Are Forum Selection Clauses the New Mandatory Arbitration Agreements?

Posted on Categories Employment

In recent years, employment contracts have become increasingly laden with procedural clauses that dramatically shape where and how disputes are resolved. While mandatory arbitration agreements that require private dispute resolution remain common, employers are increasingly turning to forum selection and choice of law clauses as an alternative or supplement. The questions are whether these clauses are functionally becoming the new mandatory arbitration agreements, and whether they hide compliance traps that both employers and employees should be paying attention to.
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The Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act: A New Step in Illinois Employment Law

Posted on Categories Employment

Workplace stability is often tested most during medical emergencies. Few events are more disruptive than a familial hospitalization, an event that places an incredible amount of emotional, financial, and logistical stress on individuals. Unfortunately, for many, access to protected work leave depends more on employer discretion rather than enforceable legal protections. Although the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides baseline protected leave for certain family and medical needs, its coverage is limited by employer size thresholds and employee eligibility requirements. Thus, as workforce participation has expanded and family structures have evolved, a clear significant gap in statutory protection has become apparent. To fill this gap, Illinois has enacted the Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (the “Act”), a law designed to expand on the FMLA by providing additional protections for employees.

To Compete Or Not to Compete: A Legal Question

Posted on Categories Antitrust, Artificial Intelligence, Uncategorized

Today, federal and state antitrust laws are as important as ever. However, modern courts struggle to apply the traditional interpretation and application of antitrust law to modern technology and related anti-competitive practices. This is particularly true in the realm of emerging technologies, where algorithms, automation, and artificial intelligence increasingly dominate. As a result, regulators face a host of unique challenges in an increasingly interconnected, data driven, and automated era. From business to finance, healthcare to housing, the importance of anti-competition law cannot be easily understated.
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The Need for Stronger Regulation of the Taxation of Churches

Posted on Categories Ethics, Regulation

Carolyn Nsimpasi

Associate Editor

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026

In the United States, churches and religious organizations qualify for exemptions from federal income tax under IRS Section 501(c)(3) and are generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. While the intention behind this exemption is to protect religious freedom and support nonprofit missions, the lack of robust regulatory frameworks has opened the door to potential misuse. As religious institutions grow in both size and financial complexity, the public benefits they provide do not always receive the same scrutiny as their financial practices. Consequently, it is time for this exemption to be either eliminated entirely or significantly modified following an intensive evaluation of its regulation.
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The Affordable Care Acts Regulatory Drawbacks

Posted on Categories Health Insurance, Healthcare Compliance

The recent government shutdown has brought the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to the center of American politics once again. While the law was able to successfully expand coverage to millions of Americans, the law’s continued reliance on subsidies shows its inability to lower premiums due to structural healthcare issues. The temporary subsidy program in particular, which was first expanded during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, was intended as short term relief and has now become essential for keeping premiums affordable for Americans. This overreliance on federal aid exposes a deeper structural weakness with the ACA, which is the law’s inability to sustain affordability without government intervention. As Congress debates whether to renew these subsidies, the question they must ask themselves is whether the ACA’s regulatory framework can ever function as a truly self-sustaining reform without significant subsidies. 

Sports Gambling in the Post-Murphy Landscape

Posted on Categories Regulation, Sports

Since the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Murphy v. NCAA, which struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the sports betting industry has expanded at an extraordinary rate. Sports wagering is now legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C. In 2024, licensed sportsbooks handled nearly $150 billion in bets and generated more than $14.2 billion in operator revenue. State and local governments collected roughly $2.9 billion in taxes, and the federal government received over $375 million through the federal excise tax. This expansion, however, has also produced a complicated and evolving set of regulatory and compliance challenges.
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On Thin ICE: PBNDS Violations and the Collapse of Compliance in Immigration Detention Centers

Posted on Categories Ethics

Last month, 60,000 people were detained by ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) – a new record for the United States. Once individuals are taken into custody during an ICE raid, a new set of high-risk regulatory and constitutional compliance issues emerge. ICE, and cooperating law enforcement agencies, are supposed to adhere to multiple statutory and internal standards that govern how detainees are identified, processed, housed, and given access to legal and medical protections. Compliance failures at this stage are some of the most frequent sources of civil-rights litigation, class actions, and federal court injunctions. The distance between what the standards require, and how detention facilities are actually operating right now, raises an urgent question: what does a regulatory regime mean when the agency tasked with enforcing it is the first to ignore it?
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FTC Lawsuit Forces Changes to Ticketmaster

Posted on Categories FTC, Sports

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, LiveNation, for engaging in deceptive and unfair ticketing practices. These practices inflated ticket prices and enabled brokers to use bots to hoard tickets and mislead consumers through hidden fees. The FTC brought suit against Ticketmaster and it has resulted in changes including banning multiple accounts, shutting down a platform that helps brokers purchase multiple tickets at a time, and increasing pricing transparency.
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CPD’s Consent Decree Compliance and its Challenges

Posted on Categories Department of Justice

Following the death of Laquan McDonald at the hands of Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) underwent an investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ), initiated by President Barack Obama. This investigation led to the determination that CPD engaged in a “pattern or practice” of unconstitutional policing. As a result, CPD agreed to federal enforcement of a consent decree in 2019. Since the implementation of the consent decree, CPD has been in compliance with only 23% of the consent decree’s mandates. Although this is an improvement from previous years, it has not been enough to foster community trust in CPD practices.
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Wait, am I an Independent Contractor?

Posted on Categories Employment

Work looks very different for everybody, with remote work, gig economy jobs, such as rideshare drivers or freelance writers, and independent contractors. It can be hard to answer the simple question of “What do you do for work?” Misclassification of your employment status, such as being classified as an independent contractor when you are really an employee, can be detrimental for people, as it can prevent access to benefits and protections. These protections include the right to overtime pay, anti-discrimination policies, and worker’s compensation. In 2020 it was found that 10-30% of employers misclassified their workers. The most misclassified jobs range from construction workers, housekeeping cleaners, and security guards. Typically workers with less formal education are at risk for misclassification. A key solution to the issue of misclassification of workers is education on both the part of the employer and the worker.
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