Expert Analysis

• 2024 Has Been A Momentous Year For ESG

  

  Significant developments in the environmental, social and governance landscape this year include new legislation, evolving global frameworks, continued litigation and enforcement actions, and a U.S. Supreme Court decision that has already affected how lower courts have viewed some ESG challenges, say attorneys at Katten.

• Opinion

  A New Tax On Employers Could Help US Immigration Problem

  

  To better enforce the law against hiring immigrants unauthorized to work in the U.S., Congress should enact a punitive excise tax on compensation paid to such immigrants and amend the False Claims Act to allow qui tam actions against employers for failure to pay such tax, says Ajay Gupta at Moore Tax Law Group.

• Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team

  

  In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a Herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.

• The Story Of 2024's Biggest Bank Regs, And Their Fate In 2025

  

  U.S. federal bank regulators were very active in 2024 with initiatives ranging from antitrust and capital to proposals regarding controlling shareholders and incentive-based compensation, but many regulations face an uncertain future under the new administration, say attorneys at Latham.

• Key Rulings On Sentencing Guidelines After Loper Bright

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo raised questions as to when and whether courts should defer to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines' commentary in disputes over the guidelines' meaning — but some recent appellate court rulings provide insights for defense counsel in this area, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

• Data Privacy Landscape After Mass. Justices' Wiretap Ruling

  

  In Vita v. New England Baptist Hospital, Massachusetts’ highest court recently ruled that the state’s wiretap law doesn’t prohibit all tracking of website user activity, but major financial and reputational risks remain for businesses that aren't transparent about customer’s web data, says Seth Berman at Nutter.

• Ledbetter's Legacy Shines In 2024 Equal Pay Law Updates

  

  The federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act turned 15 this year, and its namesake's legacy is likely to endure in 2025 and beyond, as demonstrated by 2024's state- and local-level progress on pay equity, as well as several rulings from federal appellate courts, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

• The Future Of GLP-1 Policy After Drug Shortage Ends

  

  If and when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines that GLP-1 RA drugs are no longer in short supply, regulators will face questions of how to balance access to GLP-1 RAs with statutory and policy considerations applicable to compounded drugs, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Gov't Scrutiny Of Workplace Chat Apps Set To Keep Growing

  

  The incoming Trump administration and Republican majorities in Congress are poised to open numerous investigations that include increasing demands for entities to produce communications from workplace chat apps, so companies must evaluate their usage and retention policies, say attorneys at Orrick.

• Del. Dispatch: The 2024 Corporate Cases You Need To Know

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery in 2024 issued several decisions that some viewed as upending long-standing corporate practices, leading to the amendment of the Delaware General Corporation Law and debates at some Delaware corporations about potentially reincorporating to another state, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

• 2024 Regulatory Developments For Bank-Fintech Partnerships

  

  Joseph Silvia at Duane Morris reviews a handful of particularly noteworthy 2024 updates regarding bank-fintech partnerships, including federal banking agencies issuing a number of important pieces of guidance that reiterate and update previous guidance in the area of third-party risk management.

• 2025's Midmarket M&A Terrain May Hold A Few Bright Spots

  

  Attorneys at Stoel Rives assess middle-market merger and acquisition trends, and explain why many dealmakers have turned cautiously optimistic about the sector's 2025 prospects, despite potential inflation and new Federal Trade Commission rules.

• Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024

  

  From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.

• The Implications Of 2024's AI Rules And Regs For Patent Attys

  

  Christina Huang, John Smith and Devin Stein at Faegre Drinker review this year's new rules and regulations on the development and use of artificial intelligence — from the Biden administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the American Bar Association and various states — as they apply to patent attorneys.

• When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

  

  As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.