Expert Analysis

• Associates Can Earn Credibility By Investing In Relationships

  

  As the class of 2025 prepares to join law firms this fall, new associates must adapt to office dynamics and establish credible reputations — which require quiet, consistent relationship-building skills as much as legal acumen, says Kyle Forges at Bast Amron.

• How The Genius Act May Aid In Fight Against 'Pig Butchering'

  

  ​​​​​​​The recently enacted Genius Act represents a watershed moment in the fight against crypto fraud, providing new tools to freeze and recover funds that are lost to scams such as "pig butchering" schemes executed from scam factories abroad, but there are implementation challenges to watch, say attorneys at Treanor Devlin.

• Traditional Venue Theories May Not Encompass Crypto Fraud

  

  A New York federal court's recent decision in U.S. v. Eisenberg, overturning a jury verdict against a crypto trader on venue deficiencies and insufficient evidence, highlights the challenges of prosecutions in the decentralized finance space, and will no doubt curtail law enforcement's often overly expansive view of jurisdiction and venue, say attorneys at Venable.

• When Misconduct Can Trigger Bank Industry Employment Ban

  

  The Federal Reserve Board recently settled an enforcement action in which a former employee of a Wyoming bank was banned from banking for conduct she allegedly committed at an entity unrelated to the bank, raising questions about the scope of regulatory enforcement authority, says Travis Nelson at Polsinelli.

• Lessons From 7th Circ.'s Deleted Chat Sanctions Ruling

  

  The Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Pable v. Chicago Transit Authority, affirming the dismissal of an ex-employee’s retaliation claims, highlights the importance of properly handling the preservation of ephemeral messages and clarifies key sanctions issues, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

• Genius Act Sets Stablecoin Standards — Without Regulation E

  

  While the Genius Act expressly requires payment stablecoin issuers to be treated as financial institutions for purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act, it is notably silent as to whether they are to be treated as such under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, as implemented by Regulation E, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

• Art Market Must Prepare For More AML Scrutiny

  

  Calls for art market regulation continue to grow, as evidenced by a recently introduced bill that would subject it to the Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money laundering requirements, so participants should consider adopting basic, risk-based controls, says Jane Levine at The ArtRisk Group.

• Series

  Quilting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Turning intricate patterns of fabric and thread into quilts has taught me that craftsmanship, creative problem-solving and dedication to incremental progress are essential to creating something lasting that will help another person — just like in law, says Veronica McMillan at Kramon & Graham.

• How AI Is Easing Digital Asset Recovery In Fraud Cases

  

  In combination with recent legislation and a maturing digital asset infrastructure, artificial intelligence tools are making it easier to recover stolen assets, giving litigants a more specific understanding of financial fraud earlier in the process and making it economically feasible to pursue smaller fraud claims, says Solomon Shinerock at Lewis Baach.

• Fleeing Or Just Leaving Quickly? 2nd Circ. Says It Depends

  

  The Second Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Bardakova decision adopted a new approach for determining whether a defendant who commits a crime in the U.S., and then leaves and remains abroad, intends to avoid prosecution — making it more difficult to argue against the fugitive disentitlement doctrine in most cases, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

• What 2 Profs Noticed As Transactional Law Students Used AI

  

  After a semester using generative artificial intelligence tools with students in an entrepreneurship law clinic, we came away with numerous observations about the opportunities and challenges such tools present to new transactional lawyers, say professors at Cornell Law School.

• Despite SEC Reset, Private Crypto Securities Cases Continue

  

  While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Trump administration has charted a new approach to crypto regulation, the industry still lacks comprehensive rules of the road, meaning private plaintiffs continue to pursue litigation, and application of securities laws to crypto-assets will be determined by the courts, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Crypto Custody Guidelines Buoy Both Banks And Funds

  

  A statement released last month by banking regulators — highlighting risks that the agencies expect banks holding crypto-assets to mitigate — may encourage more traditional institutions to offer crypto-asset safekeeping and thereby offer asset managers more options for qualified custodians to custody crypto-assets for their clients, say attorneys at Dechert.

• Reel Justice: 'Eddington' Spotlights Social Media Evidence

  

  In the neo-Western black comedy “Eddington” released last month, social media is a character unto itself, highlighting how the boundaries between digital and real-world conduct can become blurred, thereby posing evidentiary challenges in criminal prosecutions, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

• Rebuttal

  BigLaw Settlements Should Not Spur Ethics Deregulation

  

  A recent Law360 op-ed argued that loosening law firm funding restrictions would make BigLaw firms less inclined to settle with the Trump administration, but deregulating legal financing ethics may well prove to be not merely ineffective, but counterproductive, says Laurel Kilgour at the American Economic Liberties Project.