Expert Analysis

• Series

  Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

• Series

  NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

  

  The year's second quarter brought several notable banking law developments to New York, including a proposal to align state stablecoin rules with the federal Genius Act, fresh fair lending and cybersecurity guidance from state regulators, and a significant Second Circuit holding on preemption, say attorneys at Ashurst Perkins Coie.

• How Rated Note Feeders Help Insurers Tap Private Credit

  

  With insurer investments comprising nearly a third of the private credit market, rated note feeders offer insurers a compelling way to access private credit yields through debt instruments by balancing key features of debt investment with the structural and economic profiles of private credit funds, say attorneys at Akin.

• Generative AI Is Reshaping The Defense Of Complex Litigation

  

  Generative artificial intelligence is lowering the barriers to filing new cases, meaning that the defense bar must respond to an increased wave of litigation — but generative AI is also helping defense teams with legal research and drafting, fact witness development, and expert witness strategy, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• Series

  Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

• Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

  

  As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

• GM Privacy Penalty Signals A Change In Calif. Enforcement

  

  General Motors' $12.75 million settlement with the California attorney general over its sale of driving behavior and geolocation data to brokers shows that disclosures and user choice may no longer be enough to define permissible data use, says Sonja Arndt-Johnson at Buchalter.

• 3 Litigation Strategies To Stay Ahead Of Bad Facts

  

  A case with damaging facts can still be won if, instead of avoiding the facts, attorneys proactively address them by carefully selecting a strategy of confronting, containing or reframing, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

• Notable Contributions From 250 Years Of US Insurance Law

  

  Although insurance was not invented or perfected in the U.S., America's 250th birthday serves as an appropriate occasion to celebrate the unique role our country has played in the development of insurance law and coverage litigation, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

• The Hidden Settlement Problem In Complex Securities Cases

  

  The Second Circuit's recent decision in Knapp v. Barclays is a reminder that in securities cases with complex corporate records, the tracing picture is rarely as settled as the complaint suggests, and that conversations in the early stages require everyone to work from the same underlying facts, says Peter Kamminga at JAMS.

• Series

  Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

  

  Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

• Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

  

  In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings from cases involving allegations of internet data misuse, consumer fraud claims, immigration, insurance and First Amendment violation claims.

• Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

  

  An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

• 3rd Circ. Decision Sheds Light On BIPA Bank Exemption

  

  The Third Circuit's recent decision in McGoveran v. Amazon illuminates how courts are extending the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act's financial institution carveout beyond banks and insurers to technology vendors and other businesses handling biometric data, a defendant-friendly shift that still casts uncertainty around BIPA's enforcement, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

• Opinion

  State Courts Must Be Gatekeepers Of Expert Testimony

  

  Based on my experience in the state judiciary, emulating federal courts' role as gatekeepers of expert witness testimony would help state court judges maintain the appearance of impartiality and assist juries, thus enhancing the overall confidence people have in their justice system, says Lorie Gildea at Greenberg Traurig.