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Federal Court Narrows but Does Not End Debate Over Transgender Athletes and Title IX in College Sports

Quick Hits A federal court largely dismissed challenges to the NCAA’s former transgender-participation policies but allowed a narrow Title IX claim against the NCAA to proceed to targeted discovery focused on whether the NCAA is a federal funding recipient. The court rejected constitutional claims against the NCAA, reaffirming that the NCAA is not a state actor, and found many claims against Georgia public institutions moot in light of Georgia’s new…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:6 mins read
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Cancel culture theme sparks a lively exchange of views at Sheldonian Series event

A large audience gathered at the Sheldonian Theatre on Tuesday 21 October to hear invited panellists share enthusiastic discourse on a diverse range of views about 'Cancel Culture' for the latest event in the Sheldonian Series, which is open to all and aims to promote freedom of speech and inclusive inquiry. I felt this Sheldonian Series event at the University of Oxford, by seeking to model what it means to secure…

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Website Tracker Litigation Continues to Pose Compliance Headache: Updates on CIPA and Related Litigation

Quick Hits Litigation remains steady and costly. Hundreds of lawsuits and arbitration demands continue to allege that website-tracking technologies—such as pixels, analytics tools, and chat features—violate the California Invasion of Privacy Act and related privacy laws. Despite mixed judicial outcomes, the volume of filings has not slowed. Courts are deeply divided. Some judges have dismissed cases on standing or “contents” grounds, while others allow claims to proceed where third-party vendors…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:8 mins read
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Mansplaining, Womansplaining: Why People Tend to Over-Explain

We’ve all been there — sitting in a meeting where someone takes five minutes to explain what could’ve taken thirty seconds. Or maybe you’ve caught yourself doing it, adding just one more clarification, one more justification, one more “Does that make sense?” Over-explaining at work isn’t just a “female thing,” nor is condescending explanation (often called mansplaining) solely a “male thing.” Both behaviors are symptoms of something deeper. Patterns of…

  • Post category:Civility Partners
  • Reading time:5 mins read
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Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Focus, Part I: Practical Data Rights Request Compliance Tips for U.S. Privacy Leaders

Quick Hits Data subject rights requests run on short clocks, so having a response strategy is critical for timely and complete compliance. Mistakes commonly occur when businesses contract with vendors, receive and triage data subject rights requests, and engage in recordkeeping exercises during and after responding to the data subject. An increase in regulatory power and inquiry is increasing the risks associated with improper handling of data subject rights requests.…

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  • Reading time:6 mins read
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November 2025 Visa Bulletin Holds Steady for Employment-Based Immigrant Visa Categories

Quick Hits The November 2025 Visa Bulletin showsno change from last month’s bulletin for employment-based categories for both final action dates and dates for filing. USCIS will continue to accept adjustment of status filings based on the Dates for Filing Chart. The cutoff dates remain consistent with the dates listed in the October 2025 Visa Bulletin. Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Visa Applications Employment- BasedAll ChargeabilityAreas ExceptThose ListedCHINA-mainlandbornINDIAMEXICOPHILIPPINES1stC22DEC2215FEB22CC2nd01DEC2301APR2101APR1301DEC2301DEC233rd01APR2301MAR2122AUG1301APR2301APR23Other Workers15JUL2101DEC1722AUG1315JUL2115JUL214th01JUL2001JUL2001JUL2001JUL2001JUL20Certain Religious…

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What the Heck is a Super-Facilitator? And Why Your Team Needs One

Harvard Business Review recently published an article called Every Team Needs a Super-Facilitator. It’s a good read for anyone interested in building strong, inclusive, high-performing teams. I’d never heard this phrase before… have you? Nonetheless, the article highlights that the best teams aren’t led by superstars or lone geniuses—they’re led by people who know how to bring out the best in others. They’re called super-facilitators, and your team needs at…

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OMB Extends Deadlines on Race/Ethnicity Data Overhaul

Quick Hits Chief Financial Officers Act agencies and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must now submit Action Plans on Race and Ethnicity Data to OMB by March 28, 2026, extending the September 28, 2025, deadline that had been imposed when OMB released the SPD 15 revisions in March of 2024. OMB also extended the deadline to update federal information collections of race and ethnicity data to be consistent with…

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Connecting with the Consumer in a Distracted Age

Q: You have been recognized in the industry for an approach you call “collaborativity.” Would you explain collaborativity?Collaborativity is a concept I created a handful of years ago that I now use regularly with the team. Collaborativity is a way of codifying the creative process in a way that leans into the notion that creativity is quite iterative and collaborative in nature. Yet when you look at the creative industry,…

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Expert Comment: What is the future of European industrial and energy policy?

Professor Jan Rosenow. Credit: John Cairns Positioning Europe for leadership in the next industrial era, Professor Rosenow argued that strategic industrial electrification - twin-tracked with ambitious energy efficiency - offers the single most powerful lever for Europe to cut costs, cut emissions, and compete on the world stage. He contrasted Europe’s current exposure to volatile fossil fuel imports, laid bare during the 2022 gas crisis, with China’s rapid advance as the…

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Decolonising Democracy in International Relations: Liberalism, the Global Order, and Post-colonial Sovereignty in the Global South

Modern democracy, as it has emerged within the liberal international order, still bears traces of its colonial legacy: it relies institutionally and conceptually on Western norms of recognition, political participation, and global leadership, writes Beatrice Petrova Bineva, Master in Political Science at the Higher School of Economics. The author is a participant of the Valdai – New Generation project. In the current context of multipolarity and the crisis of the…

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Understanding sustained growth: the 2025 Nobel Prize and why it matters for Europe

20 October 2025by Conny Olovsson and Alexander Popov The economist Robert Lucas famously wrote that “Once one starts to think about economic growth, it is hard to think about anything else.” The Nobel committee seems to agree. For the second year in a row, it has chosen to honour work on economic growth. This ECB Blog post looks at the research of this year’s laureates.Last Monday, the Royal Swedish Academy…

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Oxford welcomes inaugural cohort of EIT-funded students

The first Ellison Scholars and Ellison Institute Technology (EIT)-funded students have begun their studies in Oxford, as a new academic year gets underway. They were welcomed at a special event attended by Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, as well as Lisa Flashner, COO of EIT Oxford.  Forty-six students from 18 countries and 5 continents are part of EIT’s inaugural Education & Scholarships programmes which span undergraduate, graduate and doctoral study…

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4 Types of Visionary/Integrator Partnerships

[Caution: Random string of thought ahead. It leads to some good stuff though. Promise!] As a parent, I think a lot about the different roles I play in my kids’ lives. Sometimes I’m their biggest cheerleader, shouting “Yes!” from the rooftops. Other times I offer firm caution, or flat-out say “no.” And then there are moments when I say, “I don’t agree with your choice, but I’ll support it—because I…

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  • Reading time:9 mins read
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Avoiding the pitfalls of bad competitor benchmarking

How to benchmark competitors effectively (without losing context) Competitor benchmarking can feel like a corporate version of keeping up with the Joneses but how much attention should you pay to what other players in your sector are doing? This article will explore how headcount benchmarking specifically can be of use and what contextual factors you need to consider to use it effectively. Reading time: 5 minutes An analogy – the…

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  • Reading time:4 mins read
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Trump Administration to Rescind Biden-Era Independent Contractor Rule—What Could a New Rule Look Like?

Quick Hits The Trump administration is scheduled to rescind the Biden-era independent contractor rule, months after the DOL stopped enforcing the current rule. The current independent contractor rule, issued in 2024, adopted the multifactor “totality of the circumstances” test that has been used by the courts for years, albeit with commentary signaling enforcement of various factors in a manner that was wrought with potential challenges for employers. This rule still…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:6 mins read
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How to prepare for commercial tenant transfers: A landlord’s guide

Are you looking for guidance on a tenant request to assign its lease or sublet a portion of its premises? This article sets out what each landlord should know in preparation for such a request. Commercial landlords select their tenants carefully, often after a robust due diligence process on the tenant’s financial covenant, as well as how this tenant fits within landlord’s leasing strategies for the property. By the time…

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Four ‘outstanding researchers’ awarded Philip Leverhulme Prizes

The Philip Leverhulme Prizes commemorate the contribution to the work of the Leverhulme Trust made by Philip, Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of William Lever, the founder of the Trust. This year, the Leverhulme Trust awarded five prizes in each of the following subject areas: Archaeology, Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, Geography, and Languages and Literatures.Each prize winner will receive £100,000 to be used for any purpose that advances their research.About the…

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Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report reveals 80% of the world’s poor exposed to climate hazards

The 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), ‘Overlapping Hardships: Poverty and Climate Hazards’, presents critical new evidence of how the climate crisis is reshaping global poverty. This report shows where the climate crisis and poverty are notably converging. Understanding where the planet is under greatest strain and where people face additional burdens created by climate challenges is essential to creating mutually reinforcing development strategies that put humanity at the centre of…

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How Do Markets React to Banks’ Share Buybacks?

17 October 2025By Pauline Avril, Maciej Grodzicki, Lukas Jürgensmeier and Alessandro RicciBanks have bought back over €60 billion of their own shares since 2020, which is a sign of the industry’s confidence. However, share buybacks can also reduce the capital banks have available for potential crises. This blog post examines how euro area banks’ share prices reacted to these buybacks.Share buybacks indicate that a bank’s management is confident in its…

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New Oxford-led project aims to revolutionise chronic pain treatment

Chronic pain, a leading global cause of disability, is one of the great unmet needs in medicine. In the UK alone, between one-third and one-half of the adult population (just under 28 million) are affected by chronic pain, costing health services millions in direct treatment, with indirect costs in lost productivity estimated to be billions. But despite its scale, progress in chronic pain treatments has stalled with few major breakthroughs…

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Locking carbon in trees and soils could ‘stabilise climate for centuries’ if combined with underground storage

A team of researchers, led by Cambridge University, has now formulated a method to assess whether carbon removal portfolios can help limit global warming over centuries.The approach also distinguishes between buying credits to offset risk versus claiming net-negative emissions. The study paves the way for nature-based carbon removal projects – such as planting new forests or restoring existing ones – to become effective climate change solutions when balanced with a portfolio…

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Mishal Husain reflects on a ‘search for reason’ at the Romanes Lecture 2025

Speaking at the Sheldonian Theatre on the subject of ‘Empire, Identity and the Search for Reason’, award-winning journalist Mishal Husain talked of a search for points of light, and finding them beyond the headlines, in history and forgotten context: ‘In that tapestry are the common threads that enrich my understanding of the world and that give me hope’.The ‘search for reason’ is part of this Lecture’s title because my own…

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Kalshi Secures $300 Million Series D

San Francisco – October 10, 2025 – Cooley advised Kalshi, the first Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated exchange dedicated to trading on the outcome of future events, on its $300 million Series D financing, valuing the company at $5 billion. The round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Sequoia Capital, with additional participation from Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst, Spark Capital and CapitalG. Lawyers Kevin Rooney, Mike Perretta, Barry Kuang…

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Crocodile Tears for Retail Investors: The Misleading Campaign Against Retail Voting Programs

On September 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Mergers and Acquisitions responded to a no-action request from Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon), confirming that it would not recommend enforcement action under Exchange Act Rule 14a-4(d)(2) or Rule 14a-4(d)(3) if the company adopted a proposed automatic retail voting program. The program, which Exxon began implementing with soliciting materials pursuant to Rule 14a-12 sent to investors on September 17, would…

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Cooley Achieves Top Marks in US, Global M&A and Private Equity Rankings

New York – October 14, 2025 – Cooley’s global M&A and private equity practices were recognized based on their M&A and private equity activity on Q3 league tables from Bloomberg, Mergermarket and LSEG Data & Analytics. Cooley’s M&A and private equity practices continue to dominate in public and private transactions in the US and globally – despite the unsettled market. Cooley’s top rankings by deal count: Bloomberg #3 for US and global M&A…

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Reducto Secures $75 Million Series B

San Francisco – October 14, 2025 – Cooley advised Reducto, the leading artificial intelligence document intelligence platform, on its $75 million Series B financing, bringing Reducto’s total funding to date to $108 million. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from existing investors Benchmark, First Round Capital, BoxGroup and Y Combinator. Lawyers Tara Capsuto, Kevin Rooney, Jeremy Ungerman-Sears, Nate Gray and Karem Jarada led the Cooley team advising…

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Donald Trump and his bankers

In his logic, protectionism and tariff barriers are a necessary and, as he sees it, effective lever for rebalancing bilateral trade. However, the trade war launched by Trump during his first term highlighted the limitations of this approach. Contrary to expectations, the trade deficit has not narrowed; if anything, it has widened. While tariffs may temporarily slow imports, they do not address the root of the problem, namely the structural…

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Life and Mind building opens in Oxford

The Life and Mind building, enabled by Legal & General (L&G), is one of the largest building projects in the University’s history and will be home to the Departments of Biology and Experimental Psychology, as well as the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI). Designed by internationally-renowned architecture practice NBBJ, it will enable researchers to investigate the most fundamental questions of our age – from what it means to…

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Underweight children cost the NHS as much per child as children with obesity

The NHS incurs an estimated £340 million in additional healthcare costs annually due to weight-related health problems in children, but it is not just obesity driving the costs. New research from the University of Oxford reveals that underweight children need comparable medical support as those who are severely obese, challenging assumptions about childhood health priorities.The study, published in JAMA Network Open and funded by the National Institute for Health and…

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Cambridge-led coalition to seed £500m fossil-free cash investment fund

The nearly £500 million fund will make it possible for the 79 UK colleges, universities and other institutions involved in the coalition – formed by the Banking Engagement Forum based in the Dept of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge – to make short-term cash-like investments without contributing to fossil fuel expansion within capital debt markets.“This is the first cash fund we know of that will avoid providing liquidity…

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Supporting mental health in the workplace: Honouring World Mental Health Day

Every October, World Mental Health Day shines a spotlight on the importance of protecting and promoting mental wellbeing at work and beyond – serving as a reminder that mental health is not just a personal matter, it is a collective responsibility. For employers, it is both a moral duty and a legal requirement to ensure that the workplace is a safe, supportive environment. With rising rates of stress and burnout…

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