Expert Analysis

• Ch. 11 Ruling Offers A Drafting Guide For 3rd-Party Releases

  

  A recent Puerto Rico bankruptcy court decision in Grupo Hima San Pablo has provided important guidance and a concrete playbook for drafting consensual third-party releases following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

• 4 Words In A 1980 Law Could Redraw Bank Lending

  

  The Tenth Circuit's interpretation of a single phrase in the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act could reshape interstate bank lending, requiring banks and fintechs to document loan-making functions, monitor repayment triggers, and reassess true lender and contractual risks, say attorneys at Sheppard.

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  Law School's Missed Lessons: Cultivating Good Judgment

  

  Law schools generally overlook the role that solid judgment skills play in real-world practice, but attorneys can bridge the gap by strengthening their abilities to assess a case’s strengths and weaknesses, develop and execute effective strategies, and provide clear recommendations to clients, says Manny Caixeiro at Venable.

• A Lender's Guide To Fraud: Safeguarding Collateral

  

  Recent bankruptcies illustrate that lenders should strengthen credit covenants, collateral field exams and third-party verification in order to detect double-pledging, fabricated assets and documentation fraud enabled by artificial intelligence before losses become unrecoverable, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

• AG Watch: Oregon Targets Consumer Costs

  

  Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield's challenges to bank interest rate and escrow preemption signal heightened scrutiny of consumer costs for lending services, requiring financial institutions serving Oregon and other states with opt-out laws to reassess compliance risk, says Keturah Taylor at Cozen O'Connor.

• Money Transmission Issue Looms For Prediction Markets

  

  The circuit split recently created by the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Kalshi v. Assad has implications reaching beyond gaming regulation as, depending on the ultimate characterization of prediction market event contracts, platforms may face differing obligations under federal and state money transmission laws, say attorneys at Manatt.

• AI And AML: Governance Plays Critical Role In Innovation

  

  Financial institutions adopting artificial intelligence for anti-money laundering compliance should implement governance specific to individual use cases, testing, documentation and human oversight to manage regulatory and enforcement risks as agentic tools expand, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

• Lessons For Banks When A Fintech Partner Fails

  

  Recent fintech bankruptcies highlight best practices for how banks can strengthen third-party oversight, data-access rights, wind-down planning and customer communications to limit regulatory exposure and consumer harm when a fintech partner collapses, say attorneys at Barack Ferrazzano.

• Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

  

  The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

• AI And AML: Rulemakings Lean Into Responsible Innovation

  

  Recent federal rulemaking increasingly supports deployment of artificial intelligence tools for anti-money laundering compliance purposes, and institutions that build clear use and governance frameworks will be best positioned to defend programs when AI systems err, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

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  Juggling And Unicycling Make Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Because I juggle (sometimes with fire) and ride the unicycle, friends and family used to joke that I should join the circus, but I pursued the practice of law instead and learned that my hobbies benefit my profession in several important ways, says Morgan Eddy at Smith Currie.

• Planning For The Impact Of FinCEN's CTA Rollback

  

  The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent rollback of Corporate Transparency Act reporting obligations should reduce compliance costs, but its plans to revisit customer due diligence rules should prompt companies and financial institutions to reassess state beneficial ownership programs, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Fed's Capital Rule Proposal Could Help Banks Stay Mutual

  

  The Federal Reserve Board's recent proposal to comprehensively rewrite its capital rule and reduce procedural requirements for mutual holding companies would support community banking by allowing mutual institutions new ways to fund growth without converting to stock form, say attorneys at Nutter.

• SEC's Adit Case Maps 5 Fault Lines In Pre-IPO Funds

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent case brought against Adit Ventures Management offers fund counsel, limited partners and private market intermediaries a useful example of where a pre-initial public offering vehicle can fail, and how familiar fiduciary and anti-fraud principles apply, says Ben Dubin at VC Expert Services.

• 8(a) Firms Face New Risks From Pass-Through Arrangements

  

  ​Prime contractors and subcontractors with pass-through arrangements involving the Small Business Administration's 8(a) business development program should ensure they are prepared for heightened litigation risks created by the administration’s use of False Claims Act whistleblowers to target fraud in diversity, equity and inclusion programs, say attorneys at RJO.