Expert Analysis

• 3 Eligibility Rulings Show Risks Of Broad Claim Constructions

  

  Several recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, including its ruling in Berkeley v. W.W. Grainger, highlight the importance of identifying the inventive aspects of a patent early in the case so that patentees do not inadvertently read the inventive features out of their own claims, say attorneys at MoFo.

• 3 Strategies To Reduce AI Sycophancy In Legal Work

  

  The tendency of generative artificial intelligence models to tell users what they want to hear can reinforce attorneys’ confirmation bias when testing the strength of arguments, and it can’t simply be prompted away — but a few practices can help mitigate it, says Michael Ott at Ice Miller.

• 2nd Circ. EFAA Ruling Shifts Employer Litigation Strategy

  

  In Diaz-Roa v. Hermes Law, the Second Circuit recently held that, under the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, employers can't carve out nonharassment claims and send them to arbitration, which has implications for discovery, litigation costs and resolution strategy in EFAA-covered disputes, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

• How FCC Robocall Rules Reshape TCPA Opt-Out Compliance

  

  The Federal Communications Commission's recent changes to its Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules may simplify how businesses process consumer opt outs for robocalls and robotexts, but they also introduce nuances to the opt-out process that may be challenging to operationalize, say attorneys at Hunton.

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  Being In The Peace Corps Made Me A Better Lawyer

  

  When I served in the Peace Corps, the people of the West African village where I was stationed helped me acclimate to my new surroundings and enabled me to develop problem-solving, teamwork and empathy skills that have bolstered my legal practice far beyond the ability to offer technical advice, says Brian Bewley at McGuireWoods.

• AGs' Paramount Settlement Reflects States' Growing Influence

  

  The recent California federal court approval of the California v. Paramount Skydance settlement illustrates how state attorneys general are gaining new independence and influence, and companies must account for state enforcement when assessing merger risks ahead of a deal's closing, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

• CFIUS Annual Report Reveals Enforcement Trends

  

  The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' recently published annual report to Congress shows that it is increasingly focused on nonnotified transactions, mandatory filing compliance, critical technologies and postclosing mitigation enforcement across the full life cycle transactions, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

• Parsing The Latest Signals On FTC Section 5 Enforcement

  

  Federal Trade Commission cases brought over the last several years and Commissioner Mark Meador’s recent call for stand-alone Section 5 enforcement suggest businesses should prepare for continued scrutiny of conduct beyond traditional antitrust violations, particularly in essential goods, technology and labor markets, say attorneys at Axinn.

• What Lawyers Should Know Before Accepting Crypto Payment

  

  As clients increasingly request to pay legal fees, retainers and escrow funds using cryptocurrency, lawyers should consider how only a handful of state bar authorities have addressed the issue with varying ethics opinions, as well as the related questions that no authority has yet answered, says attorney Felix Shipkevich.

• Fighting Class Cert. In Wash. False Email Promo Cases

  

  Retailers facing a recent wave of class actions alleging their email promotions violated the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act may be able to demonstrate that sending individualized, customer-specific messages produced experiences too diverse to be adjudicated on a classwide basis, say attorneys at Benesch.

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  Mentalism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Convincing strangers I can read their minds may seem like an unusual second career for a legal practitioner, but both disciplines share several important requirements, including trust and preparation, says Warren Biro at Manatt.

• Why And How To Build A Neurodiversity-Informed Practice

  

  By better understanding neurodiversity and implementing simple accommodations for clients with autism, ADHD or learning differences, attorneys can build stronger relationships with those who may otherwise struggle to obtain and benefit from legal services, while developing good habits that will benefit everyone they represent, says Ting Cheung at Sanford Heisler.

• FCC Covered List Is Pushing Limits Of Supply Chain Scrutiny

  

  Companies outside the traditional telecommunications sector may now need to factor the Federal Communications Commission's equipment authorization requirements into supply chain compliance as the FCC covered list continues to expand as a national security tool, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• Patent Eligibility Bulletin: Claim Solutions, Not Results

  

  In the third quarter of the year, two Federal Circuit decisions illustrated that claims sharing the same disclosure can fall on opposite sides of the patent eligibility line, depending on the specific nuances of tech patents' claims, says Reilley Keane at Banner Witcoff.

• Testing AI's Promise For Large-Scale Document Review

  

  Our document-review comparison of attorneys' responsiveness and issue coding decisions versus predictions generated by artificial intelligence across 1,600 documents suggests that these tools can offer a reasonable and reliable basis for improved discovery workflows, provided lawyers understand where guardrails are needed, say attorneys at Redgrave.