Insights

On October 19, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life,” establishing new federal infrastructure dedicated to improving women’s health research, clinical translation, and coordinated policy leadership. The EO creates a White House Women’s Health Task Force and directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a new Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  

One of the two landmark climate-disclosure laws California enacted in 2023 has its first reporting deadline in just over two weeks, amid continued uncertainty regarding its constitutionality.  

A proposed rule published October 20, 2026, outlines a framework that would require Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to verify and update their provider directories at least once every 90 days, report an accuracy score to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Servies (CMS), and publicly post it on their directories. CMS says the proposed changes will improve data connectivity and accuracy in provider directories across the health care system. 

On October 16, 2026, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule implementing key sections of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2026, Section 6224 (“Modernizing and Ensuring Pharmacy Benefit Manager Accountability”). The agency also proposes a conforming change mandated by section 6219 of the CAA (“Adjustments to Medicare Part D Cost-Sharing Reductions for Low-Income Individuals”) that would reduce the generic-drug copayment from $1 to $0 for full-benefit dual eligible individuals. Comments to the proposed rule are due December 15, 2026.   

On October 16, 2026, the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire denied Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, Inc.’s motion to dismiss the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) Title VII sex discrimination lawsuit arising from a women-only company-sponsored event. The Court held that the EEOC had “plausibly met” the applicable legal standard “by pointing to missed networking opportunities, the potential deprivation of paid time off, and the denial of perks including a company-paid hotel stay, food, and beverages.” This ruling is a clear sign that employer-sponsored events limited to employees of one sex carry legal risk, even when the employer’s intent is to address workforce imbalances or attendance at the event does not lead to measurable advantages. 

The life sciences sector is uniquely vulnerable to the inherent risks of AI-generated evidence in drug development and discovery. This client alert focuses on five core challenges: hallucinations, skewed predictions from unrepresentative training data, the opacity of AI reasoning, input sensitivity that undermines reproducibility, and adversarial manipulation of training data. To address these risks, companies should use experimental validation and human oversight as the common legal and regulatory safety net. This entails among other measures auditing AI outputs, characterizing training data, and structural oversight. Companies also should prepare for evolving frameworks and guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Union (EU) that address use of AI in drug discovery and development .  

New Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act (FASCSA) orders from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of War (DoW), and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) require the exclusion and removal of products and services by DeepSeek and its affiliated entities (collectively, DeepSeek).1 The DoW and DNI orders are laid out in their entirety within the SAM.gov downloadable spreadsheet of FASCSA orders, and neither provides details about the reasons for excluding or removing DeepSeek. By contrast, the civilian order, published on October 20, 2026, identifies DeepSeek’s free open-source artificial intelligence (AI) models as “present[ing] multiple threat vectors.” These include threat vectors associated with the company’s known technical vulnerabilities, obligation to provide the government of the People’s Republic of China certain access, and the fact that information collected by the company’s apps and AI models could be used to create “actionable intelligence” about the U.S. government.   

On September 16, 2026, California became the second state in the country to require disclosures of AI-generated synthetic performers in advertising. Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 1050 — a measure that prohibits advertisers from publishing advertisements prominently featuring AI-generated synthetic performers without a clear and conspicuous disclosure — effective January 1, 2027.

There were two significant developments recently at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), a statute that broadly prohibits sellers from engaging in price discrimination that harms competition. First, the Commission settled a litigation against Southern Glazer’s that was initially brought during the Biden administration, and second, the Commission also announced the resolution of an investigation into price discrimination by Gildan Activewear and S&S holdings in the wholesale T-shirt distribution industry. These developments signal a more measured approach to the RPA than in the prior administration but are nonetheless a reminder to companies that the RPA is alive and well and remains an important tool for enforcers and plaintiffs to address price discrimination. Companies that sell to retailers or operate in distribution channels should consider periodic reviews of their pricing structures and compliance programs to ensure compliance with the RPA. 

The Sedona Conference has published its Defend Trade Secrets Act Model Jury Instructions: DTSA 10th Anniversary Commemorative Edition, the product of Working Group 12’s consensus process. Earlier this year, we alerted clients to the draft instructions. The final publication cautions that the instructions are a starting point only, not binding law, and must be tailored to the facts, claims, and governing law of each case. 

Following the Board’s November 8, 2024, decision reversing the Examiner’s OTDP rejections of claims 1-18 of U.S. Application No. 17/135,529 (the ’529 Application), the patent application at issue in Ex parte Baurin, the Examiner filed a request for rehearing. On March 5, 2026, USPTO Director Squires convened the ARP and granted sua sponte rehearing. Eleven amicus briefs were entered into the record on April 1, 2026. 

The FCA has recently published Policy Statement PS26/19, finalising its rules on sustainability disclosures for listed companies. As discussed in our earlier article here, the FCA had consulted on proposals to replace the existing TCFD-aligned disclosure regime with new requirements based on the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS). The final rules depart from the consultation proposals in a number of significant respects. 

At a glance: A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for nearly 44 million deceptive trade practice violations based on misleading privacy and platform-safety statements—showing that public-facing privacy claims can create significant consumer-protection exposure.

On October 1, 2026, Judge Brian M. Cogan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied NYP’s motion to dismiss a consolidated antitrust complaint brought by three self-funded union health plans. The ruling is significant for two reasons. First, it demonstrates that plaintiffs can successfully allege market power against hospital systems even in the absence of traditionally high market shares. Second, the court’s reasoning closely tracks the arguments advanced by the DOJ in its Statement of Interest filed in the case: that market power need not be established through market share alone and can be shown through direct evidence such as supracompetitive pricing, and that exclusionary conduct and rival foreclosure are not required elements of a Section 1 claim. The recent decision validates the government’s legal theories and could enhance the viability of the DOJ’s parallel action against NYP, which is currently proceeding in the Southern District of New York.

At a glance: Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 690, amending CIPA to restrict private plaintiffs from bringing “pen register” and “trap and trace” claims arising from web-based conduct. The amendment is meant to reduce the wave of private CIPA litigation targeting website tracking technology. However, businesses remain exposed to several major types of claims and enforcement mechanisms under CIPA and related statutes and should audit their tracking technologies, consent mechanisms, and litigation posture accordingly.

The Rule of Two is a vital mechanism for ensuring that contracting officers satisfy the federal government’s statutory requirement that 23% of U.S. prime contracts be issued to small businesses. FAR 19.502-2(b) (19.104-1(a) of the RFO) requires that agencies set aside procurements for small businesses when there is a reasonable expectation that at least two responsible small businesses will submit offers at fair market prices.  

For multi-channel marketers, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has been a persistent and evolving compliance preoccupation. Businesses that rely on automated texts and robocalls to engage customers, particularly in retail, financial services, health care, and political campaigning, have had to navigate its consent requirements with care. For example, in 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined it would permit consumers to revoke consent by “any reasonable method,” a move that sent companies scrambling to bring decentralized communications channels into compliance.

Guidehouse served as the prime contractor responsible for technology services used in administering New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (“ERAP”). Under Guidehouse’s contract with the State of New York, the online ERAP portal was to undergo cybersecurity testing in its pre-production environment before it was launched to the public, and Guidehouse was required to certify that the system met the contract’s requirements. Within hours of going live, the ERAP portal exposed certain applicants’ personally identifiable information and was shut down.

Last week during the National Advertising Division 2026 Annual Conference, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provided insights on its enforcement priorities, and the National Advertising Division (NAD) provided updates on recent cases and procedural updates. 

In June, the president, seemingly in reaction to the cybersecurity risks of frontier artificial intelligence models, ordered the establishment of a voluntary regulatory regime for the government to scrutinize frontier models prior to public release.