'Winter is coming': Companies brace for flurry of investigations

[DonViejo]

Pharmaceuticals and tech are obvious targets, and chemical and oil and gas companies are also vulnerable, according to interviews with half a dozen lawyers.

By MARIANNE LEVINE 10/22/2018 05:04 AM EDT

Washington law firms are preparing for a boom in business from a projected Democratic takeover of the House in 2019, anticipating that pharmaceutical, tech, and oil and gas companies will need help navigating a flurry of oversight investigations.

Law firms that specialize in helping businesses manage congressional investigations, including Covington & Burling and Akin Gump, have been tracking Democrats’ criticisms of a host of corporations all year.

Now, Washington lawyers are crafting memos for clients describing the inquiries they could face next year and which lawmakers might lead the relevant House committees. Others are reaching out to corporations they believe will need new representation, explaining how they would keep them out of the crosshairs of Democratic-led probes.

Pharmaceuticals and tech are obvious targets, according to interviews with half a dozen lawyers, given that Democrats have bashed high drug prices and criticized social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter over foreign disinformation campaigns. Chemical companies that have benefited from the relaxation of regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency and oil and gas companies are also vulnerable, they said.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/22/congress-democratic-investigations-921344

[Sherman A1]

1. May their lives be filled

with lawyers.

[gratuitous]

2. Want to avoid these headaches? Run your business on the up and up

Naaaaah!

[dalton99a]

3. And stop gouging the public

[NewJeffCT]

4. with the mountains of corruption related to just Trump and his cabinet

I'm not sure there are enough hours in the day to investigate everything that needs to be investigated.

[2naSalit]

5. +1