Publications

Practice News: Sustainability and ESG Counsel Emily Holland presented on global sustainability regulatory developments at a LSTA Summer Series 2025 virtual panel, “Is it high noon for ESG?,” on July 17. Partners Leah Malone and Matt Feehily and Counsel Emily Holland authored a two-part series in Law360 discussing recent developments across major business and human rights regulatory streams: “Forced Labor Bans Hold Steady Amid Shifts In Global Trade” (here) and “Corp. Human...

Introduction On August 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”), as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or the “Committee”), released its Annual Report (the “Report”) to Congress, highlighting key indicators of CFIUS’s activities and providing statistics on transactions that CFIUS evaluated in calendar year 2024. CFIUS is an interagency body of the U.S. Government that is authorized by law to review and address national security risks...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order today (the “Executive Order”)[1] that has the potential to redefine how millions of Americans save for their retirement. The Executive Order directs the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) to issue new guidance to provide 401(k) plan fiduciaries with greater protection against litigation when offering investment options that include “alternative assets”—including private equity, credit and real estate, digital assets, commodities and infrastructure...

Companies should take a close look at the transparency of their fees and recurring charges as regulators and the class action bar target misleading pricing practices. The FTC has reiterated its focus on misleading pricing in two cases this month. First, the FTC announced a settlement with a telehealth provider of weight loss drugs, alleging that the company misled its customers on the price of its monthly service and the material terms of the program alongside allegations of fake testimonials,...

Welcome to the next edition of Simpson Thacher’s Liability Management Expresso, which offers a concise yet substantial look at emerging trends, financing strategies, and tactical innovations in the liability management arena. As the landscape of creative capital solutions continues to evolve, this bulletin returns with fresh insights and analysis on the latest market developments shaping strategies in the U.S., Europe and beyond. Whether you are actively...

The California Attorney General recently fined Healthline Media, LLC $1.55 million—the largest CCPA[1] settlement to date—for violating California’s privacy law by failing to honor “opt out” requests of website users and making other improper disclosures of their personal information (PI). Allegations Against Healthline Healthline operates an advertising-supported website with articles about medical/health topics. The California AG alleged that the website contained invisible cookies and...

On July 11, 2025, the SEC announced that it had filed a joint stipulation with Defendants Pinnacle Advisors, LLC (“Pinnacle”), two of Pinnacle’s officers, and two mutual fund independent trustees to dismiss with prejudice the SEC’s first-ever case seeking to enforce the Liquidity Rule. The SEC’s case against Pinnacle was filed by a Chair Gensler-led SEC in 2023. The Liquidity Rule requires each 1940 Act-registered open-end fund to manage liquidity risk by adopting and implementing a written...

Practice News: Simpson Thacher was recognized for Environmental, Social & Governance Risk, Crisis & Risk Management (Global-wide) by Chambers USA 2025. Emily Holland was named Vice-Chair of the ABA International Law Section’s Business & Human Rights Subcommittee for the 2025-2026 year. Emily Holland hosted a webinar in partnership with Sphera, “Supply Chain Due Diligence Through a Sustainable Procurement Lens,” on June 25. Emily Holland...

In late-breaking news this week, the Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit struck down the FTC’s “click to cancel” rule just before its effective date of July 14, 2025 after finding flaws in the FTC’s rule-making process. At the Federal Trade Commission, some recent press releases have gotten attention for shedding light on the current administration’s priorities, but the business community should have other FTC activity on the radar. The FTC recently settled with financial services companies in...

On July 3, 2025, the U.S. Congress passed and, on July 4, 2025, President Trump promptly signed into law, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (the “Act”), making sweeping changes to U.S. federal income tax credits provided to the clean energy sector that were enacted under the Biden administration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”). On July 7, 2025, President Trump then issued an executive order (the “Executive Order”) relating to the implementation of such changes (“Ending...

On June 23, 2025, Gov. Abbott signed in to law additional updates to Texas’ corporate and legal framework as part of the state’s continued focus on competing with Delaware as the “jurisdiction of choice” in which to domicile public and private business organizations. These updates supplement the significant amendments to the Texas Business Organizations Code (TBOC) enacted by the Texas Legislation on May 7 and discussed in our prior alert.[1] An overview of the supplemental legislation, which...

Practice News:  For a second year, Simpson Thacher was recognized for Impact Investing by Chambers USA 2025; Partners David A. Shevlin and John Bennett were also recognized. Partner Leah Malone was featured at the Practicing Law Institute’s full-day program “ESG 2025: What It Means for Boards, Management and Counsel” on June 10 in New York City. For more information, see here. Leah Malone and Counsel Emily Holland co-authored an article in Law360, “Calif. Air Board...

On June 11, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), voted to further extend the compliance date for the amendments to Form PF adopted on February 8, 2024 (the “Amendments”).[1] The original compliance date for the Amendments was March 12, 2025, and in January 2025, the SEC extended the compliance date to June 12, 2025.[2] As a result of yesterday’s extension, the new compliance date for the Amendments is October...