Expert Analysis

• 2nd Circ. Tylenol MDL Ruling Clarifies Court Gatekeeper Role

  

  The Second Circuit’s recent decision in multidistrict litigation over alleged links between Tylenol and developmental disorders, holding that the trial court improperly excluded expert witnesses, preserves meaningful judicial gatekeeping while making clear that judges may not resolve legitimate scientific disputes themselves, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: Cultivating Good Judgment

  

  Law schools generally overlook the role that solid judgment skills play in real-world practice, but attorneys can bridge the gap by strengthening their abilities to assess a case’s strengths and weaknesses, develop and execute effective strategies, and provide clear recommendations to clients, says Manny Caixeiro at Venable.

• DOJ Letter Rescission Portends Proxy Firm Antitrust Risk

  

  The U.S. Justice Department's recent withdrawal of its 1987 business review letter issued to Institutional Shareholder Services, which shielded certain proxy advisory activities from anticompetitive enforcement, likely foreshadows renewed antitrust scrutiny of proxy advisory firms, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

• Responding To State Packaging Law Uncertainty

  

  As states roll out new packaging and recycling mandates, companies face expanding compliance duties and a growing wave of constitutional challenges that offer key lessons for managing regulatory risk, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

• AG Watch: Oregon Targets Consumer Costs

  

  Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield's challenges to bank interest rate and escrow preemption signal heightened scrutiny of consumer costs for lending services, requiring financial institutions serving Oregon and other states with opt-out laws to reassess compliance risk, says Keturah Taylor at Cozen O'Connor.

• Loper Bright Unlikely To Upend DEA Rescheduling Challenges

  

  As cannabis industry stakeholders await a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ruling on broader cannabis rescheduling, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Loper Bright to eliminate judicial deference to agency decisions should not dramatically affect cannabis rescheduling litigation risk, but it could marginally strengthen proponents' hand if the DEA denies rescheduling, say attorneys at Dentons.

• Money Transmission Issue Looms For Prediction Markets

  

  The circuit split recently created by the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Kalshi v. Assad has implications reaching beyond gaming regulation as, depending on the ultimate characterization of prediction market event contracts, platforms may face differing obligations under federal and state money transmission laws, say attorneys at Manatt.

• How Cos. Can Fight Consumers' Tariff Refund Class Actions

  

  After the U.S. Supreme Court's February decision in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump, invalidating $165 billion of presidentially imposed tariffs, consumers have filed numerous class actions seeking tariff refunds from businesses — but companies have substantial and multifaceted defenses available against these claims, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

• FTC Focus: A Shift In The Pricing Disclosure Terrain

  

  Recent state and Federal Trade Commission developments spotlight materially different ways in which personalized pricing might be addressed, which could result in an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape in which businesses face differing disclosure obligations and substantive restrictions depending upon the jurisdiction, say attorneys at Proskauer.

• What Trial Teams Should Know About AI Jury Research Tools

  

  Using artificial intelligence for jury research is quickly becoming part of the litigation consulting landscape, and can be a useful part of a case assessment toolkit — but litigators must understand what these systems are built to measure, and what conclusions can reasonably be drawn from their output, say Bill Kanasky and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

• Lessons For Banks When A Fintech Partner Fails

  

  Recent fintech bankruptcies highlight best practices for how banks can strengthen third-party oversight, data-access rights, wind-down planning and customer communications to limit regulatory exposure and consumer harm when a fintech partner collapses, say attorneys at Barack Ferrazzano.

• Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

  

  The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

• 5 Practice Tips After DOJ's Healthcare Fraud Declination

  

  In light of the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to not prosecute Campus Eye Management under the agency's new corporate enforcement and voluntary self-disclosure policy, healthcare companies should keep several considerations in mind when weighing their risk and self-disclosure strategy, including the distinctions between reporting to the DOJ versus other government agencies, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

• Assessing The Early Days Of Woodcock's SEC Tenure

  

  Since David Woodcock took over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement four months ago, the division has pursued a scaled-back caseload centered on fraud and manipulative conduct, largely following the enforcement outlook that emerged under SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, say attorneys at Akerman.

• State AI Safety Laws Raise New Liabilities For Healthcare Cos.

  

  Healthcare and life science companies using third-party artificial intelligence tools should pay particular attention to the changing state-level legal landscape, where the rollout of multiple AI safety laws is introducing both new compliance obligations and potential consumer protection liabilities, say attorneys at McDermott.