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#MeToo, the Racial Justice Movement, and ESG’s Impact on Creating More Inclusive Workplaces

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Following the #MeToo movement, the racial justice movement, and the rise of ESG, there has been an increase in litigation and regulatory actions aimed at driving more inclusive and safe workplaces. Companies are increasingly conducting thorough internal investigations led by outside counsel that go beyond reviews by human resources personnel due to growing legal, reputational, and financial risk. 

<a href="https://www.veracast.com/webcasts/mofo/mcle-programs/MM6jhm.cfm" target="_blank">On-demand replay</a> is available until April 23, 2024.Following the #MeToo movement, the racial justice movement, and the rise of ESG, there has been an increase in litigation and regulatory actions aimed at driving more inclusive and safe workplaces. Companies are increasingly conducting thorough internal investigations led by outside counsel that go beyond reviews by human resources personnel due to growing legal, reputational, and financial risk. And companies are carefully considering what they say to employees and their investors about these issues. Led by a former federal and state prosecutor who began her career as a plaintiffs-side employment lawyer, a former SEC enforcement lawyer, former in-house compliance counsel, and an industry leading privacy and data security lawyer, our team will discuss:<ul><li>The primary risk factors for companies facing allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination;</li><li>How organizations are addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) and related ESG issues in their disclosures;</li><li>What private and public stakeholders are driving the development of more inclusive workplaces;</li><li>Recent legislature and regulatory actions that are holding organizations accountable; and</li><li>Proactive steps that organizations can take to eliminate cultures of harassment and discrimination before they make headlines.</li></ul><hr>

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Carrie H. Cohen is global co-chair of the Investigations + White Collar Defense practice group as well as co-chair of the firm’s State + Local Government Enforcement team and DEI Strategy + Defense group. Prior to joining the firm, Carrie served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and as Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office.As a former federal and state prosecutor, Carrie routinely advises and represents corporations, boards, and c-suite executives in government-facing investigative and regulatory matters with a particular focus on state and local government matters. Carrie’s extensive trial experience and distinguished record of success in high‑stakes, white collar defense and securities matters cement her position as a leading lawyer in these practice areas, and she is often called upon as trial counsel for particularly sensitive matters. Carrie’s trial and white collar expertise have been recognized by a variety of organizations including Chambers USA, which describes her as “. . . a terrific trial lawyer with great judgment and timing, [who] knows how to present complex cases in a digestible way.” Carrie also routinely prepares clients who are called to testify before Congress and state and city legislatures and works on matters that involve multijurisdictional investigations and significant media attention.While serving in the SDNY, Carrie investigated and tried public corruption, investment fraud, and securities cases, including obtaining the first convictions of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. She also served as Chief of the Public Integrity Unit in the Criminal Division in the New York State Attorney General’s Office and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau, where she received the Louis J. Lefkowitz Memorial Award for outstanding service.Carrie is a recognized industry expert in public corruption and state and local government actions. Carrie is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she teaches a seminar on Public Corruption and the Law. Among other appointments, Carrie has served and presented written public reports as Special Counsel to the New York City Council, Special Independent Counsel to the City of Rochester, and Counsel to the California Department of Justice as well as being part of the Monitorship team appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice for the global Odebrecht corruption matter. She also was appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul to the Metropolitan Transit Authority Inspector General’s Board and now serves as its Acting Chair as well as having been appointed by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York as Counsel to the Court’s Grievance Committee.Carrie serves on multiple bar committees and task forces as part of her effort to promote the public interest through criminal justice reform. She was appointed Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Domestic Terrorism and Hate Crimes, whose report was adopted by the House of Delegates in June 2020 and as a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Racial Injustice and Police Reform and Task Force on Wrongful Convictions. As a leader of the Bar, Carrie serves as a Vice President and Trustee of the Federal Bar Council and President-Elect of its Inn of Court and was appointed Co-Chair of the Federal-State Judicial Advisory Council as well as prior service as a Vice President of the New York City Bar, Chair of its Executive Committee, and member of its Nominating Committee. Carrie also is a member of the Board of Directors of Volunteers of Legal Service, an organization that provides pro bono legal services to the New York community, and was appointed by the SDNY to its Criminal Justice Act Panel to serve as counsel to indigent defendants in federal criminal cases. In 2023, Carrie was appointed as a board member for the Beyond #MeToo Working Group to advance its mission of challenging workplace harassment, discrimination, and misconduct and promoting best practices for workplace inclusion and corporate diversity.Carrie has long been dedicated to advancing women in the legal profession, both in the United States and globally. She co-chairs Morrison Foerster’s Women’s Strategy Committee, a group that works with firm leaders to ensure the advancement of women remains a strategic priority, and serves as a member of the New York City Bar’s Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, where she spearheads a professional development program for women lawyers in Latin America and South Africa. She is also a member of the Women’s Forum of New York, which is comprised of a diverse group of recognized leaders in their respective fields who are proactive in the advancement of women.Carrie co-authored the acclaimed New York State Bar Association report adopted by the American Bar Association “If Not Now, When? Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR” and the follow-up report adopted by the House of Delegates “The Time is Now: Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR.” She serves on the Steering Committee of the When There Are Nine Scholarship Project, which she founded with other alumnae from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to honor the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by providing law school scholarships and mentorship to the next generation of women leaders.<h4>Representative Matters</h4><ul><li>Public Corruption/Government Representation. Represent elected and appointed public officials, public entities, and individuals doing business with the government in a variety of public corruption-related matters with a focus on public-facing reports.<ul><li>Special Independent Counsel to the New York City Council related to investigations of certain Council Members for misconduct and corruption.</li><li>Special Counsel to the MTA related to an examination of time, attendance, and overtime, which included presenting a public report to the MTA Board.</li><li>Representation of the California Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General in leading and conducting an independent review of its public release of confidential personal information associated with firearms permit holders and applicants, which included the preparation and release of a public report.</li><li>Trial counsel for Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren for campaign finance charges; Hon. John A. Michalek for public corruption offenses; Hon. Sylvia Ash for obstruction of justice charges.</li></ul></li><li>Financial Institutions/Securities Matters. Represent banks and other financial institutions in investigations of regulatory and consumer-related matters. Represent corporations and individuals in a variety of criminal investigations and regulatory matters involving federal and state securities laws.</li><li>FCPA. Represent corporations in FCPA investigations. Service on the DOJ-appointed Monitorship team in the criminal prosecution of Odebrecht.</li><li>Workplace Misconduct. Conduct investigations for corporations and boards related to workplace misconduct and #MeToo issues and provide related advocacy and legal advice.</li><li>Cybersecurity. Conduct investigations of cybersecurity incidents and represent companies in related government and regulatory matters concerning disclosure of data breaches, theft of intellectual property, and other issues.</li><li>RICO/Civil Fraud/Commercial Litigation. Represent a wide variety of public and private corporations in civil fraud, RICO, and commercial litigation including at trial. Represent UPS at trial in SDNY case brought by the New York State Attorney General’s Office and the City of New York alleging illegal transportation of untaxed cigarettes.</li></ul>

Carrie Cohen

Partner

Christin Hill is a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office and a member of the Securities Litigation, Securities Enforcement, and Investigations + White Collar Defense practice groups. Christin has extensive experience representing clients in securities class actions, derivative actions and other complex civil litigation in both federal and state courts, as well as in government and internal investigations.With over a decade of experience in private practice, Christin has successfully represented public companies and their boards of directors and officers in securities fraud actions, derivative actions, SEC enforcement actions, internal investigations, and general corporate counseling. She also has experience working with pre-IPO companies in complex civil litigation in both federal and state court, internal investigations, responding to government inquiries, and advising on general compliance matters.Before joining Morrison & Foerster, Christin served as senior counsel at Uber Technologies, Inc., where she managed complex civil litigation including consumer class actions, intellectual property matters, and government investigations. She was also a lead member of Uber’s global compliance team, through which she created and implemented new compliance policies and training programs and advised company management in responding to government inquiries.Christin also served as an assistant district attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, where she successfully prosecuted three misdemeanor criminal jury trials. Early in her career, she served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable John A. Houston in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Christin J. Hill

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe class="sticky-video" title="Meet MoFo San Francisco Litigation Partner Christine Wong" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/27P0I7oxkbc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="1" title="iframe"></iframe></div>Christine Wong, Global Co-Chair of Morrison Foerster’s Litigation Department, focuses her practice on investigations, white collar criminal defense, and cross-border compliance matters. Christine draws on her unique background as an internal advisor and as a federal prosecutor in advising companies, boards and executives in a variety of matters that present significant legal and reputational risk – including white collar criminal and regulatory enforcement, internal investigations and related civil litigation. She also provides ongoing compliance advice (for example, antitrust, anti-bribery and corruption, conflicts of interest, etc.) to corporate clients. Christine also has an active trial practice and has tried both criminal and civil cases. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she teaches Civil Trial Practice.Christine served as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of California, where she investigated a wide range of matters including public corruption, fraud, and organized crime, and served as lead counsel in over a dozen jury trials. She briefed criminal appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.Before joining MoFo, Christine led the development and implementation of the global compliance program for a Fortune 500 multinational corporation, where she served as vice president, head of international compliance. In that capacity, she conducted risk assessments for dozens of entities, which resulted in enacting necessary amendments to business workflows and policies. She was responsible for managing investigations and related litigation, reviewing policies and procedures, developing and delivering training modules, and ultimately reporting to the board of directors.Christine speaks conversational Mandarin and Cantonese.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Representing a waste management company in negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ and the resolution of a parallel civil lawsuit filed by local authorities related to a public corruption investigation.</li><li>Representing Pacific Gas and Electric Company in investigations by the Safety and Enforcement Division of the California Public Utilities Commission and related proceedings pertaining to wildfires.</li><li>Defending a Chinese semiconductor company indicted for theft of trade secrets and economic espionage.</li><li>Representing employees of a company in an accounting and securities fraud investigation.</li><li>Obtaining a declination for an individual in a criminal tax fraud investigation.</li><li>Representing a senior executive in an accounting fraud investigation by the DOJ and the SEC.</li><li>Counseling a multinational information technology equipment and services company on anti-bribery, antitrust and export control compliance.</li><li>Counseling a multinational entertainment company on anti-bribery training, policies and procedures.</li></ul><h4>Professional Memberships</h4><ul><li>American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section, White Collar Crime Committee, Vice-Chair</li><li>Women in White Collar Defense Association, Committee Member of the San Francisco Chapter</li><li>American Bar Association Northern District of California White Collar Subcommittee, Committee Member</li></ul>

#MeToo, the Racial Justice Movement, and ESG’s Impact on Creating More Inclusive Workplaces

24 Jan 2023 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST