Expert Analysis

• SEC Penalties Trended Down In FY 2025, Offering 2026 Clues

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's settled corporate penalties in fiscal year 2025 show a clear dividing line, as the largest penalties all came before Inauguration Day, a trend that may continue as the types of cases that lead to the biggest penalties seem to be no longer favored by the commissioners, say attorneys at Dentons.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Client-Led Litigation

  

  New litigators can better help their corporate clients achieve their overall objectives when they move beyond simply fighting for legal victory to a client-led approach that resolves the legal dispute while balancing the company's competing out-of-court priorities, says Chelsea Ireland at Cohen Ziffer.

• Navigating 2025's Post-Grant Proceeding Shakeups

  

  Extensive changes to the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board's post-grant proceedings this year, including the new settled expectations factor and revitalization of Fintiv factors, require petitioners and patent owners alike to be mindful when selecting patents to assert and challenge, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

• Perspectives

  Asylum Pretermission Ruling Erodes Procedural Protections

  

  A recent Board of Immigration Appeals decision permitting immigration judges to dismiss asylum applications without notice or evidentiary hearings adopts the civil court's summary judgment mechanism without the procedural protections that make summary judgment fair, says Georgianna Pisano Goetz at GHIRP.

• What To Expect From DOD's Acquisitions Revamp

  

  The U.S. Department of Defense’s recently announced reshuffling of offices and changes to approval processes aimed at streamlining acquisitions and foreign military sales could materially reshape how contractors position themselves, structure bids and manage compliance, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• A Close Look At The Evolving Interval Fund Space

  

  Interval funds — closed-end registered investment companies that make periodic repurchase offers — have recently moved to the center of the conversation about retail access to private markets, spurred along by President Donald Trump's August executive order incorporating alternative assets into 401(k) plans and target date strategies, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

• Meta Monopoly Ruling Highlights Limits Of Market Definition

  

  A D.C. federal court's recent ruling that Meta is not monopolizing social media raises questions, such as why market definition matters and whether we have the correct model of competition, which can aid in making a stronger case against tech companies, says Shubha Ghosh at the Syracuse University College of Law.

• Perspectives

  Nursing Home Abuse Cases Face 3 Barriers That Need Reform

  

  Recent headlines reveal persistent gaps in oversight and protection for vulnerable residents in long-term care, but prosecution of these cases is often stymied by numerous challenges that will require a comprehensive overhaul of regulatory, legal and financial structures to address, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

• Florida Throws A Wrench Into Interstate Trucking Torts

  

  Florida's recent request to file a bill of complaint in the U.S. Supreme Court against California and Washington, asserting that the states' policies conflict with the federal English language proficiency standard for truck drivers, transforms a conventional wrongful death case into a high-stakes constitutional challenge, say attorneys at Farah & Farah.

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  The Law Firm Merger Diaries: How To Build On Cultural Fit

  

  Law firm mergers should start with people, then move to strategy: A two-level screening that puts finding a cultural fit at the pinnacle of the process can unearth shared values that are instrumental to deciding to move forward with a combination, says Matthew Madsen at Harrison.

• Why Justices Must Act To End Freight Broker Liability Split

  

  The Sixth Circuit's recent ruling in Cox v. Total Quality Logistics Inc., affirming states' authority over negligence claims against transportation brokers, deepens an existing circuit split, creating an untenable situation where laws between neighboring states conflict in seven distinct instances — and making U.S. Supreme Court intervention essential, says Steven Saal at Lucosky Brookman.

• The Future Of Digital Asset Oversight May Rest With OCC

  

  How the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency handles fintechs' growing interest in national trust bank charters, demonstrated by a jump in filings this year, will determine how far the federal banking system extends to digital assets, and whether the charter becomes a mainstream supervisory pathway, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

• Rare Tariff Authority May Boost US Battery Manufacturing

  

  Finalizing preliminary tariffs on active anode material from China — the result of a rare exercise of statutory authority finding that foreign dumping hampered the development of a nascent U.S. industry — should help domestic battery manufacturing, but potential price increases could discourage related clean-energy use, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

• Takeaways From First Resolution After FCPA Pause Was Lifted

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent deferred prosecution agreement with TIGO Guatemala — its first Foreign Corrupt Practice Act corporate resolution after issuing new guidelines and resuming enforcement — highlights several aspects of the administration’s approach to corporate foreign bribery enforcement, say attorneys at Cleary.

• Ending All-In Airfare Pricing Could Pose Ad Dilemma For Cos.

  

  The U.S. Department of Transportation's plan to scrap its requirement that airfare ads include all fees and taxes in price listings means that airlines, travel agents and other affected businesses must balance competitive pricing against the risk of alienating consumers, say Kimberly Graber at Steptoe and Serena Viswanathan, formerly at the FTC's Division of Advertising Practices.