Nate Lankford

Nate Lankford is a trusted advisor to multinational companies on cross-border investigations, corporate compliance and due diligence strategies, and supply chain risk management. His matters involve allegations of corruption and other financial crimes, business and human rights (BHR), anti-terrorism/Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), economic sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML), anti-discrimination, and workplace misconduct, among other areas of responsible business conduct. Nate advises senior executives, boards, and company legal and compliance teams through investigations by enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He draws on deep compliance experience gained through serving in key roles on multiple monitorship teams tasked by the DOJ and SEC with carrying out anti-corruption compliance reviews and assessments pursuant to U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) settlement agreements, and through designing and implementing investigations and risk assessment processes globally. 

Nate founded Miller & Chevalier's Business & Human Rights practice in 2012 and serves as its Practice Lead. In this role, he helps companies live up to their responsibility to respect human rights – as articulated in the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights – and to keep pace with the rapidly evolving landscape of hard law rules for disclosures and mandatory due diligence, voluntary standards, and increasing enforcement and litigation risks. Nate assists companies in conducting due diligence to assess and mitigate adverse impacts and legal compliance risks, including in conflict-affected and other challenging contexts. In such matters, he has helped companies respond to sensitive inquiries from investors, multilateral organizations, auditors, governmental authorities, and other stakeholders regarding potential company involvement in adverse impacts and allegations of corporate misconduct. 

Nate helps companies to successfully navigate due diligence in major transactions such as long-term supply agreements for critical minerals, mergers and acquisitions, investments, and formation of joint ventures. He also guides companies in complying with the U.S. prohibition on the importation of products made with forced labor (19 USC §1307 and related laws such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)) and works with companies to effectively engage with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other stakeholders to appropriately respond to indicators of forced labor in supply chain relationships.
Nate has worked on location in many of the world's most challenging business environments – including countries in Central and East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Americas – and he has developed a solid understanding of risks faced by the extractives, healthcare, telecommunications, high-tech, and agricultural sectors.

Nate serves on the Board of the Business & Human Rights Lawyers Association and on the Advisory Board of the International Bar Association's Business & Human Rights Committee.