TheCorporateCounsel.net

If you’re finding it as hard to keep track of all the legal and business issues created by the ongoing tariff saga as I am, you may find this Cooley blog very helpful. It offers up a “Tariff & Trade War Playbook” listing 25 things that in-house counsel should do to help their companies navigate the current environment.  While it’s targeted at in-house lawyers, there’s a lot here for outside counsel to consider as well.  This excerpt has some tips on stakeholder engagement:

– Develop talking points to support consistent messaging to key stakeholders on the company’s actions and responses, including employees, customers, suppliers and regulators.

– Consider whether tariff impacts should be discussed, along with other material business and financial matters, in the CEO letter included in the annual report accompanying the company’s proxy statement.

– Consider treatment of potential questions from the floor at the company’s annual shareholders meeting (and prepare Q&A ahead of time).

– Ensure communications with stakeholders, including at the annual shareholders meeting, are Regulation FD-compliant.

Other areas covered by the blog include board and management crisis governance, risk management and compliance, business strategy and operations, compensation, and public company disclosure and trading implications.

– John Jenkins