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On 14 December 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed four separate rulemakings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that would create a federally defined best execution standard for broker-dealers and overhaul the US equities market structure. If adopted in their current form, these proposals would meaningfully impact market participants and practices. Given the nearly 1,700 pages of combined rules proposals, firms may need to devote significant resources just to digest their potential impact on particular business models. In a series of Client Alerts, baker McKenzie associates attempt to dissect each of these Market Structure Proposals. This Client Alert provides an overview, insights, and key takeaways for the Order Competition Rule Proposal.

Baker McKenzie is delighted to invite you to interactive seminars on 1 March 2023 in Abu Dhabi and 2 March 2023 in Dubai as part of our EMEA Russia Sanctions Briefings. The seminars will focus on the multijurisdictional sanctions challenges facing financial institutions and their clients and other corporates in the Gulf, in relation to the US, UK, EU and UAE sanctions regimes, particularly against Russia. We will also focus on the current enforcement environment and best practices for mitigating sanctions risk arising from potential compliance failures.

In June 2023, amendments to the Competition Act take effect that will allow Canadian employees to sue their employers for conspiratorial conduct. In this video, baker McKenzie Litigation and Competition lawyers reflect on the new buy-side conspiracy causes of action through the lens of a recent Federal Court of Appeal case, consider the expected implications of the new amendments on employers’ class action exposure, and discuss what employers can do to mitigate these new risks.

US laws have traditionally given online services significant leeway to moderate user-generated content however they see fit. In particular, there is a long history of US courts relying on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230) to reject a wide range of claims seeking to hold online services providers liable for hosting, displaying, removing or blocking third-party content, including under contract, defamation, tort and civil rights laws. CDA 230 does not protect online services providers from all claims related to third-party content. For example, there are statutory exceptions for IP infringements and criminal violations. But many commentators credit CDA 230 as one of the most important laws in the development of the internet by allowing online services providers to focus on growing their user base without having to discharge unduly burdensome duties to continuously review, assess and moderate user-generated content.

On 27 January 2023, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its unanimous (3-0) decision in FTC v. Simple Health Plans, LLC, et al., No. 21-13116. This matter stemmed from an individual defendant’s emergency motion to dissolve a preliminary injunction that a district court had issued under Sections 13(b) and 19 of the FTC Act. The district court denied the emergency motion, and the defendant appealed.

On 3 February 2023, the US Department of Justice announced the withdrawal of three antitrust policy statements that allowed certain information exchanges between competitors in healthcare markets. The day before this announcement, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki of DOJ Antitrust Division warned that DOJ would reconsider these outdated policy statements in light of recent changes in the healthcare industry.