California

Expert Analysis

• Series

  Pursuing Wellness: Steps Toward A Supportive Firm Culture

  

  As an early advocate of the American Bar Association's year-old well-being pledge, we launched an integrated program to create and sustain a supportive workplace culture with initiatives focused on raising mental health awareness, embracing creativity and giving back to the community, says Casey Ryan at Reed Smith.

• Drafting Successful Anti-SLAPP Motions In California

  

  California state appeals courts are split on the proper test to apply when analyzing a motion to resolve a strategic lawsuit against public participation, but movants may be able to influence the test a court will apply, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Series

  Pursuing Wellness: Mental Health Education As A Firm Priority

  

  Our firm drives a holistic concept of well-being through educational opportunities, such as a series of expert-led workshops intended to address mental health and substance abuse issues that we vowed to fight when we signed the American Bar Association's well-being pledge one year ago, says Krista Logelin at Morgan Lewis.

• The New Frontier Of Cryptocurrency Collateral

  

  As the number of corporate borrowers transacting in cryptocurrency is likely to increase, this additional pool of value may be of interest to lenders, who should consider some administrative and legal questions as they weigh crypto collateral's costs and benefits, say Jerome McCluskey of Milbank, and Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, Sarah Olsen and Josh Rawlins of Gemini Trust.

• State Net

  Comparing States' Preparations For An Economic Downturn

  

  Statistics indicate that many states have learned lessons from the Great Recession, and are better prepared for the next recession. Those that are not setting aside money to see them through the inevitable fiscal crisis would be wise to start saving for a rainy day, says Lou Cannon of State Net Capitol Journal.

• Series

  Pursuing Wellness: A Firm's Work With Mental Health Experts

  

  Signing the American Bar Association's well-being pledge last year was a natural progression of our firm's commitment to employee wellness, which has included developing partnerships with professionals in the mental health space to provide customized programming to firm attorneys and staff, say Annette Sciallo and Mark Goldberg at Latham.

• Searching For A Legal Pathway For CBD Products

  

  Sales of products containing CBD are booming, but companies selling them are still faced with a regulatory quagmire, struggling to understand how to legally promote, label and distribute CBD consumables in light of gridlock at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and inconsistent state laws, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

• The State Of TCPA Litigation 1 Year After Marks V. Crunch

  

  The Ninth Circuit's 2018 decision in Marks v. Crunch, interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to cover any dialer that calls from a stored list of numbers automatically, has been applied by district courts all around the country, but one year later, its impact appears to be faltering, says Eric Troutman of Squire Patton.

• Series

  Pursuing Wellness: When A Firm Brings Counseling On Site

  

  One year ago, our firm signed the American Bar Association's well-being pledge and embraced a commitment to providing on-site behavioral health resources, which has since become a key aspect of our well-being program, say Meg Meserole and Kimberly Merkel at Akin Gump.

• Outsourcing Facilities Face Rising Drug Compounding Risks

  

  Recent actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and lawsuits filed by drug manufacturers indicate that it is more important than ever for outsourcing facilities to comply with FDA policies regarding bulk drug substances allowed for use in compounding, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• New Calif. Law Represents Strategic Shift In PFAS Regulation

  

  California recently became the first state in the country to require public water suppliers to notify customers if their water contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which will undoubtedly set into motion more regulatory oversight, and more litigation, say Jeffrey Dintzer and Clynton Namuo of Alston & Bird.

• Calif. Dynamex Law Shifts Employment Landscape Drastically

  

  With its hodgepodge carveout of job categories, a law signed Wednesday that codifies the California Supreme Court's worker classification decision in Dynamex is far from clear and will likely result in increased litigation with potentially devastating consequences for noncompliant businesses, says Eve Wagner at Signature Resolution.

• Series

  Pursuing Wellness: Inside A Firm Meditation Program

  

  After our firm signed the American Bar Association’s well-being pledge one year ago, we launched two key programs that included weekly meditation sessions and monthly on-site chair massages to help people address both the mental and physical aspects of working at a law firm, says Marci Eisenstein at Schiff Hardin.

• Calif. Guidelines Advance Telehealth For Medicaid Patients

  

  Although the California Department of Health Care Services' updated guidelines expanding telemedicine reimbursement have some shortcomings, they open new channels of care for many Medicaid beneficiaries and raise intriguing prospects for similar programs across the country, say Harsh Parikh and Jill Gordon of Nixon Peabody.

• Calif. High Court Ruling May Curb PAGA-Only Suits

  

  The California Supreme Court's decision in ZB v. Superior Court that employees cannot recover unpaid wages under the Private Attorneys General Act imposes a serious limit on the law's scope and generates important questions for employee-side counsel when filing claims exclusively under PAGA, say Rafael Tumanyan and Michele Beilke at Hunton.