Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Compliance
-
May 01, 2024
Senate Dems Reintroduce Bill To Tax And Regulate Cannabis
Senate Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced a cannabis legalization bill that would remove the drug entirely from the ambit of the Controlled Substances Act and impose a tax-and-regulate scheme akin to what is currently in place for alcohol and tobacco.
-
May 01, 2024
9th Circ. Slams Door On Kids' Climate Case
The Ninth Circuit ordered an Oregon federal judge Wednesday to immediately dismiss a closely watched suit by young adults against the federal government over the effects of climate change, saying its earlier order to end the matter could not be brushed off.
-
May 01, 2024
FCC Leaders Look To Boost Wireless Supply Chain Security
Federal Communications Commission members Wednesday unveiled a bipartisan plan to beef up wireless supply chain security by more tightly scrutinizing whether equipment labs are tied to foreign powers.
-
May 01, 2024
Meta's Privacy Fight With FTC Paused For High Court Ruling
The D.C. Circuit has pressed pause on Meta's bid to block the Federal Trade Commission from pursuing modifications to the parties' $5 billion privacy settlement to await the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a case challenging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house courts.
-
May 01, 2024
Fracking Waste Still Festering Near Ohio River, AG Says
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost urged a Belmont County judge Wednesday to find Austin Master Services in contempt for failing to adhere to the court's preliminary injunction requiring the company to clean up fracking waste stored at its recycling facility by April 17.
-
May 01, 2024
Biden Admin Sanctions Cos. Helping Russia Evade Curbs
The Biden administration on Wednesday set financial and visa restrictions on nearly 300 individuals and businesses abroad, including those suspected to be helping Russia evade existing sanctions and obtain critical defense materials.
-
May 01, 2024
Top Groups Lobbying The FCC
The Federal Communications Commission heard from advocates well over 200 times in April as they sought to sway the FCC on net neutrality rules, junk calls and texts, bulk billing deals for broadband service in apartment buildings, and many other issues.
-
May 01, 2024
Georgia Co. Says City Must Pay $5M For Road Project Delays
A Georgia paving company that sued the city of Smyrna for $5 million in damages after it allegedly pushed a multimillion-dollar road construction project past its completion deadline urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday to overturn a trial court ruling that freed the city from its claims.
-
May 01, 2024
Microsoft Details How It Addresses AI Risks In New Report
Microsoft Corp., the leading investor in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, detailed Wednesday in its first-ever artificial intelligence transparency report how the tech giant is working to keep its ballooning stable of AI tools from causing harm in the U.S. and abroad.
-
May 01, 2024
Food Supplier Can't Shake Off $5M DOD Bid-Rigging Claim
A food supplier must face a U.S. Department of Defense agency's efforts to recoup the purported $5 million lost to an ex-employee's bid-rigging scheme, after a contract appeals board ruled the contractor was required to provide fair, unrigged prices.
-
May 01, 2024
Holland & Knight Hires Ex-Choate Healthcare Chair In Boston
Concentrating her practice more on representing healthcare providers spurred the former co-chair of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP's healthcare group to move her practice to Holland & Knight LLP's Boston office.
-
May 01, 2024
Acting Labor Sec. Defends Status, Rules At Tense Hearing
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su defended her U.S. Department of Labor role and recent agency rules at a U.S. House committee hearing on Wednesday from Republicans who accused her of serving through a "loophole" and who questioned the legality of actions under her leadership.
-
May 01, 2024
Ex-FDIC Atty Gets 20-Year Sentence In Child Exploitation Case
A former attorney with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. who admitted to participating in online groups aimed at sexually exploiting children has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
-
May 01, 2024
Army Corps Says Taking Over Fla. CWA Permits Is No Problem
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday told the D.C. Circuit that, following a lower court's decision to strip Florida of its authority to administer a Clean Water Act permitting program, it has already taken over the work and expects no serious issues.
-
May 01, 2024
AI Is Top Of Mind For Companies — And Securities Regulators
As references to artificial intelligence in securities filings soar, attorneys say companies must ground their disclosures in fact and be upfront about risks posed by AI in order to avoid the wrath of regulators, who promise to crack down on misleading claims.
-
May 01, 2024
Tax Credit Transfer Regs Show IRS Caution In Rulemaking
The IRS and Treasury's final rules on the sale and transfer of green energy credits maintained a strict reading of the statute while making few changes, a sign of caution by regulators amid judicial scrutiny of the government's rulemaking authority.
-
May 01, 2024
PG&E, KKR In Exclusive Talks For Partial Sale Of Power Biz
Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. is in exclusive talks with private equity giant KKR to sell a minority interest in its subsidiary, Pacific Generation LLC, to KKR's infrastructure strategy in a deal that would reduce customer rates by more than $100 million over the next two decades.
-
May 01, 2024
5th Circ. Wants Texas Injunction Ruling In CFPB Late Fee Case
In a late Tuesday twist, the Fifth Circuit has sent a banking industry lawsuit over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee rule back to Texas federal court, saying it doesn't want to be the first to decide whether the rule should be blocked from taking effect later this month.
-
April 30, 2024
SEC Vet Joins NC Firm 'Reinventing' White Collar
The former assistant secretary of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Christina Zaroulis Milnor, has left government service after more than a decade to launch a Washington, D.C., office for North Carolina-based Cranfill Sumner LLP alongside two firm partners who say they are reinventing traditional white collar work, the firm announced Wednesday.
-
April 30, 2024
Ex-Olympus Exec Says He Was Fired For Flagging FDA Issue
The former global head of product development at medical manufacturer Olympus Corp. said he was fired earlier this year after he reported multiple compliance concerns regarding the company's practices and related to nearly 100 products, according to a suit filed Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.
-
April 30, 2024
Judge Strikes Parts Of NC Law Restricting Abortion Drug
A North Carolina federal judge struck down parts of a state law Tuesday that restricts access to the abortion medication mifepristone, finding some provisions violate the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause by enacting safety regulations already considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as requiring in-person prescribing, dispensing and scheduling around the drug.
-
April 30, 2024
Ex-Autonomy VP Says CEO Lynch Told Him To Lie To Investors
A former Autonomy business development executive testified Tuesday that CEO Mike Lynch directed him to lie to a hedge fund investor about prepaid royalty deals that boosted the company's upfront revenue numbers, saying at Lynch's criminal fraud trial that it was hard to say no to the "big boss."
-
April 30, 2024
SEC Says Penny Stock Firm Failed To Register As A Dealer
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued a New Jersey company for allegedly dealing in penny stock without registering as a securities dealer, echoing claims the agency made against a different lender, which the Eleventh Circuit largely affirmed in February.
-
April 30, 2024
'Bitcoin Jesus' Dodged Nearly $50M In Taxes, Feds Say
The U.S. has charged an early bitcoin investor dubbed "Bitcoin Jesus" over allegations that he dodged approximately $48 million in taxes by filing false tax returns and concealing how much of the cryptocurrency he owned, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday.
-
April 30, 2024
Final Biden Enviro Review Regs Puts Onus On Agencies
The Biden administration on Tuesday finalized its second round of revisions to regulations governing federal agencies' environmental reviews, but how agencies weave the new guidelines into their project permitting processes will be where the regulatory rubber hits the road, experts say.
Expert Analysis
-
Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
The first quarter of the year brought the usual onslaught of new regulatory developments in California — including a crackdown on junk fees imposed by small business lenders, a big step forward for online notarizations and a ban on predatory listing agreements, says Alex Grigorians at Hanson Bridgett.
-
Tipsters May Be Key To Financial Regulators' ESG Efforts
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking to whistleblowers to assist their climate and ESG task forces, suggesting insider information could be central to the agencies' enforcement efforts against corporate greenwashing, false investment claims and climate disclosure violations, says John Crutchlow at Youman & Caputo.
-
Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law
Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.
-
5 Takeaways From SAP's Foreign Bribery Resolutions
German software company SAP’s recent settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, resolving allegations of foreign bribery, provide insights into government enforcement priorities, and how corporations should structure their compliance programs to reduce liability, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
-
Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
-
10 Ransomware Issues GCs Should Have On Their Radar
As the ransomware threat landscape rapidly evolves, in-house counsel should expect to face a number of challenging dynamics, including the need to justify any ransom payments both to internal and external stakeholders, and data extortion demands that are bypassing the encryption stage, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
-
Opinion
The SEC Is Engaging In Regulation By Destruction
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent use of regulation by enforcement against digital assets indicates it's more interested in causing harm to crypto companies than providing guidance to the markets or protecting investors, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.
-
Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
-
Preparing For Possible Calif. Criminal Antitrust Enforcement
Though a recent announcement that the California Attorney General's Office will resume criminal prosecutions in support of its antitrust enforcement may be mere saber-rattling, companies and their counsel should nevertheless be prepared for interactions with the California AG's Antitrust Section that are not limited to civil liability issues, say Dylan Ballard and Lillian Sun at V&E.
-
What To Know About IRS' New Jet Use Audit Campaign
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced plans to open several dozen audits scrutinizing executive use of company jets, so companies should be prepared to show the business reasons for travel, and how items like imputed income and deduction disallowance were calculated, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
-
ShapeShift Fine Epitomizes SEC's Crypto Policy, And Its Flaws
A recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission order imposing a fine on former cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift for failing to register as a securities dealer showcases the SEC's regulation-by-enforcement approach, but the dissent by two commissioners raises valid concerns that the agency's embrace of ambiguity over clarity risks hampering the growth of the crypto economy, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.
-
2nd Circ. Adviser Liability Ruling May Shape SEC Enforcement
The Second Circuit’s recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rashid, applying basic negligence principles to reverse a finding of investment adviser liability, provides a road map for future fraud enforcement proceedings, says Elisha Kobre at Bradley Arant.
-
Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
-
Overdraft Opt-In Practices Hold Risks For Banks
A recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau action against Atlantic Union Bank regarding overdraft opt-in sales practices highlights compliance risks that financial institutions must be aware of, especially when enrolling customers by phone, says Kristen Larson at Ballard Spahr.
-
AI In Accounting Raises OT Exemption Questions
A recent surge in the use of artificial intelligence in accounting work calls into question whether professionals in the industry can argue they are no longer overtime exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, highlighting how technology could test the limits of the law for a variety of professions, say Bradford Kelley at Littler and Stephen Malone at Peloton Interactive.