Foreign Investment Watch Interviews Laura Black on CFIUS

On the occasion of her move to Akin Gump, Foreign Investment Watch interviewed Akin Gump international trade senior counsel Laura Black. She joined the firm from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), where she served as Director of Policy and International Relations.

Interview highlights include:

• Her background at CFIUS: “On the policy side, my primary task for the first 18 months was to scope, draft, and run the notice and comment process for the regulations implementing FIRRMA [The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018]…FIRRMA was the first legislation to expand the jurisdiction of CFIUS since it had been created over 30 years ago, and most of the key terms were left to the regulatory process.”
• On being called “the most knowledgeable person, by far, about the new FIRRMA regulations”: “That’s very kind. Yes, I led the scoping, drafting, and notice and comment process for the new FIRRMA regulations, including chairing a 12-agency working group…and we worked extensively with subject matter experts across the government to scope CFIUS’s new authority over critical infrastructure, sensitive personal data, and real estate, as well as to develop the requirements and processes for the new declarations process, including the new critical technology mandatory declarations requirement.”
• On engaging with other countries’ foreign investment review mechanisms: “CFIUS engages with countries along a continuum. Particularly in early engagements, there will be foundational discussions to explain how CFIUS operates and the risks CFIUS has been addressing, and for countries without an investment review mechanism, why it is important to have authority to review foreign investment for national security risks.”
• The impact of the September 2022 Biden E.O. re: CFIUS: “The Executive Order may lead to an increase in filings because it raises awareness of CFIUS and the risks CFIUS considers. The Executive Order does not, however, change CFIUS’s processes, and CFIUS remains grounded in a case-by-case review process, addressing risks that arise from a particular transaction.”

Subscribers can read the full interview here.