Compliance Stuff

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) emerged from the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to address widespread concerns about workplace safety. The statute reflects a deliberate structural choice: OSHA operates within the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) as an executive enforcement and rulemaking agency, while OSHRC functions as an independent, adjudicatory commission to ensure impartial review of OSHA citations. From inception, this bifurcated design raised separation-of-powers questions central to administrative law: how far the U.S. Congress may insulate adjudicators from presidential influence, the extent to which it may delegate policymaking discretion to the executive, and the constitutional limits governing agency adjudication and the right to a jury trial. Quick Hits Humphrey’s Executor v. United States , decided in 1935, has long supported the independence of agencies like OSHRC. Recent...

On Friday, September 5, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or the Commission) brought its multiyear effort to ban employee noncompete agreements to a conclusion . As readers of this blog will certainly remember,  in April 2024 , the FTC voted to adopt a regulation (the  Noncompete Rule  or the Rule) that would have banned the great majority of employee noncompete agreements across the country. The Noncompete Rule was immediately challenged in court and, in August 2024, a  federal court in Texas  held the Noncompete Rule unlawful and issued a broad order vacating the Rule in its entirety. The FTC appealed that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals but, given the subsequent change in presidential administrations, it was  long anticipated  that the Trump-Vance FTC was likely to abandon its efforts to defend the Biden-era Noncompete Rule. On September 5, these expectations came to fruition, as the FTC finally and definitively announced its ...

Across all industries, private companies, family offices, and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025 . Here are 11 issues that family offices and the owners and leaders of privately held companies should consider and be mindful of this year. 1. Mergers and Acquisition Landscape Much like 2024’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market, there continues to be a significant demand for deals due to pent-up undeployed capital and increased interest from financial sponsors. This includes increased interest from sell-side financial sponsors in selling private companies held by their early-vintage funds in order to open up opportunities to launch new fundraising endeavors. However, in evaluating potential M&A transactions, private companies (buyers in particular) will need to navigate a complex regulatory environment. Regulatory changes from the Trump Administration could spur significant M...