Public Policy

  • January 01, 2025

    Top Climate Change Policies To Watch in 2025

    The incoming Trump administration is expected to hit the ground running in the New Year to roll back Biden-era rules taking aim at climate change and industries that rely on fossil fuels. Here are key climate change policies to watch in 2025.

  • January 01, 2025

    Transportation Regulation & Legislation To Watch In 2025

    The Trump administration's expected rollback of rules intended to slash vehicle emissions and accelerate electric vehicle adoption, alongside a spate of new tariffs impacting the supply chain, are just some of the transportation industry's top regulatory priorities to watch in 2025.

  • December 28, 2024

    Trump Seeks High Court's Pause Of TikTok Sale-Or-Ban Law

    President-elect Donald Trump has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to freeze the impending deadline for TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company or face a nationwide ban, suggesting his new administration could negotiate a deal that would end the need for the congressional mandate.

  • December 23, 2024

    Biden Vetoes Bill To Add New Judgeships

    President Joe Biden vetoed a bill Monday that would have added more federal judgeships, despite the judiciary's plea that more seats on the bench are needed desperately.

  • December 23, 2024

    HHS Can't Enforce Abortion Privacy Rule Against Texas Doctor

    A Texas federal judge has granted a Lone Star State doctor a reprieve from a new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule that aims to protect the privacy of abortion providers and patients, saying that the rule likely exceeds the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's statutory authority.

  • December 23, 2024

    DOL Wants Full 9th Circ. Review Of Contractor Wage Ruling

    A split Ninth Circuit panel decision that blocked President Joe Biden from raising federal contractors' minimum wage to $15 an hour shrinks the president's power, the U.S. Department of Labor said, urging the full appellate court to step in.

  • December 23, 2024

    Google Counters DOJ's Proposed Chrome Sale

    Google has countered the Justice Department's proposed divestiture of the Chrome browser in a brief filed in D.C. federal court arguing the proper fix for its illegal search monopoly would be to allow Android phone makers and browser companies the ability to more readily pick rival engines.

  • December 23, 2024

    'Tragedy To Farce': Menendez Makes 3rd New Trial Bid

    Former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and two co-defendants, convicted of bribery in July, have made a third push for a new trial in Manhattan federal court, contending that the government's latest admission of an evidence gaffe bolstered their case.

  • December 23, 2024

    Trump Taps Ex-Homeland Security Atty As DOJ Chief Of Staff

    President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Chad Mizelle, who formerly held top legal roles at Trump's Department of Homeland Security and is married to Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Kathryn K. Mizelle, as chief of staff at the Department of Justice.

  • December 23, 2024

    Treasury Proposes Contingent Fee Regs For Tax Pros

    Tax professionals who practice before the IRS and charge clients contingent fees in connection with preparing returns will be subject to sanctions for disreputable conduct under rules proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department that also require practitioners to be competent in new technology.

  • December 23, 2024

    Biden Targets Chinese Chip Industry In Sweeping Trade Probe

    The Biden administration opened an investigation into China's semiconductor industry Monday, setting the stage for potential new sanctions against Beijing over its purported use of unfair trade practices to dominate the global microchip market.

  • December 23, 2024

    House Report Says Gaetz Paid For Sex, Accepted Gifts

    Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz regularly paid women for sex, including with one 17-year-old girl, used illicit drugs and accepted a trip to the Bahamas in excess of permissible gift amounts, according to a report released Monday morning by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics.

  • December 20, 2024

    Banks, Not Credit Cos., Can Duck New Ill. Fee Law For Now

    An Illinois federal judge ruled Friday that credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard must comply with Illinois' landmark law restricting certain credit card fees; however, she also held that national banks and federal savings associations aren't subject to the law, at least for now.

  • December 20, 2024

    Another Texas Judge Exits X's Advertising Boycott Suit

    The second Texas judge to oversee litigation filed by Elon Musk's X Corp. accusing the World Federation of Advertisers and others of conspiring to withhold advertising revenue from the company has recused himself from the case.

  • December 20, 2024

    SEC's Dealer Rule Loss Is A Lesson To Regulators, Atty Says

    A Sullivan & Cromwell LLP attorney who successfully litigated a crypto industry challenge to vacate a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule expanding the definition of dealer said the Texas federal judge's decision is another block in the recent chain of court decisions warning federal agencies to refrain from stretching old statutory terms to reach new contexts that aren't clearly within their authority.

  • December 20, 2024

    Sens. Aim To Protect Generics With Skinny Labels In New Bill

    A bipartisan group of senators from Colorado, Arkansas, Vermont and Maine have introduced a bill that would shield generic-drug and biosimilar manufacturers from infringement liability when using approved "skinny labels."

  • December 20, 2024

    RealPage Can't Transfer Enforcers' Rent-Fix Case Out Of NC

    RealPage cannot get the government's antitrust case against it moved either to the Tennessee court overseeing similar civil litigation or to Texas, where the rental software maker is headquartered, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Friday.

  • December 20, 2024

    Texas AG Blocks Roberson Legislative Testimony

    Texas state representatives on Friday slammed Attorney General Ken Paxton's last-minute effort to block testimony from a man on death row after his 2-year-old daughter died from what was diagnosed as shaken baby syndrome.

  • December 20, 2024

    Litigator On The Roof: The Acting, Singing Mass. Solicitor

    The top appellate lawyer in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General will be ringing in the new year by performing a comical cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, the latest show in a lengthy side career in music.

  • December 20, 2024

    Cable Org. Warns Members About FCC Robocall Enforcement

    Voice service providers need to make sure their Robocall Mitigation Database filings meet existing requirements, because if they aren't, the Federal Communications Commission is ready to start delisting companies and blocking them from providing voice service.

  • December 20, 2024

    Justice Reformers Wary Of Trump's Return, Yet Hope Persists

    While President-elect Donald Trump's impending return to the White House has many criminal justice reformers preparing for battle, given his scorched-earth rhetoric on crime and immigration on the campaign trail, hope for meaningful change persists in varying degrees among advocates after Trump's backing of reform legislation during his first term.

  • December 20, 2024

    A Look Back At 2024's Major Securities Litigation Moments

    The private securities litigation bar experienced a busy 2024, with meaningful and significant rulings in almost all of the nation's leading courts, and corporations, investors, government agencies and executives fighting over pay packages, disclosures, class certifications and mergers.

  • December 20, 2024

    3rd Circ. Denies Challenge To Pa. Autism Settlement

    A Third Circuit panel on Friday rejected claims a settlement requiring around-the-clock care for a woman with autism is too impractical to be enforced, reversing a lower-court decision and handing a victory to the Pennsylvania woman's family.

  • December 20, 2024

    TikTok Divestment Deadline Must Be Extended, Senators Say

    TikTok is set to be removed from app stores in the United States in less than a month, but two senators have urged President Joe Biden to kick the can down the road with an extension that would prevent "serious hardship" to both creators and users.

  • December 20, 2024

    Legislators Key To Court Fee Relief, Chief Justices Say

    Two state high court chief justices and a top judicial administrator have told the National Center for State Courts that while they've been able to make significant progress in abolishing unfair court fines and fees, lawmakers have been vital in enacting these changes.

Expert Analysis

  • How Texas Bill Would Transform Noneconomic Damages

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    Large noneconomic damage awards in personal injury cases have grown exponentially in Texas in recent years, but newly introduced legislation would cap such damages, likely requiring both the plaintiff and defense bars to recalibrate their litigation strategies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Changes To Expect From SEC Under Trump Nominee

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    President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Paul Atkins for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair will likely lead to significant shifts in the Division of Enforcement's priorities, likely focused on protecting retail investors and the stability of the capital markets, say attorneys at Morrison Foerster.

  • Executive Orders That Could Affect Financial Services In 2025

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    The incoming Trump administration is likely to quickly revive or update a number of prior executive orders, and possibly issue new ones, that could affect financial services by emphasizing market discipline rather than regulatory initiatives to drive change in the industry, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • The State Of USPTO Rulemaking At The End Of Vidal's Term

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    As U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director, Kathi Vidal placed a particular emphasis on formal rulemaking — so as she returns to private practice this week, attorneys at Irell take stock of which of her proposals made it across the finish line, and where the rest stand on the cusp of a new administration.

  • How New Merger Filing Rules Will Affect Economic Advocacy

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    New rules from the antitrust agencies significantly change the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification process and will necessitate rigorous economic analysis earlier in the merging process as the information provided in the filings reflects important antitrust considerations, says Andrea Asoni at Charles River.

  • What Loper Bright And Trump 2.0 Mean For New Transpo Tech

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, combined with the incoming Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, will likely lead to fewer new regulations on emerging transportation technologies like autonomous vehicles — and more careful and protracted drafting of any regulations that are produced, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 'Minimal Participant' Bar Is Tough To Clear For Whistleblowers

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    Under the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate whistleblower pilot program, would-be whistleblowers will find it tough to show that they only minimally participated in criminal misconduct while still providing material information, but sentencing precedent shows how they might prove their eligibility for an award, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Opinion

    How Trump Admin Should Address Indian Country Priorities

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    The incoming Trump administration should consider four high-level policy recommendations if it wants to succeed at improving the quality of life for Native Americans throughout the U.S., says Mike Andrews at McGuireWoods.

  • 9 Things To Expect From Trump's Surprising DOL Pick

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    The unexpected nomination of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., to lead the U.S. Department of Labor reflects a blend of pro-business and pro-labor leanings, and signals that employers should prepare for a mix of continuity and moderate adjustments in the coming years, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Preparing For More Limber Federal Supply Chain Oversight

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    Ahead of the Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act, which would speed up federal acquisition security risk investigations and federal procurement bans, companies should take steps to identify indirect involvement with foreign adversaries in their supply chains and prepare to respond quickly to a FASC recommendation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • A Look At SEC, CFTC's Record Year For Whistleblower Awards

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    Another banner year shows that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission have developed the gold standard for whistleblower award programs, but a CFTC funding crisis threatens to derail that program's success, say Andrew Feller and Geoff Schweller at Kohn Kohn.

  • Green Projects Face States' Foreign Land Ownership Limits

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    As states impose restrictions and disclosure requirements around foreign investment in agricultural land — in some cases piggybacking on existing federal rules — renewable energy developers and investors must pay close attention to how the rules vary, says Daniel Fanning at Husch Blackwell.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • The Prospects Of Pa. Gaining Its Own Antitrust Law After 2024

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    In the only state that does not have its own antitrust law, Pennsylvania's business community's strong opposition to the Pennsylvania Open Markets Act signals a rough road lies ahead for passage of the bill after Republicans retained a narrow majority in the state Senate, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • California's New AV Law May Steer Policy Nationwide

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    California's new law establishing various requirements for autonomous vehicles is something other states should pay close attention to — especially because the Golden State's policies may become a de facto mandate for manufacturers due to its market size, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio Dubey.

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