Two federal court decisions suggesting that the Internal Revenue Service's rules for 501(c)(4) organizations' political activity may be too vague to survive constitutional scrutiny leave nonprofit organizations caught between constitutional limits on government regulation of speech and tax limits on their exempt status, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

The Illinois Receivership Act, which goes into effect Jan. 1, provides much-needed clarity on the issue of receivers' sales of commercial real estate and will make the process easier for parties including receivers, special servicers and commercial real estate lenders, say attorneys at Troutman.

The U.S. Department of Justice's proposed settlement of the RealPage lawsuit represents a pivotal moment in the regulation of algorithmic rent-setting, restraining use of these tools amid a growing trend of regulatory limits on use of algorithmic data and methodologies in establishing housing rental prices. say attorneys at Wilson Elser.

If the U.S. Supreme Court chooses to hear Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, Colorado, it will have the chance to resolve whether federal law precludes state law nuisance claims targeting interstate and global emissions — and the answer will have major implications for climate litigation nationwide, say attorneys at Liskow & Lewis.

The Trump administration's tariff regime has reshaped the commercial restructuring landscape this year, with an increased number of bankruptcy filings showing how tariffs are influencing first‑day narratives, debtor-in-possession terms and case strategies, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

OpenAI's updates to its usage policies, clarifying that its tools are not substitutes for professional medical, legal or other regulated advice, sends a clear signal that organizations should mirror this clarity in their governance policies to mitigate compliance and liability exposure, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

Directors and officers and employment practices liability are key coverages for policyholders to review as potentially responsive to the emerging liability threat of Trump's executive orders targeting corporate diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's whistleblower program continues to operate as designed, but its internal cadence, scrutiny of claims and operational structure reflect a period of recalibration, with precision mattering more than ever, say attorneys Scott Silver and David Chase.

With autonomous vehicles increasingly making their own decisions, the liability landscape for AVs has changed over the past year — highlighting a number of important issues that companies and practitioners should keep a close eye on in 2026, says Farid Yaghoubtil at Downtown LA Law Group.

The North Carolina Business Court recently ruled for policyholders in Tanger Properties v. ACE American Insurance, a business interruption lawsuit arising from the pandemic-related closure of Tanger outlet centers, underscoring the significant role that choice of law plays in insurance coverage disputes, say attorneys at Hunton.

As the law continued to take shape in the growing area of crypto-assets, this year saw a jump in crypto class action litigation, including noteworthy decisions on motions to compel arbitration and class certification, according to Justin Donoho at Duane Morris.

Recent U.S. and U.K. designations of Russian oil companies and related entities, as well as a new sanctions package from EU, mark a significant escalation in restrictions on the Russian energy industry and add a new layer of regulatory complications for companies operating in the global energy sector, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

California's legislative changes for 2026 impose sweeping new obligations on employers, including by expanding pay data reporting, clarifying protections related to bias mitigation training and broadening record access rights, but employers can avoid heightened exposure by proactively evaluating their compliance, modernizing internal systems and updating policies, says Alexa Foley at Gordon Rees.

Due to the experimental and volatile nature of quantum computing technology — at least initially — lawyers and legal practitioners should consider a few risks when drafting or negotiating a quantum-as-a-service agreement, including if the underlying hardware design is faulty or not appropriate for maintenance, say attorneys at Covington.

Organizations that anticipate facing a second request or merger clearance review in 2026 should collect artificial intelligence artifacts as part of discovery, and distinguish between human-generated and machine-generated materials, says Sean McDermott at FTI Consulting.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins' recent remarks provide a road map for public companies to exclude nonbinding shareholder proposals from proxy materials, which would disrupt the mechanism that has traditionally defined how shareholders and companies engage on governance matters, say attorneys at Gunderson.

Recent fraud charges against bettors, NBA players and MLB pitchers raise questions about what the government will need to prove to prosecute individuals involved in placing bets based on nonpublic information, and it could be a tough sell to juries, say attorneys at Ford O'Brien.

As artificial intelligence continues to transform the insurance industry, including underwriting, pricing, claims processing and customer engagement, state regulators, led by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, are increasing oversight to ensure that innovation does not outpace consumer protections, say attorneys at Fenwick.

Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.