Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  CBP's $166B Tariff Refund Portal Needs 4 Safeguards

  

  Before launching its automated web portal to process tariff-refund disbursements on April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection should apply the expensive lessons learned from the pandemic-era employee retention credit, says Peter Gariepy at RubinBrown.

• How CFPB Opinion Changes Earned Wage Access Definition

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent conclusion that earned wage access is not "credit" for purposes of Regulation Z of the Truth in Lending Act improves on prior guidance on these products in several meaningful ways, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

• Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: April Lessons

  

  In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from three recent rulings involving allegations of racial discrimination in mortgage applications, health insurance networks and actual cash value losses.

• How Developers Can Leverage The New Markets Tax Credit

  

  An increased regulatory focus on affordable housing raises important legal considerations for structuring transactions using the oft overlooked New Markets Tax Credit, which can fill a gap in affordable for-sale housing financing by lowering community developer costs but comes with unique compliance, structuring and documentation demands, say attorneys at Stinson.

• Insights From OppFi Suit On Building Calif. Bank Partnerships

  

  A California state judge’s tentative ruling, walking through business evidence that Utah bank FinWise was not a “rent-a-bank” that fintech firm Opportunity Financial used as a front to dodge interest rate caps on in-state lenders, offers a helpful road map for structuring legally compliant bank-fintech partnerships under California law, say attorneys at Manatt.

• 5 Takeaways From Capital Proposals For Community Banks

  

  While much commentary has centered on how federal regulators' proposed capital overhaul would affect the biggest banks, there are several aspects that regional and community institutions should note too, including the potential benefits of the expanded risk-based approach and reduced capital requirements for mortgage origination, say attorneys at Covington.

• Opinion

  State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

  

  Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

• The Federal Circuit's Evolving View Of Trade Secrets

  

  In recent years, the Federal Circuit's approach to defining "readily ascertainable" information and determining sufficiency of trade secret identification has shifted, trending away from other circuits and potentially presenting a higher bar for trade secrets plaintiffs, say attorneys at MoFo.

• Calculating Damages In IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation

  

  To calculate damages in the spate of refund litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the central question will be how to determine where in the supply chain their economic burden ultimately came to rest, say analysts at Charles River Associates.

• Mortgage EO Casts Wide Net In Push To Ease Lending Rules

  

  A recent executive order targeting mortgage credit access states an intent to promote competition among all types of lenders and is notable for its breadth, resetting regulatory expectations in a number of areas including origination, digitization and licensing, says Kara Ward at Baker Donelson.

• 'Made In America' Rules Raise Stakes For Gov't Contractors

  

  The convergence of widely varying "buy American" requirements, increased enforcement efforts and continuing regulatory attempts to limit foreign sourcing suggests that government contractors should carefully review their supply chain and country-of-origin compliance to remain competitive, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• Recent Bank Resolution Filings Stress Readiness Over Docs

  

  Against the backdrop of banking regulators' recent emphasis on institutional readiness in the event of a bank failure, a review of more than a dozen public resolution plan submissions points to an immediate future in which regulators and banks alike prioritize operational preparedness over extensive documentation, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

• Series

  Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

• NY Tax Talk: Calculating Tiered Partnership Income

  

  Attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland discuss how the potential impact recent New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal decision in Matter of Cantor Fitzgerald holding that the entity approach should be used by tiered partnerships to compute unincorporated business tax liability, why the issue of the proper approach remains unsettled and the broader implications for federal conformity and administrative agency deference.

• Fair Housing Takeaways From Colony Ridge Settlement

  

  The recent settlement agreement between Colony Ridge Developments, the U.S. government and the state of Texas — perhaps the first settlement involving unfair lending and housing practices during the second Trump administration — reflects current enforcement priorities and sheds light on shifting compliance risks, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.