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The False Claims Act's Seal Provisions Upheld

Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.04.11

The False Claims Act contains seal provisions that require every qui tam complaint to be filed under seal for a 60-day period, which is often extended many times over, to give the Department of Justice an opportunity to investigate the allegations and intervene, if it chooses. In ACLU v. Holder (Mar. 28, 2011, http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/092086.P.pdf), the Fourth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, rejected arguments that these provisions violate the public’s First Amendment right of access to judicial proceedings or infringe the authority of federal courts to decide whether a particular complaint should be unsealed in violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers clause, noting that the seal provisions are narrowly tailored because, inter alia, relators are precluded only from publicly discussing the filing of the suit and not from disclosing the existence of the fraud.

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Client Alert | 12 min read | 03.10.26

EU Sustainability Reporting Revamp: Key Updates to the CSRD and the CS3D from the Omnibus I Directive

On 26 February 2026, the EU published Directive (EU) 2026/470 (the Omnibus I Directive). Adopted as part of the European Commission's (Commission) simplification agenda and after a year of debates and negotiations between the Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament, this text effectuates far-reaching changes to both the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D)....