Today's Legal Pulse
Biden sues DOJ to block release of interview audio
President Biden filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Department of Justice from publishing an audio interview, arguing the release would be improper. The action has sparked political commentary, including remarks from former President Trump.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader clear final merger hurdles
SEBI Weighs Uniform Price Bands for F&O Stocks Across Exchanges to Fix Mismatch
India’s securities regulator SEBI is evaluating a rule that would apply dynamic price bands to all futures‑and‑options (F&O) stocks on every exchange. The move targets the current timing mismatch where a stock added or removed from the derivatives segment on NSE instantly switches to dynamic limits, while BSE continues using fixed 20% bands for several days. By standardising the band structure, SEBI aims to eliminate short‑lived price distortions, reduce arbitrage opportunities, and enhance price discovery. A formal circular outlining the proposal is expected shortly.
Loper Bright and the Future of the Democratic Coalition, by Gregory A. Elinson
The Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision abolished Chevron deference, sparking alarm among pro‑regulatory Democrats. In response, Senate leaders introduced the Stop Corporate Capture Act to restore the two‑step framework in the Administrative Procedure Act. The article traces the historical ebb...
DeFi’s $300M Kelp Hack Forces Liability Debate
The Kelp DAO exploit put a real number — $300M — on the question DeFi keeps avoiding: Who's liable when the infrastructure fails? @kkirkbos @TuongvyLe12 and Jessi Brooks on @DEXintheCityPod. 🎧 Timestamps: 🎙️ 0:00 Introduction live from the Eve Wealth Summit, Phoenix 🔓 2:08...
A Special EB-1A/O-1 Offer
Boundless Immigration has launched a special case‑rate program for EB‑1A and O‑1 visas aimed at senior‑level tech talent. Eligible candidates need 8‑20+ years of experience—or 4‑7 years with demonstrable high‑impact achievements—and must already satisfy at least three of the standard...
Music Streaming Services Targeted as Texas Attorney General Launches Payola Investigation
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a payola investigation targeting the nation’s biggest music‑streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music and YouTube Music. The probe seeks undisclosed financial arrangements that could boost specific artists, tracks or playlists in...
Tenth Circuit Broadens CFAA ‘Loss’ Beyond Technological Harm–Moxie V. Nielsen (Guest Blog Post)
The Tenth Circuit in Moxie Pest Control v. Nielsen held that investigative costs alone satisfy the CFAA “loss” element, even without demonstrable technological harm. The opinion reverses district courts that required loss to be tied to data corruption or system...
FCA Handbook Notice 140
On 24 April 2026 the Financial Conduct Authority released Handbook Notice 140, outlining a suite of regulatory updates. The notice adds the 2026/27 management‑expenses levy limit for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and introduces a new UK short‑selling framework that...
Cannabis Tax Relief Is Here, for Some
On April 23 the Justice Department placed FDA‑approved marijuana products and those sold under a state‑issued medical license into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, marking the first federal rescheduling of any cannabis product in more than 50 years. The move removes...
Bill Shielding CT Residents From Data Brokers and Surveillance Passes Senate
The Connecticut Senate approved Senate Bill 4, passing 31‑4, to give residents new powers over personal data. The bill lets consumers request deletion of information held by data brokers and bans the sale of precise geolocation data. It also requires...
Guidance: OFSI General Licence - INT/2026/9512597
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued General Licence INT/2026/9512597 for legal services, superseding the previous licence (INT/2025/7323088) that expires on 28 April 2026. The new licence applies across all UK Autonomous Sanctions Regimes listed in Annex 1 and authorises UK...
Ghost Agents Running America’s Trucking Legal Infrastructure
A federal FMCSA rule requires every interstate carrier, broker, and freight forwarder to name a process agent in each state via the BOC‑3 filing, theoretically ensuring lawsuits can reach a carrier after a fatal crash. Analysis of the 1.69 million‑record BOC‑3...
Changes to Fire Services Law with Tougher Penalties Set for Public Consultation
Hong Kong's Security Bureau announced a public consultation on sweeping amendments to the Fire Services Ordinance, prompted by the deadliest fire in decades. The proposals would make six‑month fire‑alarm testing mandatory, require prior approval before deactivating firefighting systems, and impose...
US Lawmakers Push National Data Privacy Rules Amid State Preemption Concerns
House Republicans introduced two sweeping federal privacy bills—the SECURE Data Act for non‑financial firms and the GUARD Financial Data Act for banks and lenders—to replace a patchwork of state rules. Both proposals grant consumers rights to access, correct, delete, and...
The Latest Push to Extend Key US Spy Powers Is Still a Mess
House leaders released a negotiated bill to extend the controversial Section 702 surveillance program for three more years, despite a federal court ruling that its warrantless searches of Americans are unconstitutional. The proposal adds superficial oversight, such as monthly FBI query...
SymphonyAI Helps Payments Giant Slashes Compliance
A global payments processor handling over 200 billion transactions in FY 2024 replaced its fragmented, legacy compliance stack with SymphonyAI’s cloud‑native platform. The new active‑active SaaS solution delivers 99.99% availability and leverages agentic AI to orchestrate workflows, cutting alert processing time by...
Never Skip Founder Vesting: Avoid Costly Legal Traps
A SaaS founder paid $60,000 out of pocket to remove a co-founder who barely showed up to meetings. The sad truth? The co-founder was legally entitled to every dollar. This is why you never skip a vesting agreement with your co-founder. Here's...
Hidden Sales‑tax Compliance Erodes Margins as You Scale
Your finance team is spending more time on sales tax than you think. It's almost never the obvious stuff that compresses margin as you scale. CAC is fine, conversion is holding, and new channels are producing. The top line looks great. What's...
New York Judge Opens Door to Speed Camera Ticket Appeals After Castigating Traffic Court in Ruling
In the fall of 2024 New York deployed an automated speed‑camera system that issued roughly 26,000 tickets along Interstate 490 near Rochester in just 25 days. Only 239 motorists challenged the fines, and 40 succeeded in having them dismissed. Monroe County...
Ontario Superior Court Finds Rare Case to Refuse to Enforce Insurer’s Proposed Settlement
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice declined to enforce a settlement draft between a dentist and Sun Life Assurance after finding no genuine agreement existed. The insurer had delisted the dentist’s practice in 2020 over alleged billing fraud and later...
Defense for Chinese National in U.S. Fentanyl Case Proposes Testimony From China-Based Witness
U.S. prosecutors allege Minsu “Fernando” Fang ran a transnational network shipping fentanyl precursor chemicals from China through the United States to Mexican cartels. Fang, arrested in June 2024, faces a complex trial after a massive 2,500‑kilogram precursor bust. His defense...
New B2C Marketing Guidance Aims to Eliminate Greenwashing Claims to E.U.
The EU Empowering Consumers Directive (EmpCo) will take effect on September 27, 2026, tightening B2C rules on sustainability claims and environmental labels. Member states must transpose the law by March 2026, banning non‑certified labels and vague terms such as “green”...
Indiana to Enforce Statewide Encampment Ban Aimed at Homeless Population
Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed a law that bans unauthorized camping, sleeping, or long‑term shelter on public land statewide, taking effect July 1. Before criminal enforcement, officers must assess whether an emergency mental‑health detention is warranted, issue a warning, and provide...
European Anti-Fraud Office Opens Investigation Into Peter Mandelson
The European Anti‑Fraud Office (OLAF) opened a formal investigation on April 24 into former UK ambassador Peter Mandelson over alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Mandelson, who served as EU trade commissioner (2004‑2008) and was appointed Britain’s US ambassador in late...
Norway's Prime Minister Proposes Ban on Social Media Access for Young Teens
Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced a draft law that would prohibit children under 16 from accessing social‑media platforms, with the ban slated to take effect by the end of 2026. The legislation would require big‑tech firms to implement...
Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Stop ICE Courthouse Raids
California lawmakers introduced two bills aimed at curbing the surge of ICE arrests at courthouses, especially in the Inland Empire where raids have become almost daily. Assemblymember Susan Rubio's bill would allow defendants to schedule remote hearings, reducing the need...
Motor Finance Trade Body Gears up for Legal Challenge to £9bn Redress
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has finalized a motor‑finance redress scheme costing roughly £9bn ($11.5bn), down from an earlier £11bn estimate. The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), representing lenders such as Santander and the financing arms of BMW and...
Texas Border County Judges Urge Transparency In Plans For Big Bend Border Wall
Elected county judges from all 14 Texas border counties sent a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin urging greater transparency and early coordination on the Big Bend border wall. The request follows a series of shifting CBP maps that removed, then...
MSRB Seeks Comment on Draft Amendments to Retire Financial Advisor Terminology
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) has issued a request for comment on draft amendments that would retire the term “financial advisor” and replace it with the uniform phrase “municipal advisor” across five rules. The proposal aligns MSRB language with...
Iridius Raises $8.6M Seed Round to Build Compliance-by-Design AI Platform for Regulated Enterprise Workflows
Iridius announced an $8.6 million seed round led by Chalfen Ventures, with participation from Osage Venture Partners, Accenture Ventures, and Rock Yard Ventures. The startup is building a compliance‑by‑design AI platform that embeds regulatory rules directly into enterprise workflows, turning compliance...
ESG Round-Up: DiNapoli Wins Court Ruling Against BJ’s over Deforestation Proposal
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli secured a court ruling that blocks BJ's Wholesale Club from proceeding with a deforestation-linked store expansion proposal. The decision highlights growing legal exposure for retailers tied to unsustainable supply chains. Meanwhile, activist investors are...
EU's Regulatory Push Risks Own Economic Decline
The risk with the Brussels Effect strategy (“EU as the world’s regulator”) was always that it could catalyze a vicious cycle that suppresses regional GDP per capita and thus the EU’s leverage. Add to it a US administration willing to characterize...
Why Credit Card Rate Caps Hurt Consumers, Small Businesses
A bipartisan effort in Congress is pushing a 10% cap on credit‑card interest rates. Proponents argue it would make borrowing cheaper for families and small businesses. Analysts warn the blunt cap could force lenders to close or sharply reduce most...
How AI Is Changing Healthcare Compliance and Why Most Apps Aren’t Ready
Artificial intelligence is now a staple in healthcare compliance, powering automated audit‑trail analysis, policy management, continuous risk scoring, and rapid incident detection. However, once AI models ingest protected health information, they fall under HIPAA, state privacy statutes, and breach‑notification rules,...
Norway Moves to Keep Kids Under 16 Off Social Media
Norway plans to ban social‑media access for anyone under 16, with a draft law expected in parliament by the end of 2026. The proposal puts the burden on platforms to verify users' ages and block under‑age accounts, aiming to protect...
DORA and Operational Resilience: Credential Management as a Financial Risk Control
The EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) took effect on January 17, 2025, turning credential security into a binding financial risk control for banks and other financial entities. Article 9 mandates least‑privilege access, mandatory phishing‑resistant MFA, and cryptographic key protection, with...
IRS Form 4180 Responsible Party Interview Preparation
IRS Form 4180 is the interview record the Revenue Officer uses to decide who is responsible for payroll tax deposits and whether that person acted willfully, forming the basis of the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP). The penalty equals the...
Lawyers' “Emergencies” Often Aren’t Real Emergencies
Being a lawyer means you've had a 45-minute emergency about something that was not, by any reasonable definition, an emergency.
DOJ Ends Fed Probe, Citing No Viable Options
DOJ is dropping its probe into the Fed and Chair Jerome Powell because there was really no other winning scenario here, as I laid out last week: https://t.co/K1glC171IN
Pharma & Biotech Patent Litigation in Europe Conference Returns with IPKat Readers’ Discount
The Pharma & Biotech Patent Litigation in Europe conference returns for a two‑day session in central Amsterdam. Organisers highlight a special 10% discount for IPKat readers using code D10‑999‑IPKAT26. The agenda tackles hot topics such as cross‑border enforcement after the...
Minnesota Senate Advances Unopposed Online Casino Sweep Ban
Minnesota lawmakers advance an online sweeps casino ban bill out of committee without opposition, teeing the prohibition legislation up for a vote on the Senate floor
Polymarket Moves Wisconsin Enforcement Action to Federal Court
Polymarket has removed the State of Wisconsin's civil enforcement action to federal court (WD Wisc.), with Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase and Crypto expected to do the same. However, the bar they have on a motion to remand is incredibly high--no PM...
Digital Location Data Heads Back to the Supreme Court
On April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Chatrie v. United States, a challenge to police access to app‑generated geofence location data. The case asks whether a warrant is required to obtain anonymized lists of devices in a specific...
Tennessee
ICYMI: Tennessee lawmakers passed an online sweepstakes casino bill; Tennessee's governor effectively has no veto power, meaning the bill will pass into law; Tennessee joins Indiana, Maine and possibly Minnesota among states positioned to pass sweeps ban bill this year
FDA Withholds Company Names Unlike Other CNPVs
why is the FDA not releasing the company names? They did for every other CNPV...
Parkrun Isn’t a Single‑sex Service, Thus No Discrimination
Think you have misunderstood the application of the law. Parkrun doesn't have separate male and female categories. It is not offering a single-sex service within the meaning of EA2010. And as it is not a competitive event, there is no...
Costly “Musical Chairs” Shuffle Hits Supreme
Very interesting piece by @cryanbarber and @erinmulvaney about the (super expensive) game of musical chairs now playing out in the #SCOTUS and appellate litigation space.
Investigation Closed, IG Takes Over—Win for Powell, Warsh
“Accordingly, I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry.” Good news for Powell and for Warsh
AA Fires Blind Agent After Four-Year Unpaid Leave, EEOC Sues
American Airlines Fired A Blind Reservations Agent After Four Years Of Unpaid Leave — EEOC Sues - View from the Wing https://t.co/2pCxlsOXWh
DoJ Drops Powell Probe, Markets Stay Unmoved
Interesting that headline (DoJ to drop Powell investigation from ABC) got no market reaction whatsoever.
NY Sues Coinbase, Gemini in Prediction Market Showdown
🚨 New York sues Coinbase and Gemini Titan in three-way war over who controls America’s prediction market boom 💥 Source: https://t.co/d5g4nW68KA https://t.co/uroOTmwMZ4