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Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  It's Time To Fix The SEC's Pay-To-Play Rule

  

  Nearly 15 years after its adoption, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's pay-to-play rule is not working as intended — a notion recently echoed by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce — and the commission should reconsider the strict liability standard, raise the campaign contribution limits and remove the look-back provision, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

• 4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy

  

  This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.

• Why A Rare SEC Dismissal May Not Reflect A New Approach

  

  While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's pending dismissal of its case against Silver Point is remarkable to the extent that it reflects a novel repudiation of a decision made during the prior commission, a deeper look suggests it may not represent a shift in policy approach, say attorneys at Weil.

• Deficiency Trends In National Futures Association Exams

  

  A recent notice from the National Futures Association outlining the most common deficiencies uncovered during exams gives member firms an opportunity to review prior guidance, particularly regarding the hot topic of implementing procedures governing the use of outsourced service providers, say attorneys at Akin.

• A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

  

  U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.

• Mastering The Fundamentals Of Life Sciences Due Diligence

  

  As life sciences transactions continue to gain tremendous momentum, companies participating in these transactions must conduct effective and strategic regulatory due diligence, which involves extensive amounts of information and varies by manifold factors, says Anna Zhao at GunnerCooke.

• Lessons Learned From SAS' Flight Through Chapter 11

  

  Scandinavia's SAS is the first European airline to find its wings through the U.S. Chapter 11 process since COVID-19 rocked the aviation industry — and while the process involved some familiar steps, certain complex jurisdictional issues and non-U.S. stakeholders required the carrier to venture into uncharted airspace, says Emily Hong at Norton Rose.

• Why NY May Want To Reconsider Its LLC Transparency Law

  

  Against the backdrop of the myriad challenges to the federal Corporate Transparency Act, it may be prudent for New York to reconsider its adoption of the LLC Transparency Act, since it's unclear whether the Empire State's "baby-CTA" statute is still necessary or was passed prematurely, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

• Expectations For SEC Exams As Private Credit Market Grows

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may rely heavily on its Division of Examinations for regulating private credit markets amid their expansion into the retail investor space, so investment advisers should be prepared to address several likely areas of focus when confronted with an exam, say attorneys at Dechert.

• 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

• What FERC Scrutiny Of Directors, Assets Means For Investors

  

  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has recently paid dramatically increased attention to appointments of power company directors by investors, and ownership of vertical assets that provide inputs for electric power production and sale — so investors in FERC-regulated entities should be paying more attention to these matters as well, say attorneys at Day Pitney.

• What's Potentially In Store For CFTC Under New Leadership

  

  Under the leadership of acting U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Caroline Pham, and with the nomination of former commissioner Brian Quintenz to serve as permanent chair, the commission is set to widely embrace digital assets and event contracts, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

• Revived Executive Order Is A Deregulatory Boon To Banks

  

  A recently reinstated 2019 executive order reveals the Trump administration’s willingness to provide unprecedented protections for regulated parties — including financial institutions — but to claim them, banks and other entities must adopt a forward-leaning posture to work with the regulators, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

• 3 Ways Civil Plaintiffs Could Fill An FCPA Enforcement Gap

  

  While the Department of Justice recently announced it would deprioritize Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations into U.S. businesses without obvious ties to international crime, companies should stay alert to private plaintiffs, who could fill this enforcement void — and win significant civil damages — through several legal channels, says Eric Nitz at MoloLamken.

• Examining Trump Meme Coin And SEC's Crypto Changes

  

  While the previous U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tended to view most crypto-assets as securities, the tide is rapidly changing, and hopefully the long-needed reevaluation of this regulatory framework is not tarnished by an arguable conflict of interest due to President Donald Trump's affiliation with the $Trump meme coin, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.