Expert Analysis

• How Bank Lobby's Suit Tests OCC's Crypto Charter Powers

  

  The Independent Community Bankers of America’s recent lawsuit challenging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s ability to charter cryptocurrency companies marks another chapter in the struggle over the appropriate regulatory framework for digital assets, while raising a classic administrative law question at its most basic level, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

• New Calif. Law Ties Finance Contracts To State Licensing

  

  Under a California law taking effect in 2028, commercial financing licensing requirements have been substantially expanded — meaning that fintechs relying on limited regulatory enforcement will face risk from their own borrowers, who could use licensing failures to resist repayment, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

• Frozen Potato Ruling Highlights Data-Sharing Antitrust Risk

  

  A recent Illinois federal court decision allowing key claims against frozen potato producer competitors to proceed illustrates the vulnerability of highly concentrated industries to antitrust exposure through aggregated data sharing, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

• How FCC Robocall Rules Reshape TCPA Opt-Out Compliance

  

  The Federal Communications Commission's recent changes to its Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules may simplify how businesses process consumer opt outs for robocalls and robotexts, but they also introduce nuances to the opt-out process that may be challenging to operationalize, say attorneys at Hunton.

• PFAS Ruling Extinguishes A Policyholder Path To Coverage

  

  Following an Ohio federal court's recent ruling in Fire-Dex v. Admiral Insurance, policyholders whose PFAS exposure is concentrated in workplace products will see bids for coverage fail under the occupational-disease exclusion, giving insurers a defense well suited for the category of claims that has been most resistant to pollution exclusions, say attorneys at Benesch.

• AG Watch: Minnesota Takes Action To Secure Child Safety

  

  Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has built one of the most aggressive and structurally coherent child protection enforcement programs in the country, targeting consumer-facing sectors that his office has concluded prey on minors, such as tobacco and nicotine, social media platforms, and artificial intelligence, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

• Southern Glazer's Deal Tests FTC's Robinson-Patman Push

  

  A California federal court's recent decision in Federal Trade Commission v. Southern Glazer's secures a rare Robinson-Patman Act pricing limitations agreement, but conditions attached to the decision indicate that practitioners may only see a handful of new private RPA cases a year, says Steven Cernak at Bona Law.

• Opinion

  The SEC Crypto Proposal Rests On A Term No One Can Define

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently proposed Regulation Crypto Assets is its most ambitious attempt to set rules for the crypto industry, but its repeated use of the phrase "essential managerial efforts" means it perpetuates the uncertainty the regime is meant to cure, says Joseph A. Hall at Davis Polk.

• Navigating Dueling Regulations For Bank Investment Advisers

  

  Recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission examination findings show that investment advisory activities remain an active area of regulatory focus, and reinforce the need for banks to assess intersecting compliance obligations, say attorneys at Fredrikson.

• Series

  Being In The Peace Corps Made Me A Better Lawyer

  

  When I served in the Peace Corps, the people of the West African village where I was stationed helped me acclimate to my new surroundings and enabled me to develop problem-solving, teamwork and empathy skills that have bolstered my legal practice far beyond the ability to offer technical advice, says Brian Bewley at McGuireWoods.

• Opening Up Fraud Talks With Customers After SAR Guidance

  

  Federal financial regulators’ recent statement that the Bank Secrecy Act permits financial institutions to discuss potential fraud with customers, provided they don’t reveal the existence of any suspicious activity reports, means banks that have been tighter-lipped than regulations require can consider passing additional useful information on to customers, say attorneys at MoFo.

• FTC's BOTS Act Blitz Raises Stakes For Ticket Resellers

  

  Recent lawsuits and enforcement actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission under the Better Online Ticket Sales Act signal sustained ticket industry enforcement, but industry actors can reduce risk by screening practices and partnerships related to ticket purchasing, and evaluating the scale of their ticket operations, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

• 5 Ways Trial Attys Can Build Mental Health Counseling Skills

  

  Studies demonstrate that many attorneys are not equipped to respond adequately to trauma exposure, but trial lawyers can build several key skills drawn from mental health counseling into their interactions with clients and colleagues, from cognitive reappraisal to boundary setting, says Alexandra Echsner-Rasmussen at Aylstock Witkin.

• White House AI Accord Could Reshape Reasonable Care

  

  President Donald Trump's recent joint commitment on frontier responsibilities — signed by leaders of Google, Anthropic, Meta and more — may pose legal risks for nonsignatories, as businesses using artificial intelligence may find the accord's safeguards cited against them as evidence of what reasonable care requires, says Peter Schildkraut at Arnold & Porter.

• AGs' Paramount Settlement Reflects States' Growing Influence

  

  The recent California federal court approval of the California v. Paramount Skydance settlement illustrates how state attorneys general are gaining new independence and influence, and companies must account for state enforcement when assessing merger risks ahead of a deal's closing, say attorneys at Norton Rose.