Insights

Washington – September 20, 2023: Crowell & Moring partner Caroline E. Brown has been elected as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Brown joins the ranks of leaders in the foreign policy arena who are CFR members, including top government officials, scholars, business executives, journalists, prominent lawyers, and nonprofit leaders.

San Francisco – February 16, 2022: Crowell & Moring represented Marshall Wace, a global alternative investment manager, in a $41.5 million Series B round of funding of Parse Biosciences.  Marshall Wace co-led the transaction with Janus Henderson Investors, with Soleus Capital, Logos Capital and Bioeconomy Capital also participating.  Parse Biosciences is a Seattle-based company with the mission of accelerating progress in human health and scientific research through their pioneering approach for single cell sequencing. Single-cell sequencing has already enabled groundbreaking discoveries which have led to new understandings of cancer treatment, tissue repair, stem cell therapy, kidney and liver disease, brain development, and the immune system.  The transaction was led by partners Jon O'Connell (San Francisco) and Anne Li (New York), and included partners Rashad Morgan (Chicago), counsel Matt Pelnar (San Francisco), and associates Karla Arias (Washington, D.C.) and Justin Lurie (New York).

London—December 6, 2021:  Crowell & Moring is expanding its financial services capabilities in London with the arrival of a highly-regarded derivatives team. The team is recognized for their deep experience advising global investment banks and private equity funds on a range of complex structured finance and derivatives transactions in the U.S., UK, and European markets.

Because effective Directors & Officers insurance (D&O) is becoming even more important for companies and their leaders, particularly for peace of mind and financial soundness in our highly litigious society, we provide this coverage alert.  

In a previous client alert on a recent Civil Justice Council (“CJC”) report on litigation funding in England and Wales we discussed the issue of whether payment waterfalls providing funders with payment priority are compliant with the Damages-Based Agreements Regulations 2013 (“DBA Regulations”), the issue being a matter to be heard on appeal in June 2025. Funders will be pleased to hear that the answer is “yes”. The Court of Appeal has held that the DBA Regulations focuses on whether a funding agreement determines the amount of a funder’s fees by reference to the damages awarded to the successful litigant. The fact that a funder may receive its fees from the proceeds is not enough in itself for the arrangement to fall under the DBA Regulations.

On July 26, 2023, the SEC finalized long-awaited disclosure rules (the “Final Rules”) regarding cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incidents by public companies that are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  While the end results are substantially similar to rules proposed by the SEC in March 2022, there are some key distinctions.