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As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to cause disruption around the globe, we will be sharing actionable content to help you navigate these uncertain times and find solutions during an unprecedented crisis.
Insights, Alerts & Other Resources
Employers were caught in a massive upheaval by COVID-19 and its impact on the economy. Here, Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys address best practices for dealing with the myriad of labor and employment challenges created by the outbreak.
COVID-19 is an unprecedented challenge that has resulted in an unprecedented level of government response. Our team helps businesses and organizations navigate the quickly changing array of federal, state and local government actions that impact businesses.
The confusion surrounding COVID-19 creates risks for privacy and data security. Womble Bond Dickinson’s team helps companies plug those gaps and comply with privacy regulations.
On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”). The legislation contained direct payments to Americans, an aggressive expansion of unemployment insurance, billions in aid to large and small businesses, and a new wave of significant funding for the health care industry. Womble Bond Dickinson's team continues to monitor developments with legislation and provide timely updates.
Industry Guidance
How to navigate the legal challenges of COVID-19 specific to your industry.
The Healthcare Sector is on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak. As healthcare workers display uncommon courage in caring for patients, we help healthcare providers solve operational, employment and regulatory issues so that they can focus on the all-important mission at hand.
COVID-19’s massive disruption to the global economy is being acutely felt in the financial services industry. Banks and other lenders have had to quickly pivot from a bull market to an unpredictable economy, all while racing to meet the demands of urgent client needs and new government programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program and the Main Street Lending Program. Financial institutions continue to trust Womble Bond Dickinson for a full range of services, including lending, loan restructurings, workouts, investment and fiduciary services, financial services litigation and bankruptcy.
The COVID-19 crisis has required an all-in, coordinated government response at levels unseen since World War II. The Womble Bond Dickinson team provides legal and business guidance to government contractors, as well as state and local government entities, in meeting these greatly expanded needs.
The global pandemic hasn’t stemmed the need to buy, sell, lease and develop real property. But the circumstances surrounding such transactions have completely changed. Womble Bond Dickinson’s Real Estate Sector Team helps clients make the best possible decisions in a rapidly changing market.
Nearly every company in Manufacturing Sector has faced massive upheaval just in the past few weeks. Some have been forced to temporarily shutter operations, while others have had to scale up capacity or retool production in order to meet customer demand. Womble Bond Dickinson works with manufacturers at all stages of operation to find customized solutions to their specific challenges.
Returning to Work: A Resource Guide
After months of business closures and stay-at-home orders, almost all states now are allowing businesses to reopen their doors—usually with significant modifications from “business as usual,” but with more freedom to operate than during the shutdown. With this next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic come important legal and business issues to consider about reopening.
Business Closure and Reopening Orders: An Interactive Guide
As shelter-in-place orders are lifted and closure orders expire, states are beginning to allow businesses to reopen their doors – for many, this includes significant modifications from “business as usual.” Click here to open our interactive map that is tracking the current status of business closures by state, as well as reopening orders.
Recorded Webinars
A Primer on Electronic Transactions and Electronic Signatures
The pandemic has made in-person closings difficult or impossible. Can legal documents be signed electronically? What is necessary to qualify as an electronic signature? Is there language I need to include in the agreement? Four Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys addressed these topics and more in this webinar.
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Recent Changes and New Complexities in Credit Reporting: Examining the Impacts of the Global Pandemic on Credit Reporting and Consumer Debt
This presentation provided updates and practical insights into changes in credit reporting regulations and standards, including under the CARES Act, and discussion of how lessons from the 2008 financial crisis could help inform what’s to come in the wake of the financial turmoil caused by COVID-19.
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Navigating Virginia’s First-In-The-Nation COVID-19 Workplace Safety Regulations For Businesses
On July 15, Virginia became the first state to adopt workplace safety regulations to address COVID-19. What do you need to do to get your organization ready?
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Return to Work Webinar Series Part III: Employment Considerations
This presentation focused on best practices for managing your workforce and employment law issues once the decision is made to reopen your business.
Topics covered included:
- What if employees are reluctant or refuse to return to work?
- What questions can we ask employees about their health status?
- What wage and hour issues are created with returning employees to work?
- What do I do if an employee tests positive for COVID-19 and what should I tell other employees?
- What will the workplace look like in May 2021?
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
COVID-19 and the Price Collapse in the Energy Markets: Comparison of UK/US Experience and Challenges
The British-American Business Association and Womble Bond Dickinson presented an issues-focused roundtable discussion comparing and contrasting impacts on the US & UK energy markets as a result of COVID-19 and the drop in energy prices. The conversation covered current challenges on a range of relevant topics, and how those who are facing these concerns are dealing with them on both sides of the Atlantic.
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Business Interruption Insurance Coverage, Workers' Compensation and OSHA Issues During COVID-19
As businesses continue to be impacted by the unprecedented effects of COVID-19, the complex issue of potential insurance coverage has become relevant for most companies. Womble Bond Dickinson presented a webinar to unpack the business interruption insurance coverage and workers' compensation issues that companies are facing in response to COVID-19 and steps you can take to help protect your business.
During the webinar we discussed the following topics:
- Business Interruption Insurance Coverage
- Workers' Compensation
- OSHA’s Enforcement Response Plan for COVID-19
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
The Jury Factor: Preparing for Trial in a Virtual Environment
Womble Bond Dickinson and the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA) co-hosted a panel discussion on topics including:
- Preparing for trial in a virtual world: The impacts of COVID-19
- Case development with the jury in mind
- Jury research: When you need it; What to do with it
- The trial itself: Beware the jury is watching
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Return to Work Webinar Series Part II: Environmental Safety Considerations
This presentation focused on best practices for managing risks once the decision is made to reopen with specifics on environmental health and safety guidelines for ensuring clean workplaces and facilities.
Other topics included:
- How do you get your workplace ready to reopen?
- What policies should companies draft and implement prior to reopening?
- Once employees begin to return, how can you limit liability?
- What procedures can you use to mitigate transmission?
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
"The Other Side" Beyond the COVID-19 Crisis: CEO's Lessons Learned
With a unique blend of experiences, venture and PE backing, our panelists are leading their organizations into the future. This webinar explored what these CEOs are doing to prepare for "the other side."
- What are the lessons learned from prior recessions?
- What will be different this time?
- How are they planning for the coming “new normal?”
- How does their view of the future change their business model?
- What are the opportunities and challenges?
- Focusing on the future (and beyond the worries of today), what keeps them up at night / What excites them?
Return to Work Webinar Series Part I: General Liability Considerations
What is the current status of businesses reopening in your state? If you are a business that is permitted to reopen, what are the general considerations you should make before deciding whether to do so? If your state return to work order includes liability protection, will it really protect you? How far will the protection extend?
This presentation covered these questions, as well as other topics, including:
- What are the main areas of liability that companies are facing when returning to work?
- What type of claims could a business face without liability protection?
- What litigation have we seen related to COVID-19?
- What theories of liability could be alleged?
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Credit Reporting: How the CARES Act Changes the Game Under FCRA...An Expert and Litigator's Perspectives
Womble Bond Dickinson Business Litigation Partner, Kristin Walker-Probst, interviewed nationally recognized industry expert, John Ulzheimer, on his insights and opinions of the recent amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
South Carolina COVID-19 Forum
The coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted virtually every aspect of doing business in South Carolina and throughout America. Womble Bond Dickinson presented a conversation with US Sen. Lindsey Graham, US Sen. Tim Scott, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt and Medical University of South Carolina President Dr. David Cole on how the state and the nation are responding to this crisis, and what businesses can expect in the future.
The Jury Factor: Are You Ready If Your Case Goes To Trial?
Womble Bond Dickinson and the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC SoCal) co-hosted a panel discussion on topics including:
- Preparing for trial in a virtual world: The impacts of COVID-19
- Case development with the jury in mind
- Jury research: When you need it; What to do with it
- The trial itself: Beware the jury is watching
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Litigation Funding in the COVID-19 Era
During this webinar speakers:
- Explored plaintiff-side litigation funding and litigation defense insurance funding strategies.
- Discussed how litigation funding options can impact the litigation that your businesses may confront and how it could open new opportunities for businesses to enforce their rights, or economically defend unavoidable lawsuits, in the fallout of COVID-19.
- Explored trends in funding sources and structures in the COVID-19 era, as well as key ethical issues associated with litigation funding.
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Remote Litigation in Today's COVID Era: Benefits, Concerns and Logistical Considerations
Remote depositions and mediation sessions already were a growing legal industry trend, but during the COVID-19 crisis, they have become a necessity. But what do participating attorneys need to know in order to conduct a successful deposition or mediation remotely?
Topics included:
- Logistical Considerations for Depositions
- Skillset and Training Opportunities
- Benefits and Concerns
- Variables for in-person v. remote - when do litigants need to be across the table?
Contract Provisions and Regulatory Issues for Offshore Wind Sector during COVID-19
This webinar, co-hosted by Womble Bond Dickinson and the Business Network for Offshore Wind, discussed contract provisions and regulatory issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in regulations, and what it means for your business.
Topics included:
- Force majeure and other applicable contract provisions and principals.
- Regulatory updates, delays and project deadlines, BOEM and elsewhere.
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Paycheck Protection Loan Program under the CARES Act
This webinar provided an overview of the PPP, the nuts and bolts on the rules and on the application process, and practical advice for potential borrowers.
Topics included:
- Who is eligible for loans under the PPP? Who is not?
- What are the terms of a PPP loan?
- How can PPP funds be used?
- How are PPP loans forgiven?
- How do I apply?
- Where do I apply?
- What information do I need to provide to a lender?
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Supply Chain Disruption Amid COVID-19
This webinar discussed unprecedented challenges that are taxing supply chain executives and companies as they continue to try to maintain operations during the crisis.
Topics included:
- A general overview of the “State of Supply Chain Issues”
- Are specific industries being affected more or less than others?
- What can companies do at this point to mitigate the disruption?
- Is it too late to do supply chain disruption planning? If not, what does that planning look like?
- How “Shelter in Place” orders affects a company in the supply chain for an “essential” business or industry
- Recovery, what can and should companies do to prepare for the post-Covid recovery? Is now an opportunity to “reset” supply chains or improve/rationalize them?
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Families First Coronavirus Response Act – Key Legal Considerations for Employers
This webinar provided an executive summary of this complex legislation.
Topics included:
- Employer and employee coverage under the Act
- Emergency Paid Sick Leave
- Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act
- Calculating the correct pay rates during paid leave
- Tax credits for Paid Sick and Paid FMLA Leave
- Frequently asked questions
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
Navigating the Short-Term Legal Challenges of COVID-19
This webinar discussed the short-term legal challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Topics included:
- Privacy and cybersecurity
- Employment
- Commercial contracts
- Force majeure and contractual defenses
Please click here to download slides from this presentation.
In-house Roundhouse Podcast
Leading Legal Departments During A Pandemic
Host Mark Henriques talks with three in-house attorneys about managing their companies' legal needs during the COVID-19 lock down.
Our guests are:
- Christine Brown, VP, Assistant General Counsel & Compliance Officer, Hub Americas with SCOR
- Amber Harrison, who leads Compliance, Contracts, & Legal Management with Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporate America
- Andrew Walsh, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel with Partners Behavioral Health Management
Frequently Asked Questions:
Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness
Additional guidance from the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department to address Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness is expected. All answers herein are based on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and the guidance that has been provided by the SBA and the Treasury Department as of the date noted above and are subject to change as additional guidance is issued.
Topics Include:
- Calculating the Forgiveness Amount
- Loan Forgiveness & FTE Headcount and Salaries
- Use of Funds
- Process to Obtain Forgiveness
