Welcome to Compliance Review, our weekly briefing on news and trends on compliance, enforcement and government affairs. I'm Mike Scarcella in Washington on Law.com's regulatory team, filling in for C. Ryan Barber this week. We're spotlighting some of the tariff lobbying work Big Law's grabbed in recent weeks, new financial disclosures for top regulatory picks and scroll down to see who got the work in some of the big disputes making headlines.

As always, thanks for reading, and we value any feedback. Tips or other other observations? Ryan's at [email protected] or 202-828-0315, and follow him on Twitter @cryanbarber.

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Steel Tariff Lobbying Frenzy

Several big law firms in Washington are publicly advising companies—and in one instance, a foreign government—on issues associated with the Trump administration's plan to impose tariffs on the importation of steel and aluminum. The U.S. reportedly imports steel from 50 countries, and at least several key allies are expected to be exempt from the tariffs.

Chip Roh, a retired international trade partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, put it like this in a New York Times report: “The dinner bell is ringing for the trade bar and associated lobbyists and consultants.”

Miller & Chevalier's counseling the government of Bahrain, according to papersfiled under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The primary team includes Homer Moyer Jr., who's billed as the “architect” of the firm's international practice; Richard Mojica, a member of the firm who specializes in international trade; and P. WeIIes Orr, a senior international trade advisor.

Mojica, Orr and Moyer are billing hourly rates of $680, $800, and $1,095, respectively, Moyer wrote in a March 14 client engagement letter. (Moyer said Miller & Chevalier rates for other lawyers in the firm range from $420 to $1245—and from $270 to $339 for for non-lawyer professionals and contract lawyers.) “These are preferred rates because you are a pre-existing client,” Moyer wrote. Miller & Chevalier said the engagement for Bahrain will run until March 31 and that the fees will not exceed $110,000.

Meanwhile, a team from Hogan Lovells recently filed registration papers to advocate for Texas-based Kinder Morgan, an energy pipeline infrastructure company. On the Hogan team: Former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota; Aaron Cutler, who held various policy positions on Capitol Hill; and Jared Wessel, former associate general counsel at the Office. of the U.S. Trade Representative.

King & Spalding is advocating for Virginia-based Banker Steel Company, a structural steel fabricator. The K&S team includes partner Thomas Spulak in Washington, a lobbying leader at the firm; partner J.C. Boggs, who leads the firm's state attorneys general practice; senior counsel Mike Andrews, a former U.S. congressman for Texas; and international trade partner J. Michael Taylor.

Alston & Bird partner Jason Waite in Washington and Shannon Campagna, senior policy advisor, are advocating for Kentucky-based North American Stainless Inc. on trade and investment policy. And here's a client alert from Covington & Burling:“We would be pleased to assist clients in responding to the president's proclamations and in petitioning for exemptions or exclusions.”

“There are obviously a lot of actors involved in this here in D.C. You've got some of the agencies involved—the U.S. Trade Representative's office is a lead agency on a lot of this, the Commerce Department,” Naboth van den Broek, a Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr international trade partner in the Washington and Brussels offices, said recently on Bloomberg TV. “But then some of it is run straight out of the White House because of how important this is to the president and to his team. And then of course there's Capitol Hill. You see a lot of lobbying already starting of individual members on Capitol Hill and then sort of reaching out to the administration to protect their constituents.”

➤➤ Revolving door watch: Which ex-Big Law lawyers are calling the trade shots in the Trump administration? We've got the run-down here. Lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and King & Spalding, among other firms, decamped for key posts. The U.S. trade representative's office is led by Robert Lighthizer, a former Skadden trade partner.

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Who Got The Work

➤➤ Bank of America Corp. and subsidiary Merrill Lynch, represented by Wilmer Hale partner Daniel Chaudoin in Washington, has agreed to pay a $42 million penalty to resolve New York state regulatory claims concerning alleged fraudulent electronic services practices. My colleague Colby Hamilton at New York Law Journal has more. Chaudoin is a former top SEC lawyer, serving ultimately as assistant director of the enforcement division.

➤➤ Wells Fargo is resolving a whistleblower suit in Oregon federal district court. Michael Fuller of Olsen Daines represents the plaintiff, Duke Tran. Leah Lively, an employment partner at Davis Wright Tremaine in Portland was counsel of record for Wells Fargo. Court records don't reveal the settlement amount, but The New York Times, citing sources, said it was seven figures.

➤➤ A team from Wilmer Hale represented Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines in complying with a demand from federal prosecutors for subscriber and another web data from a Florida-based voyage. A federal trial judge in Washington, overturning a magistrate, said the the cruise line could be considered an electronic communication provider under the Stored Communications Act. Jonathan Cedarbaum was lead counsel for Royal Caribbean, which did not oppose the government demand.

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Around the Web: Token-Sale Compliance | Subpoena From the SEC, Now What?

In the market for token sales? Laurel Loomis Rimon, a senior counsel at O'Melveny & Myers, offers compliance guidelines for entrepreneurs and in-house counsel. Including: “Probably the most significant question you will need to answer in relation to your anti-money laundering obligations as you prepare to undertake a token sale is whether your sale amounts to 'money transmitting' under federal law.” Read the full guide at Bitcoin Magazine.

Seven suggestions for strengthening your company's AML compliance program. Insight from a Debevoise & Plimpton team, including Matthew Biben, co-leader of the firm's banking industry group. No. 1: “Cut the flow of suspicious transactions.”

A role for Congress after Digital Realty? Todd Shaw, a Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law student, argues that Congress should step in and expand Dodd-Frank whistleblower protection for employees who only report misconduct internally. The Supreme Court this term limited protection to only tipsters who come to the SEC. Here's our look at the challenges ahead for the SEC.

Speaking of the SEC, here's Mayer Brown guidance for participants in the virtual currency arena who get a subpoena from the agency. Pro tip from the lawyers: “Don't shoot yourself in the foot.” How the law firm put it in a blog post: “Some have indicated that the recent targets of the SEC's virtual currency probe can reduce their compliance burden by offering to meet with SEC staff as an alternative to producing documents, and that is, in fact, an option often provided by the SEC. From our perspective, in the vast majority of cases, that is like offering to pet a lion instead of giving it a steak on a ten-foot pole.”

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly agreed to testify about data compliance, as the Cambridge Analytics harvesting scandal grows. WIRED looks atwhat regulating Facebook might look like. “We do not have an omnibus privacy legislation at the federal level,” said Georgetown Law Center's David Vladeck, former director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We don't have a statute that recognizes generally that privacy is a right that's secured by federal law. And that puts us at the opposite end of the spectrum from some of the other major economies in the world.”

Meanwhile… Bloomberg reports Facebook is on a hiring spree for Washington lobbyists. We reported recently on Facebook's move to hire a compliance lawyer to focus on political activity.

For more on the privacy front, my colleague Gabrielle Orum Hernández reports on a new venture—the Privacy Compliance Hub—from two former Google executives. Their mission: to help organizations manage data protection efforts.

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Names in the News: Eugene Scalia Strikes Again

Eugene Scalia, co-chairman of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's administrative law and regulatory team, opens up about taking on—and defeating—the U.S. Labor Department's fiduciary rule.

Gibson Dunn's Nicola Hanna, a former white-collar partner who is now the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, revealed earning $3.7 million in partnership share, according to newly disclosed financial documents. Hanna's disclosure also identified his work for clients that included Apple Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and DraftKings Inc.

Two top nominees to the IRS—Charles Rettig for commissioner and Michael Desmond for chief counsel—revealed a peek inside their California-based tax practices. The financial disclosures for the two nominees disclosed law firm compensation and a host of individual clients.

Rebecca Slaughter, chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is the Trump administration's pick to fill out the Federal Trade Commission. Slaughter formerly was a Sidley Austin associate in Washington. The nomination for FTC chair, Joe Simons, a former Paul Weiss antitrust partner in Washington, is pending.

The ethics flap at the National Labor Relations Board is intensifying. Ex-Littler Mendelson shareholder William Emanuel violated the presidential ethics pledgein a closely watched vote last year undoing the Obama-joint employment standard, the agency inspector general reported. Emanuel's lawyer, Zuckerman Spaeder chairman Dwight Bostwick, disputed the finding in a letter to the board.

David Estrada, Lyft's former government relations chief, is moving to the transportation startup Bird as chief legal officer. Estrada most recently was chief legal officer and head of public policy at the autonomous electric air vehicle outfit Kitty Hawk.

Thanks for reading our compliance briefing. Tips, comments? We're at [email protected] and [email protected].

—Mike and Ryan