Administrative Process

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On February 3, 2025, President Trump appointed William B. Cowen as Acting General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Cowen has previously served in a variety of roles throughout the agency, including most recently as Regional Director for the Los Angeles Regional Office and previously as the NLRB’s Solicitor and an NLRB member. Cowen fills the role left vacant by President Trump’s firings of both Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB General Counsel appointed by President Biden, and Jessica Rutter, who served as Abruzzo’s Deputy General Counsel and took over as Acting General Counsel when Abruzzo was fired.Continue Reading Acting NLRB General Counsel Pulls Back Memoranda

On November 22, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or “Commission”) announced its enforcement results for the fiscal year (“FY”) 2024. Though the SEC filed only 583 total enforcement actions in FY 2024—a decline of 26% from the 784 enforcement actions filed in FY 2023—the Commission obtained a record-setting $8.2 billion in financial remedies, which includes civil penalties and disgorgement amounts combined. Notably, 56% of the $8.2 billion in financial remedies was the result of a monetary judgment awarded in a single matter.Continue Reading SEC Enforcement Highlights for Fiscal Year 2024

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On June 27, 2024, the United States Supreme Court (the “Court”) affirmed the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in SEC v. Jarkesy and held that a defendant facing civil penalties in a securities fraud claim brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has a right to a jury trial in a federal court.1 Specifically, the Court held that the SEC’s attempt to compel respondents to defend themselves before the agency, namely in an administrative proceeding before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) employed by the SEC, violates respondents’ Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in cases where the SEC pursues civil penalties. Accordingly, this decision will likely limit the number of future SEC actions adjudicated by an ALJ in an administrative forum due to the restriction on the available remedies.Continue Reading SEC v. Jarkesy: A Divided Supreme Court Holds That the SEC Cannot Seek Civil Penalties through an Administrative Proceeding

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Chair/Commissioner Remarks and Litigation and Enforcement Trends

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) held its annual SEC Speaks conference—after a hiatus in 2023—on April 3 and 4, 2024 in Washington, D.C. The conference featured remarks from Chair Gary Gensler, Commissioner Hester Peirce, Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda, and Director of the Division of Enforcement (the “Division”) Gurbir S. Grewal, as well as panel discussions addressing current SEC initiatives, priorities, and enforcement trends for the upcoming year. The conference speakers and panels also provided an update on litigation, judicial, and legislative developments.Continue Reading Highlights from SEC Speaks 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, deep learning concepts

President Biden issued an Executive Order on October 30, 2023 designed to place the United States at the forefront of law and regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Executive Order on the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence” creates binding disclosure requirements for companies that are either developing certain large language AI models or acquiring or possess sufficient computing power to run such AI implementations (as described below). The Order also establishes, and directs several federal agencies to establish, industry benchmarks for ensuring robust, reliable, repeatable and standardized testing and evaluations of AI systems, create new standards for AI safety and security.

The Order contains a lot of detailed provisions and initiatives involving nearly every government agency and calling for wide-ranging studies and recommendations on nearly every facet of AI, significant provisions of which are described below.

Of particular note, however, the President invoked the Defense Production Act to impose certain requirements that will go into effect 90 days after the issuance of the Order. There are two significant requirements going into effect affecting companies that employ AI models and companies that employ or provide large computing capacity that can be used for AI.Continue Reading President Biden Issues Far-Reaching Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence

On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued its long-awaited final rule establishing a new standard for determining when two employers are joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act. If any two entities are deemed joint employers, both are obligated to bargain with a union that represents the employees. Moreover, each entity is responsible for any unfair labor practice committed by the other and both are subject to demands for recognition and/or an NLRB election.

The final rule, set to take effect December 26, 2023, rescinds and replaces the Board’s previous joint employer rule issued in April 2020. The most significant change under the new rule is the manner in which it alters what is needed to show that two entities share or codetermine employees’ essential terms of employment. The 2020 rule required an entity to possess and actually exercise “substantial direct and immediate control” over one or more of the essential terms. Under the new standard, an entity can be deemed a joint employer if it has authority to control at least one essential term, “whether or not such control is exercised, and without regard to whether any such exercise of control is direct or indirect, such as through an intermediary.”

Although similar to a previous standard announced in the NLRB’s 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186, the new rule goes considerably further by establishing that mere possession of such authority, alone, is sufficient to find joint employer status.Continue Reading NLRB’s New Joint Employer Test Significantly Expands Circumstances Under Which Separate Entities Will Be Deemed Joint Employers

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On July 3, President Biden announced nominees Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak to the Federal Trade Commission, filling two Republican vacancies.

Ferguson has served as the Solicitor General of Virginia since February 2022, overseeing the state’s appellate litigation, including at the Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals. He served as counsel for Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and most recently, Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Ferguson spent several years in private practice after clerking for Judge Karen Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court. Ferguson earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.Continue Reading White House Announces Nominees for FTC

By: Matthew A. Rossi and Eleanor Hudson Callaway

On Friday, April 14, 2023, the Supreme Court cleared the way for respondents in Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) administrative proceedings to challenge the constitutionality of those proceedings in federal district court while the administrative process is ongoing.  Typically, as required by…