February 1, 2021
For the third consecutive year, following the publication of Gibson Dunn’s ninth annual U.S. Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Outlook and Review on Data Privacy Day, we offer this separate International Outlook and Review.
Like many recent years, 2020 saw significant developments in the evolution of the data protection and cybersecurity landscape in the European Union (“
EU”):
CJEU” or “
Court”) struck down as legally invalid the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, on which some companies relied to transfer personal data from the EU to the U.S. While companies are turning to other frameworks to transfer personal data, such as Standard Contract Clauses (“
January 25, 2021
Introduction
In December 2020, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was announced to be President-Elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The California Attorney General’s Office is the second largest Justice Department in the United States, second only to the U.S. Department of Justice, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was the first Latino Attorney General in California’s history. Before becoming the Attorney General of California, Becerra had a 24-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives.[1] In 2017, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Becerra to the last two years of Kamala Harris’s term as Attorney General, after she won election to the United States Senate. Now, Governor Gavin Newsom will appoint a successor to complete the remaining two years of Becerra’s term, assuming he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.[2]
Recovering from a relatively slow start to the year, due in no small part to the global pandemic, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) Units of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) closed the year with a bang. With 32 combined FCPA enforcement actions, 51 total cases including ancillary enforcement, and a record-setting $2.78 billion in corporate fines and penalties (plus billions more collected by foreign regulators), 2020 marks another robust year in the annals of FCPA enforcement.
This client update provides an overview of the FCPA and other domestic and international anti-corruption enforcement, litigation, and policy developments from 2020, as well as the trends we see from this activity. We at Gibson Dunn are privileged to help our clients navigate these challenges daily and are honored again to have been ranked Number 1 in the