Expert Analysis

• A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

  

  As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

• What A Louisiana Ruling Means For Pipeline Crossings

  

  After a Louisiana appeals court's recent ruling on a conflict between two pipeline projects, operators and developers should review pipeline crossings to ensure that they occur at safe distances — and keep in mind the value of crossing agreements for protecting both sides in case of a dispute, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

• Examining Illinois Genetic Privacy Law Amid Deluge Of Claims

  

  After a federal court certified an Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act class action in August, claims under the law have skyrocketed, so employers, insurers and others that collect health and genetic information should ensure compliance with the act to limit litigation risk, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

• Opinion

  Climate Change Shouldn't Be Litigated Under State Laws

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court should reverse the Hawaii Supreme Court's October decision in Honolulu v. Sunoco that Hawaii could apply state law to emissions generated outside the state, because it would lead to a barrage of cases seeking to resolve a worldwide problem according to 50 different variations of state law, says Andrew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.

• Del. Ruling Highlights M&A Deal Adviser Conflict Disclosures

  

  The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the Court of Chancery's dismissal of challenges to Nordic Capital's acquisition of Inovalon, demonstrating the importance of full disclosure of financial adviser conflicts when a going-private merger seeks business judgment rule review, say attorneys at Debevoise.

• Key Antitrust Class Certification Questions Remain Unclear

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court, by recently rejecting certiorari in Visa v. National ATM, turned down the opportunity to clarify how to analyze disputed evidence bearing on the certification of antitrust class actions, leaving the applicable standards unclear instead of resolving this split of authority, says Jonathan Berman at Jones Day.

• E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

  

  Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

• What's Notable In JAMS' New Mass Arbitration Rules

  

  The Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services’ recently released guidelines, coming on the heels of similar American Arbitration Association amendments, suggests that mass arbitrations will remain an efficient means for consumers to vindicate their rights against companies, say Jonathan Waisnor and Brandon Heitmann at Labaton Keller. 

• Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

  

  Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

• 'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea

  

  Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

• Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.

• Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?

  

  Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.

• Rebuttal

  Double-Patenting Ruling Shows Terminal Disclaimers' Value

  

  While a recent Law360 guest article seems to argue that the Federal Circuit’s Cellect decision last year robs patent owners of lawful patent term, the ruling actually identifies how terminal disclaimers are the solution to the problem of obviousness-type double patenting, say Jane Love and Robert Trenchard at Gibson Dunn.

• Series

  Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

• How Courts Are Interpreting Fed. Circ. IPR Estoppel Ruling

  

  In the year since the Federal Circuit’s Ironburg ruling, which clarified the scope of inter partes and post-grant review estoppel, district court decisions show that application of IPR or PGR estoppel may become a resource-intensive inquiry, say Whitney Meier Howard and Michelle Lavrichenko at Venable.