Insights

On October 19, 2018, the IRS and Treasury Department released highly-anticipated proposed regulations (the Proposed Regulations) under Section 1400Z-2 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the OZ Statute). The OZ Statute, which was enacted pursuant to the...

The increased demand for energy from renewable sources and the resulting growth of the renewable energy industry has led to the development of an increasing body of law designed to address issues specific to this sector. Recently, questions have come...

The IRS recently issued a Private Letter Ruling (the “PLR”) revoking a hospital organization’s section 501(c)(3) status for failing to comply with the section 501(r) requirements. 1 In what may be a sign of things to come, the PLR serves...

On October 25, 2018, a jury in the Southern District of Texas found oilfield mud engineers were exempt from overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) under the Administrative Exemption. This victory for the employer is unique because...

The past month has seen interesting developments in the antitrust M&A arena, including the first ever successful private antitrust merger challenge resulting in a divestiture order, and the announcement by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division of several reforms aimed...

In May 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion upholding the validity of class-action waivers in employee arbitration agreements. Significant media coverage of that opinion has led many employers to evaluate whether to require employees to arbitrate employment-related...

Economic sanctions, in one form or another, have been applied for centuries to effect change in the activities or policies of states, groups or individuals. Sometimes they are perceived as geopolitical economic weaponry, leveraging the intertwined nature of the world’s...

On October 11, 2018, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published notice of a final rule change adopting the claim construction standard applied by federal courts for use by the Patent Trial and Board (PTAB) in AIA proceedings....

In their last legislative action before the midterm elections, House Republicans earlier this month passed a three-bill package dubbed “ Tax Reform 2.0 ” in a bid to cement their signature legislative accomplishment in voters’ minds. The bills passed largely...

Although largely untouched by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) (click here for more), renewable energy tax credits experienced some important developments in 2018, including the release of IRS Notice 2018-59 (the Notice) in June. The Notice clarified certain...

On August 28, 2018, the IRS released Notice 2018-67 (the Notice), which provides interim guidance concerning the aggregation of trade or business activities for purposes of calculating the unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) of a tax-exempt organization. The Notice was...

Bob Nichols and Kevin Collins discuss preparations for an OSHA process-safety-management-standard (PSM) inspection. OSHA issued the PSM standard to help ensure the safe management of highly hazardous chemicals. The standard integrates hazard assessment, technology, procedures, and management practices, and PSM...

Legal professional privilege (“ LPP ”) has been a feature of the common law for centuries, developed through the public interest in protecting confidentiality of communications between a lawyer and its client. As a concept understood, in one form or...

The Music Modernization Act (MMA) is headed to the President's desk for signature following unanimous approval from the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bill, now called the "Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act" ( H.R. 1551 ), provides...