Daily Compliance News: July 11, 2025, The What is a COI Edition
Nonprofit Basics: Conflict of Interest Policies and Best Practices for Approving Insider Compensation
Nonprofit Basics: Insider Transactions and Nonprofits – What’s the Big Deal?
Conflicts of Interest in Healthcare and Elsewhere
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 124: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 282: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
What to Do When Your University, FBI, or DOJ Knocks on Your Door: Responding to University, Criminal, and Civil Investigations
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – The ADV season
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – DOL: What’s ahead
Podcast: Credit Funds: Compliance Considerations for Valuation
CONVERGE18-Preview Podcasts-David Bunker on COIs in the Gig Economy
Podcast - Credit Funds: A Framework for Addressing and Mitigating Conflicts of Interest
Day 7 of One Month to Better Investigations and Report-How Investigations Inform Remediation
Day 15 of One Month to Better Compliance Through HR-Employment Separation Issues
Bill Beutler on Editing Wikipedia
Rules for rewarding 'super' condo board members
Bill on Bankruptcy: US Airways Need a Merger More than AMR
On April 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated a summary judgment ruling in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, also known as Commonwealth...more
On August 23, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), by a party-line vote of 3-2, adopted new rules applicable to investment advisers to private funds (“Private Fund Advisers”) that address transparency,...more
In a Legal Alert issued before the SEC open meeting, we posed five questions that our Investment Services team would be looking out for as part of this meeting. We now have answers to some of these questions....more
Presented below is a highlight of eight noteworthy enforcement actions the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken against investment advisers through the second quarter of 2023. Since the beginning of this year, the...more
Who may be interested: Registered Investment Advisers, Mutual Funds, Compliance Officers - Quick Take: The SEC settled charges against two affiliated registered investment advisers, alleging that the advisers failed to...more
On February 7, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Division of Examinations (the “Division”) released its annual Priorities Report1 for upcoming examinations of registered investment advisers...more
In June 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed its first complaint alleging violations of both the care and compliance obligations of Regulation Best Interest, or Reg BI. In SEC v. Western International...more
Registered investment advisers, including dual registrant broker-dealers (collectively “advisers”) who provide discretionary investment management services to individual retirement accounts (IRAs), are fiduciaries under the...more
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted a new standard called Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) that shifts the focus on protecting customers first and foremost. Although the regulation possibly puts...more
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff recently published a bulletin reiterating the standards of conduct applicable to broker-dealers and investment advisers when making account recommendations to retail investors....more
The SEC Division of Examinations recently published its list of priorities for 2022. While it was a bit late compared to a typical year, the priorities letter provides a roadmap for firms to better understand where the...more
It may be a New Year, but 2022 is going to seem very familiar to Broker-Dealers (BD) and their Registered Representatives who advise retirement plans and IRAs: they are going to be spending a lot of time working to comply...more
The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02: The FAQs - Key Takeaways - ◾ The DOL has issued FAQs that generally explain PTE 2020-02 and the expanded definition of fiduciary advice. ◾ In FAQ 16, the DOL...more
In a forthcoming chapter in The Cambridge Handbook of Investor Protection (Cambridge University Press, 2021) UCLA Law Professor Sung Hui Kim asks "Do Lawyers Make Good Gatekeepers"? She posits that there is "a strong case...more
With SEC Regulation Best Interest (“Reg-BI”) effective as of June 30, 2020, SEC examiners will now focus on whether firms have made a good faith effort to implement policies and procedures (“P&Ps”) that are necessary for...more
On January 7, 2020, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) announced its 2020 examination priorities for regulated entities, including investment advisers and registered funds. The examination...more
On February 21, 2020, the Massachusetts Securities Division adopted final amendments to its regulations, formalizing a fiduciary duty rule applicable to broker-dealers and broker-dealer agents (the “Amendments”). The...more
As the June 30, 2020, compliance date approaches, broker-dealers are taking steps to implement Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), which establishes a new standard of conduct when making recommendations to retail customers of...more
Over the next year, the Department of Labor (DOL) will likely be issuing guidance in a number of areas that could impact asset managers and financial services companies. In this Bottom Line videocast, Carol McClarnon and...more
On January 10, 2020, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) updated its frequently asked questions on Regulation Best Interest (the “FAQs”). ...more
Litigation Risks Posed by the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest - Pete Tepley and Meredith Lees highlight litigation risks posed by the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest (Reg-BI), litigation risks that may arise from Reg-BI’s...more
Recently, the Massachusetts Securities Division made public its proposed final fiduciary duty rule (the “Proposed Rule”). The MSD has requested public comment concerning the Proposed Rule by January 7, 2020....more
Regulation Best Interest: Rollover Recommendations for Investment Advisers (Rollovers Part 4)- The SEC has issued its final Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), Form CRS Rule, RIA Interpretation and Solely Incidental...more
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Investment Management released frequently asked questions (FAQs) on October 18, 2019, which discuss certain compensation arrangements and related...more
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) voted three to one to approve a package of rulemakings and interpretations designed to enhance the quality and transparency of investors’ relationships with...more