Features

Using Artificial Intelligence In White-Collar Matters
AI currently is playing a growing role in helping white-collar lawyers and their clients analyze vast amounts of data to uncover insights, connections, and patterns that would be impossible to detect through manual reviews. This article provides an introduction to AI technology and discusses the key regulatory developments practitioners should be aware of as they advise their clients on AI.
Features

White-Collar Enforcement Under the Biden Administration
After much saber-rattling, the Biden administration's focus on white-collar corporate compliance is finally coming into focus. Law firms and white-collar compliance experts have long warned the administration's ramped-up focus was coming, but the pandemic largely nixed any initiatives. A spate of recent settlements coupled with the addition of a new white-collar leader at the U.S. Department of Justice is giving the public a look into what compliance will look like under Biden.
Features

Use and Enforcement of SNDAs In the Hotel Industry
This article examines the agreement — known as a Subordination, Non-Disturbance and Attornment Agreement (SNDA) — typically used by hotel lenders, owners and managers to set forth their respective rights upon a foreclosure, and consider disputes that may arise when a party seeks to enforce its SNDA rights.
Features

Efforts to Provide Out-of-State Abortion Travel Benefits Face Rapidly Shifting Legal Landscape
Employment attorneys say the breadth of new state laws — and the pace at which they are going into effect — means in-house counsel at companies trying to create workarounds for employees in states with restrictive abortion laws by providing benefits that would allow them to travel out-of-state to access abortion services will need to be on high alert, since keeping up on top of the laws will be key to limiting their exposure to litigation — or even criminal penalties.
Features

Regulatory Compliance and Investor Demand for Transparency Driving ESG Efforts
Regulatory considerations and investor demand for transparency are increasingly important drivers behind Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure and reporting frameworks, according to a report issued by The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) based on responses from its members.
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DOJ NFT Insider Trading Indictment Skirts Securities Question, But Litigates Like It Is
The question of whether an NFT is a security has come up several times, and United States of America v. Chastain in the Southern District of New York brings the dispute back to the forefront.
Features

Questions Surround Expanded Government Authority to Seize Russian Assets
The purpose behind the Biden Administration's proposals to seize assets of Russian oligarchs is to punish a specific action by a state actor — Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The proposals, however, do not appear to be limited to this conduct alone and would outlast Russia's invasion. In times of war, it at least arguably may be appropriate to pass laws to expand the executive's authority to address specific hostile conduct. Such laws, however, should end with the conflict.
Features

The FRCP Rule 9(b) Standard In False Claims Act Cases
In recent years, federal circuit courts of appeals have set forth somewhat different standards that civil FCA complaints brought by private citizens, known as relators, must meet to satisfy Rule 9(b) — especially regarding whether representative examples of allegedly fraudulent claims must be included in a complaint.
Features

Companies Need to Focus On Compliance to Protect Against Aggressive Post COVID-19 White-Collar Prosecution
Consider another paradox of the post-COVID world: The pandemic that initially disrupted federal prosecution of corporations has now heightened potential exposure in a number of areas. This is especially the case for those organizations that took advantage of government aid or today struggle to navigate snarled global supply chains.
Features

Climate Change Risk and Disclosure: A New Focus for SEC Enforcement
Given the massive amount of dollars being poured into ESG funds and the SEC's renewed focus on both the funds and the companies in the funds, there is no time like the present for companies to engage in an assessment of their climate risks and how these risks and the status of the companies' ESG goals are being relayed to investors.
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