On May 24, 2018, President Trump signed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (“EGRRCPA”).1 This law loosened several regulatory requirements instituted by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) after the 2008 Financial Crisis.2 The EGRRCPA removed, inter alia, a Dodd-Frank requirement that prudential bank regulators and bank holding…
Category: Blog Articles
Rideshare, Regulation, and Rights: How Los Angeles’ initiative to monitor “dockless mobility” companies is complicated by individual privacy rights
Cities all over the country have seen their streets transformed overnight – sometimes literally – by the addition of personal electronic scooters.1 Taking the baton from Uber (who is trying to take it back), companies such as Bird, Lime and Spin have provided the public with another means of shared transportation. Unlike rideshare, dockless mobility…
The Impact of Murphy v. NCAA
For over two decades, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA) stood as the federal roadblock preventing states from legalizing sports gambling. In May of this past summer, the Supreme Court removed this barrier by a vote of six to three in Murphy v. NCAA.1 Justice Alito wrote the opinion for the Court and…
Bird Law: The Emergence of Electric Scooter Companies and Their Potential Legal Repercussions
They appear, as if by magic, overnight and in swarms. With little to no warning, they descend upon urban populations, leaving city officials scrambling to find solutions. Although it may sound like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock horror flick, the scene described actually applies to the latest transportation business craze: electric scooters (e-scooters). As…
Who wants to go public, anyway?
For decades, the conventional wisdom on the public offering’s place in a firm’s lifecycle has been a rather linear story. As a company matures and its capital expenditure needs increase over time, it can afford – and thus take advantage of – raising funds in public capital markets. The first time a company sells equity…
Social Media Guidance for Employers: Hiring, Firing, and Everything in Between.
While the definition of social media is nebulous, the impact of social media is not. Social media has changed the game; while social media is great for personal interactions, relationships, and browsing, it is equally effective for business activities. Everyone has a story of how they were approached by a friend about a business opportunity…
Breaking Down GDPR and its Influence on U.S. Entities and U.S. Privacy Laws
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) became effective on May 25, 2018. GDPR regulates personal information, particularly personal information gathered from individuals in the European Union (“E.U.”) or stored in the E.U. GDPR is a vaguely-written, 99 article document. Lacking interpretive jurisprudential guidance, entities had to implement GDPR compliance procedures without fully understanding…
Will Big Blue’s New Red Hat be a Good Fit?
On October 28, 2018, IBM announced its plan to acquire software developer Red Hat for $34 billion in cash. If the deal goes through, it will be the second largest in industry history1 and the largest deal in IBM’s 107 years of operation.2 This announcement continues a tremendous winning streak for mergers and acquisitions. The…
TCJA’s Impact on S-Corps and LLCs
In 2017, approximately 81% of all businesses in the US were organized as pass-through entities, with S-corporations (“S-corps”) and Limited Liability Companies (“LLCs”) comprising approximately 68% of all businesses. 1 The passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) on December 22, 2017, presented many changes for pass-through entities to consider when determining the most…
Bankruptcy’s Automatic Stay: The Fine Line Between Passive Action and Inaction
Cases in the Seventh and Tenth Circuits are primed for Supreme Court review of the most recent circuit clash between debtors and creditors. Florence + The Machine sums up the classic conflict between debtors and creditors well: “And every demon wants his pound of flesh But I like to keep some things to myself” –…