Business Law and Corporate Law

Estate planning has evolved beyond traditional assets like real estate and brokerage accounts to encompass a new frontier: digital assets including cryptocurrency wallets, NFT collections, and social media accounts. Without proper planning, these valuable online holdings may become permanently inaccessible or subject to costly litigation, leaving fiduciaries struggling to navigate complex legal frameworks that govern access but not ownership.

Something labeled “defective” usually does not work properly. The intentionally “defective” grantor trust, or “IDGT,” however, is a proven workhorse for tax-efficient business succession planning. A carefully planned and executed IDGT transaction enables business owners to transfer significant value in trust for the benefit of younger generations, with remarkable tax efficiency, while retaining control over the business. Two seemingly contradictory tax attributes of the IDGT underlie its tax efficiency.

Although IRS enforcement efforts have evolved, estate and gift tax examinations remain an area of focus, particularly for high value estates and sophisticated wealth transfer transactions.

Given recent amendments to relevant key states’ corporate laws, there has been an uptick in companies seeking to move their corporate home from Delaware to other states, including Texas – the so-called “DExit” decision. In 2025, 18 companies proposed reincorporating out of Delaware, with 13 seeking to move to Nevada and two looking to move to Texas.

The SEC has proposed Regulation E-Delivery, a comprehensive framework that would allow entities to satisfy federal securities law delivery requirements through electronic means without obtaining prior affirmative consent from recipients. This proposal addresses decades of experience with electronic media, advances in communication technologies, and stakeholder preferences, while establishing conditions for e-delivery of information to investors, security holders, and other covered recipients.

Explore the latest insights on cybersecurity threats, construction joint ventures, banking M&A trends, data center infrastructure challenges, and healthcare policy changes. Discover how sophisticated malware campaigns are targeting crypto users, what construction JVs can learn from corporate governance, and how Operation TrialBlazer aims to reform clinical trials in America.

DAMITT, the Dechert Antitrust Merger Investigation Timing Tracker, analyzes significant U.S. and EU antitrust merger investigation trends through Q2 2026. U.S. enforcement shows faster review timelines and increased settlements over litigation, while EU activity hits record lows with only three significant investigations in the first half of 2026. The European Commission has also published draft revised Merger Guidelines representing the most significant reform in two decades.

When business partners operate without a formal written agreement, disputes over ownership can arise. Washington partnership law examines how parties actually conducted their business—contributions, control, profit-sharing, and public representations—to determine whether a legal partnership existed, regardless of missing signatures or paperwork.

A professional services firm with over 30 years of operating history faced an unexpected sale opportunity, revealing critical gaps in exit preparation. This case study examines how reactive decision-making under pressure differs from strategic exit readiness, and why preparation years in advance determines transaction outcomes more than timing alone.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court has awarded $261.13 million in damages plus six years of prejudgment interest against participating lenders in Serta's 2020 uptier transaction, marking the first successful court challenge to a common liability management exercise. The ruling found that privately negotiated debt exchanges do not qualify as "open market purchases" and that lenders breached pro rata sharing provisions by receiving payments without offering participation to all lenders. This precedent-setting decision r

The International Chamber of Commerce has released its revised 2026 Arbitration Rules, introducing significant procedural reforms driven by increased competition among arbitral institutions. These changes modernize core aspects of ICC procedure while preserving hallmark features like institutional scrutiny of awards and robust case management oversight, fundamentally altering how ICC cases will be conducted going forward.

Act 822 of the 2026 Regular Session (House Bill 638, by Representative Jacob Landry) is a dramatic change in Louisiana private construction law. It amends and reenacts Louisiana’s private prompt-payment statute (La. R.S. § 9:2784) into a comprehensive prompt-payment regime that runs from the top of the payment chain to the bottom.