By Daniella McGuigan | London | Ogeltree Deakins On 19 December 2017, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) proposed a draft plan for enforcement action in relation to The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. Consultation on the proposal is due to close on 2 February 2018. Daniella McGuigan of Ogletree Deakins’ London office is part of a working party representing the views of employers within the consultation process. The regulations indicate that it would be an “unlawful...

Read more

By Hector Galeano | Jorge R. Lopez | Littler As it signaled in late 2017,1 the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s investigative arm) began 2018 with an increased emphasis on targeting employers and unauthorized employees through worksite enforcement action. Employers are now seeing the reported orders come to fruition and should expect more actions going forward.2 On January 10, 2018, HSI targeted 98 retail operations in nationwide worksite raids occurring in 17 states and Washington D.C. Such activity will...

Read more

By Maurice Phelan | +353 1 614 5083  |mphelanmhc.ie |  Mason, Hayes & Curran We review some key developments in the area of litigation and dispute resolution in Ireland during 2017. The Law Society of Ireland v the Motor Insurer’s Bureau of Ireland This case is a reminder of the importance of drafting agreements in a clear and unambiguous manner. Where ambiguity exists in an agreement, Irish courts will look at the agreement as a whole taking into account the context...

Read more

By Heidi Waem | Brussels | +32 2 566 8450 |  & Louisa Vandepitte | Brussels | +32 2 566 8236 | NautaDutilh On 10 January 2018, the act on the creation of the Data Protection Authority (the "Act") was published in the Belgian State Gazette. The Act will enter into force on 25 May 2018, except for the provisions relating to the appointment of members of the Executive Committee, the Knowledge Centre and the Dispute Resolution Body, which will enter into...

Read more

By Orest Mandzy | Trepp Last year could have been a disaster for the CMBS market. While it dodged the risk retention bullet, it's now facing headaches of a different sort, namely the potential weak performance of retail loans. Risk-retention rules, which went into effect in late 2016, were feared to wreak havoc on the market.  Many were concerned that investors would be hard pressed to come up with sufficient long-term capital to take down enough subordinate bonds to keep the market relevant. But they came through. And...

Read more

By Joshua C. Weinberger | Member | jweinbergercozen.com |(215) 665-2173 | Cozen O'Connor On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law a comprehensive tax reform bill commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act). The Act makes major changes to federal income and estate tax law, including numerous changes affecting businesses, individuals, tax-exempt organizations, the taxation of compensation arrangements, and fundamental aspects of U.S. international taxation. The Act is the largest overhaul of the Internal Revenue Code since...

Read more

By Bakyt Azimkanov | Flora Wilke | EY The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) outlook in 2018 looks robust with global corporates seeing deals as a significant opportunity for growth this year. There is a heightened appetite to do deals in the next 12 months among global executives looking to acquire, with digital transformation remaining a core driver of M&A.1 While 2017 global deal value fell 7%2(US$3.2t) compared to 2016, deal volumes increased 6%. The slowdown in mega deals, which characterized 2017 activity,...

Read more

By Blue Star Strategies 2017 was an exciting year for Blue Star Strategies. To continue to provide effective and top quality services for our public and private sector clients, we welcomed four new colleagues and expanded our Europe and Latin America practices. We grew our institutional affiliations and made significant investments in our marketing and communications portfolio.Our 2017 client portfolio took us to over two dozen countries around the world, from the halls of U.S. Congress to Latin American capitals...

Read more

By Maximilian Coqui |Alexandre Marian |Qian Xu | Alix Partners Car sharing and ride hailing are clearly here to stay. Although we haven’t yet felt the full impact of shared mobility, it is already starting to make an impact on consumers’ car-buying decisions. To learn more about how shared mobility could transform the auto industry, we surveyed more than 5,000 consumers around the world. At a glance Awareness of car sharing and ride hailing is now nearly universal among urban consumers in...

Read more