"Due Diligence and #MeToo" from Cleary Gottlieb serves as a great primer for understanding how the current #MeToo environment plays into the M&A and securities offering diligence and disclosure processes from the perspectives of both sellers & buyers (in the M&A context) and offeror/offering participants & investors (in the securities offering context). The suggested diligence to unearth or properly disclose (as applicable) harassment and other misconduct issues and claims informs the best practice guidance to companies on development of internal policies and procedures to ensure that issues are appropriately captured, escalated, and disclosed.
The article also addresses the potential legal consequences for nondisclosure in an environment that increasingly perceives #MeToo issues and claims as material.