RopesTalk

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partners Lindsey Goldstein and Isabel Dische provide a snapshot of recent developments in the fundraising market for secondaries funds, and discuss how some trends with deal activity in the secondaries market may influence fundraising in this sector over the months ahead.

This installment of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series Non-binding Guidance explores the current legal challenges relating to vaccine mandates for public and private sector employers and institutions of all types. Join Greg Levine, head of Ropes & Gray’s life sciences regulatory and compliance practice, Megan Bisk, a partner in the employment, executive compensation, and employee benefits practice and lead of the employment specialty group, and David Peloquin, a partner in the health care practice group, as they discuss ongoing lawsuits related to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the context of approvals through Emergency Use Authorizations, the PREP Act and data privacy implications, and employment law considerations.

In this sixth episode of our Ropes & Gray podcast series addressing emerging issues for fiduciaries of 401(k) and 403(b) plans to consider as part of their litigation risk management strategy, Doug Hallward-Driemeier, chair of Ropes & Gray’s appellate and Supreme Court practice, and Josh Lichtenstein, a benefits partner and head of the ERISA fiduciary practice, discuss the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Northwestern University retirement plan case next term, which will examine what the applicable pleading standard should be for bringing a claim of fiduciary imprudence in violation of ERISA in connection with the management of a defined contribution plan. The podcast also includes an update on the DOL’s cybersecurity guidance.

In this episode of Women @ RopesTalk, hosted by litigation & enforcement partner Joan McPhee, counsel Helen Gugel, also of the litigation & enforcement practice, interviews Revlon general counsel Cari Robinson. Cari reflects on the trajectory of her career that spans private practice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and in-house roles at IBM and Revlon. She explains why she pushed herself when she was already comfortable in a job—and how it paid off enormously. She also shares the skills she believes all good attorneys should possess, no matter the sector or practice. Finally, she talks about the importance of embracing challenges in order to grow and learn.

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, real estate partner Rich Gordet discusses current and future trends in the life sciences real estate market with Joe Marconi, a managing director at Bain Capital Real Estate. In the interview, Joe shares his views on life sciences real estate demand drivers, the state of the life sciences market, potential downside risks and other topics.

The Ropes & Gray Global Health Care Compliance Initiative’s virtual trip around the world podcast series highlights our collaboration with our local counsel contacts, in particular the Local Law Comparison Guide. The Local Law Comparison Guide (the “Guide”) is a resource tool providing country-specific surveys that analyze legal, regulatory and industry requirements governing industry interactions with health care professionals. As part of this series, Ropes & Gray attorneys interview our local counsel partners, who are based around the world and helped develop the Guide. These discussions highlight notable health care regulations and developments impacting compliance in our local counsel partners’ respective countries. In this first episode, we are joined by our partner in the Czech Republic, Tomáš Čihula. Tomáš is a partner and Central and Eastern Europe sector leader for life sciences and health care at Kinstellar. Tina Yu, an associate at Ropes & Gray, discusses with Tomáš new regulatory requirements on medical device advertisements. They also discuss how COVID-19 is presenting new compliance challenges as pharmaceutical companies become increasingly reliant on outsourcing in-house sales activities to third-party agencies, creating further compliance exposure.

In this fifth episode of our Ropes & Gray podcast series addressing emerging issues for fiduciaries of 401(k) and 403(b) plans to consider as part of their litigation risk management strategy, David Kirchner from our benefits consulting group discusses pooled employer plans (or PEPs). PEPs allow employers to join a group retirement plan that is administered by third-party service providers who will assume the majority of the administrative and investment fiduciary responsibilities (and risks) of managing a defined contribution retirement plan. While the marketplace is just beginning to take shape, PEPs may potentially be an attractive option for small and larger employers, as well as private equity sponsors that oversee plans of multiple companies across their portfolio.

With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules governing security-based swaps under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act poised to take effect this year, Ropes & Gray derivatives & commodities attorneys Molly Moore and Egan Cammack discuss issues that asset managers and other buy-side market participants will need to consider and steps they will need to take to prepare for this new regulatory regime.

In this episode of Women @ RopesTalk, hosted by IP transactions partner Megan Baca, life sciences partner Hannah Freeman interviews Cris Rothfuss, senior vice president of corporate transactions and deputy general counsel at Sarepta Therapeutics, a global biotechnology company focusing on rare diseases. An engaging storyteller, Cris talks about her unusual career trajectory, involving stops in private practice, academia and the biotech industry. She also shares her approach to mentoring—in her mind, a two-way street. And in thinking about leading teams, Cris reflects on a time in her life when her leadership skills were truly tested: when she orchestrated a 5,000-mile, three-month cross-country bike ride called The REAL Ride with four other riders to raise money for local schools.

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partner Jason Kolman and finance partner Patricia Lynch discuss rated note feeder funds, a new product that is becoming increasingly popular in the credit fund space. They discuss how these products meet the regulatory needs of insurance company investors, key differences compared to traditional feeder funds, and navigating the ratings agency process.