Expert Analysis

• And Now A Word From The Panel: Accessing Key MDL Data

  

  As the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation convenes for its September hearing session, it is useful to examine the treasure trove of historical and statistical information about MDLs past and present that the panel makes available to the public on its own website, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.

• Opinion

  Calif. Bill Goes Too Far In Trying To Regulate Attorney AI Use

  

  California’s first-in-the-nation act regulating how attorneys and arbitrators use generative artificial intelligence will likely soon become law, but read broadly, the provisions may dissuade lawyers from employing AI at all, thereby depriving them of key work tools, says Joshua Wurtzel at Schlam Stone.

• 4 Paths To AI Safety Coordination Amid Antitrust Debate

  

  Frontier artificial intelligence companies have more room for collective safety work than the debate over an antitrust waiver suggests, with several existing avenues providing different degrees of protection and oversight, says Evan Miller at V&E.

• Time Is On Payment Processors' Side As Deal Dynamics Shift

  

  As payment processors increasingly use timing and volume to gain leverage, merchants should negotiate payment processing agreements well before renewal or migration deadlines, ensuring proper benchmarking, reserve, data, termination and transition terms are in place, says James Alexander at Reed Smith.

• How FTC's $20B Amazon Suit May Shake Up Ad Enforcement

  

  Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye discusses the significance of the Federal Trade Commission's recent suit against Amazon for allegedly overcharging advertising customers more than $20 billion, the company's potential defenses, and the context of rapidly evolving digital advertising technology.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: Cultivating Good Judgment

  

  Law schools generally overlook the role that solid judgment skills play in real-world practice, but attorneys can bridge the gap by strengthening their abilities to assess a case’s strengths and weaknesses, develop and execute effective strategies, and provide clear recommendations to clients, says Manny Caixeiro at Venable.

• DOJ Letter Rescission Portends Proxy Firm Antitrust Risk

  

  The U.S. Justice Department's recent withdrawal of its 1987 business review letter issued to Institutional Shareholder Services, which shielded certain proxy advisory activities from anticompetitive enforcement, likely foreshadows renewed antitrust scrutiny of proxy advisory firms, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

• What Meta Damages Ruling Means For Data Abuse Claims

  

  The recent Court of Appeal ruling in Meta v. Gormsen found that user damages might be awarded for abuse of a dominant market position, raising the possibility of a novel type of competition claim against U.K. companies accused of misusing personal data, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.

• FTC Focus: A Shift In The Pricing Disclosure Terrain

  

  Recent state and Federal Trade Commission developments spotlight materially different ways in which personalized pricing might be addressed, which could result in an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape in which businesses face differing disclosure obligations and substantive restrictions depending upon the jurisdiction, say attorneys at Proskauer.

• Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

  

  The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

• Series

  Juggling And Unicycling Make Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Because I juggle (sometimes with fire) and ride the unicycle, friends and family used to joke that I should join the circus, but I pursued the practice of law instead and learned that my hobbies benefit my profession in several important ways, says Morgan Eddy at Smith Currie.

• Teva MDL Loss Shows DPAs Can Return To Haunt Civil Suits

  

  Teva’s recent partial summary judgment loss in antitrust multidistrict litigation reinforces the importance of carefully scrutinizing any statement of facts a company admits to in a deferred prosecution agreement, and illustrates the potential costs of resolving a criminal investigation this way, say attorneys at Sheppard.

• 2 ECJ Rulings Give Guidance On Sport Agent Regs

  

  The European Court of Justice recently settled two long-running disputes, Rogon and RRC Sports, by finding that the antitrust rules governing these leagues offer exceptions for regulating players' agents, and offering a path for sports associations to implement rules controlling services ancillary to their sport, say lawyers at Skadden.

• Deal Termination Lessons From Verisk Merger Review Ruling

  

  The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent ruling that Verisk Analytics forfeited its right to terminate a deal that was facing a second information request from the Federal Trade Commission illustrates the danger of information gaps between client and counsel and the risks of "willful conduct" language in merger agreements, say attorneys at HSF Kramer.

• Prepping Health Businesses For Sale In A Data-Driven Market

  

  In a thinner market for healthcare transactions, with both regulators and buyers using artificial intelligence to inspect data in great detail, the margin for error in sellers' financials and legal diligence has narrowed, requiring more proactive compliance efforts, says Cody Dumas at FBFK Law.