Expert Analysis

• Border Czar Bribery Probe Spotlights 'Public Official' Scope

  

  Reports that border czar Tom Homan allegedly accepted cash from a federal agent prior to his appointment raise important questions for government contractors about when a private citizen can be prosecuted as a public official under federal bribery laws, say Gregory Rosen at Rogers Joseph and Jason Manning at Levy Firestone.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

  

  Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

• Organ Transplant System Reforms Mark Regulatory Overhaul

  

  Recent oversight, enforcement and operational developments in the U.S. organ procurement and transplantation system, alongside challenges like the federal shutdown, highlight heightened regulatory scrutiny and the need for compliance to maintain public trust, say attorneys at Hall Render.

• Federal Grantees May Soon Face More Limitations On Speech

  

  If courts accept the administration’s new interpretation of preexisting case law, which attempts to graft onto grant recipients the existing limitations on government contractors' free speech, a more deferential standard may soon apply in determining whether an agency’s refusal or termination of a grant was in violation of the First Amendment, say attorneys at Venable.

• Strategies For Merchants As Payment Processing Costs Rise

  

  As current economic pressures and rising card processing costs threaten to decrease margins for businesses, retail merchants should consider restructuring how payments are made and who processes them within the evolving legal framework, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

• 7 Areas To Watch As FTC Ends Push For A Noncompete Ban

  

  ​​​​​​As the government ends its push for a nationwide noncompete ban, ​employers who do not want to be caught without protections for legitimate business interests should explore supplementing their noncompetes by deploying elements of seven practical, enforceable tools, including nondisclosure agreements and garden leave strategies, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

• Shifting Crypto Landscape Complicates Tornado Cash Verdict

  

  Amid shifts in the decentralized finance regulatory landscape, the mixed verdict in the prosecution of Tornado Cash’s founder may represent the high-water mark in a cryptocurrency enforcement strategy from which the U.S. Department of Justice has begun to retreat, say attorneys at Venable.

• Opinion

  NYC Landlords Should Fight Unlawful Occupancy With 2 Laws

  

  New York City property owners should proactively use the Multiple Dwelling Law and Administrative Code to maintain the integrity of the city's housing market, safeguard tenant safety and keep unlawful occupancy disputes out of the already overwhelmed New York City Housing Court, say attorneys at Rosenberg & Estis.

• 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

  

  As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

• Blockchain May Offer The Investor Protection SEC Seeks

  

  As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moves to control the ballooning costs of the consolidated audit trail and attempts to finally give regulators a unified, real-time picture of trading, blockchain demonstrates what it looks like when that kind of transparency is a baseline feature, not an aspirational overlay, says Tuongvy Le at Veda Tech Labs.

• Del. Dispatch: Chancery Expands On Caremark Red Flags

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery’s recent Brewer v. Turner decision, allowing a shareholder derivative suit against the board of Regions Bank to proceed, takes a more expansive view as to what constitutes red flags, bad faith and corporate trauma in Caremark claims, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

• Opinion

  It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

  

  After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

• Prepping For Website Automatic Opt-Out Signal Mandates

  

  Maryland's Online Data Privacy Act, which, along with a growing number of U.S. states, requires businesses to offer mechanisms in their privacy policies or online interfaces to allow individuals to opt out of data collection, marks a new frontier in consumer privacy, raising both technical and legal risks, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

• Tips For Cos. Crafting Enforceable Online Arbitration Clauses

  

  Recent rulings from the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California indicate that courts are carefully examining the enforceability of online arbitration clauses, so businesses should review the design of their websites and consider specific language next to the "purchase" button, say attorneys at DTO Law.

• Who Will Regulate Insider Trading In Prediction Markets?

  

  The possibilities for insider trading have greatly expanded in the brave new world of prediction markets, and both the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and U.S. Department of Justice could bring enforcement actions in the space, so businesses should revisit their insider trading and confidential information policies, say attorneys at Fenwick.