Expert Analysis

• 6 Questions We Should Ask About The Trump Trade Deals

  

  Whenever the text becomes available, certain questions will help determine whether the Trump administration’s trade deals with U.S. trading partners have been crafted to form durable economic relationships, or ephemeral ties likely to break upon interpretive disagreement or a change in political will, says Ted Posner at Baker Botts.

• Justices' Age Verification Ruling May Lead To More State Laws

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton ruling, permitting a Texas law requiring certain websites to verify users’ ages, significantly expands states' ability to regulate minors’ social media access, further complicating the patchwork of internet privacy laws, say attorneys at Troutman.

• The Pros, Cons Of A Single Commissioner Leading The CFTC

  

  While a single-member U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission may require fewer resources and be more efficient, its internal decision-making process would be less transparent to those outside the agency, reflect less compromise between competing viewpoints and provide the public with less predictability, says former CFTC Commissioner Dan Berkovitz.

• E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

  

  In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Opinion

  Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

  

  After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

• Now Is The Time To Prep For SEC's New Data Breach Regs

  

  Recent remarks from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s acting director of the Division of Examinations suggest that the commission will support exams for compliance with its new data breach detection and reporting regulations, and a looming deadline means investment advisers and broker-dealers must act now to update their processes, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

• Corp. Human Rights Regulatory Landscape Is Fragmented

  

  Given the complexity of compliance with nations' overlapping human rights laws, multinational companies need to be cognizant of the evolving approaches to modern slavery transparency, and proposals that could reduce mandatory due diligence and reporting requirements, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

• Impending Quality Control Standards Pose Risks For Auditors

  

  Public accounting firms will need to comply with new standards aimed at strengthening their quality control systems by the end of this year, a significant challenge sure to increase costs, individual liability and regulatory scrutiny, say Kelly Bossard at FTI Consulting and Mike Plotnick at King & Spalding.

• Opinion

  Premerger Settlements Don't Meet Standard For Bribery

  

  Claims that Paramount’s decision to settle a lawsuit with President Donald Trump while it was undergoing a premerger regulatory review amounts to a quid pro quo misconstrue bribery law and ignore how modern legal departments operate, says Ediberto Román at the Florida International University College of Law.

• Texas Med Spas Must Prepare For 2 New State Laws

  

  Two new laws in Texas — regulating elective intravenous therapy and reforming healthcare noncompetes — mark a pivotal shift in the regulatory framework for medical spas in the state, which must proactively adapt their operations and contractual practices, says Brad Cook at Munsch Hardt.

• Series

  Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

• Forced Labor Bans Hold Steady Amid Shifts In Global Trade

  

  As businesses try to navigate shifting regulatory trends affecting human rights and sustainability, forced labor import bans present a zone of relative stability, notwithstanding outstanding questions about the future of enforcement, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

• Grappling With Workforce-Related Immigration Enforcement

  

  To withstand the tightening of workforce-related immigration rules and the enforcement uptick we are seeing in the U.S. and elsewhere, companies must strike a balance between responding quickly to regulatory changes, and developing proactive strategies that minimize risk, say attorneys at Fragomen.

• Opinion

  The SEC Should Embrace Tokenized Equity, Not Strangle It

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should grant no-action relief to firms ready to pilot tokenized equity trading, not delay innovation by heeding protectionist industry arguments, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.

• What To Do When Congress And DOJ Both Come Knocking

  

  As recently seen in the news, clients may find themselves facing parallel U.S. Department of Justice and congressional investigations, requiring a comprehensive response that considers the different challenges posed by each, say attorneys at Friedman Kaplan.