OCC Advancing Stablecoin Rule At 'Great Speed,' Gould Says

By Jon Hill

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency plans to issue the main rule establishing its stablecoin oversight framework by November and expects to be ready to process issuer licensing applications as soon as January, the agency's top official said Wednesday.

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CFTC Seeks Input On Derivatives To Hedge AI Costs

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is calling for expert feedback on a new type of derivative contract that could offer companies a way to hedge the cost of artificial intelligence development, with the agency's leader saying Wednesday that the market could help the country "win the AI race."

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2nd Circ. Revives Signature Bank Investor Suit Against Execs

By Sarah Jarvis

The Second Circuit on Wednesday revived a shareholder lawsuit over alleged misstatements about Signature Bank's health ahead of its 2023 collapse, finding that a New York federal court was wrong to toss the case because securities fraud claims against the defunct bank do not transfer to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the banks' receiver.

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3 Firms Steer $7.5B Stripe, OpenRouter AI Gateway Deal

By Al Barbarino

Financial services company Stripe said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire artificial intelligence routing platform OpenRouter, as three law firms take lead roles in steering the roughly $7.5 billion transaction.

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Rising Star: Dechert's Georgina McLeod

By Lauren Berg

Georgina McLeod of Dechert LLP advised Israeli financial technology firm Pagaya on a $300 million, first-of-its-kind securitization of "buy now, pay later" assets with Klarna and WebBank, earning her a spot among the fintech attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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CFTC Spares FTX's Ellison, Wang Fines For Cooperation

By Katryna Perera

Former FTX and Alameda Research executives Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang have agreed to trading and registration bans, but will not face financial penalties, as part of deals with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to resolve fraud claims against them over their roles in the scheme that caused the crypto exchange and trading firm to collapse.

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Baltimore Can't Send Payday Lender Suit Back To State Court

By Sydney Price

A Maryland federal judge refused to remand a suit brought by the city of Baltimore against Los Angeles-based lender Dave Inc. to state court, ruling that the city failed to explain how federal courts' interpretation and application of the city's consumer protection ordinance would disrupt the state's efforts to establish a policy regulating consumer loans.

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NY Attorney Can't Arbitrate $33M Crypto Ponzi Scheme Case

By Andrea Keckley

A Texas federal judge has ruled that New York attorney Peter D. Hatzipetros and two alleged co-conspirators can't send a lawsuit accusing them of defrauding investors of $33 million through a crypto Ponzi scheme to arbitration, saying none of the defendants had proved they could enforce the arbitration agreements against any of the plaintiffs.

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Jones Day Adds Former McGuireWoods Litigator In Pittsburgh

By James Boyle

An attorney specializing in representing financial institutions in state and federal litigation matters has moved her practice to Jones Day's Pittsburgh office after more than 10 years with McGuireWoods LLP.

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6 Risk Areas Future Fla. Stablecoin Issuers Should Plan For

Companies hoping to issue stablecoins under Florida’s new supervision regime should prioritize constructing robust risk management architecture across key areas before the Oct. 1 effective date so they can secure licenses, avoid a web of potential liabilities, and operate sustainably as state and federal regulations evolve, says Elizabeth Brusa at Shumaker.

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How Drug Trial Prediction Markets Pose Insider Trading Risks

Multiple prediction market platforms have recently announced plans to offer event contracts related to clinical trial outcomes and regulatory decisions, creating new insider trading risks by expanding the group of people possessing related material nonpublic information far beyond traditional corporate insiders, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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6 Key Takeaways From CFIUS Annual Report

Attorneys at Simpson Thacher review highlights from the annual report of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., released to Congress this month, including the launch of the American First Investment Policy and the Known Investor Pilot Program, and the agency's continued focus on enforcement despite its resource constraints.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Surviving A Long Trial

Most of law school trial advocacy is geared toward the sprint of trying a short case, but beyond managing a cross-examination or closing argument, effectively handling the marathon of a lengthy trial requires the ability to maintain composure, organization and credibility with the jury, says Mihir Elchuri at Hirschler.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Seeks Release During Appeal

By Rachel Rippetoe

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein on Tuesday asked to be released from federal custody while he appeals his 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions and a six-year prison sentence, saying he is not a flight risk and it would be a "grave injustice" for him to begin a sentence he believes will eventually get axed.

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Davis Wright Vets Scolded: Don't Tell Foes 'How To Run Firm'

By Jeff Overley

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP veterans have failed to dodge six-figure sanctions in a prominent discovery donnybrook, and a California magistrate judge added invective to the financial injury, lambasting "troubling" omissions in case citations and heavy-handed "nitpicking" akin to commandeering an adversary's law firm.

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Atty, Son Charged In Probe Of Alleged Penn State Drug Ring

By Rose Krebs

An equity partner based in Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck PLLC's Pittsburgh office has been charged with tampering with evidence and obstructing an investigation in connection with an alleged cocaine ring at Penn State University that allegedly involved his son, according to news reports.

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Texas Judge Flags 'Alarming' Number Of Bogus Citations

By Emily Sawicki

A federal judge presiding over an Austin, Texas, immigration case is warning of possible future sanctions after an attorney included an "alarming" number of "hallucinated" case citations in support of a habeas corpus petition.  

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Jackson Walker Says US Trustee Can't Claw Back Legal Fees

By Clara Geoghegan

Jackson Walker said this week that the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog is beyond the bounds of its authority in a yearslong effort to force the firm to return millions of dollars in legal fees over an undisclosed relationship between a former partner and a Texas bankruptcy judge.

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Over 120 Ex-Judges Demand Probe Of DHS GC's 'Worst' Posts

By Adrian Cruz

A pair of nonprofits along with a bipartisan group of 128 former state and federal judges have asked the Florida Bar to investigate the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a recent series of social media posts attacking sitting judges.

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Polsinelli Can't Rep Doctor In 'Bad Faith' IP Suits, Cos. Say

By Lauren Berg

Two medical device companies suing Polsinelli PC and its longtime client, a patent-holding doctor, for allegedly pursuing "bad faith" infringement claims asked federal courts in Tennessee and Mississippi to disqualify the firm from defending the doctor in the lawsuits, citing their "diverging interests and liabilities."

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Ex-US Attys Protest Trump's Swift Firing Of Rogoff In Seattle

By Rachel Riley

Thirty former U.S. attorneys backed Roger Rogoff's bid for reinstatement as Seattle's top federal prosecutor after President Donald Trump fired him on the heels of his court-ordered appointment, arguing Tuesday that Trump is trying to "sidestep the Senate's advice-and-consent role and sideline the judiciary" by letting unappointed individuals play such roles.

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DOJ Urges Court Not To Dismiss Suit Against DC Bar

By Alison Knezevich

The U.S. Department of Justice is urging a federal judge not to toss its lawsuit against Washington, D.C., attorney disciplinary authorities, saying the court "needs to halt defendants' flagrantly unconstitutional overreach into the president's executive power."

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Firms Cut From $101M Anthropic Atty Fees Appeal To 9th Circ.

By Lauren Berg

Two law firms involved in securing artificial intelligence company Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement with a class of authors and publishers are appealing to the Ninth Circuit an order excluding them from attorney fees awarded to court-appointed class counsel.

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USPTO Says Patent Atty's Suit Shouldn't Stop Discipline Case

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has said an Ohio federal court shouldn't pause professional discipline proceedings against an attorney while he sues the agency, saying he's likely to fail with his suit challenging the fact that a judge from another agency is overseeing his discipline case.

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Sinema Says Brief Signal Chat Can't Anchor NC Affair Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A single exchange on the encrypted messaging app Signal became the focal point of former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's testimony on Wednesday as she sought to convince a North Carolina federal judge that she cannot be hauled into court in the Tar Heel state over an affair — which she declined to characterize as a "passionate" romance — she had with her married security guard.

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