Expert Analysis

• Avoiding Corporate Political Activity Pitfalls This Election Year

  

  As Election Day approaches, corporate counsel should be mindful of the complicated rules around companies engaging in political activities, including super PAC contributions, pay-to-play prohibitions and foreign agent restrictions, say attorneys at Covington.

• Opinion

  Congress Must Do More To Bolster ERISA Protections

  

  As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act turns 50 this month, we applaud Congress for championing a statute that protects worker and retiree rights, but further action is needed to ban arbitration clauses in plan provisions and codify regulations imperiled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling, say Michelle Yau and Eleanor Frisch at Cohen Milstein.

• Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks

  

  Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.

• Navigating Cybersecurity Rule Changes For Gov't Contractors

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  As federal contractors evaluate the security of their IT systems, they should keep in mind numerous changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement recently promulgated to meet new cyber threats, says William Stowe at KBR.

• Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis

  

  There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.

• How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks

  

  With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.

• FTC Focus: What Access To Patent Settlements Would Mean

  

  Settling parties should adopt a series of practice tips, including specifying rationales to support specific terms, as the Federal Trade Commission seeks to expand its access to settlements before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Shannon McGowan and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.

• Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

  

  Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

• How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge

  

  The Third Circuit recently gave the New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights a new lease on life by systematically dismantling multiple theories of the act's unconstitutionality brought by staffing agencies hoping to delay their new equal pay and benefits obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

• Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

  

  After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

• Opinion

  CFPB's AI Stance Backslides On Innovation Issues

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent response to a Treasury Department's request for information about artificial intelligence in the financial services sector uses alarmist rhetoric about the technology's risks, ceding an opportunity to help shape this important discussion, says Mike Silver at Husch Blackwell.

• Strategies To Defend Against Healthcare Nuclear Verdicts

  

  The healthcare industry is increasingly the target of megaclaims, particularly those alleging medical malpractice, but attorneys representing providers can use a few tools to push back on flimsy litigation and reduce the likelihood of a nuclear verdict, says LaMar Jost at Wheeler Trigg.

• 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

  

  As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

• Opinion

  Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority

  

  Recent measures by Portland, Oregon, that expand the voter-approved scope of the Clean Energy Surcharge on certain retail sales eviscerate the common meaning of the word "retail" and exceed the city's chartered authority to levy tax, say Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig and Jeff Newgard at Peak Policy.

• Series

  After Chevron: SEC Climate And ESG Rules Likely Doomed

  

  Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright, without agency deference, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure and environmental, social and governance rules would likely be found lacking in statutory support and vacated by the courts, says Justin Chretien at Carlton Fields.