The Week at Ropes & Gray: Deal Activity Across Sectors; Transatlantic Privacy Shield Meeting; Climate Change Litigation; Repeal and Replace; A New President and Chair For GBLS

In The News
August 11, 2017

Weekly highlights of what’s happening at Ropes & Gray:

  • This week, deal activity was strong across a variety of industries. In the medical device sector, Fresenius Medical Care acquired NxStage Medical for approximately $2 billion; in the enterprise technology industry, Data Intensity, LLC was sold to EQT Mid Market US; and in the professional services sector, Blackrock Programme Management was bought by its management team—with Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) providing both debt and equity financial support—for £161.5 million from private equity firm Dunedin. Ropes & Gray represented NxStage Medical, Audax Private Equity and ICG, respectively.
  • The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) visited Washington in the last week of July, not for a summer holiday, but to discuss with the new U.S. administration the upcoming review of Privacy Shield, a data protection framework between the United States and Europe. This alert assesses the outcome of the meeting between the European Parliament delegation and the Trump administration. (Spoiler alert: LIBE Chair Claude Moraes voiced concerns over “deficiencies” that need to be addressed.)
  • In July, three California communities filed separate lawsuits in the Superior Court of California against the same set of 37 oil, natural gas and coal companies. According to the allegations, rising sea levels brought on by climate change threaten to flood portions of all three communities. This alert reports on how this trio of cases may prove to be a turning point in corporate social responsibility litigation, particularly as it relates to society’s adaptations in the face of climate change.
  • Since the U.S. Senate failed to pass legislation that would have repealed and replaced parts of Obamacare, the Trump administration could change Obamacare through regulatory efforts. In this article published in Bloomberg BNA’s Health Law Reporter, partner Tom Bulleit outlines several ways the Trump administration could change or weaken parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is the sixth article in a series on legislative efforts to repeal and replace the ACA.
  • Ken Felter, of counsel to the firm, has been elected president and chairman of the board of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), a nonprofit legal services organization that started as the Boston Legal Aid Society in 1900. GBLS provides free legal services and representation in civil matters (including issues related to housing, immigration, income maintenance and employment, among others) to more than 10,000 low-income residents in the greater Boston area.