On April 6, 2026, the California Supreme Court heard oral argument in Sunflower Alliance v. California Department of Conservation (Case No. S287414). The case addresses two key California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance questions: May an agency invoke a CEQA exemption while also relying on regulatory conditions of approval addressing potential environmental effects? Does the…
In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, guest host Taylor Gess joins Chris Willis and Lori Sommerfield to unpack fair lending risks in point-of-sale finance. They explain how traditional fair lending concepts under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Fair Housing Act play out when merchants interact directly with…
Below is Alston & Bird’s Health Care Week in Review, which provides a synopsis of the latest news in health care regulations, notices, and guidance; federal legislation and congressional committee action; reports, studies, and analyses; and other health policy news. Highlight of the Week This week, the White House released the President’s budget request for…
With pay data reports due to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) on May 13, 2026, California employers must ensure they are prepared to meet their reporting obligations. As previously discussed here, employers with 100 or more employees are required to file a pay data report with the CRD. Client employers with 100 or more…
For residential sales transactions in Florida, one contract form gets used more than any other – the Florida As Is Residential Contract for Sale and Purchase. The drafters intended it to be simple: just fill in the blanks. But, those blanks can be confusing. And that confusion, combined with time pressure and client expectations, can…
California’s child support system is designed to produce consistent and predictable results. Most family law attorneys are familiar with the process: you input the parties’ income, plug in the parenting timeshare, run the statewide guideline calculation, and out comes a number that the law presumes to be the correct amount of support….By: IR Global
This month, in Walsh v. HNTB Corporation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a district court finding that placing an employee on a performance improvement plan (PIP), by itself, does not rise to the level of a per se legally redressable “adverse employment action” under federal anti-discrimination laws. While the decision…
Summary In February 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the first updates to its Enforcement Manual in nearly a decade. The revisions provide improvements to process and transparency, and they should be helpful to lawyers who represent parties involved in SEC investigations. On February 24, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)…
In the Sunday Book Review, Tom Fox considers books that would interest compliance professionals, business executives, or anyone curious. It could be books about business, compliance, history, leadership, current events, or anything else that might interest Tom. In this episode, we look at 4 top books released in March by the University of Chicago Press….
Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is a radio technology that uses short, low energy pulses to provide short-range communications over large swaths of radio frequency spectrum. Increasingly, UWB capabilities are being built into a variety of mobile devices and other communications equipment, which permits a significant range of new applications. These include authentication for entry to buildings and…
