National Security

At a time of heightened geopolitical change, the U.S. government increasingly is focused on national security issues in the cross-border investment context. Ropes & Gray advises global investment advisers, venture capital firms, sovereign wealth funds and public companies, among others, on the regulation of foreign investment into the United States, including national security reviews before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) laws have proliferated substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic and are now a key feature of deal-making. Companies and investors need to consider the FDI implications of transactions early and often, not only to secure needed approval but also to ensure that potential remedies do not undermine investment theses. Aligning commercial goals with FDI regulation, merger control processes, and subsidy laws is more important than ever. Ropes & Gray advises many of the world’s leading organizations on FDI and has an enviable track record of helping them achieve their commercial objectives.

With governments increasingly relying on trade levers as a foreign policy tool, economic and trade sanctions and export controls have evolved at an unprecedented pace in recent years. Ropes & Gray offers a top-tier team of attorneys who advise clients—including international conglomerates, freight forwarders, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and financial institutions, as well as their officers and directors—on all aspects of U.S., UK and EU economic and trade sanctions and export control regulations. Clients turn to us for development of compliance programs, regulatory advice, assistance with internal investigations, and defense of civil and criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement actions.

Ropes & Gray has a leading supply chain compliance practice, partnering with our clients on risk mitigation, supply chain optimization and sustainability and resilience. We help clients navigate regulatory requirements, commercial customer requirements and responsible sourcing expectations and commitments across a wide range of regulations, issues, commodities and geographies. Our team includes a former Chair of the federal Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force and attorneys who have advised clients on global human rights laws for decades. Among other things, we advise on supply chain policies and procedures, government and internal investigations relating to forced labor and other supply chain risks, contractual terms, risk and impact assessments, stakeholder engagement and incident response.

Ransomware attacks are as pervasive as ever. Sophisticated nation state-sponsored cyberattacks are increasing in frequency and severity. These risks pose complex legal risks and reputational challenges. Compounding the challenges are class-action lawsuits and the risk of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, EU and other non-U.S. data protection authorities, and Congress. The legal challenges now include new SEC rules requiring public companies to disclose material cybersecurity incidents within four days, and new regulations to come soon requiring reporting of significant incidents to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Ropes & Gray’s data, privacy and cybersecurity practice has extensive experience navigating clients through complex cyberattacks, including the SolarWinds attack and the more recent Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon attacks, among many others.

In today’s rapidly changing environment, Ropes & Gray’s global crisis management & investigations practice immediately assembles a response team with the right specialists. We develop communication strategies, navigate regulatory challenges, manage litigation, and ensure compliance to protect clients’ interests and minimize reputational damage. Our attorneys serve as trusted business partners with a formidable reputation for judgment, sensitivity and sound advice. They help clients weather their most complex challenges. Our multidisciplinary team advises on high-stakes crises, including government raids and investigations, whistleblower actions, foreign influence and academic espionage, cybersecurity attacks, data breaches, and other issues impacting national security.

Foreign nations have increasingly targeted American universities, research institutions and biomedical and information technology companies in concerted efforts to misappropriate cutting-edge U.S.-developed technology and scientific advances. In response to the economic and national security risks posed by these foreign nations’ counterintelligence and espionage efforts, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Defense (DoD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as other federal funding agencies and executive departments, have committed substantial resources to combat foreign influence. Ropes & Gray has repeatedly guided top-tier universities, research institutions, and companies through high-stakes internal and government investigations, successfully resolving issues related to fraud, theft of trade secrets, undisclosed foreign affiliations, and surreptitious receipt of personal and research funding.

Ropes & Gray advises leading investment advisers, fund managers, broker-dealers and other financial institutions on compliance with U.S., UK and EU anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations, including the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, the UK Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), and the UK and EU Money Laundering Regulations. Drawing on the size, scope and experience of our asset management and financial industry practices, we help clients develop and implement AML and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) compliance programs, assess AML/CTF risk, conduct AML/CTF due diligence, defend investigations and enforcement actions, and more.

As companies adopt AI into their core operations and customer-facing products, they need to ensure they are adhering to the best practices and regulatory demands that are evolving alongside this fast-moving technology. Ropes & Gray’s specialist knowledge and extensive experience position us to offer cutting-edge advice for novel regulatory and legal challenges arising out of the use and development of rapidly advancing AI, machine learning and large language model technologies including the growing cross-section between national security, law, industry-specific regulations, and these emerging technologies. We counsel clients on advisory matters related to all developing guidance, policy and legislation surrounding AI/ML around the globe such as the EU AI Act, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, the Colorado AI Act, the NTIA AI Accountability Policy and recent U.S. EO activity in the AI safety and innovation space.