Public Policy

  • August 11, 2025

    11th Circ. Rejects Speedy Trial Claim In MetroPCS Robberies

    The Eleventh Circuit will not overturn the conviction of a man arrested in a string of MetroPCS store robberies in Miami, saying that even though the government may have violated the Speedy Trial Act, the man missed the window to challenge the charges.

  • August 11, 2025

    Paxos Is Latest Crypto Firm To Seek OCC Bank Charter

    Stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust Co. LLC said Monday that it has applied to become licensed and supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, joining a wave of digital asset firms that are now pursuing U.S. banking charters from the agency.

  • August 11, 2025

    GTCR Says Sale, Market Nix FTC Med Tech Merger Concerns

    Private equity firm GTCR BC Holdings urged an Illinois federal judge not to block its planned $627 million purchase of a medical device coatings company, arguing in a brief made public Friday that a planned divestiture fully resolves Federal Trade Commission concerns.

  • August 11, 2025

    Trump's DC Takeover Highlights Local Judicial Vacancies

    President Donald Trump's announcement Monday on the federal takeover of D.C. law enforcement and deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., has drawn attention once again to the vacancy crisis plaguing the local D.C. court system.

  • August 11, 2025

    Hospital Groups Back Challenge Of Merger Notice Overhaul

    A pair of hospital trade associations threw their support behind a U.S. Chamber of Commerce case challenging the Federal Trade Commission's new premerger filing requirements, telling a Texas federal court the agency was wrong to invoke the hospital industry when justifying the changes.

  • August 11, 2025

    Texas AG Says Trans Care Decision Limits Investigative Power

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office told the state's high court Friday that a lower court's decision severely diminished its ability to investigate violations of the state's deceptive trade practices statute, and stalled an investigation into an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

  • August 11, 2025

    Rural Health Providers Say FCC Subsidy Rules Unclear

    Rural healthcare providers still don't know what is and isn't covered by the Universal Service Fund and could use some clarification and guidance from the Federal Communications Commission, a group has told the agency.

  • August 11, 2025

    FCC Subsidy Foes Again Attack Fund's Quarterly Fees

    Groups that fell short in their drive at the U.S. Supreme Court to have the revenue mechanism for the Universal Service Fund declared unconstitutional are again fighting the quarterly rate at the Federal Communications Commission.

  • August 11, 2025

    CRE Fintech Firm Securities Paused For Possible Arbitration

    A proposed class action accusing real estate platform CrowdStreet of enabling a $63 million fraud was paused Monday to allow individual arbitration to decide if the investors' claims can proceed.

  • August 11, 2025

    What To Watch In Mega Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Tie-Up

    Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern's bold plan to create the nation's first transcontinental railroad owned by a single firm would transform freight transportation in the U.S., but it must first clear a heightened standard for reviewing mega rail mergers that hasn't yet been tested since the standard was set 24 years ago.

  • August 11, 2025

    NC Legislator's Judicial Campaign Scrutinized Over Donations

    The former director of a voting rights nonprofit has filed a complaint with the North Carolina State Board of Elections challenging certain donations to a Republican state lawmaker's campaign for a seat on the state Supreme Court that he says flout state campaign finance laws.

  • August 11, 2025

    DOJ Touts Merger, Rental Algorithm Deals, Eyeing More

    The head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division on Monday touted two recent settlements, in a merger case and in the RealPage algorithmic rent-fixing litigation, as indications that Trump administration enforcers will focus on algorithm-based price-fixing and are willing to "negotiate favorable settlements."

  • August 11, 2025

    Hawaiian Judge Vacates Letter Allowing Monument Fishing

    Commercial fishing cannot legally continue in the waters of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument under a National Marine Fisheries Services letter that tribal and environmental groups claim authorized the endeavor, a Hawaii federal court judge said, arguing evidence shows that the directive harmed the plaintiffs in the dispute.

  • August 11, 2025

    Chicago Suburb's Ex-Mayor Gets 4 Years For Extortion, Bribery

    A former mayor of McCook, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, was sentenced to four years in federal prison Monday for accepting more than $250,000 in bribes and extortion payments.

  • August 11, 2025

    Paxton Seeks Calif.'s Help With Quorum-Breaker Warrants

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked a California state court on Friday to enforce arrest warrants against six members of the Texas House of Representatives who are among more than 50 Democrats who left the state in protest of a Republican redistricting plan.

  • August 11, 2025

    9th Circ. Says LA Men Have Ammo In Gun Rights Class Action

    The Ninth Circuit found Monday that a Los Angeles gun licensing policy that allowed only judges or law enforcement agents to carry concealed weapons was unconstitutional in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, reviving a proposed class action brought by three men who were arrested for violating the policy.

  • August 11, 2025

    AGs Target Voice Providers In 'Operation Robocall Roundup'

    A bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general from across the U.S. is sending warning letters to 37 voice service providers to demand action against illegal robocalls, alleging they flouted Federal Communications Commission rules, according to an announcement Monday.

  • August 11, 2025

    Amazon Must Reveal Research Funding Info In Antitrust Suits

    A Washington federal judge is forcing Amazon to provide a group of consumers with information regarding the company's alleged ties to antitrust researchers, saying the plaintiffs have presented records suggesting it "has communicated with or funded" various academic authors cited by its expert economist in three related cases.

  • August 11, 2025

    Judge Rules NYC Can Enforce Kava Cafe Shutdowns

    A Manhattan federal judge has ruled that New York City public health and safety officials were within their authority to issue shutdown orders to restaurants that served kava, a federally unregulated psychoactive plant derivative.

  • August 11, 2025

    Tulsa Says Settlement Moots High Court Jurisdiction Bid

    Tulsa is asking the Supreme Court to deny a petition by an Oklahoma attorney that looks to undo his conviction stemming from a speeding ticket issued on tribal lands, arguing it seeks review of a broader jurisdictional question that the municipality and the Creek Nation have already resolved.

  • August 11, 2025

    House Lawmakers Probe Antitrust In Sports Broadcasting

    The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is looking into sports broadcasting antitrust concerns, requesting briefings from the country's four largest sports leagues and saying that the 1961 law governing their telecast agreements has expanded an antitrust "blind spot" in today's sports media rights market.

  • August 11, 2025

    Gov'ts Mull Gross Basis Tax For Services In UN Convention

    A number of developing countries argued Monday that gross basis taxation is the easiest-to-administer option for overcoming inequitable transfer pricing rules within a protocol on taxing cross-border services in the United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation.

  • August 11, 2025

    Liberty Mutual Nabs FCPA Declination, Will Disgorge $4.7M

    Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. will avoid prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and disgorge nearly $4.7 million over bribes paid by employees of its Indian subsidiary, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday, in the first FCPA declination since President Donald Trump paused prosecutions under the law.

  • August 11, 2025

    Trump Delays China Tariff Hikes Again, Until November

    President Donald Trump delayed higher tariff rates on Chinese imports Monday another 90 days, hours before the duties were set to jump Tuesday, according to media accounts.

  • August 11, 2025

    Ex-Ill. Speaker's 'False Hope' Won't Delay Prison Sentence

    Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan must begin serving his seven-year bribery and wire fraud prison sentence as ordered in October, a federal judge has ruled, finding that Madigan "clings to false hope" in arguing his forthcoming appeal to the Seventh Circuit will present an issue substantial enough to overturn his entire conviction.

Expert Analysis

  • How Sweeping Budget Bill Shakes Up Health Industry

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    With the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act marking one of the most significant overhauls of federal health policy since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, providers, managed care organizations and life sciences companies must now shift focus from policy review to implementation planning, say advisers at Holland & Knight.

  • Deep-Sea Mining Outlook Murky, But May Be Getting Clearer

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    U.S. companies interested in accessing deep-sea mineral resources face uncertainty over new federal regulations and how U.S. policy may interact with pending international agreements — but a Trump administration executive order and provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act should help bring clarity, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Legal Ops, Compliance Increasingly Vital To Antitrust Strategy

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    With deal timelines tightening and disclosure requirements intensifying, legal operations and compliance teams are becoming critical drivers of premerger strategy, cross-functional alignment and regulatory credibility, says Alexander Lima at Wesco International.

  • What's Next For CFPB After 'Big Beautiful' Funding Cuts

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    While the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's funding cuts to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are unlikely to have an independent effect in the short run, they could exacerbate the existing issue of wide regulatory fluctuations in successive administrations in the longer run, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • What To Know As SEC Looks To Expand Private Fund Access

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    As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considers expanding retail access to private markets, understanding how these funds operate — and the role of financial intermediaries in guiding investors — is increasingly important, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Fla. Law Is Part Of State Trend On Curbing Foreign Influence

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    A recently effective Florida law that broadly prohibits charities from receiving or soliciting funds from individuals and entities associated with certain foreign countries, the first of its kind in the nation, follows a growing state-level focus on foreign influence regulation, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 4 In-Flux Employment Law Issues Banks Should Note

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    Attorneys at Ogletree provide a midyear update on employment law changes that could significantly affect banks and other financial service institutions — including federal diversity equity and inclusion updates, and new and developing state and local artificial intelligence laws.

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • IPR Decisions Clarify Stewart's 'Settled Expectations' Factor

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    Recent discretionary denial decisions from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart have begun to illuminate the contours of her "settled expectations" doctrine, informing when it might be worth petitioning for inter partes review if the patent at issue has been in force for a few years, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Mulling Worker Reclassification In Light Of No Tax On OT

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    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's no-tax-on-overtime provisions provide tax relief for employees who regularly work overtime and are nonexempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, but reclassifying employees may lead to higher compliance costs and increased wage and hour litigation for employers, says Steve Bronars at Edgeworth Economics.

  • Clean Energy Tax Changes Cut Timelines, Add Red Tape

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    With its dramatic changes to energy tax credits, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reshape project financing and investment planning — and wind and solar developers, especially those in the early stages of projects, face stricter timelines and heightened compliance challenges, says Dan Ruth at Balch & Bingham.

  • 5 Consumer Protection Compliance Issues In NY State Budget

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    Companies that engage with New York consumers should promptly familiarize themselves with new state budget provisions that require finance and retail companies to make certain business practices more transparent and easier for customers to execute, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Balancing The Promises And Perils Of Tokenizing Securities

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    Tokenizing listed securities offers the promise of greater efficiency, accessibility and innovation, but a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission statement makes clear that the federal securities laws continue to apply to tokenized securities, so financial institutions and technology developers must work together to create clear rules, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • How To Increase 3rd-Party Preissuance Patent Submissions

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    Attorneys Marian Underweiser and Marc Ehrlich, who helped draft the America Invents Act, discuss changes that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could potentially implement to facilitate its hopes for increased participation in front-end patent challenges.

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