Feature

Justice Ginsburg On Diversity And Persuading Her Colleagues

By Jacqueline Bell

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses what it means to have three women on the court, the aftermath of hostile Senate confirmation fights, and why justices sometimes do the unexpected, in the first of two articles based on an exclusive interview with the feminist icon.

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Regulators To Step Up Fintech Collaboration, IOSCO Says

By Paige Long

The International Organization of Securities Commissions has announced it will launch a "support framework" to boost cross-border collaboration and information-sharing on financial technology trends and developments in initial coin offerings among its members.

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Chancery Stays Cryptocurrency Suit For Arbiter Review

By Jeff Montgomery

An arbitration dispute sidelined a cryptocurrency hedge fund investor's Delaware Chancery Court bid for access to the fund's books and records Friday, after a vice chancellor ruled that an arbitrator should first determine whether the issue is an "arbitrable" matter to begin with.

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SEC Again Says No To Winklevoss Twins' Bitcoin ETF

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has again denied an application for the Winklevoss brothers to launch the first bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund, citing concerns about the lack of oversight in the underlying bitcoin market.

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SEC Halts ICO, Says Company Faked Regulatory Approval

By Dean Seal

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has blocked an upcoming initial coin offering after alleging in California federal court that the company behind it falsely claimed it received regulatory approval from not only the SEC but also a fictitious agency called the Blockchain Exchange Commission.

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Feature

8 Firms To Guide IPOs Surpassing $1.6B In Seesaw Market

By Tom Zanki

Eight law firms are set to steer five initial public offerings estimated to raise more than $1.6 billion during the week of Oct. 22, potentially helping five companies spanning the fintech to biotechnology industries go public, assuming the recently choppy stock market cooperates.

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Former SEC Deputy Director Returns To Steptoe & Johnson

By John Petrick

Steptoe & Johnson LLP has expanded its Washington, D.C., office with the return of a former associate at the firm who went on to become deputy director and senior adviser for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Trading and Markets.

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Trader Who Stole $3M In Cryptocurrency Gets 15 Mos.

By Lauraann Wood

A 24-year-old Chicago trader who admitted to stealing more than $3 million in bitcoin and litecoin from his firm and a group of investors was sentenced in Illinois federal court Friday to a little over a year in prison.

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Techie, Pastor Ask 2nd Circ. To Ax Bitcoin Fraud Convictions

By Stewart Bishop

A Florida tech expert and a New Jersey pastor urged the Second Circuit on Wednesday to reverse their convictions over a purported scheme to co-opt a small credit union into facilitating unlawful bitcoin transactions, citing errors with key witnesses.

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Nasdaq Unit Ups Bid For Swedish Fintech Cinnober To $220M

By Darcy Reddan

A subsidiary of Nasdaq Inc. said on Tuesday that it has increased its offer to acquire Swedish trading technology provider Cinnober Financial Technology AB for 1.9 billion Swedish krona ($219.5 million).

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Euronext Tables $717M Formal Offer To Buy Oslo Exchange

By Joanne Faulkner

Stock market operator Euronext NV confirmed Monday it has tabled a €625 million ($717 million) cash offer for Oslo Bors VPS, hours after the Norwegian exchange said it had found alternative bidders.

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SEC Says ICO Doesn't Need To Register As Security

By Rachel Graf

Officials at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a no-action letter Wednesday allowing an unregistered initial coin offering to proceed, finding it didn't meet the definition of a security laid out in staff guidance released alongside the letter.

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Blockchain Firm Seeks SEC's Blessing For $50M Token Sale

By Dean Seal

Blockchain software firm Blockstack asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday to approve its bid to raise up to $50 million through a token sale under its so-called Reg A+ registration exemption.

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Thai Securities Agency Sets Limits For Debt Crowdfunding

By Matthew Guarnaccia

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced changes to its debt crowdfunding rules, placing caps on the amount small and medium-sized businesses can raise and establishing eligibility requirements for capital-raising platforms.

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BofA, Others Hit With Antitrust Suit By Stock-Lending Startup

By Reenat Sinay

Stock-lending platform SL-x has accused Bank of America and several other major banks of forcing it out of business, bringing claims in New York federal court on behalf of its subsidiaries after the banks challenged the standing of its holding company in a nearly identical suit.

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Ex-Gibson Dunn Atty To Head SEC's San Francisco Office

By Mike LaSusa

A longtime attorney for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission who previously worked at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has been tapped to helm the regulator's San Francisco office, the SEC announced on Tuesday.

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UK Co. LendInvest Securitizes £259M In Mortgage Loans

By Philip Rosenstein

United Kingdom-based property finance marketplace LendInvest has securitized £259 million ($328.75 million) of its buy-to-let mortgage loans, making it the first such fintech platform in the U.K. to securitize its own assets, the company announced Monday.

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Trader Says Ex-Competitor's Spoofing Suit Brought Too Late

By Reenat Sinay

Chicago-based Allston Trading LLC urged an Illinois federal judge on Friday to toss a former competitor's suit accusing it of spoofing U.S. Treasury markets by placing orders for Treasury instruments it never intended to fill, arguing now-defunct Chopper Trading LLC waited too long to bring the claims.

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Bancor To Block US Users Amid Regulatory Uncertainty

By Dean Seal

Decentralized exchange platform Bancor is planning to block U.S. residents from trading digital tokens using its web application due to "increased regulatory uncertainty" in the cryptocurrency space.

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EU Moves Closer To New Bloc-Wide Crowdfunding Rules

By Christopher Crosby

European lawmakers floated new rules on Wednesday to make it easier for businesses and investors to ask the public to fund their projects, bringing the European Union a step closer to forging a common set of rules for national regulators overseeing crowdfunding.

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Tower Research Wants CME Spoofing Claims Arbitrated

By Reenat Sinay

Tower Research Capital LLC has urged an Illinois federal judge to toss a suit accusing it and three of its ex-traders of manipulating futures contract prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, saying the spoofing claims must be arbitrated because one of the plaintiffs was a CME member during the class period.

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NYDFS Launches Innovation Division To Oversee Fintech

By Philip Rosenstein

The New York Department of Financial Services' superintendent announced the launch of the Research and Innovation Division on Tuesday, a new branch of the state agency that will take over the responsibility of supervising and licensing virtual currencies.

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Alleged Bitcoin Creator's Partner Can Subpoena UK Witnesses

By Reenat Sinay

A Florida federal judge on Tuesday granted the estate of a bitcoin mining company's co-founder permission to seek assistance from the U.K. in gathering evidence in a $10.2 billion lawsuit accusing the purported inventor of Bitcoin of stealing his late business partner's bitcoins.

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NY AG Seeks 'Rubber Stamp' In Bitfinex, Tether Investigation

By Frank G. Runyeon

New York Attorney General Letitia James told a New York state court Monday that it should sign off on an investigation into a group of related cryptocurrency companies, saying courts act as a "rubber stamp" in Martin Act probes.

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CFTC Fintech Chief Set For August Private Sector Jump

By Darcy Reddan

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's chief innovation officer, who has led several fintech and cryptocurrency initiatives, will be leaving in mid-August to return to the private sector, the agency said on Friday.

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Skadden Steers Hong Kong Investment Firm's $174M IPO

By Elise Hansen

Hong Kong-based AMTD International started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday following a Skadden-led IPO that brought in $173.9 million, according to the investment banking firm's regulatory filings.

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Deals Rumor Mill: AB InBev, Affirm, BinDawood

By Adam Rhodes

AB InBev reportedly wants to raise $5 billion in the reignited initial public offering of its Asia Pacific business, Affirm is raising as much as $1.5 billion from investors including Thrive Capital, and BinDawood Group has reached out to banks to vie for spots on a potential IPO of its supermarket unit.

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Chancery's Quantlab Ruling Guts Law, Del. Justices Hear

By Jeff Montgomery

The losing side in a recent Chancery Court battle for control of high-speed trading firm Quantlab Financial LLC told the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday that the lower court's decision turned on a ruling that "eviscerates" Delaware jurisprudence on critical clauses that map out the scope of contracts.

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ECB Head Warns Of Libra Stablecoin Risks In Letter To EU

By Dean Seal

The president of the European Central Bank sent a letter to the legislative branch of the European Union that warned of the risks involved with so-called stablecoins, including Facebook's unreleased Libra cryptocurrency.

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Taxation With Representation: Skadden, Simpson, White

By Eli Flesch

In this week's Taxation with Representation, Visa acquires fintech company Plaid for $5.3 billion, a Blackstone real estate trust makes a $4.6 billion play for two Vegas hotels, and Saudi Aramco's IPO raises another $3.8 billion.

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Grayscale 1st Crypto Investor To Get SEC Reporting Co. Label

By Philip Rosenstein

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has become the first "digital currency investment vehicle" to successfully reach the status of an SEC reporting company after its registration Form 10 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was deemed effective, Grayscale Investments said Tuesday.

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3 Firms Steer Worldline's €7.8B Bet On Payments Co. Ingenico

By Chelsea Naso

Worldline unveiled plans Monday to buy fellow payments company Ingenico in a deal worth €7.8 billion ($8.6 billion) with the help of Cleary Gottlieb, Latham & Watkins and Bredin Prat, marking the latest big-ticket merger in the space.

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Mark Cuban Among SEC Critics Siding With Lucia In ALJ Fight

By Dean Seal

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and two prominent hedge fund managers are throwing their support behind former investment adviser Raymond Lucia in his latest challenge to the constitutionality of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's administrative law judges.

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Justices Asked Yet Again To Clarify Alice In $4M US Bank Suit

By Tiffany Hu

Solutran Inc. is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a $4 million infringement win against U.S. Bank over a checking system patent, arguing the Federal Circuit improperly analyzed only one element of the patent to find it covered an abstract idea under the high court's Alice test.

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Blockchain Startup Settles SEC Claims Over $45M ICO

By Dean Seal

Data encryption startup Enigma MPC on Wednesday settled charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that its $45 million initial coin offering from 2017 violated registration requirements.

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Robinhood's System Outage Spurs Class Action Filed In Fla.

By Philip Rosenstein

The online stock trading application Robinhood is facing a class action lawsuit after its services were interrupted for nearly an entire trading day that saw an explosive stock market rally, with breach of contract and negligence claims being leveled against the fintech company.

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Venture Firm Scores $3.6B For Tech, Health Care Investments

By Benjamin Horney

New Enterprise Associates Inc. has secured $3.6 billion from limited partners for its largest-ever fund, which will target investments in the technology and health care sectors around the world, the private investment firm said Wednesday.

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Ex-Deutsche Trader's 'Outsourcing' Claim Brushed Aside

By Jody Godoy

An Illinois federal judge bypassed a former Deutsche Bank trader's allegation that prosecutors outsourced their spoofing investigation to the bank's lawyers, ruling on Wednesday that the claim is irrelevant since the trader was not forced to incriminate himself to bank investigators.

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Fla. Man Accused Of Money Laundering In $30M CD Scam

By Reenat Sinay

Federal prosecutors and regulators accused a Florida man of laundering money in a $30 million scheme to lure investors to pour funds into fake certificates of deposit via copycat websites designed to look like those of legitimate financial institutions.

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Public Interest Groups Call For Federal Rulemaking Freeze

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Activist groups are asking the White House and several federal agencies to freeze any rulemaking that isn't directly related to the COVID-19 response effort, saying in a letter on Tuesday that it would be a misallocation of resources to do otherwise.

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SEC Wins Bid To Halt Telegram $1.7B Coin Offering

By Philip Rosenstein

A halt on Telegram's $1.7 billion initial coin offering will continue after a New York federal judge granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a preliminary injunction Tuesday blocking the messaging company from distributing its Gram tokens to investors.

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'No Reason To Delay' Judgment In VIX Manipulation Case

By Bryan Koenig

Investors will be able to appeal the toss of securities fraud claims against the Chicago Board Options Exchange in a suit over the manipulation of the exchange's volatility index after an Illinois federal judge on Tuesday took the procedural step of entering final judgment on the dismissal.

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Kirkland, Maples Steer Blank Check Co.'s $360M Debut

By Elise Hansen

CC Neuberger, a blank check company focused on finance, technology and business services, started trading Friday after raising $360 million in an upsized initial public offering steered by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Maples Group.

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SEC Seeks $2.5M From Ponzi Scheme Operator

By Rachel O'Brien

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked a Utah federal judge Wednesday to grant a $2.5 million default judgment against the incarcerated owner of an online advertising business following a 2017 injunction against the alleged international Ponzi scheme.

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DOJ Shuts Down Websites Shilling 'False' COVID-19 Vaccines

By Dave Simpson

A Kentucky federal judge on Monday ordered the shutdown of a series of related websites and a Facebook page offering preregistration for a nonexistent COVID-19 vaccine in exchange for $100 worth of bitcoin after the Louisville man prosecutors claim is behind the scam agreed to a preliminary injunction.

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Intercontinental Fights To Remain In Chicago Merc's TM Suit

By Reenat Sinay

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has challenged the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's bid to voluntarily dismiss it as a defendant in CME's trademark infringement suit, calling it a "desperate" attempt to avoid a ruling on whether its trademarks are actually valid.

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DOJ Clears LSE's $27B Refinitiv Deal Without Conditions

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that it has cleared the London Stock Exchange Group's planned $27 billion takeover of financial data provider Refinitiv, but hurdles remain for the deal in Europe and elsewhere.

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4 Firms Guide $140M Fintech Merger With Blank Check Co.

By McCord Pagan

Financial technology group BankMobile Technologies said Thursday it was going public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Megalith Financial Acquisition Corp. in a deal that values the combined business at $140 million and that was guided by four law firms: Nelson Mullins, Stradley Ronon, Duane Morris and Ellenoff Grossman.

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SoftBank-Backed Fortress SPAC Leads 2 IPOs Totaling $405M

By Sierra Jackson

SoftBank-backed Fortress Investment Group's third blank-check company, Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. II, led two such companies that raised a total of $405 million when their initial public offerings kicked off trading Wednesday.

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Colo. AG Settles Marlette, Avant Fintech Lender Cases

By Jon Hill

Colorado's attorney general said he has reached a settlement in closely watched lawsuits accusing two online lenders of illegally teaming up with banks to evade the state's interest rate cap, unveiling a deal that would see the state collect more than $1 million.

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Shoplet's Ex-GC Admits Stealing $6M, Faces 3 To 9 Years

By Frank G. Runyeon

The former top attorney for Shoplet admitted in a New York state court Thursday to pocketing millions using the online retailer's PayPal account, part of a plea deal that will leave the lawyer broke as he faces up to nine years in prison.

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Apple Fights Epic's Bid To Reverse Fortnite App Store Ban

By Mike LaSusa

Apple has urged a California federal judge to reject Epic Games' request for a court order forcing Apple to return Epic's popular Fortnite video game to the App Store, calling Epic's alleged injuries "the self-inflicted and self-fixable result of its own cheating."

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Judge Amy Coney Barrett: 7th Circ. Decisions To Know

By Brandon Lowrey and Erin Coe

Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a devout Catholic and a law professor who has developed a conservative record in her relatively brief time on the Seventh Circuit. As a fierce election-year battle looms over her confirmation, here are some telling opinions, dissents and decisions she has written.

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Facebook Users Must Show Injury In Ad Suit, Judge Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

A federal magistrate judge in San Francisco on Friday said a Facebook user hadn't shown how she was negatively impacted by Facebook's advertising practices, dismissing the latest version of a proposed class action alleging the social media giant's ad system keeps women and older users from receiving information about financial services.

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SEC Deals For $4M Finalized In $30M Ponzi Scheme Suit

By Nathan Hale

A Florida federal court entered final judgments Tuesday on settlements worth more than $4 million in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit over an alleged $30 million Ponzi scheme operated by two diamond companies and a purported cryptocurrency business that targeted investors in the U.S. and Canada.

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Analysis

CFPB Enforcement Sees Highest New Case Volume In 5 Years

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has often been accused of going soft on businesses under President Donald Trump, but the agency is coming off its busiest quarter for enforcement since before he took office. It's a striking surge in activity that financial services attorneys say is more than a fluke.

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Derivative Suit Over FleetCor Fuel Card Fees Tossed

By Emilie Ruscoe

A federal judge in Atlanta on Wednesday dismissed a shareholder's derivative action against executives of FleetCor Technologies Inc., finding that the investor who filed the suit hadn't actually shown that it would have been futile to bring his concerns to the board before bringing them to court.

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Lender Seeks Sanctions Over 'Shakedown' FCRA Suit

By Nathan Hale

A Florida woman informed a Tampa federal court Wednesday of a settlement in her Fair Credit Reporting Act suit against lender BlueChip Financial and its CEO, but the judge set a hearing for Friday on the defendants' sanctions motion alleging the suit was "factually and legally frivolous."

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Gunderson, Cooley Steer E-Commerce Site Wish's $1.1B IPO

By Caleb Drickey

Discount e-commerce platform Wish went public Wednesday after raising $1.1 billion in an initial public offering under the guidance of Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP and underwriters counsel Cooley LLP.

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Analysis

IPOs Still A Hot Ticket As Post-Pandemic 'Normalcy' Beckons

By Tom Zanki

Businesses that have prospered from stay-at-home mandates are flocking toward initial public offerings hoping their stories still resonate, joined by companies from battered industries that are eyeing recovery in a post-pandemic world, indicating no rest for the hot IPO market.

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Ill. No Good For CFTC Oil Futures Spoofing Suit, Traders Say

By Lauraann Wood

A Slovakian father-and-son duo accused of spoofing the crude oil futures market urged an Illinois federal judge Monday to toss the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's suit against them, arguing the court has no jurisdiction over the agency's claims.

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Ex-Trader On The Hook For $22.7M Judgment, 11th Circ. Says

By Nathan Hale

The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a lower court's $22.7 million disgorgement order against a trader and his two companies in connection to a civil case brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, finding that he failed to provide credible evidence to justify an offset for business expenses.

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CFPB Eyeing Online Lender's Collection Practices, Virus Help

By Jon Hill

Oportun, a California-based online consumer lender, disclosed Thursday that its debt collection practices and pandemic-related borrower relief efforts are under scrutiny from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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Pot Trial Witness Tells Jury He Worked For Cryptoqueen's Ex

By Pete Brush

A witness testifying against two men accused of fooling banks into processing $150 million worth of marijuana payments said Tuesday that he once tried to extort $30 million on behalf of the ex-boyfriend of "CryptoQueen" Ruja Ignatova, the fugitive head of the OneCoin cryptocurrency scam.

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Paul Weiss, Davis Polk Rep Insurtech's Planned $490M IPO

By McCord Pagan

Medicare Advantage plan provider and insurance technology business Alignment Healthcare was one of at least three companies to unveil plans Thursday for an initial public offering, telling regulators it may offer a $490 million stake in itself in a deal guided by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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Fenwick Guides Trading Platform Pipe To $2B Valuation

By Elise Hansen

Pipe Technologies Inc., which offers a trading platform for recurring revenues, said Wednesday it raised $250 million with help from Fenwick & West LLP and reached a valuation over $2 billion, less than a year after its public launch.

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Judge Won't Revive State Securities Claims Against Bibox

By Elise Hansen

State securities law claims against digital asset trading platform Bibox were rightly nixed for being untimely, a New York federal judge has found, cementing a court win for Bibox as it fended off allegations that it sold unregistered securities.

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11th Circ. Revives Crypto Investors' Class Cert. Hopes

By Carolina Bolado

The Eleventh Circuit ruled Tuesday that a district judge's denial of a group of Centra Tech Inc. investors' class certification motion was in error, finding that the investors had filed the motion as soon as they reasonably could in their suit over a fraudulent $32 million initial coin offering.

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Analysis

FinCEN Anti-Money Laundering Notice Falls Flat With Experts

By Al Barbarino

One day after the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced the "milestone" release of a first-of-its-kind set of anti-money laundering priorities, industry attorneys on Thursday lamented how little guidance the document actually provides to financial institutions, calling it unhelpful and disappointing.

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Rising Star: Paul Hastings' Sara Weed

By Elise Hansen

Sara Weed of Paul Hastings LLP helped human resources software giant Ceridian roll out a rapid payroll product and helped draft state legislation for client Coinbase around cryptocurrency exchanges' capital requirements, earning her a spot among the fintech practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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2 Firms Guide Student Loan Fintech In $100M Financing

By Elise Hansen

MPOWER Financing, a financial technology company focused on student loans, said Tuesday it has raised $100 million with guidance from Cooley and Greenberg Traurig that it will use to help further automate its platform and reach additional students.

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Fed Proposes Guidance For Third-Party, Fintech Relationships

By Al Barbarino

A new proposal from the Federal Reserve's board and two other banking regulators aims to create consistent guidance on how banks should manage third-party relationships, including those with fintech companies that the board said may add complexity and heighten risks. 

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With OCC Reorg, Hsu Takes Agency Back To The Future

By Jon Hill

Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu is taking the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency back to the future with a reorganization that will bring him closer to the agency's core supervision work, and hints that the Biden administration isn't in a hurry to replace him.

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Latham-Led Fintech Platform Simon Secures Up To $100M

By McCord Pagan

Wealth management platform Simon, guided by Latham & Watkins LLP, said Thursday it has secured the first part of a Series B funding round raising up to $100 million that was led by WestCap Group.

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SEC Raises The Disclosure Bar For China-Based IPO Seekers

By Al Barbarino

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced a series of new disclosure requirements that will make it harder for Chinese companies to launch IPOs in the U.S., answering calls by lawmakers who say the Chinese government may be intentionally exploiting U.S. investors.

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Senate OKs $1.2T Bill With Enhanced IRS Crypto Oversight

By Stephen K. Cooper

The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Tuesday that boosts IRS oversight of cryptocurrency trading before immediately turning its attention to a budget bill that will serve as a vehicle for President Joe Biden's economic relief plan.

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Apple Opposes Epic's Bid To Access Class Action Docs

By Christopher Cole

Apple Inc. has urged a California federal judge to reject Epic Games' push to obtain sealed documents in an antitrust suit mirroring Epic's claims against Apple, saying the game developer forfeited any right to the materials by pursuing its own, separate case.

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OppFi Says It No Longer Faces CFPB Military Lending Probe

By Katryna Perera

In an announcement Monday, Opportunity Financial said it's no longer being investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the company's potential military lending violations and that the regulatory agency doesn't plan on escalating the matter into an enforcement action.

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Former Senior OCC, Federal Reserve Official Joins Skadden

By Katryna Perera

Bao Nguyen, a long-time counselor at the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has flipped to private practice and joined Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP as a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C., office.

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'Suspicious' Judge Unsure Of SEC's Crypto Claim In IPro Case

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday he is skeptical about granting summary judgment in its favor on a claim that a purveyor of online instructional materials offered an unregistered security, saying perhaps the government thinks the case is too weak for trial.

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White House Crypto Report Sets Blueprint For Coming Rules

By Aislinn Keely and Jon Hill

A long-awaited report from the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets that was released Wednesday encouraged securities and derivatives regulators to use their existing authorities to clear the way for crypto issuance and trading in the absence of lasting legislation, while also urging banking regulators to sharpen standards for crypto engagement.

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Crypto SPACs Raise $500M Amid Renewed Industry Optimism

By Al Barbarino

Two SPACs targeting digital assets began trading Wednesday after raising a combined $500 million in initial public offerings, adding to a recent run of crypto-related blank check launches amid renewed investor interest in the sector.

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Citizens Say FinCEN's Real Estate Transfer Rule Unlawful

By Spencer Brewer

Two citizens asked a Texas federal judge to throw out FinCEN's rule requiring disclosure of residential real estate transfers to corporate entities and trusts even when no money changes hands, saying the rule runs afoul of the Constitution.

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Industry-Friendly OCC Regulations May Be On The Horizon

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s agenda for the next few months, as articulated by new OCC leader Joseph Otting, seems promising for the industry and may provide regulatory relief to banks in many areas. At the same time, Otting’s proposals may face legal challenges, say attorneys with Arnold & Porter.

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How FTC Is Stepping Up Its Consumer Protection Efforts

The Federal Trade Commission, which once dominated the playing field on many consumer protection issues, appears poised to reclaim a more active role in connection with financial products and services, say attorneys with Buckley Sandler LLP.

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Opinion

Millennials Are Pushing Back Against Law Firm Sexism

A recent survey of millennial attorneys shows men and women are having very different BigLaw experiences, but share similar goals. It's imperative that partners recognize that they’re the ones in a position to change the culture, says Michelle Fivel of Major Lindsey.

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The Role Of Dictionaries In Last Term's High Court Decisions

Since 32 of the 67 decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court during its October term cite dictionaries, it’s worth reviewing the opinions to learn which dictionaries the justices consulted and how they used them, say Bruce Wessel and Brian Weissenberg of Irell & Manella.

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A Litigator's Reflections From The Arbitrator's Chair

The U.S. Supreme Court's opinions this term in Henry Schein and Lamps Plus remind us of the fundamental difference between arbitration and litigation. Yet, as a commercial litigator who serves as a neutral arbitrator, I have observed that experienced litigators often fail to adapt their approach in arbitration, says Paula Litt at Honigman.

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SEC Framework Complicates Digital Asset Secondary Trading

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently released framework for determining when digital assets should be considered securities clashes with traditional investment contract analysis when applied to secondary market transactions, with devastating consequences for trading intermediaries, say Clara Krivoy and Edgard Alvarez at Brown Rudnick.

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Series

Pursuing Wellness: Steps Toward A Supportive Firm Culture

As an early advocate of the American Bar Association's year-old well-being pledge, we launched an integrated program to create and sustain a supportive workplace culture with initiatives focused on raising mental health awareness, embracing creativity and giving back to the community, says Casey Ryan at Reed Smith.

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Expatriation Tax Next On IRS Crypto Enforcement List

Two recent moves suggest that the IRS is now publicly and officially on the hunt for U.S. expatriates who failed to pay exit tax on appreciated cryptocurrency assets, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

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The Deal Maker's Guide To The New CFIUS Framework

Now that new national security regulations governing cross-border investment and acquisitions are in effect, attorneys at MoFo identify the key questions deal makers should be asking to assess whether they must, or should, notify the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States of a transaction.

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Tips For Online Mediation In The Age Of Social Distancing

While mediating via an internet conferencing platform during the COVID-19 crisis, remember that visual interactions are of vital importance. A simple phrase can be transformed into a sincere inquiry, a shocked response or a sarcastic put-down depending upon how we visually convey that message, says mediator Sidney Kanazawa at ARC.

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Confronting Mental Distress In The Legal Profession

Even before the pandemic, troubling data about mental distress among lawyers pointed to a profession in crisis, but addressing the challenge requires a better understanding of the causes, says Jonathan Prokup at Cigna Corp.

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Post-Election Financial Services Regulatory Outlook

Attorneys at Arnold & Porter explore regulatory expectations for the financial services sector in the wake of the presidential election, including federal agency leadership, banking regulation and agency actions, renewed focus on consumer protection, predictions for fintech, and prospects for a new financial transaction tax.

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Anticipating Predictive Analytics' Potential Uses In Litigation

Predictive analytics — the marriage of statistics and machine learning now commonly used in litigation for document review and production — will soon likely bring exciting new uses in discovery and beyond, offering attorneys more data-driven ways to establish facts and predict case outcomes, say Richard Finkelman and Karl Schliep at Berkeley Research Group.

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Opinion

GameStop Hype Exposes Securities Litigation Theory's Flaws

The extraordinary recent volatility of GameStop and other so-called meme stocks shines a light on the need to revisit the outdated fraud-on-the-market presumption in securities litigation, which the plaintiffs bar is wrongly using to wring settlement after settlement out of securities issuers, says J.B. Heaton at One Hat Research.

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Crypto's Enviro Costs Present Challenges For Companies

As the value and popularity of cryptocurrency and other digital assets burgeon, their hidden environmental costs will attract increasing scrutiny — potentially forcing companies to reconcile their desire to embrace new technology with their publicly professed sustainability goals, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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NY Tax Considerations For Fund Managers Handling Crypto

Attorneys at Mayer Brown address whether transactions in cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens should be considered eligible for the self-trading exemptions under New York City unincorporated business tax and New York state personal income tax.

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9th Circ. Finding That NFTs Are Goods Will Change TM Law

The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Yuga Labs v. Ripps establishes that NFTs have real, commercial value under U.S. federal trademark law, a new legal precedent that may significantly influence intellectual property enforcement and marketplace policies regarding digital assets going forward, say attorneys at Wilson Elser.

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Bonus Spotlight

Magic Circle Firms Enchant Associates With Top-Tier Bonuses

By Tracey Read

U.S. associates at Linklaters LLP and Clifford Chance LLP have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, as the Magic Circle firms Wednesday became the latest to match the BigLaw standard for this year's associate bonuses.

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Analysis

After Big Win For 2 Trump Foes, A Third Faces 'Tougher Job'

By Phillip Bantz

The recent dismissal of federal criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey does little to help President Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser John Bolton, whose defense in a classified-materials case presents a thornier set of legal and factual issues, experts say.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: ISP Liability & State Subpoena Suits

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the first week of its December oral argument session, during which the justices will consider whether internet service providers can be held liable for contributing to their customers' infringing activity online and whether the subjects of state subpoenas are required to first challenge them in state court. 

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Interview

For Covington's Adrian Perry, Music Is A Family Affair

By Theresa Schliep

Despite having a famous rock star dad, Covington & Burling LLP partner Adrian J. Perry wasn't all that interested in being a musician as a young child, but he knew as early as 6 years old that he wanted to be a lawyer.

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Analysis

Calif. Privacy Agency Gaining Steam Ahead Of 5th Anniversary

By Allison Grande

California's data privacy regulator has taken several notable steps in recent months, including handing down its first penalty upward of $1 million dollars and finalizing long-awaited rules on topics such as cybersecurity audits and technologies that use artificial intelligence, and the groundbreaking agency shows no signs of slowing down as its fifth anniversary approaches. 

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Split 6th Circ. Shields Baker Donelson, Not City Councilman

By Matt Perez

In a published opinion, the Sixth Circuit has found that Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC is shielded by qualified immunity as outside counsel for the city of Nashville in litigation over the law firm's firing of a city election commission chair and member of the firm.

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Foley & Lardner Hit With Malpractice Suit Over Chancery Loss

By Rose Krebs

Foley & Lardner LLP has been sued in Delaware Superior Court by three officers of a now-defunct food recycling company who say the firm was negligent when representing them in a Chancery Court case that led to a $1.6 million judgment against them and another officer.

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DOJ Asks Court If It Can Release Epstein Files Under New Law

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a New York federal court's permission to publicly release the files related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, clarifying Wednesday that it wants to release search warrant results, travel and financial records, police reports, and other materials.

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Keesal Young Poaching Suit Against Stradley Ronon Trimmed

By Madison Arnold

A California state judge cleared Keesal Young & Logan to pursue most of its lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young crossed the line when it recruited 10 former Keesal Young attorneys, finding that claims such as inducing breach of contract could move forward, in part, because of conversations among the attorneys.

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DOJ Says Ex-Employees Can't Challenge Firings In Fed. Court

By Rose Krebs

The government says a D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a lawsuit filed by a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and two other ex-Department of Justice employees, alleging they were unlawfully fired.

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Hub Hires: Todd & Weld, Freshfields, Shipman

By Julie Manganis

It was a busy November in Boston's legal community as another firm expanded into the market, and a longtime judge traded his gavel for the ability to address his growing concerns about the Trump administration.

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