Family Wealth Report recently published a byline from Max Biedermann and Michael Hilkin examining the significant legal and administrative uncertainty surrounding New York City’s new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes valued at $5 million or more. The authors noted that the tax, which took effect July 1, 2026, has already drawn controversy over a data list of properties, entities, and people that City Hall released publicly.

Max and Michael highlighted several unresolved questions facing property owners and advisors, including how ownership through LLCs, trusts, and corporations will be treated for purposes of the tax’s primary-residence exclusion, and whether layered ownership structures can qualify even when a trust’s sole beneficiary lives in the property full time. They also flagged the compliance challenges created by the law’s two-phase valuation methodology for co-ops and condos, and the practical burden placed on co-op boards, which must pay the tax at the building level and then seek reimbursement from individual shareholders.

With the New York Department of Finance required to issue initial tax determinations by August 30, 2026, and only a 30-day appeal window available to property owners, they urged anyone potentially subject to the tax to begin preparing documentation to support an appeal now.

In a recent Sports Business Journal article examining rising sports valuations and continued transaction activity Tom Conaghan, co-leader of McDermott Will & Schulte’s media, entertainment and sports practice, discussed the growing appeal of sports as an asset class for private equity investors.

Tom noted that sports is “the only sector that’s probably outperforming right now, based on returns on investments,” with performance comparing favorably to other industries. As private equity fund managers continue to face challenges elsewhere, he expects more investors to take a closer look at opportunities in sports.

About McDermott Will & Schulte’s Sports Group

For more than 30 years, McDermott Will & Schulte has represented owners, investors, agencies, players and their business entities, teams, and sports venues around the world in various leagues, including the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), National Football League (NFL), and PGA TOUR, handling their most critical matters. Our award-winning sports practice has been recognized in Chambers, Legal 500, and as Law360’s 2026 Practice Group of the Year (Sports & Betting), underscoring our leading position in the industry. The top-tier M&A, tax, and estate planning lawyers on our team have experience handling individual investments in teams; the purchase and sale of franchises; critical real estate, intellectual property, endorsement, and media rights deals; employment matters; and tax and private client planning for players and their families. We deliver a client-centric approach while solving your most complicated matters in the rapidly evolving sports world. When you work with us, Always Better isn’t just our goal – it’s your advantage.

In a recent Infralogic article, Carl Fleming discusses how unprecedented demand for AI and data center capacity is changing the relationship between power development and digital infrastructure.

As grid constraints and lengthy interconnection timelines become increasingly important considerations for data center development, developers and investors are pursuing behind-the-meter generation, co-location, and other structures designed to bring power and digital infrastructure together.

The shift is also creating new development and investment models. The article discusses the recent sale of Copia Power to EQT, following Copia’s development of a significant pipeline of powered data center opportunities alongside its existing energy development platform. McDermott recently represented Copia Power in the transaction, with Carl among the lawyers leading the McDermott Will & Schulte team.

As Carl explains, the market is increasingly moving beyond the traditional model of finding power for a data center. Power availability itself is becoming a driver of where and how digital infrastructure is developed, financed, and ultimately owned.

Partners Simon Airey, Fabio Cozzi, Vincenzo Giannantonio and Nicolette Kost De Sèvres co-authored a Law360 Expert Analysis article about the evolving corporate criminal and regulatory landscape and its implications for litigation, compliance and cross-border investigations.

The authors discuss the growing focus on governance and senior management oversight, the impact of compliance on commercial decision-making and the importance of investigation readiness for multinational organizations navigating increasing regulatory scrutiny.

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Partners Emmanuelle Trombe and Anthony Paronneau co-authored a Healthcare Today article examining China’s rise as a global biotechnology innovation hub and the opportunities it presents for life sciences companies.

They explore cross-border collaboration models and key considerations for China-related transactions, including intellectual property, regulatory compliance, data management, and foreign investment screening.

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In a recent appearance on Health Care Network, Kyle Faget unpacked Montana’s new law allowing physicians to prescribe drugs after Phase I safety testing — well before FDA approval.

Kyle explained that the law builds on the federal Right to Try Act and FDA’s expanded access program, but departs from them in a critical way: unlike those programs, which limit manufacturers to recovering direct costs, Montana’s framework allows drug makers to monetize post-Phase I products without the disease-state restrictions that apply federally. She noted that oversight is comparatively light, resting on a facility licensure structure funded by an annual fee and a share of revenue, with no mandate by the state that insurers cover the products.

Kyle cautioned that the law carries real risk for sponsors. While Montana itself may not require reporting adverse events to FDA, sponsors with active FDA applications remain independently obligated to report safety signals — creating a back-channel link to federal oversight that could trigger a clinical hold on a broader trial program if a serious safety issue emerges. She also pointed out that sponsors will have far less control over which providers ultimately administer their investigational products than they do with traditionally vetted clinical investigators, a dynamic she expects could lead to market stratification between risk-tolerant early-stage companies and larger, more conservative sponsors.

Zooming out, Kyle framed Montana’s move as part of a broader trend of states stepping in where they perceive FDA’s regulatory posture as uncertain or politicized. She noted that federal preemption remains a live issue given the interstate commerce implications of drug supply chains.

In a recent Mergers & Acquisitions article, Lindsey Reighard discusses the slowdown in mid-market M&A activity and the factors contributing to a choppier deal environment, including summer timing and geopolitical uncertainty.

Lindsey noted that geopolitical developments can have a meaningful short-term impact on which businesses come to market, particularly in cross-border transactions. “People can ultimately become comfortable with those issues, but they can have a meaningful short-term impact on which businesses come to market and which wait,” she said.

While international activity is beginning to pick up, Lindsey expects the M&A market to remain somewhat slow until next year.