Expert Analysis

• 5 Lessons From Ex-Vitol Trader's FCPA Conviction

  

  The recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering conviction of former Vitol oil trader Javier Aguilar in a New York federal court provides defense takeaways on issues ranging from the definition of “domestic concern” to jury instruction strategy, says attorney Andrew Feldman.

• SEC Amendments May Launch New Execution Disclosure Era

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted amendments to Rule 605 of Regulation NMS for executions on covered orders in national market system stocks modernize and enhance execution quality reporting, but serious guidance is still needed to make the reports useful for the public investor, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Questions Remain After Mass. Adverse Possession Case

  

  A recent Massachusetts Land Court decision, concerning an adverse possession claim on a family company-owned property, leaves open questions about potential applicability to closely held corporations and other ownership types going forward, says Brad Hickey at DarrowEverett.

• Mitigating Incarceration's Impacts On Foreign Nationals

  

  Sentencing arguments that highlighted the disparate impact incarceration would have on a British national recently sentenced for insider training by a New York district court, when compared to similarly situated U.S. citizens, provide an example of the advocacy needed to avoid or mitigate problems unique to noncitizen defendants, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.

• Navigating Title VII Compliance And Litigation Post-Muldrow

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Muldrow v. St. Louis has broadened the scope of Title VII litigation, meaning employers must reassess their practices to ensure compliance across jurisdictions and conduct more detailed factual analyses to defend against claims effectively, say Robert Pepple and Christopher Stevens at Nixon Peabody.

• Tiny Tweaks To Bank Merger Forms May Have Big Impact

  

  The impact of proposed changes to the Federal Reserve Board's and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s bank merger review forms would be significant, resulting in hundreds of additional burden hours for bank merger applicants and signaling a further shift by the prudential bank regulators toward more rigorous scrutiny of mergers, say attorneys at Debevoise.

• How CFPB Credit Card Rules Slot Into Broader Considerations

  

  Swirling legal challenges against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rulemaking concerning credit card late fees raise questions about how regulated entities should respond to the bureau's rules — and how quickly they should act, say Caitlin Mandel and Elizabeth Ireland at Winston & Strawn.

• 3 Employer Lessons From NLRB's Complaint Against SpaceX

  

  Severance agreements traditionally have included nondisparagement and nondisclosure provisions as a matter of course — but a recent National Labor Relations Board complaint against SpaceX underscores the ongoing efforts to narrow severance agreements at the state and federal levels, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

• Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

  

  In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.

• Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

  

  A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

• Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

  

  When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.

• Del. Dispatch: Chancery's Evolving Approach To Caremark

  

  Though Caremark claims are historically the least likely corporate claims to lead to liability, such cases have been met in recent years with increased judicial receptivity — but the Delaware Court of Chancery still expressly discourages the reflexive filing of Caremark claims following corporate mishaps, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

• Why Employers Shouldn't Overreact To Protest Activities

  

  Recent decisions from the First Circuit in Kinzer v. Whole Foods and the National Labor Relations Board in Home Depot hold eye-opening takeaways about which employee conduct is protected as "protest activity" and make a case for fighting knee-jerk reactions that could result in costly legal proceedings, says Frank Shuster at Constangy.

• What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

  

  While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

• Global Bribery Probes Are Complicating FCPA Compliance

  

  The recent rise in collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign authorities in bribery enforcement can not only affect companies' legal exposure as resolution approaches vary by country, but also the decision of when and whether to disclose Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations to the DOJ, say Samantha Badlam and Catherine Conroy at Ropes & Gray.