Expert Analysis

• $400M Serta Ruling Offers Warning On Uptier Deal Risks

  

  A Texas bankruptcy court's recent remand ruling, which disallowed Serta Simmons Bedding’s uptier debt exchange and awarded $400 million to the minority lenders, demonstrates why deal counsel negotiating similar agreements should clearly define exceptions and lien subordination, while litigators should lean on express terms, says Jamie Aycock at Yetter Coleman.

• Immigration Order Raises Customer ID Stakes For Banks

  

  Following a recently issued immigration-related executive order, financial institutions should expect and prepare for increased scrutiny of customer due diligence and identification, suspicious activity monitoring, and consumer lending, as well as accompanying supervisory shifts and rising fair lending risks, says Douglas Weissinger at Butler Snow.

• How 2nd Circ. Raised The Bar For Pleading Securities Fraud

  

  In Huey v. Anavex, the Second Circuit recently appeared to increase the burden on securities fraud plaintiffs in pleading loss causation where no immediate share price decline follows the corrective disclosure, generating new questions that district courts must grapple with, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Navigating OFAC's 50% Rule For Cross-Border Exec Mobility

  

  A recent Office of Foreign Assets Control guide signals that its 50% ownership rule can determine not only sanctions compliance but also whether a company can sponsor multinational executives for immigration, highlighting an often overlooked interaction between sanctions and immigration law, says Xuan Zhang at Reid & Wise.

• Trade Secret Practice Tips From The 1st Half Of 2026

  

  Intellectual property attorneys should consider what several significant developments in 2026 thus far mean for how they protect, litigate and value trade secrets, focusing on new state noncompete bans, cases scrutinizing how plaintiffs identify trade secrets and federal rulings on damages doctrines, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

• Yellow Corp. WARN Act Appeal Refines Layoff Guidance

  

  A Delaware federal court's recent upholding of a bankruptcy court's disallowance of unions' federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act claims against Yellow underscores that fact-specific notices and thoughtful timing are essential for distressed companies implementing layoffs, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

• High Court Rulings Could Alter Agency Strategy For Cos.

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook mark major turning points in the law of independent agencies and in how regulated companies should think about federal enforcement, rulemaking and agency-facing strategy, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

• How CME Suit May Reshape CFTC's Crypto Derivatives Rules

  

  CME Group's recent lawsuit over the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's approval of a Kalshi application to offer a bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures product could have cascading consequences for crypto derivatives regulation, highlighting why policy ambitions do not override statutory text or substitute for reasoned decision-making, says attorney Tamara de Silva.

• JPMorgan Ruling Shows Courts' Limited Role In Fee Fights

  

  The Delaware Chancery Court's recent decision that JPMorgan Chase must cover more than $21 million in disputed legal fees for two former executives of the startup Frank illustrates the reality that companies, not the courts, are responsible for ongoing supervision of legal spending, says Theodore Edelman at GCE Advisors.

• Preparing For Next Congress With Eye On Investigation Risk

  

  Rod Rosenstein, Brian Whisler and Bruce Linskens at Baker McKenzie offer advice for organizations seeking to build a proactive response plan to potential congressional oversight as the election looms.

• OCC Letter Affirms Nat'l Banks' Shield From State Licensing

  

  The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently published a letter supporting Fidelity Digital Assets' stance that state money transmitter licensing requirements do not apply to national banks, confirming the agency's long-standing interpretive position on this issue, say attorneys at Katten.

• The Debanking Minefield: Navigating Fair Access In 2026

  

  Federal regulators' recent elimination of reputational risk from bank supervision, alongside a growing patchwork of state fair access laws, is reshaping how banks make account and service decisions and ushering in a new compliance era requiring individualized, objective and risk-based access determinations, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

• Tips For Investors, Creditors Before Venezuela Restructuring

  

  As Venezuela enters the first genuinely actionable phase of what may become one of the largest sovereign debt restructurings in modern financial history, creditors should strategically evaluate their claim types and investors should consider engaging before formal negotiations commence, says Rodrigo Carvalho at Winston Taylor.

• How To Brace For A Potential Democratic Oversight Push

  

  With the possibility of a shift in congressional control after the November midterm elections, companies and their general counsel should prepare now by mapping oversight exposure, reviewing government interactions, preserving records and developing coordinated communications strategies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

• Fed Autonomy Rests On Narrow Exception After Justices Rule

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter expand presidential removal power while temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence, but there is uncertainty about which of the Fed’s authorities fall within the court’s narrow monetary-policy exception, says Keith Bradley at Squire Patton.