Who Will Be the Next SEC Director of Enforcement?

Law Firms Have Been Slow to Accept Payment in Crypto. The GENIUS Act Could Change That

The legal industry and other professional services organizations may soon have a greater incentive to begin accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method from clients after federal lawmakers moved forward legislation that would establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins.

Under the GENIUS Act, (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins), which passed the Senate with bipartisan support earlier this month, stablecoin crypto tokens would have to be backed by liquid assets such as U.S. currency or short-term U.S. Treasury bills, something that could help ease concerns among law firm leaders when deciding whether or not to expand client payments to include digital assets. […]

Law firms open to crypto payments likely won’t “sit on it as a treasury asset,” Wenner said, but passage of the GENIUS Act could give firms greater incentive to trust the asset-backed digital stablecoin.

Wall Street Panics Over Prospect of Socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City Mayor

On Wednesday morning, the world’s epicenter of capitalism woke up to find it might soon have a socialist mayor.

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic primary for mayor shocked Wall Street. Some of the world’s most influential and powerful financiers were left grasping to understand what Mamdani’s victory would mean for their industry—and whether they would leave the city.

“It’s officially hot commie summer,” Dan Loeb, chief executive of hedge fund Third Point, and a major Cuomo backer, wrote on X.

Australia’s Securities Regulator Taps Expert Trio to Probe ASX’s Operations

Australia’s Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has turned to three of the country’s most seasoned finance figures to probe the inner workings of the Australian Securities Exchange, including the exchange’s doomed blockchain project.

ASIC launched the inquiry on June 16 over “ongoing concerns” it and the Reserve Bank of Australia expressed about the exchange’s ability to run stable and secure market plumbing.

Those concerns intensified when ASX scrapped a blockchain-based upgrade to its CHESS settlement engine in 2022, forcing a costly reset and drawing political heat. ASIC later sued ASX over making misleading statements on the project.

Summer Associates at Baker Botts Learn How to Use AI on the Job

Summer associates at Baker Botts got some hands-on AI training on a litigation exercise that was impossible to complete under deadline without using artificial intelligence.

“We created the Learning Lab to give summer associates hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology, but did it under time pressure so they would experience how it would work in real time [with] some of the strengths and weaknesses,” said Richard Harper, a New York litigation partner who organized the training along with Houston corporate partner Travis Wofford. […]

“At the end of the day, the answer the firm keeps coming back to is you are not going to lose your job as a lawyer to AI, but you will lose your job to lawyers with AI,” Wofford said.