Expert Analysis

• Cannabis Moneyball Has Begun, And The Game Is Heating Up

  

  The burgeoning cannabis industry is much like baseball in its early years, with several state players working to come online, and rules being hammered out by state and federal regulators — though it will take some strategic moneyball for the industry to grow market share, earn customer loyalty and make it to home base, say John Oberle and Kristina Dahmann at Ice Miller.

• Perspectives

  ABA's New Anti-Bias Curriculum Rule Is Insufficient

  

  The American Bar Association's recently approved requirement that law schools educate students on bias, cross-cultural competency and racism, while a step in the right direction, fails to publicly acknowledge and commit to eradicating the systemic racial inequality in our legal system, says criminal defense attorney Donna Mulvihill Fehrmann.

• DOJ's Crypto Team Signals New Era Of Enforcement

  

  A series of recent developments at the newly formed National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team demonstrates that the U.S. Department of Justice is intensifying its enforcement strategy as the use of virtual currency moves further into the mainstream, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

• Why US Businesses May Stop Accepting Cryptocurrency

  

  New reporting requirements from the IRS and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network could be game changers that dramatically curtail U.S. businesses that accept cryptocurrency, says cybersecurity consultant John Reed Stark.

• Product Liability Risks Cannabis Companies Must Consider

  

  The expanding and profitable markets for cannabis and CBD products, coupled with unknowns regarding potential side effects and safety, make future product liability litigation likely, so companies in this space must understand where the legal risks lie and how to prepare for them, say David Kerschner and Aaron Levine at Arnold & Porter.

• Opinion

  Implementing McGirt Can Provide Tribal Self-Determination

  

  Following a recent string of tribal reservation rulings from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, the federal government should apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma in order to allow for meaningful tribal self-determination in the provision of criminal justice, says Stephen Greetham at the Chickasaw Nation.

• Series

  Embracing ESG: CBRE GC Talks Effective Compliance Emails

  

  Good corporate governance requires communicating expectations for ethical conduct, but compliance emails need not be overly technical — a relatable story told in simple language with humility and respect can create internal communications that drive home the message, says Laurence Midler at CBRE.

• Aviation Watch: Dealing With Air Rage In The COVID-19 Era

  

  In the age of COVID-19, unruly passengers have become a bigger threat to airline security than terrorism — but neither airport screening nor prosecution after the fact have effectively addressed the problem, so policymakers must explore other solutions, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

• New DOJ Corporate Crime Approach May Deter Self-Reporting

  

  Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco's recent unveiling of a tougher white collar enforcement approach at the U.S. Department of Justice — focusing on corporate recidivism and compliance monitors — could result in companies being less willing to self-report wrongdoing or enter into resolutions with the government, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• Why State Law Noncompliance Is Federally Risky For Pot Biz

  

  The Sixth Circuit's recent U.S. v. Trevino decision, affirming federal marijuana convictions against an unlicensed Michigan dispensary owner, shows how businesses not in compliance with state medical marijuana law risk losing the protection of an appropriations bill amendment that prohibits federal prosecution, says Lloyd Pierre-Louis at Dickinson Wright.

• Opinion

  High Court Should Safeguard Tribal Children In ICWA Case

  

  With Brackeen v. Zinke on its doorstep, the U.S. Supreme Court must use this opportunity to reaffirm the Indian Child Welfare Act in order to uphold U.S. treaty obligations with tribal nations and protect Native American children, says Angelique EagleWoman at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

• Perspectives

  Why Law Schools Should Require Justice Reform Curriculum

  

  Criminal defense attorney Donna Mulvihill Fehrmann argues that law schools have an obligation to address widespread racial and economic disparities in the U.S. legal system by mandating first-year coursework on criminal justice reform that educates on prosecutorial misconduct, wrongful convictions, defense 101 and more.

• How To Navigate California's New Intrastate CBD Route

  

  Businesses and consumers should prepare for rigorous compliance checks on manufacture, distribution and retail sale of consumer products made with CBD and other hemp-derived cannabinoids. following California's new law opening the potentially enormous market for these items, says Christian Foote at Clark Hill.

• Opinion

  Cannabis Fraud Decision Shows Need For Sentencing Reform

  

  A New York federal court's recent decision in U.S. v. Akhavan, holding a $17 million forfeiture request for cannabis bank fraud unconstitutionally excessive, reveals the need to reform sentencing laws that overemphasize crimes' financial elements even when tenuously related to defendants' intent, say Lloyd Liu and Hilary LoCicero at Bennett LoCicero.

• Lifting The Veil On The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket

  

  Following headline-making U.S. Supreme Court emergency orders on Texas’ new abortion law, COVID-19 restrictions and more, Vetan Kapoor, counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, examines the court's so-called shadow docket and its decision-making procedures, including questions around transparency, timing and precedential effect.