Expert Analysis

• What CMS Audit Rule Means For Medicare Advantage Plans

  

  Despite ongoing legal challenges, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is moving forward with implementation of its risk adjustment data validation audits, raising statistical concerns around overpayments indicated by variance in unbalanced samples, say Stephen Fink, Brad Rice and Igor Karagodsky at Analysis Group.

• Parsing The Latest Signals On FTC Section 5 Enforcement

  

  Federal Trade Commission cases brought over the last several years and Commissioner Mark Meador’s recent call for stand-alone Section 5 enforcement suggest businesses should prepare for continued scrutiny of conduct beyond traditional antitrust violations, particularly in essential goods, technology and labor markets, say attorneys at Axinn.

• Calif. PFAS Pesticide Reporting Law Raises Cos.' Legal Risks

  

  A new California law requiring public reporting of how registered pesticides containing intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are used across the state could increase regulatory scrutiny — and provide a road map for litigation involving growers, applicators, distributors, pesticide manufacturers and upstream chemical suppliers, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

• What's At Stake As Justices Rethink Sentencing Commentary

  

  Tuesday’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Beaird v. U.S. highlighted the tension between preserving sentencing consistency and limiting the authority of sentencing guidelines commentary, and a decision favoring the latter could significantly reduce sentencing exposure for white collar defendants, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

• How A New Case Redefines The Birthright Citizenship Battle

  

  After the U.S. Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling last term in Trump v. Barbara, the Trump administration issued a new executive order attempting to limit the categories of individuals eligible for this status — and a pending court challenge to the new order shows where the legal battle lines are being redrawn, say attorneys at Fragomen.

• Why Vaccine Court Inoculates Drugmakers Against Litigation

  

  Most claimants alleging injuries from routine childhood vaccines must complete an administrative compensation proceeding before they can sue in civil court — and recent legislative efforts aimed at weakening vaccine manufacturers' legal protections do not account for the important reasons the existing framework was put in place, say attorneys at Goldman Ismail.

• As Congress Stalls, SEC Hits Go On 'Innovation Exemption'

  

  While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently issued innovation exemption to facilitate on-chain trading of certain tokenized stocks isn't a replacement for a comprehensive legislative framework, it reduces the likelihood that further congressional delay will freeze market development, says Stephen Aschettino at Fox Rothschild.

• What Lawyers Should Know Before Accepting Crypto Payment

  

  As clients increasingly request to pay legal fees, retainers and escrow funds using cryptocurrency, lawyers should consider how only a handful of state bar authorities have addressed the issue with varying ethics opinions, as well as the related questions that no authority has yet answered, says attorney Felix Shipkevich.

• How To Use AI In Employment Contract Drafting

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Before using artificial intelligence to draft employment contracts, law firms and employers must assess practical ethical guardrails, appropriate use cases, core risk areas and validation workflows, says Samuel Mitchell at Smith Gambrell.

• Battles Over Murky Mineral Rights Stymie Pa. Energy Projects

  

  Legal wrangling over a recently passed Pennsylvania law could affect billions of dollars of mineral royalty payments, the status of subsurface property rights in the state and the ability of the Legislature to pass retroactive legislation that affects those rights, say attorneys at Flaster Greenberg.

• NY Severance Rules Persist Despite McLaren Macomb Threat

  

  Despite recent calls to overturn the National Labor Relations Board's decision in McLaren Macomb, New York's robust regulation will remain intact, limiting practitioners' ability to offer nonsupervisory employees severance agreements with confidentiality and nondisclosure provisions, says Matthew Berman at Valli Kane.

• What To Know As State 'Neural Data' Privacy Laws Emerge

  

  Attorneys at Goodwin discuss new state laws aimed at regulating consumer data generated from nervous system activity, explain why neurotechnology is attracting state and federal legislators’ attention, and highlight the compliance obligations that industry players should address now.

• Bank Regulators' New Risk Guidance Offers More Flexibility

  

  Newly proposed interagency guidance on banks’ third-party risk management would shift rigid compliance frameworks to a principles-based, risk-proportionate approach, potentially creating new opportunities for bank-fintech partnerships and giving smaller institutions a clearer path to innovation, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

• Mo. Official's Indictment Tests Limits Of Federal Bribery Laws

  

  The recent bribery charges filed against a Missouri county executive raise questions about whether field-clearing conversations and job offers between rival candidates can rise to the level of illegal quid pro quos, potentially muddying the line between politics as usual and the federal bribery statutes, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

• Conn. Insurers Should Prepare To Explain Premium Hikes

  

  As of Jan. 1, Connecticut insurers must provide a reasonable explanation for personal risk insurance premium increases upon policyholder request, and thus should familiarize themselves with a recent bulletin that prescribes the details, say attorneys at Troutman.