Expert Analysis

• 2025 Brought A New Paradigm For Federal Banking Regulation

  

  A series of thematic shifts defined banking regulation in 2025, including a fundamental reform of prudential supervision, a strategic easing of capital constraints, steps to streamline merger reviews, and a new framework for fair access and entrants seeking to offer banking services, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

• How Cos. Can Roll With NY's New Algorithmic Pricing Rules

  

  Despite uncertainty from New York’s new ban on artificial intelligence and computer algorithms for setting rents, and efforts to further restrict individualizing prices based on consumers' personal data, property managers, software providers and merchants can take several steps to stay compliant, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

  

  Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.

• How CFTC Enforcement Shifted In 2025 And What's Next

  

  The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pivoted sharply under acting Chairman Caroline Pham in 2025, resulting in a pared-back enforcement docket, sweeping policy changes intended to provide greater transparency, and a renewed focus on fraud prevention and maintaining market integrity for the CFTC's core markets, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

• Opinion

  A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

  

  To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

• 9th Circ. Ruling Clarifies Auditor Liability For IPO Errors

  

  The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Hunt v. PricewaterhouseCoopers elucidates the legal standard for claims against auditors in connection with a company's initial public offering, confirming that audit opinions are subjective and becoming the first circuit to review this precise question since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Omnicare ruling, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• Series

  The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Integrating Practice Groups

  

  Enacting unified leadership and consistent client service standards ensures law firm practice groups connect and collaborate around shared goals, turning a law firm merger into a platform for growth rather than a period of disruption, says Brian Catlett at Fennemore Craig.

• Opinion

  Supreme Court Term Limits Would Carry Hidden Risk

  

  While proposals for limiting the terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices are popular, a steady stream of relatively young, highly marketable ex-justices with unique knowledge and influence entering the marketplace of law and politics could create new problems, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

• Navigating A Sea Change In Rent Algorithm Regulation

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice's proposed settlement of the RealPage lawsuit represents a pivotal moment in the regulation of algorithmic rent-setting, restraining use of these tools amid a growing trend of regulatory limits on use of algorithmic data and methodologies in establishing housing rental prices. say attorneys at Wilson Elser.

• The SEC Whistleblower Program A Year Into 2nd Trump Admin

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's whistleblower program continues to operate as designed, but its internal cadence, scrutiny of claims and operational structure reflect a period of recalibration, with precision mattering more than ever, say attorneys Scott Silver and David Chase.

• Key Crypto Class Action Trends And Rulings In 2025

  

  As the law continued to take shape in the growing area of crypto-assets, this year saw a jump in crypto class action litigation, including noteworthy decisions on motions to compel arbitration and class certification, according to Justin Donoho at Duane Morris.

• Calling The AI Witness In 2026's Merger Reviews

  

  Organizations that anticipate facing a second request or merger clearance review in 2026 should collect artificial intelligence artifacts as part of discovery, and distinguish between human-generated and machine-generated materials, says Sean McDermott at FTI Consulting.

• How New SEC Policies Shift Shareholder Proposal Landscape

  

  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins' recent remarks provide a road map for public companies to exclude nonbinding shareholder proposals from proxy materials, which would disrupt the mechanism that has traditionally defined how shareholders and companies engage on governance matters, say attorneys at Gunderson.

• Series

  Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.

• How 11th Circ.'s Qui Tam Review Could Affect FCA Litigation

  

  On Dec. 12, the Eleventh Circuit will hear arguments in U.S. ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, setting the stage for a decision that could drastically reduce enforcement under the False Claims Act, and presenting an opportunity to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of the act's whistleblower provisions, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.