As the new year approaches, it’s time for our annual look at the significant legal shifts on the horizon. While the turning of the calendar page is often a time for reflection, for us in the legal profession, it’s also a crucial period for getting up to speed on the new statutes and regulations that will soon govern our clients and our practice areas. From major federal overhauls to nuanced state-level changes, 2025 is shaping up to be a year of substantial legal evolution across the United States.

This overview is designed to serve as a high-level briefing for fellow legal professionals. We'll explore some of the most impactful new laws, breaking down their core components and potential implications. While we all live and breathe statutory interpretation, this review aims to be a straightforward, accessible guide to the key changes you need to have on your radar.

Corporate Transparency and Data Privacy

One of the most talked-about areas of legal change is the continued expansion of corporate and digital regulations. The landscape is becoming increasingly complex, requiring us to be more vigilant than ever in advising our corporate clients.

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA): An Evolving Mandate

While the Corporate Transparency Act officially took effect in 2024, the coming year will see its enforcement mechanisms ramp up significantly. As you know, the CTA was designed to combat illicit financial activities by requiring certain U.S. entities to report beneficial ownership information (BOI) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). A "beneficial owner" is defined as any individual who, directly or indirectly, either exercises substantial control over a reporting company or owns or controls at least 25% of its ownership interests.

In 2025, the focus will shift from initial compliance to ongoing reporting and enforcement. The grace periods for initial filings will have largely expired for new entities, and the penalties for non-compliance—including hefty fines and potential criminal charges for willful violations—will become a very real threat. For our clients, this means that the initial BOI report is not a one-and-done task. Any change in beneficial ownership information must be reported to FinCEN within 30 days. This creates a new, continuous compliance burden that many small and medium-sized businesses may not be prepared for. As their counsel, our role will be to implement systems and check-ins to ensure this information remains current, preventing clients from inadvertently falling into non-compliant status. The legal debates surrounding the CTA, including challenges to its constitutionality, will also continue to be a space to watch closely.

State-Level Data Privacy: The Patchwork Quilt Grows

Following the trend set by California's CCPA/CPRA, several more states are rolling out their own comprehensive data privacy laws in 2025. States like Montana, Texas, and Oregon will see their respective consumer data privacy acts become fully effective. While these acts share common principles—such as the right to access, delete, and opt out of the sale of personal data—they each have unique definitions, thresholds for applicability, and enforcement nuances.

For example, the definition of what constitutes a "sale" of data can differ, impacting how we advise clients on their data-sharing agreements with third parties. Some states may have broader exemptions for certain types of data or entities than others. This growing patchwork of regulations makes a one-size-fits-all privacy policy increasingly untenable for businesses operating nationwide. Our task will be to conduct multi-state analyses for clients, ensuring their data processing activities, privacy notices, and consumer request workflows are compliant not just with one law, but with all applicable statutes in the jurisdictions where they do business.

Employment Law: New Protections and Obligations

The workplace continues to be a hotbed of legislative activity. In 2025, several new laws will expand employee rights and place new obligations on employers, touching everything from pay transparency to worker classification.

Expansion of Pay Transparency Laws

The movement toward pay transparency is gaining more momentum. Several states and municipalities are enacting laws that mandate the inclusion of salary ranges in job postings. This is an extension of earlier laws that merely prohibited employers from asking about a candidate's salary history. The new wave of legislation requires proactive disclosure, fundamentally altering the hiring and negotiation process.

For our employer clients, this requires a significant operational shift. We must advise them on conducting thorough compensation analyses to establish defensible and equitable pay bands for every role. Failure to do so not only risks non-compliance with the new statutes but also opens the door to potential discrimination claims under equal pay laws. These laws force a level of internal scrutiny that many companies have previously avoided, and our role is to guide them through that process, from the legal requirements to the practical HR implications.

Independent Contractor vs. Employee: The ABC Test Continues to Spread

The classification of workers remains a critical and high-stakes issue. More states are adopting or strengthening the "ABC test" to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor for purposes of wage laws, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation. To classify a worker as an independent contractor under this stringent test, an employer must typically prove all three of the following conditions:

(A) The worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work.

(B) The worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business.

(C) The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business.

The "B" prong is often the most difficult for businesses to satisfy, particularly those in the gig economy or industries that rely heavily on freelance talent. As this test becomes the standard in more jurisdictions, we will need to re-evaluate our clients' worker classification practices. This may involve restructuring service agreements, altering operational models, or advising clients to reclassify workers to mitigate the significant legal and financial risks of misclassification, which can include back pay, taxes, and penalties.

Environmental and Real Estate Regulations

Changes in environmental law and real estate are also on the docket for 2025, with a focus on climate-related disclosures and housing.

Climate Disclosure Rules

A major development to watch is the implementation of new climate-related disclosure rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and various state bodies, like California. These regulations will require publicly traded companies and large private entities to report on their climate-related risks, greenhouse gas emissions (including Scope 1, 2, and potentially Scope 3 emissions), and strategies for managing those risks.

This represents a monumental shift, moving climate considerations from a corporate social responsibility issue to a mandatory financial and legal reporting requirement. For legal teams, this means becoming conversant in the technicalities of emissions reporting and understanding how these disclosures intersect with securities law. We will need to advise boards of directors on their fiduciary duties in overseeing climate risk and ensure that all public statements are consistent and defensible to avoid claims of "greenwashing" or securities fraud.

Zoning Reform and Housing Density

In response to the nationwide housing crisis, several states are enacting laws that preempt local zoning ordinances to encourage the development of more housing. These laws often permit the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), or "granny flats," on single-family lots or allow for the development of duplexes or triplexes in areas previously zoned exclusively for single-family homes.

For real estate attorneys, this is a game-changer. It creates new opportunities for developers but also introduces new complexities in navigating state versus local regulations. We will be called upon to interpret these new state mandates, advise clients on their development rights, and represent them in front of planning commissions that may be resistant to these top-down changes. Understanding the nuances of these preemption statutes will be key to unlocking development potential for our clients in 2025.

As always, staying ahead of these changes is not just good practice; it's essential to providing the highest caliber of counsel. The new laws of 2025 reflect broader societal trends—a push for transparency, greater worker protections, and a response to a changing climate. For us, they represent new challenges, new areas of expertise to develop, and new opportunities to guide our clients through an ever-more-complex legal world.