Expert Analysis

• 2nd Circ. EFAA Ruling Shifts Employer Litigation Strategy

  

  In Diaz-Roa v. Hermes Law, the Second Circuit recently held that, under the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, employers can't carve out nonharassment claims and send them to arbitration, which has implications for discovery, litigation costs and resolution strategy in EFAA-covered disputes, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

• The Future Of PCAOB Enforcement After Post-Jarkesy Win

  

  While the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board recently defeated procedural and structural challenges to its enforcement program in D.C. federal court, it's unclear what claims and sanctions the PCAOB can bring against respondents — and whether it's interested in instituting disciplinary proceedings generally, says Mike Plotnick at King & Spalding.

• How Bank Lobby's Suit Tests OCC's Crypto Charter Powers

  

  The Independent Community Bankers of America’s recent lawsuit challenging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s ability to charter cryptocurrency companies marks another chapter in the struggle over the appropriate regulatory framework for digital assets, while raising a classic administrative law question at its most basic level, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

• Opinion

  The SEC Crypto Proposal Rests On A Term No One Can Define

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently proposed Regulation Crypto Assets is its most ambitious attempt to set rules for the crypto industry, but its repeated use of the phrase "essential managerial efforts" means it perpetuates the uncertainty the regime is meant to cure, says Joseph A. Hall at Davis Polk.

• Navigating Dueling Regulations For Bank Investment Advisers

  

  Recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission examination findings show that investment advisory activities remain an active area of regulatory focus, and reinforce the need for banks to assess intersecting compliance obligations, say attorneys at Fredrikson.

• Series

  Being In The Peace Corps Made Me A Better Lawyer

  

  When I served in the Peace Corps, the people of the West African village where I was stationed helped me acclimate to my new surroundings and enabled me to develop problem-solving, teamwork and empathy skills that have bolstered my legal practice far beyond the ability to offer technical advice, says Brian Bewley at McGuireWoods.

• Measuring Shareholder Harm In Death Spiral Convertibles

  

  As convertible structures have recently regained prominence, it's important to revisit the so-called floating-price death spiral convertible and how to quantify the losses for shareholders when disputes arise, says Pavithra Kumar at Conexig.

• Unpacking FDIC's Modernized Bank Merger Review Rules

  

  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s proposed revisions to its Bank Merger Act review process are a shift from its more skeptical prior posture toward a more structured and transaction-facilitative approach, though some broader uncertainty remains concerning antitrust alignment with the U.S. Department of Justice, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

• Del. Ruling Shows How AI Meeting Transcripts Can Backfire

  

  In ATG Capital Opportunities Fund v. Lane, the Delaware Court of Chancery reviewed board meeting transcripts generated by an artificial intelligence tool as part of its assessment of the board's motivations, highlighting potential risks of AI-generated corporate records, say attorneys at Debevoise.

• Dissecting Dodd's, Gensler's Prediction Market Amicus Briefs

  

  Former Sen. Chris Dodd and former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler's recent amicus briefs in support of New Jersey's petition for U.S. Supreme Court review of Kalshi v. Flaherty draw on legislative history to counter the CFTC's claim of federal preemption over the prediction markets, says Trace Schmeltz at Steptoe.

• 5 Prediction Market Queries For Every League, Athletic Dept.

  

  The NFL's recent amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split over regulating prediction markets and operators like Kalshi raises important, enterprisewide governance questions for leagues, teams and athletic departments, and highlights that regulatory oversight and institutional integrity are related but distinct, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

• Planning For D&O Exclusions As Risks Mount For Banks

  

  Banks should scrutinize directors and officers exclusions for artificial intelligence, disclosure and cybersecurity risks during policy renewal negotiations to preserve coverage amid the current uptick in insurer scrutiny and related shareholder litigation, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

• Why The SEC Proposed Rescinding Its 'Pay-To-Play' Rule

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent proposal to nix its pay-to-play rule governing political contributions by investment advisers follows years of industry advocacy and commissioner criticism that it suppresses political speech and affects hiring, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

• CFIUS Annual Report Reveals Enforcement Trends

  

  The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' recently published annual report to Congress shows that it is increasingly focused on nonnotified transactions, mandatory filing compliance, critical technologies and postclosing mitigation enforcement across the full life cycle transactions, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

• As Congress Stalls, SEC Hits Go On 'Innovation Exemption'

  

  While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently issued innovation exemption to facilitate on-chain trading of certain tokenized stocks isn't a replacement for a comprehensive legislative framework, it reduces the likelihood that further congressional delay will freeze market development, says Stephen Aschettino at Fox Rothschild.