Expert Analysis

• End-Of-Year FCPA Enforcement Surge Holds Clues For 2025

  

  The last three months of 2024 saw more Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions than any quarter in the previous four years, providing lessons for companies — even as a new administration raises doubts about whether this momentum will continue, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

• What's Next For Accounting Enforcement After SEC's Big 2024

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange under the Trump administration will likely continue to focus enforcement efforts on many of the same accounting and auditing issues that it pursued over the past year — but other areas, such as ESG, internal controls and cryptocurrency cases, may fall out of focus, say attorneys at Debevoise.

• Mentorship Resolutions For The New Year

  

  Attorneys tend to focus on personal achievements or career milestones when they set yearly goals, but one important area often gets overlooked in this process — mentoring relationships, which are some of the most effective tools for professional growth, say Kelly Galligan at Rutan & Tucker and Andra Greene at Phillips ADR.

• PE Strategies To Manage Adjacent Portfolio Firm Conflicts

  

  A variety of tools can mitigate potential risk for a private equity director sitting on the board of directors of multiple companies, including the disclosure of potential conflicts in fundraising documents to help mitigate risk under the securities laws, says Michael Kendall at Goodwin.

• UPS Penalty Demonstrates Goodwill Impairment Red Flags

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent $45 million penalty against UPS for withholding reports of goodwill impairment should warn investors to watch for the telltale signs of companies inflating their worth by delaying tests that would reveal similar declines in the value of intangible assets, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

• Series

  Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

• 7 Employment Contracts Issues Facing DOL Scrutiny

  

  A growing trend of U.S. Department of Labor enforcement against employment practices that limit workers' rights and avoid legal responsibility shines a light on seven unique contractual provisions that violate federal labor laws, and face agressive litigation from the labor solicitor, says Thomas Starks at Freeman Mathis.

• How Fintechs Can Respond To New CFPB Supervisory Rule

  

  Even though a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule pulling large payment apps into supervision faces an uncertain fate in the new administration, providers should still examine the rule's definitions and prepare for increased compliance costs and more consumer-friendly practices, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

• Courts Must Stick To The Science On Digital Addiction Claims

  

  A number of pending personal injury and product liability lawsuits allege that plaintiffs have developed behavioral addictions to the use of social media and video games — but this is not yet recognized by relevant authorities as an addiction, so courts must carefully scrutinize such claims, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

• 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

  

  Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

• For Accounting Integrity, Start With The Rank-And-File

  

  Macy's acknowledgment of an employee's accounting mistake underscores a valuable lesson for company leaders in fostering compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by cultivating a culture committed to strong accounting integrity and robust oversight, say Keerthika Subramanian and Jon Mantis at Winston & Strawn.

• Chancery May Have Raised Bar For Books, Records Requests

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery recently approved the denial of a books and records demand against Amazon, raising important questions about what evidence and purpose a stockholder is required to show to succeed on such a request, say attorneys at Selendy Gay.

• The Blueprint For A National Bitcoin Reserve

  

  The new administration has the opportunity to pave the way for a U.S.-backed crypto reserve, which could conceptually function as a strategic asset akin to traditional reserves like gold markets, hedge against economic instability, and influence global crypto adoption, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

• FTC Privacy Enforcement Takeaways From 2024

  

  In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission distinguished three prominent trends in its privacy-related enforcement actions: geolocation data protections, data minimization practices, and artificial intelligence use and marketing, say Cobun Zweifel-Keegan at IAPP and James Smith at Dechert.

• The Fed. Circ. In 2024: 5 Major Rulings To Know

  

  In 2024, the Federal Circuit provided a number of important clarifications to distinct areas of patent law – including design patent obviousness, expert testimony admissions and patent term adjustments – all of which are poised to have an influence going forward, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.