Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Center
Tools to prepare and respond to business and legal implications
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Topics
We are helping to guide clients on a wide range of critical topics that impact their businesses.
Please see below for insights by topic.
Advocacy
Since March 2020, the U.S. federal government has passed multiple COVID-19 relief bills and spent trillions of dollars to bolster the pandemic response and stabilize the economy. Our advocacy working group has worked with clients to help ensure their interests are represented and considered in these response measures, and will continue to do so as the government manages the challenges of rolling out vaccines and safely returning to a pre-pandemic paradigm. These consultants and attorneys engage daily with Capitol Hill and federal agencies, leveraging decades of government, regulatory affairs and public policy experience.Benefits and Executive Compensation/ERISA Litigation
Our benefits and executive compensation/ERISA litigation working group advises clients on all aspects of the benefits landscape as plan sponsors, service providers and participants grapple with COVID-19 issues. Our attorneys are dealing daily with rapidly evolving compliance issues, litigation risks, and legislative and regulatory endeavors.
Commandeering and Government Takings
Our commandeering and government takings working group is prepared to assist clients when governments seek to commandeer or requisition private property to respond to COVID-19. In the coming weeks, we’re likely to see more government efforts to acquire real estate, such as buildings and other facilities, and personal property, such as equipment and supplies. We have the experience needed to help clients protect their interests, including the fundamental right to just compensation, during this process.Consumer Goods and Retail
Our attorneys develop comprehensive solutions for companies manufacturing, distributing or selling consumer products. We provide clients with pragmatic and timely advice on how to manage and overcome challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contracts
The contracts working group helps clients understand and navigate their contractual obligations in the face of the business disruption caused by COVID-19. Knowing whether or not you need to provide notice to a customer or balance your production equitably among customers in case of decreased productivity can help you position your business for maximum resilience. By combining legal experience with the QuarterJack Contracts Analytics platform, our professionals efficiently analyze and extract actionable business information from individual agreements or from sets of thousands of contracts.
Crisis Communications
A global pandemic can do something few other events can: commandeer the discussion so completely that it can be nearly impossible for a client to cut through the noise with relevant information for its target audience. Our crisis communications professionals have held roles in both media and public relations and have decades of experience communicating clients’ messages within critical, fast-moving situations.
Cross-Border Supply Chain
Our cross-border working group advises original equipment manufacturers, suppliers and subcontractors whose global supply chains have been impacted by COVID-19. Our professionals focus on cross-border contract negotiations, contract matters, mitigation, and international litigation or arbitration with geographic focus on China, the United Kingdom, European Union, South Korea, Japan, Italy and other affected areas.
Education
Schools have been a focal point in the COVID-19 response. Educational institutions have predominantly moved to online learning, and the question of when schools and campuses can safely reopen has been top of mind for policymakers throughout the pandemic response. Our attorneys have advised education sector clients on how to navigate these challenges — and the downstream risks that they present, including potential litigation — throughout the pandemic response. We have also monitored, analyzed and helped clients to understand the funds and other measures that government relief packages have made available to education entities. We will continue to closely follow regulatory and legislative developments as policymakers address the challenges of COVID-19.FDA Regulatory and Global Trade
COVID-19 has underscored the interrelationship between consumers and companies across the world. The FDA regulatory and global trade working group is composed of attorneys and scientists who help clients navigate the quickly changing landscape. With scientific knowledge and keen legal acumen, our professionals provide up-to-date information from global public health agencies and practical advice on how to address complicated cross-jurisdictional issues.
Finance and Restructuring
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed many companies in financial distress. Our finance and restructuring working group helps clients navigate these turbulent and uncharted waters — and develop strategies and solutions to protect their interests. Our attorneys also provide sound practical advice to our lender and creditor clients as they manage the many customers experiencing financial distress.Government Contracts
Our attorneys monitor and analyze the COVID-19 response by all levels of government to assist government contractors on issues arising out of the pandemic, including:
- Understanding and complying with government directives
- Benefitting from the CARES Act and other government relief measures
- Small business financing
- Performance disruption
- Cost allowability
- Suspension of work
- Terminations
- Claims
- Investigation response
Our attorneys have advised clients through many unusual challenges that have tested contractors, including the Gulf War, September 11 terrorist attacks, Iraq War and government shutdowns. We have experience in the issues that often arise from these challenging circumstances, including delays, suspensions, terminations, emergency actions, accelerations, cost allowability, claims, investigations and working with overwhelmed government officials. Our attorneys include national leaders in ensuring protection from liability under the SAFETY Act and PREP Act as well as compliance with small business and government contracts regulations.
Health Care
Since March 2020, health care providers have been on the front lines fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Our health care working group is closely following legal and regulatory developments on COVID-19 and assisting clients in understanding and addressing these issues.Immigration and Global Mobility
Our immigration and global mobility working group helps clients manage U.S., U.K. and global immigration, work visa, compliance and international travel issues for their global workforce when faced with sudden, unexpected consulate and border closings, self-isolation, social distancing, and remote work requirements and related issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Insurance
Our property and casualty insurance attorneys advise insurers on their obligations in evaluating and responding to property claims involving business interruption, event cancellation and related occurrences caused by crises, catastrophes and natural disasters. Our team advises insurers writing all lines of business on the application and impact of emergency actions taken by governmental and regulatory authorities in response to crises and how to deal with state Departments of Insurance and other government authorities’ directives on all insurance issues arising during crises. Our team of dedicated insurance attorneys and professionals stand ready to deploy customized counsel to address your litigation needs, regulatory issues, and legislative advocacy.
Intellectual Property
The intellectual property working group provides clients with timely information and insights concerning a wide range of coronavirus-related intellectual property issues that impact business, including those that relate to the applicability of federal statutes and regulations, the PREP Act, and relevant federal and state cases. In addition, we provide updates from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other patent offices around the world that impact patent and trademark prosecution. We are also actively involved in counseling clients on IP licensing and other contractual issues in view of the COVID-19 impact.
Labor and Employment
Employment law and workforce management issues have been front and center throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as businesses work to maintain operations while keeping their employees safe. As vaccines raise the prospect of returning to a pre-pandemic paradigm, new challenges will emerge for employers. Our labor and employment working group advises clients on the entire range of workforce management issues implicated in the COVID-19 crisis, such as developing an employee vaccination policy, managing sick and family leaves and remote working arrangements, addressing potential exposure situations, and interpreting and applying employment laws and regulations being issued in response to the crisis.