2026

An election year brings ample opportunities for corporations to participate in the political process, and the current political environment can create enormous pressures to do so. But with these opportunities and pressures come legal risks and compliance burdens. Given the differing and complex rules across jurisdictions, companies should be aware of common political law issues…

Continuing the trend of early dismissals in website wiretapping cases, a California federal court has dismissed a putative class action challenging the use of third-party pixel technology on nonprofit food bank websites.  Timothee v. Meta Platforms, Inc., No. 25-CV-05106-LB, 2026 WL 1130363 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 27, 2026).  The court held plaintiffs failed to plausibly plead…

EU Member States are currently designing two possible new Important Projects of Common European Interest (“IPCEIs”) to support the development of AI and compute infrastructure in the EU (together the “Digital IPCEIs”), subject to European Commission (“Commission”) approval.

On 10 March 2026, the “matchmaking” phase under the IPCEI on Artificial Intelligence (“IPCEI-AI”) was officially launched…

On April 30, 2026, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) titled, “Promoting Efficiency, Accountability, and Performance in Federal Contracting.”  This EO directs agencies to make fixed-price contracts the default form of contracting, and requires agency officials to execute written justifications to use other forms of contracting.  Of particular note for large contractors,…

On April 20, 2026, one week after President Trump signed the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (Public Law 119-83) into law, the Department of War (“DoW”) issued a press release announcing that it was “immediately advancing” a “redesigned and more focused initiative to accelerate the delivery of advanced capabilities to the warfighter.”  As…

On April 7, 2026, the Fair Work Agency (“FWA”) was established as a new single enforcement body for employment rights in the UK, operating under the framework set out in Part 5 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (“ERA”). In this alert, we provide an overview of the FWA and its civil and criminal investigation…

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (“Section 232”) authorizes the President to “adjust” imports—including through application of tariffs, quotas, tariff rate quotas, and license fees—where the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) determines imports threaten to impair U.S. national security. Since February 2025, President Trump has invoked Section 232 to impose or modify tariffs…

In Trauernicht v. Genworth Financial, Inc., 169 F.4th 459 (4th Cir. 2026), the Fourth Circuit delivered a significant win for defendants facing ERISA class actions.  Reversing a district court’s certification order, the court held that claims under ERISA § 502(a)(2) seeking monetary relief for alleged fiduciary breaches in a defined contribution plan cannot be certified…