Expert Analysis

• How Banks Can Apply FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Relief

  

  A recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit order limiting the circumstances under which banks should identify and verify beneficial owners may allow banks to tailor their approach to verification compliance, but only after reviewing customer due diligence policies and evaluating alignment with their risk profiles, say attorneys at Cleary.

• How CFTC Prediction Market Agenda Shifts The Playing Field

  

  Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig recently signaled that a more welcoming regulatory landscape for prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket is coming soon, but we can expect a hotly contested regulatory and legal environment with important implications for the platforms, state regulators and market participants, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Opinion

  3 Reasons We Need Digital Asset Market Structure Legislation

  

  As bills to regulate the cryptocurrency industry risk stalling in Congress, policymakers and market participants must remember why a durable statutory framework, not governance by agency action, is key to unlocking the full potential of the U.S. digital asset ecosystem, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

• Series

  Volunteering With Scouts Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Serving as an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop reaffirmed several skills and principles crucial to lawyering — from the importance of disconnecting to the value of morality, says Michael Warren at McManis Faulkner.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: In Court, It's About Storytelling

  

  Law school provides doctrine, cases and hypotheticals, but when lawyers step into the courtroom, they must learn the importance of clarity, credibility, memorability and preparation — in other words, how to tell simple, effective stories, say Nicholas Steverson and Danielle Trujillo at Wheeler Trigg, and Lisa DeCaro at Courtroom Performance.

• How Leveraged Lending Pivot May Alter Bank Risk Oversight

  

  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent withdrawal of leveraged lending guidance introduces several principles that may allow banks to better apply enterprisewide risk management programs and potentially create additional competition in the private credit loan market, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

• What Kalshi Cases Reveal About State Authority, Regulation

  

  Prediction markets like Kalshi have ignited complex legal battles that get to the heart of how novel financial products intersect with traditional state enforcement authority, and courts are already beginning to divide over whether federal law preempts state enforcement authority restricting these offerings, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

• Aligning Microsoft Tools With NYC Bar AI Recording Guidance

  

  The New York City Bar Association’s recently issued formal opinion, providing ethical guidance on artificial intelligence-assisted recording, transcription and summarization, raises immediate questions about data governance and e-discovery for companies that use Microsoft 365 and Copilot, say Staci Kaliner, Martin Tully and John Collins at Redgrave.

• 5 Different AI Systems Raise Distinct Privilege Issues

  

  A New York federal court’s recent U.S. v. Heppner decision, holding that a defendant’s use of Claude was not privileged, only addressed one narrow artificial intelligence system, but lawyers must recognize that the spectrum of AI tools raises different confidentiality and privilege questions, says Heidi Nadel at HP.

• Fed's Abbreviated Supervisory Statement Packs A Big Punch

  

  Language used in a recent three-page statement from the Federal Reserve Board charts a very clear shift in the supervision of banks and bank holding companies, departing from traditional "Fed speak" and emphasizing material financial risks in exams, says Joseph Silvia at Duane Morris.

• Why Meme Coin Ruling May Amplify Crypto Legislation Push

  

  A Florida federal court's recent decision in De Ford v. Koutolas, declining to rule definitively whether LGBCoin is a security, is notable for how it refused to give deference to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission guidance on meme coins, which may strengthen the ongoing industry push for clear rules-based regulatory frameworks, say attorneys at Goodwin.

• Opinion

  AI-Assisted Arbitration Needs Safeguards To Ensure Fairness

  

  As tribunals and arbitral institutions increasingly use artificial intelligence tools in their decision-making processes, ​​​​​​​clear disclosure standards and procedural safeguards are necessary to ensure that efficiency gains do not erode the fairness principles on which arbitration depends, says Alexander Lima at Wesco International.

• Reforms To Bank Agency Appeal Processes May Boost Usage

  

  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent proposed changes to their respective appeals processes are likely to increase banks' filing of supervisory appeals, thanks to the reinforcement that the appeals will not be met with retaliation, says Brendan Clegg at Luse Gorman.

• Series

  Playing Piano Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Playing piano and practicing law share many parallels relating to managing complexity: Just as hearing an entire musical passage in my head allows me to reliably deliver the message, thinking about the audience's impression helps me create a legal narrative that keeps the reader engaged, says Michael Shepherd at Fish & Richardson.

• SEC's Morocoin Case Presents A Crypto Jurisdiction Dilemma

  

  The allegations in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Morocoin describe serious fraud and resulting harm, but it's less clear how the facts establish that the fraud involved a securities transaction, particularly given the changes to how the SEC views investment contracts involving crypto-assets and the application of the Howey test, says Dave Hirsch at McGuireWoods.