Democrats rode Tuesday night's blue wave to take control of both chambers of Congress, scuttling the legislative hopes of a crypto industry that's now battening down the hatches for a flood of investigations into its ties to the Trump administration, consumer protection and financial crime.
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Analysis

Fintechs Prepare For Blue Wave's Flood Of Investigations

By Aislinn Keely

Democrats rode Tuesday night's blue wave to take control of both chambers of Congress, scuttling the legislative hopes of a crypto industry that's now battening down the hatches for a flood of investigations into its ties to the Trump administration, consumer protection and financial crime.

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1st Circ. Sees Mass. Promise To Robinhood As 'Cold Comfort'

By Carolyn Muyskens

First Circuit judges on Wednesday appeared sympathetic to Robinhood's bid to have a federal court determine if Massachusetts can regulate prediction markets, with two judges calling the state's temporary promise not to sue the fintech platform "cold comfort." 

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Judge Says CFTC Likely Overstepped On Stock Perpetuals

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission likely exceeded its authority when it signed off on the trading of perpetual contracts tied to individual stocks, but stopped short of hitting it with a temporary restraining order in a suit brought by a special interest organization backed by Cboe Global Markets Inc.

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POLICY & REGULATION

OCC Maps Out How Its Examiners Will Review Banks' AI Use

By Jon Hill

The use of artificial intelligence at banks to conduct payments, decide loan applications or perform other high-stakes activities autonomously could face closer examiner scrutiny under a new supervisory framework issued Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

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Brief

9th Circ. Won't Rehear Kalshi's Nevada Sports Betting Fight

By Lauren Berg

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday rejected Kalshi's request to rehear its dispute with the state of Nevada, following a panel decision that cleared the way for the state's gaming regulators to pursue the prediction market platform over its sports event contracts.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

SEC's 'Innovation Exemption' Isn't A Substitute For Legislation

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently announced innovation exemption, allowing trading in certain tokenized securities on permissioned on-chain trading platforms, is a temporary and conditional solution for a specific market model, not a general exemption for on-chain securities trading, says Niels Lemmers at Flow Traders.

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Opinion

The Invisible AI Danger That May Undermine Legal Profession

A public database tracking cases involving hallucinations generated by artificial intelligence recently surpassed 2,200 entries, but the bigger risk underlying attorneys’ use of such tools is that they will slowly surrender their judgment to AI and lose analytical skills, says Massachusetts District Court Associate Justice Brian Palmucci.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Gibson Dunn Set To Bring On 120 Lawyers From Weil

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson and Marialuisa Taddia

Gibson Dunn is set to hire the U.S. and London-based private funds teams from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, bringing on 120 attorneys in the largest group move reported since Weil's management committee recommended last week that the firm wind down operations.

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Analysis

Midterm Dem Wins To Scramble Lit Funding Legislative Efforts

By Ryan Boysen

Litigation funders can rest easy, for now, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will need to rethink its approach after last night's midterm elections saw Democrats rout Republicans, scrambling a yearslong effort for federal regulation of litigation finance that's so far relied on Republicans.

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State AG Race Wins Set To Give Dems Control Of Most Offices

By Madison Arnold

Democrats are poised to oversee a majority of state attorneys general offices around the country after Tuesday's elections saw the party hang on to all of its existing seats and flip control of five offices from the Republicans, according to unofficial election results.

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Goldstein Ordered To Pay Trimmed $1M Forfeiture

By Nadia Dreid

Former SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein was hit with a $1 million forfeiture order Wednesday by a Maryland federal judge in the wake of his tax and mortgage fraud trial, where the appellate advocate was convicted on a dozen charges.

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Analysis

Attys Ensure Voters' 'Right To Be Heard' In Midterm Elections

By James Boyle and Lynn LaRowe

From BigLaw attorneys and solo practitioners to university professors, thousands of attorney volunteers turned out for Tuesday's midterm elections to ensure American voters' ballots would be counted.

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DOJ Says Epshteyn Will Answer ABA Service Motion

By Jared Foretek

Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn will answer for himself why he has allegedly been evading subpoenas in the American Bar Association's legal challenge to the administration's law firm targeting campaign, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

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Holland & Hart Cost Ex-Client $23M Stake In Co., Suit Says

By Zach Dupont

Holland & Hart LLP and two of its attorneys were accused of malpractice in Colorado state court Tuesday by a former client who claims the attorneys failed to inform her that a wealth transfer plan with her then-husband left her iced out of the couple's most valuable asset.

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DOJ Accused Of Unlawfully Ending Crime Victim Agreement

By Tom Lotshaw

The National Crime Victim Law Institute has accused the U.S. Department of Justice in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims of unlawfully terminating a $500,000 cooperative agreement aimed at strengthening legal support for disabled crime victims in the wake of an executive order against diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

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Former DOJ Officials See Mixed Results In Midterm Races

By Chris Villani

The 2026 midterm elections included bids for office by several former U.S. Department of Justice officials and nominees for the federal bench, with one race a dead heat and several others decided as of early Wednesday.

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Dark blue promo that reads 2026 MVPs Dark blue promo that reads 2026 Regional Powerhouses

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

American Bar Association

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.

Boston University

CME Group Inc.

Conference of State Bank Supervisors

Futures Industry Association

Google LLC

International Legal Finance Association

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LinkedIn Corp.

Microsoft Corp.

Omni Bridgeway Ltd.

RELX PLC

SIG Susquehanna

Stanford University

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Thomson Reuters Corp.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Blank Rome

Cooley LLP

Eckert Seamans

Foley & Lardner

Gibson Dunn

Goldstein & Russell

Goodwin Procter

Holland & Hart

Holtzman Vogel

Jenner & Block

K&L Gates

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Mayer Brown

Milbank LLP

Morgan Lewis

O'Melveny & Myers

Quinn Emanuel

Reed Smith

Ropes & Gray

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Springer & Steinberg

Susman Godfrey

Troutman

Venable LLP

Weil Gotshal

Williams & Connolly

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Executive Office of the President

Nevada Attorney General's Office

New York Attorney General's Office

Office of Justice Programs

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Tennessee Department of Health

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Navy

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the District of Montana