This week, the House is set to debate the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025, which includes a slate of amendments aimed to impede federal climate action, weaken protections for endangered species and hinder the government’s shift to electric vehicles, while also considering amendments to support the Pentagon in adopting nuclear energy and ensuring access to critical minerals. Stringent mandates for the use of American-made components are posing obstacles to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure and clean energy initiatives, causing delays and higher costs for projects. Las ..read more

The Legal 500, in its 17th edition of The Legal 500 United States, has highlighted a number of Akin practices and lawyers as leaders in their respective areas. According to the publication, the rankings involved careful consideration of evaluations given by law firms, their peers and clients. For the ninth year in a row, Akin ranked as a top-tier firm in two categories of restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate and government relations. The firm, for the second consecutive year, was top ranked in government – congressional investigations, international trade – customs, export ..read more

Join projects & energy transition partner Ben Reiter at Infocast's Transmission & Interconnection Summit, where he will moderate the “Dealing with the Impacts of Increased Interconnection Request Requirements and Costs” panel. Please click here to register and enter promotional code 240859 to receive 15% off ..read more

Akin media & entertainment practice head Chris Spicer and fellow partner Marissa Román Griffith have once again been named on The Hollywood Reporter’s Power Lawyers List, which recognizes Hollywood’s top 100 entertainment attorneys. This marks the seventh consecutive recognition for Chris and the eighth for Marissa. In Chris’ profile, he is noted as working with Comerica Bank on the funding of Guy Ritchie’s most recent films for Black Bear, advising AGC Studios on the financing of its upcoming mega-TV show, working with XYZ Films on recent festival favorites Skywalkers and BlackBerry and a ..read more

The OverRuled: Russia Trade Controls Resource Center has been updated with the following actions: 07 Jun 2024 (BIS): ​The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") announced that Dimitry Timashev, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act (“ECRA”) for exporting firearm parts, components, and ammunition to Russia without authorization. The OverRuled: China Trade Controls Resource Center has been updated with the following actions: 10 Jun 2024 (OFAC): ​OFAC designated individuals, entities, and vessels in several countries, including the ..read more

CryptoLink - May 2024 Updates May was a historic month for the digital assets industry in Washington, D.C. On May 22, 2024 the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) (H.R.4763) passed the House by a comfortable margin of 279-136. FIT21 is a proposed landmark piece of legislation that would enact a comprehensive regulatory framework for the digital assets industry. The bill was crafted collaboratively between Republicans on the House Financial Services and House Agriculture Committees and, to the surprise of many—including outgoing House Financial Services Committe ..read more

Akin Intelligence - April/May 2024 Welcome to the April-May edition of Akin Intelligence. This edition is a double header, covering both months as we prepare for the launch of our new AI Hub—a one-stop resource for AI coverage that will launch soon. Starting next month, each newsletter will cover the events of a single month and will be published early the following month. Both months saw renewed statements of cooperation between the US and EU on AI-related issues, as well as steps towards finalizing the EU AI Act and confirmation that US agencies successfully completed all 150-day tasks from ..read more

TMT Client Alert After months of negotiations and numerous last-minute extensions, the President signed into law the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act, which funds the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through Fiscal Year (FY) 2028 with over $105 billion in appropriations. While much of the press coverage around the bill centered on new flights out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and automatic refunds for cancelled flights, in this article we focus on the major provisions and programs that we believe to be critical to our evolving and modernizing N ..read more

In May, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued updated recommendations for security controls for controlled unclassified information (CUI) that is processed, stored or transmitted by nonfederal organizations using nonfederal systems, (NIST Special Publication 800-171 (SP 800-171), Revision 3). These security requirements are “intended for use by federal agencies in contractual vehicles or other agreements that are established between those agencies and nonfederal organizations.”1 While these new controls are only applicable to nonfederal entities that agree to co ..read more

The OverRuled: Russia Trade Controls Resource Center has been updated with the following actions: 31 May 2024 (UK): The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ("OFSI") amended UK General Licence INT/2022/1280876 ("GL") to permit a scheme of arrangement prepared by the Joint Administrators of VTB Capital Plc and to extend the expiry date of the GL. Please send an email to subscriptions@overruled.com , if you would like information on how to subscribe to access additional detail about these and other sanctions- and export controls-related actions. If you are already a paid subscriber ..read more