Expert Analysis

• Series

  Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

  

  California's financial regulators spent the third quarter of 2026 focusing on consumer protection enforcement at home while resisting federal efforts to displace state oversight — reinforcing the state's intention to shape the compliance landscape for institutions operating within its borders despite federal deregulatory trends, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• Cos. Must Prep For Changes To Calif. Battery Recycling Law

  

  With important changes to California's Responsible Battery Recycling Act taking effect in January, manufacturers and retailers should review updated format and product definitions and exclusions, determine their new responsibilities, and be prepared to submit new stewardship plans in advance of the deadline, says Thierry Montoya at FBT Gibbons.

• 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.

• What Insurers Need To Know About 2 New California Laws

  

  California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two measures last week that while addressing distinct issues — catastrophe claims handling and insurers' corrective actions, respectively — reflect similar themes, including insurers' preparation before problems arise, transparency while they are being addressed, and meaningful remediation afterward, says Lucy Wang at Hinshaw.

• AG Watch: Texas Takes A Lone State Stand Against Tech Cos.

  

  A look at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent actions against Meta Platforms and Amazon.com illustrates how Texas is distancing itself from multistate coordination, offering practitioners a crucial perspective on navigating individual state actions amid coordinated attorney general litigation, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

• Upholding Energy Efficiency Rules If DOE Eases Enforcement

  

  Despite recent moves by the Energy Department and Congress to limit energy efficiency enforcement, companies should maintain current efficiency standards and testing procedures lest they risk state or private action, enforcement lookbacks during future administrations, truth-in-advertising complaints and more, say attorneys at HWG.

• New Suits Raise Stakes After 7th Circ. 'Zero Sugar' Ruling

  

  The Seventh Circuit's recent ruling in Franco v. Chobani that "zero sugar" claims on allulose-sweetened products are not preempted has sparked a wave of lawsuits, and companies can no longer assume that federal allulose guidance is a safe harbor, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

• Meta Smart Glasses Suit Will Test Privacy Law For Bystanders

  

  In a consolidated suit over how Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses handle personal video footage, a recently proposed class of unwittingly recorded bystanders highlights questions over whether privacy laws and product disclosures adequately address the risks wearable recording devices pose to nonusers, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

• DOJ-Agri Stats Settlement Offers Key Benchmarking Lessons

  

  A Minnesota federal court's recent approval of the Agri Stats settlement marks a significant milestone as it's the most granular U.S. Justice Department guidance on permissible competitor benchmarking since the 2023 withdrawal of the safety zone, lending predictability for companies in data-pooling arrangements, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• 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.

• How ChatGPT Teen Version Raises Product Liability Questions

  

  OpenAI's recent rollout of ChatGPT for Teens offers younger users a purportedly safer version of the software — but it could also help plaintiffs who are questioning whether earlier versions were safe for minors, when the company identified risks and when safeguards became technically viable, says Michael McCready at McCready Law.

• What's Next For Prediction Markets If States Win At High Court

  

  While the Supreme Court hasn't taken up a prediction market case yet, a high court win for the states in their quest to regulate the exchanges would likely mean a wave of state legislature bills and regulatory guidance arriving on different timelines, rather than a single uniform transition, says Howard Herndon at Bradley Arant.

• AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

  

  The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.