With Rising State AG Action, BigLaw Responds By Beefing Up

Alex Berengaut and Megan Crowley’s commentary was featured in a Law360 article detailing how Covington and other law firms are expanding their state attorney general practices in response to the growth of state-level enforcement with regard to corporations, among other actions from state attorneys general.

Alex discusses how a particular area of focus is state attorneys general using unfair, deceptive and abusive practices, or UDAP, statutes. “We're seeing states try to use these laws in broad and new ways regarding conduct that was not under the traditional purview of those laws,” he said.

Megan adds that she thinks “the UDAP statutes are very broad and were written to be broad, but there are certain limitations. States are trying to find ways to regulate companies that operate nationwide and in their state using those statutes across a wide range of sectors.”

The team also told Law360 that they expect the practice group to see an increase in activity related to the interaction between how the federal government and state governments regulate corporations. They said that they are likely to see state authorities engage in "follow on" regulation as the federal government takes up an issue and proposes legal theories for how to enforce a given corporate behavior. Others look to step in where they feel the federal government is falling short on enforcement, and that applies regardless of which party is in power in Washington.