Expert Analysis

• Tariffs Could Be Behind Surge In FTZ Production Filings

  

  As tariffs reshape production sourcing decisions, manufacturers are seeking foreign trade zone production authority at more than twice last year's pace, making it important to consider the potential duty and export benefits, along with review delays and restrictions that can curb savings, say attorneys at Sidley.

• How Bipartisan Permitting Reform May Boost Green Energy

  

  After years of false starts, Congress may finally be nearing a meaningful overhaul of the federal permitting process — and the proposed legislation could provide renewable energy developers with faster project reviews, more durable permits and greater protections from litigation, says Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.

• When Indemnity, Purchase Price Adjustment Claims Overlap

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent decision in WSP v. Versar highlights that courts are willing to enable a buyer to select either indemnity or purchase price adjustment mechanisms, even if the parties did not envision that when negotiating the purchase agreement, says Claire Frost at Arnold & Porter.

• Transfer Pricing Analyses May Apply To Tariff Refunds Claims

  

  Both plaintiffs and defendants in consumer class actions over tariff refunds should examine transfer pricing analyses, which can offer contemporaneous evidence as to how much of a tariff was borne in the U.S. by the importer or consumers rather than absorbed earlier in the supply chain, say economists at The Brattle Group.

• Importer Risk Rises As AI Enters Trade Fraud Enforcement

  

  The Trump administration's new data-driven and artificial intelligence-enabled push against tariff evasion raises the stakes for companies with global supply chains, making it crucial that they consider strengthening response protocols, documentation and internal reporting mechanisms, say attorneys at Cooley.

• What Lawyers Should Know Before Accepting Crypto Payment

  

  As clients increasingly request to pay legal fees, retainers and escrow funds using cryptocurrency, lawyers should consider how only a handful of state bar authorities have addressed the issue with varying ethics opinions, as well as the related questions that no authority has yet answered, says attorney Felix Shipkevich.

• Data Sale In Spirit Bankruptcy Raises Novel Privacy Risks

  

  Spirit Airlines' planned sale of deidentified business data to Google for artificial intelligence training exposes gaps in the Bankruptcy Code's privacy guardrails, particularly for employee information, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

• Series

  Mentalism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Convincing strangers I can read their minds may seem like an unusual second career for a legal practitioner, but both disciplines share several important requirements, including trust and preparation, says Warren Biro at Manatt.

• Why And How To Build A Neurodiversity-Informed Practice

  

  By better understanding neurodiversity and implementing simple accommodations for clients with autism, ADHD or learning differences, attorneys can build stronger relationships with those who may otherwise struggle to obtain and benefit from legal services, while developing good habits that will benefit everyone they represent, says Ting Cheung at Sanford Heisler.

• FCC Covered List Is Pushing Limits Of Supply Chain Scrutiny

  

  Companies outside the traditional telecommunications sector may now need to factor the Federal Communications Commission's equipment authorization requirements into supply chain compliance as the FCC covered list continues to expand as a national security tool, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• FTC Proposal Puts Personalized Pricing On Notice

  

  The Federal Trade Commission’s recent proposed policy statement on undisclosed personalized pricing signals the potential for harm when business practices diverge from consumer expectations, indicating a need to disclose not only data usage, but also how it influences the prices consumers see, says Linda Goldstein at CM Law.

• Religious Accommodation Lessons From Recent EEOC Focus

  

  With several recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforcement actions focusing on religious accommodations, employers should identify the actual burden an accommodation imposes, distinguish operational hardship from co-workers' objections, and pay attention to how the accommodation is implemented, says Crystal Banse at Spencer West.

• The Patent Circuit: Marking Duties For Licensed Tech

  

  The Federal Circuit's decision in VDPP v. Volkswagen provides clarity on how the patent statute's marking provision applies to licensed technology, but expressly leaves open the question of how exactly patentees can make reasonable efforts to ensure licensees' marking compliance, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

• Calif. AV Notices Reshape Crash Data Preservation, Discovery

  

  California's new autonomous vehicle noncompliance notice process does not decide fault or establish that an AV is unsafe, but it can create a contemporaneous regulatory record and accelerate decisions about what crash-related data must be preserved, reviewed and potentially disclosed in litigation, says attorney Lem Garcia.

• Testing AI's Promise For Large-Scale Document Review

  

  Our document-review comparison of attorneys' responsiveness and issue coding decisions versus predictions generated by artificial intelligence across 1,600 documents suggests that these tools can offer a reasonable and reliable basis for improved discovery workflows, provided lawyers understand where guardrails are needed, say attorneys at Redgrave.