Crowell & Moring International, LLC (CMI) and Crowell & Moring LLP are working together to find legal and policy solutions to help companies, industry associations, and nongovernmental entities navigate the challenges their organizations are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with C&M’s Government Affairs Group and legal team, CMI is proactively engaging with governments, multilateral organizations, stakeholders, and non-governmental entities on our clients’ behalf to develop strategies in response to supply chain challenges under U.S. and foreign regimes, regulatory developments in the health care sector, and national economic stimulus and other measures in both the U.S. and key international markets. We will work with clients to develop longer-term strategies for effective engagements going forward as the pandemic is brought under control.
How We Work
- Government Relations. We can deliver comprehensive and effective information quickly to key decision-makers about how government responses to COVID-19 globally will impact global business and might stimulate the economy.
- Public Affairs. We can support clients in communicating compelling messages and facilitate partnerships between private companies and governments to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.
- Public Policy. We can monitor and analyze government policy actions to ensure that our clients understand what is happening and how it will impact their business.
What We’ve Done for Our Clients
Shaping Emergency Public Policy Responses
- Assisting Fortune 50 companies to resolve supply chain impediments caused by multi-country public policy issues to protect supply chain movement from Asia to Europe to the United States.
- Promoting public-private cooperation between the White House, HHS, FDA, and clients to address the shortage of personal protective equipment in the COVID-19 crisis.
- Promoting cross-border data regimes that enable fast and effective patient outcomes in light of the current crises, and future healthcare and long-term care needs.
- Advising an online education company on strategies to rapidly deploy distance learning for governments.
- Conveying private sector recommendations to multilateral development banks to shape effective MDB support packages for developing countries to respond to the COVID-19 emergency.
- Accelerating the adoption of digital health tools through public-private partnerships for safer and more efficient patient care.
Designing and Communicating Corporate Efforts to Contribute to Pandemic
Responses
- Advising a multinational biopharmaceutical company on its strategy for communicating to U.S. and foreign policymakers about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global supply chain security, shortages, and quality of both active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms.
- Advising a multinational hotel company on customer communication best practices based on lessons learned from previous disease outbreaks in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Advising a premier American business chamber in China on an effective communications strategy for the release of data on the commercial impact of COVID-19.
- Advising clients on Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act immunity from liability for COVID-19 related medical equipment.
- Advising a major U.S.-based medical supplies distributor seeking to partner with U.S. federal agencies to provide medical supplies directly to hospitals and providers on the front line and rebuild the National Strategic Stockpile.
- Advising a multinational technology company seeking to provide U.S. federal agencies a technology platform to more efficiently implement coronavirus response legislation.
Protecting Supply Chains and Continuity of Operations
- Developing strategies to shape and persuade governments to take more targeted actions when considering export controls and import restrictions on critical products, including by advocating for appropriate carve-outs and exemptions.
- Advocating for clients on measures taken by governments to secure the supply of medicines and medical products by encouraging policymakers to avoid inadvertently limiting patient access to essential medicines and products, disrupting the supply chain, and increasing shortages and costs.
- Monitoring and intelligence on U.S. government actions related to workforce restrictions, the industrial base and the Defense Production Act, and trade restrictions such as customs and tariff issues.
Tracking and Interpreting National Stimulus and Relief Packages
- Tracking proposed and enacted stimulus packages by the U.S. government (i.e., The CARES Act), foreign governments, and multilateral institutions; assessing whether such packages address client needs; and identifying additional client opportunities.
- Assisting clients with understanding their businesses’ eligibility for stimulus programs and how to apply for relief.
- Developing strategies on how to ensure global attention to the most pressing client issues at the highest levels in multilateral settings such as at APEC, the G-20, and B-20.
- Directly advocating on the behalf of businesses seeking to shape future legislative packages in the U.S.
- Tracking Global Recovery and Stimulus measures and international regulatory developments related to the COVID crisis for a global financial services company.
Laying the Groundwork for Economic Recovery and More Resilient Health Systems
- As companies consider shifts in their supply chains – to ones potentially shorter and more regional -- after the crisis has subsided, we will help our clients map tariff, non-tariff, and political measures that are essential elements in making business decisions about their regional and global supply chain structure.
- Working with private sector partners to influence governments through international fora (G7, APEC, etc.) to assess and address the broken supply chains in the aftermath of the COVID-19 and the resulting economic damage of the pandemic to rebuild international commerce and prevent the next crisis.
- Building skilled human capital to capture more investment and jobs in research and development and clinical trials.