Expert Analysis

• 'Outsourcing' Ruling, 5 Years On: A Warning, Not A Watershed

  

  A New York federal court’s 2019 ruling in U.S. v. Connolly, holding that the government improperly outsourced an investigation to Deutsche Bank, has not undercut corporate cooperation incentives as feared — but companies should not completely ignore the lessons of the case, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Anna Nabutovsky at Selendy Gay.

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  Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

• Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State

  

  Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.

• Will Texas Stock Exchange Provide Regulatory Haven?

  

  While the newly proposed Texas Stock Exchange may represent a market reaction to increasingly complex regulations, those looking to list on a national securities exchange should consider that their choice of an exchange may not relieve them of some of the most burdensome public company requirements, say Elizabeth McNichol and Ryan Lilley at Katten.

• Equity Rights Offering Considerations As Maturity Cliff Looms

  

  Current market uncertainties make an equity rights offering — involving affiliate backstop investors — a cost-effective, capital-raising transaction for distressed companies looking to manage their leverage ahead of the impending maturity of a substantial number of COVID-era debt issuances, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

• A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

  

  Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

• Opinion

  Discount Window Reform Needed To Curb Modern Bank Runs

  

  We learned during the spring 2023 failures that bank runs can happen extraordinarily fast in light of modern technology, especially when banks have a greater concentration of large deposits, demonstrating that the antiquated but effective discount window needs to be overhauled before the next crisis, says Cris Cicala at Stinson.

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  After Chevron: Creating New Hurdles For ESG Rulemaking

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, limiting court deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, could have significant impacts on the future of ESG regulation, creating new hurdles for agency rulemaking around these emerging issues, and calling into question current administrative actions, says Leah Malone at Simpson Thacher.

• Opinion

  States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

  

  Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

• Best Text Practices In Light Of Terraform's $4.5B Fraud Deal

  

  Text messages were extremely important in a recent civil trial against Terraform Labs, leading to a $4.5 billion settlement, so litigants in securities fraud cases need to have robust mobile data policies that address the content and retention of messages, and the obligations of employees to allow for collection, say Josh Sohn and Alicia Clausen at Crowell & Moring.

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  Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

• Dapper Settlement Offers Rules Of The Road For NFT Issuers

  

  The terms of a $4 million settlement in a class action alleging that Dapper Labs sold its NBA Top Shot Moments as unregistered securities may be a model for third parties that wish to avoid securities liability in connection with offering digital asset non-fungible token collectibles, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

• Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

  

  The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

• In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

  

  On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

• First-Of-Its-Kind Chancery Ruling Will Aid SPAC Defendants

  

  The Delaware Chancery Court's first full dismissal of claims challenging a special purpose acquisition company transaction under the entire fairness doctrine in the recent Hennessy Capital Acquisition Stockholder Litigation establishes useful precedent to abate the flood of SPAC litigation, say Lisa Bugni and Benjamin Lee at King & Spalding.