Keeping its promise announced last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 1, 2015, released a cease-and-desist order ("Order") declaring illegal a publicly traded company's use of a confidentiality agreement that prohibited employees during an internal investigation from discussing—whether inside or outside the company without legal approval—the substance of their interviews involving potentially illegal or unethical conduct by the company or its employees. The SEC also levied a $130,000.00 civil penalty against the company. The SEC Office of the...

Read more

In the on-going saga that is Microsoft Corporation v. United States of America, the Irish Government (“Ireland”) has made the decision to enter the fray. Late last year, Ireland commenced its own chapter by filing papers to highlight issues of sovereignty and mechanisms for international disclosure. This case, as described in our previous post, centres on the request by US authorities for the disclosure of emails held on Dublin-based servers. The case has attracted many such contributions, particularly from...

Read more