Class Action

Expert Analysis

• Ethics Tips For Attorneys Telecommuting Across State Lines

  

  Attorneys working remotely from jurisdictions in which they are not admitted should take precautionary steps to avoid engaging in unauthorized practice of law, say John Schmidt and Michael Seaman at Phillips Lytle.

• Opinion

  Abusive M&A Litigation Highlights Need For Securities Reform

  

  In-court M&A challenges that benefit plaintiffs counsel more than shareholders continue unabated, demonstrating the need for federal securities law reform to prevent what amounts to a deal tax on companies forced to pay mootness fee settlements and higher directors and officers insurance premiums, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

• NY Rulings Show State Court Aversion To Securities Act Suits

  

  In a welcome development for defendants, a New York state court's back-to-back rejections of Securities Act class claims in Sundial Growers and Lyu v. Ruhnn Holdings signal a growing judicial backlash against the flood of similar litigation following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Cyan, say Israel Dahan and Alexander Noble at King & Spalding.

• 6 Ways Legal Employers Can Help Pandemic-Weary Parents

  

  Parenting during the pandemic has introduced a series of competing personal and professional obligations for attorneys and professional staff, and even organizations that are supportive of their parent employees can take steps to do better, says Meredith Kahan at Saul Ewing.

• Remote Working Tips For Lawyer Trainees And Their Firms

  

  The prospect of joining a law firm during the pandemic can cause added pressure, but with a few good practices — and a little help from their firms and supervising attorneys — lawyer trainees can get ahead of the curve while working remotely, say William Morris and Ted Landray at King & Spalding.

• EpiPen Ruling Could Embolden Private Anti-Kickback Claims

  

  A Minnesota federal court's recent EpiPen decision, allowing private litigants to assert Anti-Kickback Statute violations, could expose companies to novel and aggressive AKS theories over which federal prosecutors have historically exercised discretion, say Allan Thoen and Callan Stein at Troutman Pepper.

• Compliance Lessons From Newest Fla. Privacy Class Actions

  

  To prepare for a new slate of privacy class actions, brought under Florida’s wiretapping statute against retailers using tracking software, companies should be assessing the placement, display and content of their technology disclosures and user agreements, say Ian Ross and Jorge Perez Santiago at Stumphauzer Foslid.

• What Biden's Ethics Pledge Means For Gov't Revolving Door

  

  Attorneys at Nossaman look at how President Joe Biden’s ethics pledge goes beyond those of his predecessors by imposing post-employment shadow lobbying and golden parachute restrictions on his administration’s appointees — and how a House bill proposing expansion of federal ethics law could affect enforcement.

• Opinion

  Punishing Bar Exam Policies On Menstrual Products Must Go

  

  Law graduates across the states are sitting for the grueling two-day bar exam this week despite menstruation-related barriers, such as inadequate menstrual product and bathroom access, which could be eradicated with simple policy tweaks, say law professors Elizabeth Cooper, Margaret Johnson and Marcy Karin.

• Mitigating BIPA Suit Risk Under Alternative Liability Theories

  

  A recent Illinois federal court decision allowing a suit to proceed against Enterprise Leasing and its parent company for violating the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act shows why even companies that don't directly use biometric data must take proactive contractual measures to mitigate alternative liability exposure, says David Oberly at Blank Rome.

• Validating Aggregate Securities Class Damage Estimates

  

  Courts have been skeptical of using trading models to estimate damages in securities class actions, but recent settlement data demonstrates that the two-trader model or similar multitrader variants can accurately predict actual real-world damages, say Narinder Walia and Adam Werner at Crowninshield Financial.

• It's Time For Law Firms To Start Loving And Leveraging Data

  

  The volume and diversity of data managed by law firms today — from client files to internal financial records — may seem daunting, but when properly organized, good data can help practitioners stay competitive by providing sharper insight into firm resources and cost of work, say Jaron Luttich and Barry Wiggins at Element Standard.

• Opinion

  11th Circ. Should Reconsider Remote Arbitration Subpoenas

  

  In light of the pandemic and resulting advancements in teleconferencing practices, the Eleventh Circuit should consider revisiting its 2019 ruling in Managed Care Advisory Group v. Cigna Healthcare, which mandated in-person hearings for third parties' subpoena compliance, says Suzanne Wynn Ockleberry at Wynn Arbitration.

• Keys To Protecting Clients During Law Firm Dissolution

  

  Whether a law firm dissolution is amicable or adversarial, departing attorneys should take steps to maintain their legal and ethical responsibilities toward clients, and beware client confidentiality pitfalls when joining new firms, say John Schmidt and Colin Fitzgerald at Phillips Lytle.

• When Domestic Securities Fall Outside Scope Of Federal Law

  

  The Second Circuit’s recent opinion in Cavello Bay Reinsurance v. Stein, which held a private securities sale was extraterritorial despite several ties to New York, underscores that how transaction agreements are structured could affect whether a deal may be subject to federal securities laws — especially in an increasingly remote world, say attorneys at Cleary.