Insights

(CHICAGO) Katten announced today that 8 practices and 14 partners were ranked in the 2026 edition of Chambers Global. The Chambers Global Guide ranks the top global attorneys and law firms in over 200 jurisdictions across the world.

(CHARLOTTE) Katten announced today that three attorneys were chosen for this year's lists of North Carolina Super Lawyers and Rising Stars. The Super Lawyers list recognizes the top 5 percent of attorneys in North Carolina, while the Rising Stars list identifies the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state who are either 40 years old or younger or in practice for 10 years or less.

Two Katten Structured Finance and Securitization partners will take the stage at SFVegas 2026, running February 22–25. The conference brings together the industry's key players — from investors and issuers to regulators, tech innovators, servicers and more — for sharp insights and forward‑driving discussions.

New York Managing Partner Wendy Cohen is on Corporate Counsel's shortlist for the Managing Partner of the Year category of the 2026 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards (WIPL). This award honors an influential and inspiring managing partner who has demonstrated extraordinary impact through their legal work, leadership, advocacy or contributions to justice and the community.

Katten's Structured Finance and Securitization Practice demonstrated exceptional performance in the 2025 league tables published by Commercial Mortgage Alert and Asset-Backed Alert, reflecting significant growth across multiple securitization categories.

Partner and Financial Markets and Regulation Co-Chair Carl Kennedy was quoted in a Bloomberg article about pushback the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is facing from state governments regarding its bid to be the sole regulator of prediction markets.

In the first episode of the new year, the TMA Chicago/Midwest (TMA) Podcast hosted by Katten Restructuring Partner Paul Musser again welcomed Managing Director at Armory Group Sandy Prabhakar, the chapter's 2026 president. Sandy, who has over 20 years of experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, refinancings and restructurings, returned as the podcast’s first two-time guest to discuss his path to leadership within TMA, his vision for the year ahead and his perspectives on the current state of the restructuring market.

As part of the "Great Wealth Transfer," privately owned businesses with an aggregate value estimated at $10 trillion or more are expected to change hands. Many of these businesses will be sold to a third-party buyer. Early, thoughtful preparation can meaningfully increase value, reduce execution risk, and preserve legacy as owners navigate a competitive market and personal objectives. The process is significant and nuanced. Sellers will benefit from intentional planning, including assembling an experienced team, protecting confidentiality, presenting clean financials, remediating business red flags, and electing a sale process aligned to a seller’s goals, personal objectives, and market conditions. As with any succession pathway in this series, the emphasis is on clarity of goals, tailored strategy and disciplined execution.

Katten is proud to announce that 13 of our attorneys have been recognized as 2026 Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyers. The honorees are recognized for their ability to improve client satisfaction, increase client advocacy, strengthen their firm’s brand and enhance people engagement.

Although the FDA recently implemented additional safeguards related to imported GLP-1 products, the safety of GLP-1 active pharmaceutical ingredient (“API”) remains a key congressional focus.  Recently, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi announced that he sent formal letters to three biotechnology companies based in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The letters requested detailed information on the production, labeling, and export practices related to GLP-1 products and their APIs.

After years of regulatory turf wars and jurisdictional uncertainty, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are signaling a new chapter in their relationship. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig convened a joint roundtable on January 29, relaunching "Project Crypto," as an inter-agency effort to coordinate federal oversight of crypto asset markets. The event brought together regulators and industry stakeholders for opening remarks and a fireside chat with the two chairmen. The roundtable signals a notable departure from the historically fragmented and at times adversarial relationship between the two agencies. 

In a courthouse in Washington D.C., a landmark transatlantic legal battle is unfolding that could reshape how nations regulate online content across borders and determine the future of the UK's Online Safety Act. Two US-based online platforms have taken the unprecedented step of suing the United Kingdom's communications regulator, Ofcom. The case sits at the intersection of sovereign immunity, constitutional rights, and the fundamental question of how far a nation can push its regulatory power in the name of online safety.