Expert Analysis

• Ga. Fintech Bank Charter Could Reshape Payments Industry

  

  Georgia’s recent granting of a special banking charter to transaction processor Fiserv, allowing the fintech company to access major card payment networks without a traditional bank as intermediary, could spark a restructuring of the national payments infrastructure and open new possibilities for businesses and consumers, says Jessica Cino at Krevolin & Horst.

• Opinion

  Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code

  

  As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.

• Series

  The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan

  

  Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.

• California's AI Safety Bill Veto: The Path Forward

  

  California Gov. Gavin Newsom's veto of a bill that sought to impose stringent regulations on advanced artificial intelligence model development has sparked a renewed debate on how best to balance innovation with safety in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, say Bobby Malhotra and Carson Swope at Winston & Strawn.

• Staying Off The CFPB's Financial Services Offender Registry

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's soon-to-launch registry of financial services companies that have faced public enforcement orders is designed to ratchet up long-term scrutiny of entities that could become repeat offenders, so companies should take their new compliance and filing requirements seriously, say Andrea Mitchell and Chris Napier at Mitchell Sandler.

• Earned Wage Access Laws Form A Prickly Policy Patchwork

  

  Conflicting earned wage access laws across the country, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently issued rule, mean providers must adopt a proactive compliance approach and adjust business models where needed, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

• What FDIC Expansion Of Change In Bank Control Could Mean

  

  A recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposal pertaining to the Change in Bank Control Act has the potential to create uncertainty around investments by mutual fund complexes in banking organizations, which represent a stable source of capital for the banking industry, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

• State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

  

  Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

• 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

  

  A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

• Challenge To Ill. Card Fee Law Explores Compliance Hurdles

  

  A recent federal lawsuit challenging an Illinois law that will soon forbid electronic payment networks from charging fees for processing the tax and tip portions of card transactions, fleshes out the glaring compliance challenges and exposure risks financial institutions must be ready to face next summer, says Martin Kiernan at Amundsen Davis.

• Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures

  

  Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.

• Opinion

  This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process

  

  In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

• Breaking Down CFTC's Novel Theory Driving Uniswap Action

  

  The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent enforcement action against Uniswap concerning digital asset liquidity appears to be a unilateral attempt to expand its regulatory authority in the absence of official congressional approval, putting forth a novel theory of liability that will likely be tested through litigation, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

• Series

  Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

  

  Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.

• Proposed Mortgage Assistance Rule: Tips For Servicers

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to alter Regulation X mortgage servicing procedures to broadly construe requests for assistance, and stay foreclosure proceedings during loss mitigation review, will, if finalized, require mortgage servicers to make notable procedural changes to comply, says Louis Manetti at Locke Lord.