Expert Analysis

• How AI Can Transform Crisis Management In Litigation

  

  Attorneys should understand how to use rapidly advancing artificial intelligence technology to help clients prepare for potential catastrophic events and the inevitable litigation arising from them, from predicting crises before they occur to testing legal theories once they arise, say Stratton Horres at Wilson Elser and David Steiger.

• Scope, Circumvention, New Shippers: Key Rule Changes

  

  William Isasi and Rishi Gupta at Covington suggest practices international trade practitioners should adopt in response to changes in U.S. Department of Commerce procedures for requesting scope and circumvention inquiries and new shipper reviews, especially in light of the newly retroactive application of some agency determinations.

• Supervisor Relationships Are Key To Beating Atty Burnout

  

  In order to combat record attorney turnover and high levels of burnout, law firm partners and leaders must build engaging relationships with supervisees, fostering autonomy and control, enabling expression of values, and building a sense of community and belonging, says Anne Brafford at the Institute for Well-Being in Law.

• How Magistrate Judges Can Help Tame Large Product MDLs

  

  As multidistrict product liability litigations swell in size, taking on board increasing numbers of individual cases that may lack merit, courts may want to consider employing magistrate judges to evaluate pending claims through streamlined summary judgment proceedings, says Douglas Smith at Aurelius Law Group.

• Gov't Contractor Takeaways From Biden's Clean Energy Order

  

  Attorneys at Covington discuss how President Joe Biden's recent net-zero emissions pledge and related executive actions are changing the landscape of federal procurement, creating new opportunities and challenges for government contractors.

• 4 Consequences Of Gov't Contractor Antitrust Violations

  

  Along with criminal penalties, significant collateral repercussions can follow a government contractor's conviction for antitrust violations, so vigilant compliance strategies are a must as the U.S. Department of Justice turns its attention to this area, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• The Rising Demand For Commercial Litigators In 2022

  

  Amid broken supply chains, pandemic-induced bankruptcies and a rise in regulation by litigation, strong commercial litigators — strategists who are adept in trying a range of tortious and contractual disputes — are becoming a must-have for many law firms, making this year an opportune moment to make the career switch, say Michael Ascher and Kimberly Donlon at Major Lindsey.

• What Infrastructure Act Means For Transmission Line Projects

  

  The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authority to supersede state siting decisions for electric transmission projects, but environmental review requirements make a sudden acceleration of transmission line construction unlikely, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

• 6 Months On, Liability Lessons From Surfside Condo Collapse

  

  The collapse of the Champlain South Tower in Surfside, Florida, and the ongoing litigation that has followed serve as a wakeup call to engineers and contractors, who should review best practices for communicating warning signs and negotiating liability-limiting contract clauses, says Adrien Pickard at Shapiro Lifschitz.

• How In-House Counsel Can Make The Case For Settling Early

  

  Following the recent settlement in McDonald's v. Easterbrook, in-house counsel should consider decision-tree analyses and values-driven communications plans to secure effective, early resolutions in litigation, saving time and money and moving the company mission forward, say Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein and Richard Torrenzano at The Torrenzano Group.

• New Anti-Dumping Rules Both Clarify And Complicate

  

  The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent regulatory changes concerning anti-dumping and countervailing duty proceedings refine the process and helpfully eliminate steps for petitioners, but also create new hurdles for nonpetitioning parties, say William Isasi and Jordan Bakst at Covington.

• To Retain Talent, GCs Should Prioritize Mission Statements

  

  With greater legal demands and an increasing number of workers resigning during the pandemic, general counsel should take steps to articulate their teams' values in departmental mission statements, which will help them better prioritize corporate values and attract and retain talent, says Catherine Kemnitz at Axiom.

• Biden's Infrastructure Funding Comes With Strings Attached

  

  ​The bipartisan infrastructure funding bill enacted last November ​creates new jobs and business opportunities, but ​its ​changes to domestic preferences and Made in America enforcement also give rise to new compliance hazards for unwary manufacturers and government contractors, say Jeffrey Belkin and Grecia Rivas at Alston & Bird.

• Recent Bias Suits Against Law Firms And Lessons For 2022

  

  2021 employment discrimination case filings and developments show that law firms big and small are not immune from claims, and should serve as a reminder that the start of a new year is a good time to review and update salary, promotion and leave policies to mitigate litigation risks, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.

• Associate Hiring Outlook At Law Firms Is Bright For 2022

  

  After a year of extraordinary signing bonuses, nearly instantaneous offers and flexible work arrangements, strong demand for talented law firm associates will continue into 2022 — with some differences between East and West Coast markets — and junior attorneys should take steps to capitalize on the opportunity, say Ru Bhatt and Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.