Federal

Expert Analysis

• Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

  

  An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

• How To Gear Up For Trump's Pharma Tariffs

  

  President Donald Trump's proclamation establishing tariffs on certain pharmaceutical products holds a few areas of ambiguity that companies should review and prepare for before the tariffs come into effect later this year, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• Steps To Consider As DOJ Launches Fraud Division

  

  The establishment this month of the National Fraud Enforcement Division within the U.S. Department of Justice is a significant reorganization that suggests an increase in enforcement activity involving federally funded programs but leaves a number of important questions unanswered, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

• What To Expect From The SEC's New SOX Group

  

  In a potential shift away from Public Company Accounting Oversight Board enforcement, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's formation of a new group to investigate and litigate potential violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act brings both risks and benefits for auditors, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

• Hungary CPAC Funding Probe Could Implicate US Entities

  

  A Hungarian anti-corruption investigation into claims that the former prime minister used taxpayer funds to support the Conservative Political Action Conference could include potential cross-border political and financial dimensions that create multiple touchpoints for U.S. regulatory and enforcement interest, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

• Mitigating Multistate Risks As California Expands Tax Reach

  

  Though California's new sourcing rules and extension of the pass-through entity election have created uncertainty, practitioners should file protective returns to respect the law's ambiguity and take certain other steps to protect clients from the costs of losing a future audit, says attorney Delina Yasmeh.

• E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On ESI Control

  

  Several recent federal court decisions have perpetuated a split over what constitutes “control” of electronically stored information — with judges divided on whether the standard should turn on a party's legal right or practical ability to obtain the information, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Anticipating The Justices' Potential Ruling On Tax Takings

  

  Recent oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court case Pung v. Isabella focused on rules for valuation, timing and administrability of tax auction proceeds and whichever method the court adopts for determining just compensation, it will have far-reaching impacts on tax collection, homeowners' equity and the secondary market for tax-foreclosed property, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

• 2 Discovery Rulings Break With Heppner On AI Privilege Issue

  

  While a New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner suggests that some litigants’ communications with AI tools are discoverable, two other recent federal court decisions demonstrate that such interactions generally qualify for work-product protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Joshua Dunn at Brown Rudnick.

• CBP's $166B Tariff Refund Portal Needs 4 Safeguards

  

  Before launching its automated web portal to process tariff-refund disbursements on April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection should apply the expensive lessons learned from the pandemic-era employee retention credit, says Peter Gariepy at RubinBrown.

• How Developers Can Leverage The New Markets Tax Credit

  

  An increased regulatory focus on affordable housing raises important legal considerations for structuring transactions using the oft overlooked New Markets Tax Credit, which can fill a gap in affordable for-sale housing financing by lowering community developer costs but comes with unique compliance, structuring and documentation demands, say attorneys at Stinson.

• Calculating Damages In IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation

  

  To calculate damages in the spate of refund litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the central question will be how to determine where in the supply chain their economic burden ultimately came to rest, say analysts at Charles River Associates.

• Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.