Expert Analysis

• After The Bank Failures: What To Watch In Congress

  

  In the first of a two-part series reviewing the preliminary congressional and regulatory responses to the 2023 bank failures, Gordon Bava at Manatt breaks down the three congressional bills introduced in the wake of the bank chaos and evaluates the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s proposed deposit insurance alternatives.

• Assessing Overlapping Boards After DOJ Crackdown

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent targeting of interlocking directorates raises questions about the scope of applicable antitrust law, including when companies will be considered competitors, whether the statute reaches potential competitors, and how companies can avoid price-fixing or market allocation charges, say attorneys at Cooley.

• NY AG's Digital Asset Proposal Shouldn't Be Taken Lightly

  

  Given New York state's prominence both in the digital asset industry and as a proving ground for state regulatory innovation, all digital asset industry participants should take seriously New York Attorney General Letitia James' legislative proposal to tighten crypto regulation, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

• Seeking Compassionate Release Under New Health Guidelines

  

  Though the U.S. Sentencing Commission recently changed its guidelines to allow prisoners who claim they are receiving inadequate medical care to apply for compassionate release, defense counsel will need to come armed with the correct case law and supporting medical documentation to successfully file for sentence reductions, say Marissa Kingman and Krista Hartrum at Fox Rothschild.

• It's Time To Prep For Corporate Transparency Act Compliance

  

  The Corporate Transparency Act is the widest-reaching federal business entity law ever enacted and will affect an estimated 32 million businesses, so now is the time to review the act's requirements and get prepared before it goes into effect on Jan. 1, says William Quick at Polsinelli.

• A Lawyer's Guide To Approaching Digital Assets In Discovery

  

  The booming growth of cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens has made digital assets relevant in many legal disputes but also poses several challenges for discovery, so lawyers must garner an understanding of the technology behind these assets, the way they function, and how they're held, says Brett Sager at Ehrenstein Sager.

• Opinion

  High Court's Ethics Statement Places Justices Above The Law

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court justices' disappointing statement on the court's ethics principles and practices reveals that not only are they satisfied with a status quo in which they are bound by fewer ethics rules than other federal judges, but also that they've twisted the few rules that do apply to them, says David Janovsky at the Project on Government Oversight.

• What's Unique — And What's Not — In Trump Protective Order

  

  A Manhattan judge's recent protective order limiting former President Donald Trump's access to evidence included restrictions uniquely tailored to the defendant, which should remind defense attorneys that it's always a good idea to fight these seemingly standard orders, says Julia Jayne at Jayne Law.

• Gov't Backtrack On Ether As Security May Spur Crypto Clash

  

  Recent actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York attorney general, diverging from those by past senior personnel at the SEC and the states, could embolden regulators and private plaintiffs to bring actions against any exchange or issuer under the theory that all digital assets other than bitcoin are securities, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

• Opinion

  Time For Law Schools To Rethink Unsung Role Of Adjuncts

  

  As law schools prepare for the fall 2023 semester, administrators should reevaluate the role of the underappreciated, indispensable adjunct, and consider 16 concrete actions to improve the adjuncts' teaching experience, overall happiness and feeling of belonging, say T. Markus Funk at Perkins Coie, Andrew Boutros at Dechert and Eugene Volokh at UCLA.

• What The Justices' Questions Signify For FCA Compliance

  

  Whatever the outcome of two False Claims Act cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices' questions during recent oral arguments indicate that government contractors should take certain steps to ensure their compliance programs are demonstrably active and adaptable, say Holly Butler and Rebecca Fallk at Miles & Stockbridge.

• Perspectives

  Why Trump Sexual Abuse Verdict May Be Hard To Replicate

  

  Survivors of sexual assault may be emboldened to file suit after writer E. Jean Carroll’s trial victory against former President Donald Trump, but before assigning too much significance to the verdict, it’s worth noting that the case’s unique constellation of factors may make it the exception rather than the rule, says Jessica Roth at Cardozo School of Law.

• Courthouse Door Now Open To FERC Enforcement Challenges

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cochran and Axon v. Federal Trade Commission is also relevant to some Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enforcement processes — meaning many entities regulated by FERC can now more easily challenge commission proceedings in court, say Todd Mullins and Emily Song at McGuireWoods.

• Is There A Legal Basis For Crypto Regulation?

  

  Given the vast philosophical and operational differences between traditional and crypto-based financial systems, imposing the current U.S. regulatory framework on the crypto markets has the real potential to destroy them, say Jeanette Jin and Peter Vinella at PVA Toucan.

• Justices Curb Fraud Theories, But That May Not Deter Feds

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions last week in Ciminelli v. U.S. and Percoco v. U.S. are the latest in a line of rulings aiming to limit the wire fraud statute’s application to state public corruption cases, but federal prosecutors will probably continue pursuing such cases using different charging language and other laws, says ​​​​​​​Alison Anderson at Boies Schiller.