Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

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Overview

We take a proactive approach with our clients to help them identify and manage the broad range of legal and regulatory risks that they are exposed to, both domestically and internationally across the US, the UK, continental Europe, the UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR. 

Our client teams involve specialists across a wide range of disciplines, to help design and implement compliance programs, systems and controls to manage the risks that they face – spanning financial regulation, antitrust, corporate governance, tax, health & safety, anti bribery and corruption, anti money laundering, sanctions and export control, international trade, market abuse surveillance, public procurement, whistleblowing and employment, utilities regulation, food law, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, data protection, intellectual property, gaming and licensing.  

The standards and expectations of regulators and law enforcement agencies are constantly evolving and it is critical for corporates to keep up to date with important changes.  In addition to providing regular legal updates and training seminars to our clients, wutilize and share with our clients the lessons learned from investigations and enforcement proceedings so that they get early visibility on new priorities and developments of relevant authorities in areas of governance, compliance and risk management.   

We draw on lawyers across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia to track changes in rules and requirements to ensure that our clients remain compliant and fully aware of the standards expected of them.   

Clients tell us that they value our approach because we focus on preventative advice and early issue-spotting, and designing solutions that avoid unnecessary disruption to the business.

Lee Marshall

Global Department Leader – Litigation & Investigations, San Francisco

+1 415 675 3444

Lee Marshall

Global Department Leader – Litigation & Investigations, San Francisco

+1 415 675 3444

Meet The Team

Lee Marshall

Global Department Leader – Litigation & Investigations, San Francisco

+1 415 675 3444

Related Practice Areas

  • Financial Services Corporate & Regulatory Team

Experience

  • Our team was instructed in connection with a review of a bank’s proposed systems and procedures to combat money laundering across 18 jurisdictions involving 20 different regulators. 
  •  We assisted one of the largest, multinational retailers in the world to design and implement a new compliance and ethics function. In this role we created a comprehensive “compliance blueprint” for the client and drafted various related policies and procedures (anti-bribery; gifts & entertainment; internal investigations; whistleblowing; etc.). We also created and advised upon the implementation of specific risk registers and gift registers and provided training sessions to the client’s key personnel.  
  • We advised a leading technology company in relation to compliance with the new corporate criminal offences of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion under the Criminal Finances Act 2017. BCLP were instructed to perform risk assessments and to assist the client in preparing presentations to the Board.  

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This is our first insight on new regulation that will affect the district/communal heating and cooling sector. It focuses on consumer protection and the impact on building owners/landlords and management companies. Our second insight to be released shortly will focus on the regulations that will affect new property developments and in particular those in “Heat Network Zones”. The district/communal heating/cooling sector is to be fully regulated in the UK as from late 2023/early 2024. Consumer protection is at the forefront of the changes. Heat/cooling suppliers (entities contractually obliged to provide heat/cooling) and heat/cooling network operators will need to be “authorised” to carry out those activities. Heat/cooling networks, for the purpose of regulation, will comprise direct heat/cooling networks and communal heat networks. From early/mid 2024 OFGEM will oversee and enforce requirements opposite heat/cooling suppliers and heat/cooling network operators in respect of: authorisations to carry out those activities; reliability of the supply of heating, hot water and cooling; the reasonableness of charges for those supplies; reduction of emissions of targeted greenhouse gases generated by heat/cooling networks; and plain communication to customers about services and charges. This will impose a significant regulatory burden on a sector that hitherto has been able to operate in a broadly unregulated environment. Many building owners, landlords and management companies will – perhaps unwittingly and unwillingly - fall into the category of a regulated heat/cooling supplier or heat/cooling network operator. If so they will need to keep abreast of the evolving regulatory landscape, review their current arrangements to check regulatory compliance and if required create an action plan to ensure compliance.

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The UK government recently introduced legislation implementing changes to the special administration regime for regulated water companies (“WISAR”). The changes are designed to modernise the WISAR and to better align it with the special administration regimes for other systemically important sectors like energy supplies and investment banks. The updates are contained in The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (Commencement No. 10) Order 2024, which became effective on 12 January 2024, and The Water Industry Act 1991 (Amendment) Order 2024 and The Water Industry (Special Administration) Regulations 2024, each of which came into effect on 22 February 2024.
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