Expert Analysis

• How Axing SEC Trade-Through Rule Could Reshape Markets

  

  The proposed elimination of a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that mandates a price benchmark for equity securities trades could allow blockchain-based trades to compete with legacy frameworks in registered markets, potentially serving as a test case for updated regulatory models, say Alex Zozos at Superstate, and Lewis Rinaudo Cohen and Edward Leaf at Cahill Gordon.

• What Regulatory 'Reputation Risk' Purge Means For Banks

  

  Banks should expect closer scrutiny of account closures and service denials after federal regulators recently stripped "reputation risk" from supervisory guidance, and should tie customer decisions to documented, objective legal and financial criteria to protect against debanking-related enforcement, say attorneys at Troutman.

• Navigating The Limits Of Calif. Justices' Public Pension Ruling

  

  Despite the California Supreme Court's recent holding that counties and cities wield discretion over classification and salary decisions for their public retirement board staff, it is important to remember that such authority is not unchecked as unreasonable rejections remain subject to judicial review, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

• NYDFS Swedbank Order Offers Lessons On Candor

  

  The New York State Department of Financial Services' consent order with Swedbank reflects the department's broad view of its investigative authority, emphasizes transparency, and underscores the risks of intrusive investigations that can occur if a regulator believes that it was misled, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

• Rethinking Risk And Value In Private Credit Disputes

  

  Private credit disputes will increasingly turn on whether lenders recognized enterprise-value risk and updated marks as borrower conditions changed, making valuation processes, trigger frameworks and portfolio oversight critical for investors and litigants, say Isil Erel at the Ohio State University and Farooq Javed at The Brattle Group.

• How To Limit Trading Risk When AI Accesses Nonpublic Info

  

  Financial firms' increasing adoption of artificial intelligence raises questions about how to control AI tools' access to nonpublic information to mitigate the risk of a trading, surveillance or enforcement problem, but designing policies to prevent misuse may help, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Lessons From 5 Months Of DOJ Corporate Policy Deals

  

  Recent declinations and prosecution agreements between the U.S. Department of Justice and corporations since the March unveiling of the corporate enforcement and voluntary disclosure policy provide takeaways for management considering how to respond to corporate misconduct, says Brendan Quigley at Baker Botts.

• 5 Financial Statement Fraud Red Flags To Spot Post-Sripetch

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Sripetch v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that disgorgement exists to strip a wrongdoer of unjust enrichment, not merely to compensate victims for what they lost, shifting the work at the center of securities fraud cases in five ways, says Rand Manasse at Green Lane Partners.

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  Being A Sommelier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Being a sommelier has quietly shaped how I practice law by changing the way I think, communicate and connect with people, and offers a constant reminder that expertise is about making your knowledge useful and accessible to others, says Kara Du at Sheppard.

• Inside SEC Crypto Vault Statement's Securities Law Warning

  

  Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's posture toward crypto products and activities has been more favorable under the current administration, Commissioner Hester Peirce's recent statement on crypto vaults highlights why that posture does not eliminate the need for careful securities law analysis, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Assessing The Benefits Of Fla.'s Newest Business Structure

  

  As of July 1, Florida business owners can create protected series LLCs to shield assets from liability while avoiding increased costs and wasted time, but burdensome recordkeeping obligations are crucial to maintaining the very protection that makes them attractive in the first place, says Gregory Ritter at Moritt Hock.

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  Teaching SEC Investigations Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Instructing a law school course on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations has made me a more thoughtful, deliberate practitioner because it requires me to continually reassess and challenge what I know about securities law enforcement, how I know it and how best to explain it, says David Chase at Miami Law.

• Employer Lessons From Apple Ruling Resolving OT Question

  

  In Costa v. Apple, a California federal court recently handed employers a win on a previously unresolved wage and hour question, offering a reminder that favorable outcomes on novel issues often hinge on the specific facts of a company's own program and compliance efforts, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

• Why The 2nd Circ. Upheld Beneficial Ownership Blockers

  

  The Second Circuit recently held that a properly drafted contractual blocker — which caps an investor's beneficial ownership below 10% and automatically voids any transaction that would breach the cap — shields the investor from Section 16(b) liability, demonstrating that blockers have teeth, say attorneys at Sheppard.

• High Court, SEC Proposals Set Stage For Further Fund Reform

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in FS Credit Opportunities v. Saba Capital Master Fund and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed rulemaking packages aimed at public market reforms provide a constructive backdrop for considering additional innovations to the listed fund structure, say attorneys at Debevoise.