FTC Focus: Antitrust Spotlight On 'Acqui-Hires,' Noncompetes

A recent Federal Trade Commission focus on labor issues, like 'acqui-hire' deals, in which only a company's workforce is acquired, and noncompetes, shows that the agency is scrutinizing these issues on a case-by-case basis, necessitating a meaningful look at these transactions, particularly in the technology and artificial intelligence industries, say attorneys at Proskauer.

A Single DOJ Corporate Enforcement Policy Raises Questions

The U.S. Department of Justice's soon-to-be-released uniform corporate criminal enforcement policy could address the challenges raised by the current decentralized approach, but it will need to answer a number of potential questions amid scant details, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

WTO Most‑Favored‑Nation Reform May Hold Promise

When the World Trade Organization meets this month, it is expected to debate changing the most-favored-nation rule, a carefully calibrated loosening of which may be justified if it enables deeper liberalization and regulatory cooperation, says Alan Yanovich at Akin.

5 Different AI Systems Raise Distinct Privilege Issues

A New York federal court’s recent U.S. v. Heppner decision, holding that a defendant’s use of Claude was not privileged, only addressed one narrow artificial intelligence system, but lawyers must recognize that the spectrum of AI tools raises different confidentiality and privilege questions, says Heidi Nadel at HP.

Opinion

AI-Assisted Arbitration Needs Safeguards To Ensure Fairness

As tribunals and arbitral institutions increasingly use artificial intelligence tools in their decision-making processes, ​​​​​​​clear disclosure standards and procedural safeguards are necessary to ensure that efficiency gains do not erode the fairness principles on which arbitration depends, says Alexander Lima at Wesco International.

Paramount-WBD Deal Would Widen Net For Antitrust Scrutiny

The fresh likelihood of a merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery raises the prospect of added intervention from the U.S. Department of Justice due to the companies' overlaps in key markets, and may signal expanded DOJ scrutiny of potential anticompetitive effects on supply chains, says Shubha Ghosh at the Syracuse University College of Law.

Planning For M&A Complexity After New State 'Mini-HSR' Laws

After the recent enactment of California's mini-HSR law, and with Indiana poised to pass its own, requiring the submission of Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notifications to state attorneys general, practitioners should expand their deal planning to include state-by-state reportability as more states adopt similar mandatory merger-notification requirements, say attorneys at McDermott.

Series

Playing Piano Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing piano and practicing law share many parallels relating to managing complexity: Just as hearing an entire musical passage in my head allows me to reliably deliver the message, thinking about the audience's impression helps me create a legal narrative that keeps the reader engaged, says Michael Shepherd at Fish & Richardson.

AI Trade Secret Conviction Highlights Espionage Risks

A California federal court's conviction last month of an ex-Google engineer who stole artificial intelligence trade secrets for the benefit of China is the latest in a series of foreign economic espionage cases and illustrates the urgent need for U.S. companies to implement robust security measures, says attorney Peter Toren.

Considering The Prospects Of A Robinson-Patman Act Revival

Following a flurry of activity under the Biden administration, Federal Trade Commission price-discrimination cases under the Robinson-Patman Act are at a crossroads, and state-level enforcement could become the next frontier in this area, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

Rebuttal

Substantial Legal Grounds Supported HPE-Juniper Challenge

A recent Law360 guest article argued that the Hewlett Packard-Juniper Networks settlement was part of a trend of antitrust agencies reanchoring themselves in evidence by resisting ill-founded merger challenges, but the complaint against HPE-Juniper actually relied on substantial legal grounds and modern analytical frameworks, says attorney Richard Wolfram.

How States Are Using Antitrust Principles In Climate Litigation

While recent climate-related cases brought by state attorneys general in Michigan, Nebraska and Texas take different ideological positions, they are united by their embrace of classical antitrust principles and the traditional consumer welfare standard — but these cases deploy this framework in new ways, says Gwendolyn Lindsay Cooley at Lindsay Cooley Law.

AI-Generated Doc Ruling Guides Attys On Privilege Risks

A New York federal court's ruling, in U.S. v. Heppner, that documents created by a defendant using an artificial intelligence tool were not privileged, can serve as a guide to attorneys for retaining attorney-client or work-product privilege over client documents created with AI, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Leadership Strategy After Day 1

For law firm leaders, ensuring a newly combined law firm lives up to its promise, both in its first days of operation and well after, includes tough decisions, clear and specific communication, and cheerleading, says Peter Michaud at Ballard Spahr.

How New HSR Thresholds, Fees Could Affect Enforcement

While the Federal Trade Commission's new thresholds and filing fees for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act are not expected to materially affect the number of required HSR filings, or the percentage or focus of second requests, increased filing fees may give agencies dedicated resources to bring enforcement actions, say attorneys at Sidley.