Banking

Expert Analysis

• Checkbook IRAs And Digital Assets: A Bet Against The House

  

  Since a 2014 tax ruling that permits holding digital currency in tax-deferred retirement accounts, investment companies have sprung up encouraging people to roll their traditional retirement investments into cryptocurrencies. But investment vehicles of dubious legality may lead to loss of tax deferral and penalties for early withdrawal, says Seth Pierce at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLC.

• Mid-2018 Sanctions Review: A Turbulent Year So Far

  

  No superlative could aptly describe the magnitude of U.S. sanctions developments through the first six months of 2018. The pace of change has been so intense and complex that, understandably, even the most sophisticated international companies and investors have been challenged to respond to policy and regulatory developments, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.

• Opinion

  BigLaw's Associate Salary Model Is A Relic Of A Bygone Era

  

  Legal industry compensation practices are once again in the news as BigLaw firms continue to match the new high watermark of $190,000 for first-year associate salaries. The typical model of increasing associate salaries uniformly fails star associates, the firms they work for and, ultimately, the clients they serve, says William Brewer, managing partner of Brewer Attorneys & Counselors.

• The PHH Decision And The Future Of CFPB

  

  When Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney recently dismissed the bureau’s case against PHH Corp., it marked the end of an important chapter in the short life of the new agency and provided valuable lessons for its future, says Eric Mogilnicki of Covington & Burling LLP.

• China Agritech: More Than Meets The Eye

  

  There is no doubt that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in China Agritech v. Resh squarely precludes the viability of untimely successive class actions. But what impact might it have on the viability of timely filed successive class actions? Erica Rutner of Lash & Goldberg LLP explores the question.

• #MeToo At Law Firms And What We Can Do About It

  

  While some may say it’s ironic, it’s also embarrassing and enraging that the very industry that offers anti-harassment training, policies and counsel now finds itself the subject of #MeToo headlines. The American Bar Association recommendation that will bring about the greatest change is the call to provide alternative methods for reporting violations, says Beth Schroeder, chair of Raines Feldman LLP's labor and employment group.

• New Licenses Ease Ukraine, Russia Business Wind-Downs

  

  The U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control continues its effort to allow U.S. persons to wind down operations or existing contracts that would otherwise violate Ukraine- and Russia-related sanctions. Even though OFAC has issued general licenses for this purpose, U.S. persons may need to obtain specific licenses to fully divest their interests, say attorneys with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP.

• Managing Uncertainty In The SEC Fair Fund Process: Part 2

  

  To cope with the uncertainty inherent in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's complicated fair fund distribution process, respondents can take six actions that will reduce the organizational burden and ultimately shave time, maybe even years, off the distribution timeline, says Alan Friedman of Charles River Associates.

• Knowledge Lawyers Can Help Firms Stay Ahead Of The Curve

  

  In a profession notoriously averse to change, it should come as no surprise that there is skepticism about the value of having attorneys perform nonbillable tasks. But U.S. law firms have slowly begun to incorporate knowledge lawyers into their operations — and the trend is likely to continue, says Vanessa Pinto Villa of Hogan Lovells.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1 Year Later

  

  In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California — limiting where plaintiffs can bring claims and curbing forum-shopping in mass tort litigation — courts have grappled with questions that the ruling did not address, and defendants have pursued jurisdictional defenses in class actions and federal cases that were not previously available, say attorneys with Eversheds Sutherland LLP.