Expert Analysis

• FinCEN Scam Alerts Push Banks To Rethink AML Monitoring

  

  Recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Network guidance on digital asset scams suggests that future anti-money laundering examinations may focus less on whether institutions detect the movement of criminal proceeds and more on whether they can identify fraud schemes before victims suffer catastrophic losses, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

• How AI Could Help Judges Spot Their Own Biases

  

  In close cases where there’s room for discretion, artificial intelligence could challenge judges’ implicit biases by running counterfactual tests at scale — but any judicial use of such tools would need guardrails, say Arnold Peter at Peter Law and Nancy Rapoport at University of Nevada.

• Assessing Hidden Risk Of Administrative Agency Settlements

  

  Though administrative resolutions of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations may seem preferable to settled federal court actions, the possibility that private plaintiffs may use commission orders in follow-on litigation poses an extra risk, increasing the importance of negotiating the settlement's form and language, say attorneys at Debevoise.

• Parsing The Lowest SEC Enforcement Stats In Over A Decade

  

  Statistics show that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought a historically low number of enforcement actions during Paul Atkins' first full fiscal year as chairman, delivering on his promise to reduce enforcement in program areas focused on recordkeeping and other technical violations, say attorneys at Covington.

• Bid Protest Spotlight: Bait-And-Switch, Scope, Performance

  

  In this month's bid protest roundup, Michael Ols at MoFo offers takeaways from recent decisions examining bait-and-switch protest claims, the scope of a contractor teaming agreement and the use of an affiliate’s past performance.

• Coinbase Ruling Showcases A Texas Reincorporation Benefit

  

  The Texas Business Court's recent decision in Guillaume v. Armstrong, finding that a shareholder's claims against Coinbase, originally incorporated in Delaware, are nonetheless subject to Texas presuit demand law if made after reincorporation, provides a procedural advantage for companies that have made the move, say attorneys at Cleary.

• 3 Eligibility Rulings Show Risks Of Broad Claim Constructions

  

  Several recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, including its ruling in Berkeley v. W.W. Grainger, highlight the importance of identifying the inventive aspects of a patent early in the case so that patentees do not inadvertently read the inventive features out of their own claims, say attorneys at MoFo.

• Midterm Elections Outlook For Financial Services

  

  A change in congressional control after the upcoming midterm elections could bring about slower regulatory approvals, intensified oversight and shifting enforcement priorities for the financial services industry, say attorneys at Covington.

• New Manhattan DA Task Force Puts Antitrust In Its Crosshairs

  

  The Manhattan District Attorney's Office's new corporate crime and antitrust task force is adding local criminal enforcement to a field long led by federal authorities, meaning companies need to account for potential parallel federal and state antitrust investigations when responding to misconduct, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• 3 Strategies To Reduce AI Sycophancy In Legal Work

  

  The tendency of generative artificial intelligence models to tell users what they want to hear can reinforce attorneys’ confirmation bias when testing the strength of arguments, and it can’t simply be prompted away — but a few practices can help mitigate it, says Michael Ott at Ice Miller.

• DOJ Directive Gives Contractors A Fraud Risk Road Map

  

  For government contractors, the 10 factors described in the U.S. Department of Justice's recent corporate fraud enforcement directive function as a de facto scoring rubric for internal audits that mirrors what prosecutors will prioritize, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

• Key Risk Assessment Gaps To Note From NY Cyber Guidance

  

  Covered entities should take a fresh look at the compliance gaps flagged in recent New York State Department of Financial Services guidance on "deficient cybersecurity programs," particularly around scope, asset inventories and documentation, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

• Where SEC's Transfer Agent Plan Would Change Compliance

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent proposal to update the federal regulatory framework for transfer agents would comprehensively modernize the old task-specific regime by centering speed, operational resilience, compliance governance and technology-neutral recordkeeping, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• 2nd Circ. EFAA Ruling Shifts Employer Litigation Strategy

  

  In Diaz-Roa v. Hermes Law, the Second Circuit recently held that, under the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, employers can't carve out nonharassment claims and send them to arbitration, which has implications for discovery, litigation costs and resolution strategy in EFAA-covered disputes, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

• Uniting BSA, Sanctions Compliance As Treasury Targets Iran

  

  The past 18 months of Treasury Department policies demonstrate expectations that financial institutions not merely obey sanctions against Iran, but also help expose how it moves money, making it essential that banks eliminate silos between their Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions compliance teams for an integrated response, says Jonathan Harrington at Bradley Arant.