In this episode, Paul Hirose, former president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and co-chair of Perkins Coie’s Supply Chain Compliance and Corporate Social Responsibility practice, speaks with Leyla Seka about her leadership in confronting gender equality and racial equity issues in the tech industry.
Leyla Seka is a partner with Operator Collective, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, and co-founder of the Black Venture Institute. She was one of the most senior female executives at Salesforce when she tackled pay equity.

In this episode, Perkins Coie partner and former dean of the University of San Diego School of Law, Stephen Ferruolo, speaks with Pradeep Khosla, chancellor of the University of California San Diego (UCSD), and Kurt Schmoke, president of the University of Baltimore, about how they, and the universities they lead, have confronted the challenges posed by the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism. President Schmoke and Chancellor Khosla speak compellingly about the important role universities can play in combatting both of these pandemics, as well as about their visions for the future of higher education in a post-pandemic world.

In this episode, we discuss management’s view of compliance and legal functions with Jim Stutelberg, president of primary products at Tate & Lyle, PLC, a U.K.-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage ingredients. Partners Markus Funk and Gina LaMonica talk to Jim about his experience at Tate & Lyle and discuss how white collar practitioners can collaborate with management to foster a compliance-oriented atmosphere, while helping business units to accomplish their goals.

Perkins Coie partners Markus Funk and Kevin Feldis speak with Corey Norton, Vice President for Supply Chain Legality at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), about the important role that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can play in corporate supply chain compliance. NGOs have both outside credibility and an insiders on-the-ground understanding of local supply chain issues that can be invaluable to companies when it comes to understanding and protecting their supply chains for everything from raw materials to commodities to finished consumer products. Corey explains how WWF and other NGOs engage with corporations to help them improve traceability and better understand and mitigate risks related to forced labor, environmental degradation, and more. While some have traditionally viewed NGOs and corporations as acting with very different interests in mind, this podcast explores the many areas of overlap and mutual interest, and suggests that NGOs, corporations, and corporate outside counsel can, and should, actively work together on these important, complex, and still-evolving areas of corporate compliance.

Education trailblazer Lana Israel, Ph.D., and entertainment legend Bob Doyle, co-founded and closely collaborate on Nashville-based education technology (edtech) company Muzology. They join host Markus Funk to discuss their disruptive platform.

Using the power of music and videos to make math fun and accessible, Muzology challenges students to learn and retain the math concepts critical to their progress. The trio discuss topics such as the significant impacts Lana and Bob’s company has had on the lives of children and young adults, how COVID-19 has affected schooling and education, generally, and edtech, specifically.

In this episode of White Collar Briefly, Perkins Coie’s David Biderman, firmwide chair of the Consumer Products & Services Litigation group, sits down with Craig Lackey, general counsel of Rushmore Loan Management Services, a major servicer of residential mortgages nationwide. Their discussion covers topics such as the COVID-19-related downturn on the economy and mortgage servicer responses to COVID-19 and the CARES act. Craig and David also discuss what to expect from enforcement arising from COVID-19 and how to best respond, as well as the likely changes to the enforcement environment in the event of a change in administration.

Perkins Coie partner Kevin Feldis, a former federal prosecutor, talks with retired Special Agent Colton Seale about recent research on conducting interviews in a way that improves results. Colton spent 22 years with the FBI, including serving as a member of the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), interviewing suspects around the world.

The goal of any interview is to learn accurate and complete information, but rigid approaches and common misconceptions about how to conduct interviews can go nowhere and lead to incomplete and inaccurate answers.

This podcast provides a first-hand account of how to add science into the art of interviewing. Kevin and Colton discuss what it really means to build rapport and how to get in sync with the person in a way that opens the door for meaningful factfinding.

White Collar Briefly host, Markus Funk, chair of Perkins Coie’s White Collar & Investigations Practice, welcomes two Chicago-based guests. Jeremy Gottschalk is general counsel for Sittercity.com and founder of the education, networking, and information-sharing platform Marketplace Risk. The Hon. Virginia M. Kendall of the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Illinois is a former federal prosecutor and one of the nation's leading experts in the area of child exploitation.

The episode discussions include potential threats facing companies operating in the childcare space, concrete steps companies can take to identify and root out potential abusers from their online platforms, and cooperation with law enforcement agencies.

In this episode of White Collar Briefly, Perkins Coie’s Barak Cohen, David Fletcher, and Alexander Canizares discuss the landscape for increased fraud investigations and enforcement actions related to COVID-19 stimulus spending, including False Claims Act investigations and qui tam whistleblower litigation, as well as steps companies can take to reduce their potential exposure. Barak, David, and Alex discuss new and emerging enforcement issues related to Paycheck Protection Program loans and other spending under the CARES Act and anticipated areas of focus for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with respect to the False Claims Act. The episode also provides an overview of recent DOJ fraud enforcement related to COVID-19 and the expected roles to be played by new and existing investigative entities, including the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and special inspector general for pandemic recovery.

In Part 2 of our examination of internal investigation trends in India, Perkins Coie partners Markus Funk and Chelsea Curfman speak with Arpinder Singh, a partner with EY Forensics & Integrity Services and head of their India and Emerging Markets group. Topics discussed include trends in both the subject matter and scope of internal investigations in India; the increasing number of whistleblower reports being lodged in India and how companies are responding to those reports; and tips on how companies and outside counsel can best investigate potential wrongdoing, including where to look for relevant data.