Welcome to the latest issue of Bracewell’s FINRA Facts and Trends, a monthly newsletter devoted to condensing and digesting recent FINRA developments in the areas of enforcement, regulation and dispute resolution. This month,...more
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house enforcement proceedings violate the Constitution, teeing up a decision that could curtail securities law enforcement and...more
A Delaware-based online payday lender and its founder and CEO (collectively, “petitioners”) recently submitted a petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s affirmation of a...more
This alert addresses proceedings in two SEC securities enforcement actions emanating out of the Fifth Circuit. Both pose issues relating to the SEC’s power to bring enforcement proceedings in front of in-house administrative...more
Key Takeaways - ..The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear cases that may curtail the administrative powers of the SEC. ..These rulings may portend greater limits on federal administrative agencies generally....more
Two recent decisions have put the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house administrative proceedings in the crosshairs. First, on May 16, 2022, the US Supreme Court agreed to consider whether Administrative Law...more
AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC, No. 19-508: Petitioner Scott Tucker controlled a number of companies offering short-term payday loans. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) brought suit, claiming that Tucker and his...more
On Oct. 30, 2020, the Fifth Circuit agreed to rehear en banc a case challenging the constitutionality of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) administrative proceedings on the ground that the agency “is violating...more
WeWork is reportedly looking to swap out co-founder Adam Neumann for a similarly long-tressed and eccentric figure, T-Mobile’s John Legere. Legere is currently quite occupied with his company’s merger with Sprint, and his...more
The SEC, in conjunction with the Colorado Bar Association and Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, recently sponsored the 51st Annual Rocky Mountain Securities Conference featuring SEC officials and corporate...more
On January 29, 2019, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB or “Board”) adopted amendments to its bylaws and rules that make the PCAOB’s appointment and removal of its hearing officers subject to the approval of...more
My partner, Ken Berg, writes about his recent meeting with the NCLA, a group that anyone who has an administrative practice should be familiar with. – Alan I had the privilege of being invited to attend in Washington,...more
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between September 2018 and October 2018. ...more
After much anticipation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or Commission) Administrative Law Judges (ALJs)....more
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between May 2018 and August 2018.... US Supreme Court - Supreme Court Holds That SEC Administrative Law Judges...more
On August 22, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it will rehear over fifty cases pending before administrative law judges (“ALJs”) that were stayed following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision...more
The new executive order (EO) granting agency chiefs the power to hire administrative law judges (ALJs) according to their own standards—and eliminating the exam and competitive hiring process formerly in place—could turn the...more
After the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Jones Brothers, Inc. v. Sec’y of Labor, citations upheld by administrative law judges within the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (“FMSHRC”) may be...more
On July 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided the case of Jones Brothers, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, et al., another decision involving the authority of a federal administrative law judge to decide a...more
In one of its last opinions of the term, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Lucia v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 21, 2018, that administrative law judges (ALJs) are officers of the United States, not...more
Is the appointment of PTAB administrative patent judges (APJs) constitutional? The patent bar is asking in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Lucia v. SEC....more
New York Pushes Mutual Fund Active Share Disclosure - New York’s Attorney General issued a report on its recent investigation of fees charged by actively managed equity mutual funds and a metric known as “Active Share.”...more
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
During its most recent Term, the Supreme Court held in Lucia v. SEC that the administrative law judges (“ALJs”) that preside over adjudications at the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) are “Officers of the United...more
Yesterday, federal officials unveiled an ongoing EEOC investigation into whether Uber “discriminated against women in hiring and pay” that began last August. The news extends Uber’s streak of investigations and brutal PR well...more