last night voted on a series of amendments...

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Member News

Don’t Let These 10 Legal Myths Stop Your Doing Business In The U.S.: Myth #8 – The possibility of many employee lawsuits scares us

By Marc S. Friedman | Director of Professional Relations| Global Commerce Education In the most recent article in this series, I explained how many non-US companies, including Baltic businesses, refrain from doing business in the US because of  Myths #6 and 7 - The US is very litigious and that is too threatening to a small company like ours. As a result, the risk of liability and lawsuits relating to our products and/or services is too great. In this installment, I...

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