Expert Analysis

• Calif. Air Waivers Fight Fuels Automakers', States' Uncertainty

  

  The unprecedented attempt by Congress and the Trump administration to kill the Clean Air Act waivers supporting California's vehicle emissions standards will eventually end up in the U.S. Supreme Court — but meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers, and states following California's standards, are left in limbo, says John Watson at Spencer Fane.

• Diversity, Equity, Indictment? Contractor Risks After Kousisis

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Kousisis v. U.S. decision, holding that economic loss is not required to sustain wire fraud charges related to fraudulent inducement, may extend criminal liability to government contractors that make false diversity, equity and inclusion certifications, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

  

  Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

• 9th Circ. Customs Ruling A Limited Win For FCA Plaintiffs

  

  While the decision last month in Island Industries v. Sigma may be welcome news for False Claims Act relators, under binding precedent courts within the Ninth Circuit still do not have jurisdiction to adjudicate customs-based FCA claims pursued by the government, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• Opinion

  4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

  

  As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

• Quantifying Trading-Based Damages Using Price Impact

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will likely increasingly rely on price impact analyses to demonstrate pecuniary harm from trading-related misconduct, meaning measuring price impact will be helpful in challenging SEC disgorgement, determining appropriate remedies, and assessing loss causation and damages in private litigation, says Vyacheslav Fos at Boston College and Erin Smith at Compass Lexecon.

• How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

  

  E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

• How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA

  

  Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, we can expect to see both plaintiffs and defendants utilizing the decision to revisit the Federal Communications Commission's past Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretations and decisions they did not like, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

• Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

  

  Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

• Opinion

  High Court Must Overrule Outdated Patent Eligibility Doctrine

  

  A certiorari petition should directly ask the U.S. Supreme Court to correct its 1972 patent decision in Gottschalk v. Benson, the critical point where patent eligibility law veered from the statutory text toward judicial policymaking, says Robert Greenspoon at Dunlap Bennett.

• Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

  

  One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

• Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures

  

  With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

• How Justices' Ruling Limits Options To Challenge DHS Orders

  

  In Riley v. Bondi, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a 30-day deadline for challenging deportation orders begins when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, opening the door for the government to effectively bar circuit court review in future similar cases, says Kevin Gregg at Kurzban Kurzban.

• Series

  Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

• Purdue Case Could Transform Patent Obviousness Analyses

  

  If accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Purdue Pharma v. Accord Healthcare — concerning whether Purdue's abuse-deterrent opioid formulation patents were invalid as obvious — could significantly shift how courts weigh secondary considerations in patent obviousness analyses, say attorneys at Lathrop.