Expert Analysis

• Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

  

  Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

• Preparing For Possible Calif. Criminal Antitrust Enforcement

  

  Though a recent announcement that the California Attorney General's Office will resume criminal prosecutions in support of its antitrust enforcement may be mere saber-rattling, companies and their counsel should nevertheless be prepared for interactions with the California AG's Antitrust Section that are not limited to civil liability issues, say Dylan Ballard and Lillian Sun at V&E.

• California Shows A Viable Way Forward For PFAS Testing

  

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no good way of testing for the presence of specific per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in food packaging — but a widely available test for a range of fluorine compounds that's now being used in California may offer a good solution, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

• Unpacking The Complicated Question Of CIPA's Applicability

  

  As the number of California Invasion of Privacy Act cases increases, more and more companies with little-to-no California presence are being hauled into California court, raising questions of when CIPA applies and to whom, says Matthew Pearson at BakerHostetler.

• Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent

  

  Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.

• Antitrust Ruling Shows Limits Of US Law's Global Reach

  

  Antitrust plaintiffs often cite the legislative history of the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act to support application of U.S. antitrust law to alleged injuries abroad, but as a California federal court recognized recently in Figaro v. Apple, the cited history does no such thing, say Daniel Swanson and Eli Lazarus at Gibson Dunn.

• New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference

  

  At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

• Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials

  

  The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.

• SC Ruling Reinforces All Sums Coverage Trend

  

  A South Carolina state court's recent ruling in Covil v. Pennsylvania National is the latest in a series of decisions, dating back to the 2016 New York Court of Appeals ruling in Viking Pump, that reject insurers' pro rata allocation argument, further supporting that all sums coverage is required whenever a loss could be covered under a policy in any other year, say Raymond Mascia and Thomas Dupont at Anderson Kill.

• What Rescheduling Could Mean For Cannabis Bankruptcies

  

  Bankruptcy courts have historically been closed for cannabis-related businesses, but recent case law coupled with a possible reclassification of cannabis provides cautious optimism, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

• Opinion

  DOJ Press Office Is Not Fulfilling Its Stated Mission

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs’ apparent practice of issuing press releases when someone is indicted or convicted, but not when a defendant prevails, undermines its stated mission to disseminate “current, complete and accurate” information, and has negative real-world ramifications, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

• Opinion

  Expanded Detention Will Not Solve Immigration Challenges

  

  The recently defeated bipartisan border package included provisions that would increase funding for detention, a costly distraction from reforms like improved adjudication and legal representation that could address legitimate economic and public safety concerns at much lower cost, say Alexandra Dufresne and Kyle Wolf at Cornell University.

• Opinion

  Neb. Justices Should Weigh IRC Terms In Dividend Tax Case

  

  Nebraska’s highest court, which will hear oral arguments in Precision CastParts v. Department of Revenue on April 1, should recognize that the Internal Revenue Code provides key clues to defining “dividends received or deemed to be received,” and therefore limits Nebraska’s tax on foreign-sourced corporate income, says Joseph Schmidt at Ryan.

• What New Waste Management Laws Signal For The Future

  

  Several states have enacted extended producer responsibility and recycling labeling laws that will take effect in the next few years and force manufacturers to take responsibility for the end of life of their products, so companies should closely follow compliance timelines and push to innovate in the area, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

• Series

  Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.