National Law Journal

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission building. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s first proposal to regulate crypto would offer companies a faster, less burdensome path to raise capital and create a potential exit from securities regulation, which lawyers say is a workable answer to long-standing regulatory uncertainty.

The American Express Company headquarters in New York. Credit: Katherine Welles/Shutterstock.com A U.S. appeals court ruled this week that American Express cannot move class action claims over its merchant fee policies out of federal court, holding the credit card company waived arbitration when it failed to pay its fees to open arbitration.

Abhishek (Abhi) Kambli of Holtzman Vogel. Courtesy photo Antitrust commentary is often preoccupied with hard, contestable line-drawing exercises—where does aggressive discounting shade into predation, when does a platform's self-preferencing cross from legitimate business justification into exclusionary conduct. The U.S. Department of Justice's newest guilty plea in the bovine artificial insemination industry is a useful reminder that not every antitrust case is like that.

Tom Goldstein. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/Law.com Appellate attorney and SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein has asked a federal appellate court to allow his release from prison while he appeals his tax and mortgage fraud convictions. In a motion filed Tuesday, Goldstein’s lawyers told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that the judge overseeing Goldstein’s trial gave erroneous jury instructions related to alleged accessory liability that violated due process.

Eric Bruce, with DLA Piper. Courtesy photo At a time where cross-border enforcement and geopolitical risk is on the rise, former federal prosecutor and counselor to the U.S. attorney general Eric Bruce joined DLA Piper Wednesday as a partner in the white collar crime, investigations, and government enforcement practice. Leaders at the global firm said Bruce—who served as counselor to Michael B. Mukasey, the last U.S. Attorney General to serve in the administration of President George W.

Erica L. Bakies (L) and Tara D. Hopkins (R) of Moore & Van Allen. Courtesy photos. Moore & Van Allen expanded to Washington, D.C., Wednesday with the addition of a national security specialist from Seyfarth Shaw as the latest move in the firm's strategic expansion plan. Erica Bakies joined the firm as a partner with a national security practice that "expands the firm’s growing government contracts capabilities," a spokesperson said.

Credit: Nuthawut/Adobe Stock The Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time has proposed formal rules to regulate crypto Tuesday, seeking to create exemptions and safe harbors allowing crypto projects to more easily raise money in the U.S. The proposed Regulation Crypto Assets would provide a startup exemption to offerings of up to $5 million from securities registration requirements for four years, and a fundraising exemption allowing crypto issuers to raise up to $75 million in...

Credit: f11photo/Adobe Stock At least a half-dozen Big Law firms have announced new counsel and partner additions in their Washington, D.C. offices so far this month, as summer hiring in the DMV region remains busy. Steptoe, Greenberg Traurig, O’Melveny & Myers, K&L Gates, Eversheds Sutherland, Womble Bond Dickinson, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath and Mintz have all announced hires in D.C. in August.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during an arrest. Photo: Ron Rogers/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Wikimedia Commons A federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from allowing immigration agents to make arrests at places of worship, with a concurring judge faulting the government's “inexplicable failure” to offer arguments defending the new policy.

Beth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Stekloff (left) and Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy. Courtesy photos Wilkinson Stekloff and Clement & Murphy have teamed up to represent ABC in a First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission. The two litigation boutiques filed the lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of the broadcast network, alleging that the FCC violated its First Amendment rights by retaliating against the broadcaster for its editorial decisions.