Global Ebola Task Force Law firm prepares for myriad of virus-related questions

The law firm Reed Smith on Tuesday launched a multidisciplinary Global Ebola Task Force, headed by Patrick E. Bradley, a partner in the firm’s Princeton office, to keep the firm abreast of legal issues that arise from the Ebola crisis and to address the questions the firm has begun fielding from clients across a wide range of industriesThe task force includes 20 lawyers from nine of the firm’s industry and practice groups, including labor and employment, insurance, life sciences, health, shipping, aviation and data privacy. The task force also includes the lawyers from Reed Smith’s Africa Business Team, which represents global companies in transactions throughout the continent. 

Bradley works in the firm’s commercial litigation department and his specialty is aviation.

Frequent questions so far, Bradley said, involve travel to and from Africa.

He said clients want to know: “We have employees who are traveling to Africa: What if they don’t want to go? Or it may be the other way around: They want to go to Africa, but don’t want them to go — can we stop them?”

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He said corporations have questions about their liability for passengers on their corporate jets. They want to know: “To what extent do they need to inquire into their passengers’ past traveling experiences — in terms of whether they have been in Africa — and do they have to question everybody before they get onto their aircraft?”

Bradley said clients are concerned about these privacy issues, which may not have arisen yet, but are on the horizon.

“We have clients who deal on a day-to-day basis with people who travel around the world, and they need to know: ‘What steps do we need to take to protect our customers and employees?’” Bradley said airlines “are quite concerned about what is the standard of care for us in terms of people boarding our aircraft. What sort of questions do we need to ask? What is our exposure? Are we allowed to deny boarding to passengers in particular situations and what are the criteria that we have to apply if we do want to deny boarding?”

He said Reed Smith has many clients doing business in Africa. “And they want to know what are their obligations to their employees.”

For example, how does the company decide whether to require travel to Africa, ban travel to Africa or leave it to the employee’s discretion?

He said that, in some cases, clients aren’t dealing with Ebola legal issues yet, but “They want to try to address them proactively so, if there is an emergency, they have done some due diligence in terms of preparing.”

“Commerce today is fully globalized, and threats to global commerce, such as the Ebola virus, often spawn complex legal issues that require a seamless, integrated approach,” said Sandy Thomas, Reed Smith’s global managing partner. “Many of our clients have faced, are facing or will face problems created by the spread of the virus, including health care systems, hospitals, shipping companies and airlines. The virus has the potential to affect international commerce and trade, not just on the African continent, but worldwide.”

Reed Smith said its 35-member Africa Business Team has strong ties to businesses across the African continent, including multinational companies, investors and trading houses.

“The Ebola Task Force will combine the strengths of our team and many of our global practices to provide a unified, proactive approach to the issues and concerns this outbreak is now generating in many commercial sectors,” said Vince Gordon, a practice leader of the Africa Business Team.

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