Merrill Brink International, a leading global provider of language solutions for global companies and law firms, has published a new white paper, “From ‘Detect’ to ‘Prevent’: Translation Solutions as a Preventative Tool in Your Anti-Corruption Program.” Thomas R. Fox, a veteran legal expert and author of several award-winning books on FCPA and UK Bribery Act anti-corruption compliance programs, authored the white paper.

The white paper provides valuable insights and addresses the following issues:

– Which language resources to choose if/when your organization is accused of fraudulent activity
– The role of language localization in developing corruption prevention and detection programs
– When/how to leverage “in-country” resources and professional language translation providers
– How to choose the right language solution partner for your compliance program

Download Merrill Brink’s white paper.

This is a time to accept the nature of the energy industry, realistically evaluate current job viability and create an action plan, writes Kelli Lauletta in OilOnline.

“As the energy industry deals with below $50 a barrel oil, how can employees at oil & gas companies proactively and calmly navigate the bumpy road ahead? In a recent webinar, “The Bottom of the Barrel: Developing During a Downturn”, Pink Petro, the social channel for women in energy, offered up enlightening career-survival advice for both women and men in oil & gas.” she writes.  “Their advice focused on getting in the driver’s seat and taking the wheel, rather than passively sitting in the passenger seat. As companies announce plans to downsize, it is not time to panic.  Rather, it is a time to accept the nature of the industry, realistically evaluate your current job viability and create an action plan.”

Read the article.

Coreworx has posted a free on-demand introduction to unconventional oil and gas projects, along with a white paper titled “Effective Project Information Control in Unconventional Oil & Gas Projects.”

Shale oil and gas projects have similar project information management challenges to those of Oil Sands Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) projects, Coreworx says on its website. Both face environments of evolving technology, constant change and significant regulatory oversight.

Dawn Fiander-McCann, Industry Consultant at Coreworx Inc., highlights five lessons learned from the Alberta Oil Sands and how they can be applied to current Shale Oil & Gas projects.

Watch the webinar introduction and download the white paper.

Ken Adams of the blog Adams on Contract Drafting has published online a question-and-answer exchange with the China Law Blog on the role that English-language contracts play in Chinese commercial life.

His Q&A exchange is with Steve Dickinson and Dan Harris.

The discussion covers such topics as: which language controls in a dual-language contract, how Chinese lawyers respond to English-language prose in contracts, whether Chinese lawyers draft contracts in English, contract provisions that make no sense in China, and other hot-button provisions.

Read the exchange.

National Defense magazine has published a paper on the challenge of establishing an effective compliance program, especially when the definition of the gold standard in ethics can be interpreted differently across various cultures.

Jessica Bejarano, chief ethics and compliance officer for PAE, a provider of integrated global mission services based in Arlington, Virginia, wrote the article.

“Enforcement of government contract regulations has become increasingly vigilant,” she wrote. “An effective compliance program, as opposed to one that looks good on paper and sits on the shelf, is critical to satisfying and exceeding the U.S. government’s requirements.”

Read the article.

DLA Piper has posted a paper about a $185 million punitive damages award won by a plaintiff in a pregnancy discrimination suit.

Joseph Domenick Guarino and Kevin Connelly wrote that Rosario Juarez began as a retail salesperson in San Diego at AutoZone in 2000. She was promoted to Parts Sales Manager but was unsuccessful in seeking advancement to store manager until she complained of discrimination and threatened a lawsuit. Her career became even more difficult after she became pregnant in 2005.

After she gave birth, she was demoted and later fired.

At trial, a jury set punitive damages at $185 million, more than 200 times the compensatory damages award and $25 million more than Juarez’s attorney asked the jury to grant in punitive damages

Read the paper.

Davis & Kuelthau has published a white paper explaining a new law that retroactively extended through the end of 2014 more than 50 tax breaks that had expired on December 31, 2013. Senior attorney Mark G. Kmiecik and shareholder Robert A. Mathers wrote the paper.

On December 19, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (HR 5771). Otherwise known as the “Tax Extenders” Act, this is the law that retroactively extended the tax breaks that had extended at the end of 2013.

While there were discussions of making permanent a number of these extenders, particularly the Bonus Depreciation and Section 179 deductions, Congress ultimately passed on making any of these provisions permanent and punted the fate of the extenders to 2015 and the incoming 114th Congress. So, yes, that means that these very same provisions expired as of December 31, 2014, leaving tax practitioners with the same tax planning uncertainties in 2015.

Read the white paper.

GovWin has published a free white paper on the top government contract set-asides for the current fiscal year.

The top ten federal set-aside opportunities for FY 2015 list consists of prime 100 percent set-aside contract opportunities from an array of federal departments and multiple industries, GovWin says on its website. The FY 2015 top ten set-aside opportunities total over $21 billion.

Jennifer Sakol, Principal Analyst with Deltek Federal Information Solutions, wrote the report.

Download the white paper.

Piliero Mazza has posted a free white paper analyzing the Small Business Administration’s proposed rule to implement provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (NDAA) that change the way firms calculate compliance with the limitation on subcontracting rule on small business set-asides.

SBA’s proposed rule also proposes changes dealing with the nonmanufacturing rule, including affiliation and joint ventures, among other topics.

The memorandum summarizes the key provisions of the proposed rule. Comments are due to SBA on, or before, February 27, 2015.

Download the white paper.

Crowell & Moring has posted the slides from a recent webinar on the recent ASBCA decision in Laguna Construction, which is likely to reverberate in 2015 and beyond. This case introduced the doctrine of “antecedent breach” in the ASBCA as a means of denying legitimate contractor claims.

In Laguna, after the completion of the contract, the contractor submitted a $3 million claim based on a dozen separate task orders under a large IDIQ contract, the firm explained on its website. Mid-way through litigation, two contractor employees pled guilty to receiving kickbacks from subcontractors on some, but not all, of the Task Orders at issue in the litigation. The Government then added Fraud as an affirmative defense at the Board, arguing that Laguna’s entire claim should be denied because Laguna’s employees had pled to Fraud on some of the Task Orders.

See the presentation.

A white paper provided by DocuSign Inc. focuses on the delivery of business-class electronic signature services, discussing the legal issues that must be addressed in the deployment of e-signature services.

The white paper provides an overview covering 1) the evolution of electronic contracting, 2) the legislation enabling electronic signature usage and 3) the key legal factors for successful deployment of an e-signature system. Subsequent sections then provide detail regarding the specific ways that the DocuSign architecture addresses these critical legal issues.

DocuSign says that electronic contracting is, fundamentally, contracting — and contract law fundamentals apply.

Download the white paper.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development has posted a free white paper on the Global Subsidies Initiative, presenting a complete examination of how fossil-fuel subsidies can impact the deployment of renewable energy.

The paper discusses the effect of fossil-fuel subsidies on the cost competiveness of renewables, the incumbent advantage of fossil-fuel-powered generators and the distortion of investment decisions.

On its website, the IISD says that fossil-fuel subsidies are prevalent in many countries. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that consumer subsidies to fossil fuels amounted to US$548 billion in 2013. In the same year, subsidies to renewable energy were estimated at US$121 billion. However, a comparison of numbers does not reveal the extent to which renewable energy is being disadvantaged in favour of continued reliance on fossil-fuel generation.

Download the white paper.

Is there a merger or acquisition in your future? If your responsibilities include contract management, you need to be prepared for what’s ahead. With the transaction comes a vast collection of client and vendor contracts – hundreds or even thousands of them, full of unknown dates and data.

Merrill DataSite offers a complimentary white paper that offers some practical advice on handling the challenge properly.

How can you get your arms around this challenge?  The key to understanding what’s in all those contracts – and what’s at stake if you fail to prepare – is all in this complimentary white paper, Acquired contracts create urgent needs: How to manage the influx of contracts after an acquisition.

Merrill DataSite says readers of the white paper will learn:

• Post-merger contract challenges, both customer-related and vendor-related
• The difference between reactive and proactive contract management
• How to prevent costly post-merger contract mistakes

Download the white paper.

The Harvard Law School Program on Dispute Resolution offers a free white paper offering advice on understanding how relationships can help someone to negotiate even the most difficult conversations.

On its website, the Program on Dispute Resolution says the free special report provides strategies on successfully negotiating difficult disputes, preserving relationships, and reaching mutually beneficial agreements.

Topics include how to:

• Foster relationships by building rapport
• Manage conflict in long-term relationships
• Negotiate business decisions with family members

Download the free white paper.

PennEnergy has posted a complimentary white paper describing the emerging generation of more capable, cloud-based contract lifecycle management solutions.

The paper, sponsored by SciQuest, examines powerful trends driving oil and gas firms towards greater supply chain efficiencies, the elements in a modern contract management environment, and how best to implement such a solution.

On its website, PennEnergy says oil and gas firms often struggle with manual and obsolete contract management systems.  The costs of those outdated methods are high: wasted administrative time and money, lost operating efficiencies, missed opportunities including loss of potential revenue, and greater risk to the organization and to executives.

Download the white paper.

Advanced Software Concepts offers a complimentary white paper discussing some of the contract lifecycle management (CLM) problems that enterprises encounter and the ways businesses can deal with them effectively.

Managing contracts and agreements manually is inefficient and cumbersome, ASC says on its website. “Contracts get lost, incorrect contract terms are used, and contract renewals do not happen when they should, resulting in wasted organizational time, lost revenue and increased costs. Compounding this situation is the potential compliance risk and liability that organizations face when not using approved terms and conditions or not following proper business rules and approval workflows. Control over contractual agreements is essential to survive the scrutiny of a financial audit or to support litigation.”

Download the white paper.

Market Connections has posted a free white paper online titled “Contract Evaluation Research: A Competitive Advantage for Winning More Government Contracts.”

The white paper covers:

• Inside higher win rates: How to effectively use contract evaluations and customer satisfaction research
• The independent third party advantage: A path to relevant, actionable intelligence, and how to benchmark your results vs. peers
• Insider tips: How to use customer feedback in strategic decision-making, and executing more effective operational improvements

Download the white paper.

Revitas offers a free white paper discussing a recent study of manufacturing and technology professionals that examines how companies are managing their channel sales relationships.

Manufacturing and technology companies depend on channel sellers to drive revenue, Revitas says on its website.  “At the same time, they struggle to apply creative channel incentive strategies, and to understand which promotions successfully drive new business. Disjointed, aging contract, revenue, and compliance management systems are largely at fault.”

The company says this study evaluates obstacles facing companies and gauges drivers that would push them to explore new alternative solutions.

Download the white paper.

Apttus is offering a free white paper on a survey that reveals what many companies identified as flaws in their contract management processes and steps that can be taken to improve them.

Onvia has posted a complimentary report providing tips for safeguarding your small-business program eligibility in federal contract teaming arrangements.

Maria Panichelli, an associate at Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC, wrote the article.