Cybersecurity & Privacy

Expert Analysis

• Breyer's Defense Of Privacy Challenges Media Overreach

  

  As courts continue to weigh freedom of the press against the importance of personal privacy, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's jurisprudence has repeatedly made it clear that the media have no constitutional right to engage in unlawful conduct, say David Elder at Northern Kentucky University and Neville Johnson at Johnson & Johnson LLP.

• Girardi Scandal Provides Important Ethics Lessons

  

  The litigation and media maelstrom following allegations that famed plaintiffs attorney Thomas Girardi and his law firm misappropriated clients' funds provides myriad ethics and professional responsibility lessons for practitioners, especially with regard to misconduct reporting and liability insurance, says Elizabeth Tuttle Newman at Frankfurt Kurnit.

• Series

  Embracing ESG: Jabil GC Talks Compliance Preparation

  

  Tried-and-true compliance lessons from recent decades can be applied to companies’ environmental, social and governance efforts, especially with regard to employee training and consistent application of policies — two factors that can create a foundation for ESG criteria to flourish, says Robert Katz at Jabil.

• 3 Ways CLOs Can Drive ESG Efforts

  

  Chief legal officers are specially trained to see the legal industry's flaws, and they can leverage that perspective to push their companies toward effective environmental, social and governance engagement, says Mark Chandler at Stanford Law School.

• How Law Firms Can Rethink Offices In A Post-Pandemic World

  

  Based on their own firm's experiences, Kami Quinn and Adam Farra at Gilbert discuss strategies and unique legal industry considerations for law firms planning hybrid models of remote and in-office work in a post-COVID marketplace.

• A Primer On DOL Probes For ERISA Plan Service Providers

  

  As the U.S. Department of Labor shifts its enforcement resources from Employee Retirement Income Security Act plan sponsors to financial institutions that service such plans, nonfiduciary providers should know what to expect and how to respond to agency investigations, say attorneys at Groom Law Group.

• Takeaways From The Latest Proposed Competition Legislation

  

  Maggie Crosswy and William MacLeod at Kelley Drye examine over 30 bills before the House and Senate that would alter the U.S. competition and consumer protection landscape, explaining what they propose, where they stand and why they matter.

• What Fla. DNA Privacy Law Means For Health Care Providers

  

  Florida's new Protecting DNA Privacy Act clarifies protections for individuals' genetic information and is more stringent than federal law in some ways, so health care providers with patients in Florida may need to revisit their DNA collection and analysis processes, say David Peloquin and Elana Bengualid Harary at Ropes & Gray.

• Series

  Embracing ESG: Baker Hughes CLO Talks Sustainability Team

  

  For businesses focused on addressing environmental, social and governance considerations, a legal team that can coordinate sustainability efforts across the company can help to manage risk and compliance issues, anticipate and prepare for change, and identify new opportunities, says Regina Jones at Baker Hughes.

• FTC's Hasty Health Data Rule Change Could Cause Confusion

  

  The Federal Trade Commission's recent policy statement expanding the scope of its Health Breach Notification Rule appears to bypass appropriate administrative processes and may delay effective privacy and security policies that can advance interoperability and health innovation, says Jodi Daniel at Crowell & Moring.

• What Mainstreaming Of Litigation Finance Means For Industry

  

  The rush of new capital and investors into the litigation funding space is expected to bring heightened competition on price and other key deal terms, but litigants will need to be more in tune with individual financiers' proclivities, says William Weisman at Therium Capital Management.

• Opinion

  Arbitration's Supposed Benefits Don't Measure Up

  

  Arbitration is a sham, not because it is worthless, but because most of its benefits can be obtained in litigation, and other benefits that lack a parallel in litigation do not incur mutually to the parties, says Paul Stephan at Cohen Milstein.

• What 9th Circ. Privilege Test Means For Dual-Purpose Advice

  

  While the Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in In re: Grand Jury confirms that courts should use the primary-purpose test to determine whether communications with both legal and business purposes are shielded by the attorney-client privilege, questions on the application of the test remain, says Scott Tenley at Michelman & Robinson.

• Ill. BIPA Ruling May Significantly Affect Insurers' Exposure

  

  In Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, an Illinois state appeals court held that certain claims under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act are subject to a one-year statute of limitations only, which may reduce commercial general liability insurers’ exposure to litigation under this act for several reasons, say attorneys at Kennedys.

• Lifting The Veil On The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket

  

  Following headline-making U.S. Supreme Court emergency orders on Texas’ new abortion law, COVID-19 restrictions and more, Vetan Kapoor, counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, examines the court's so-called shadow docket and its decision-making procedures, including questions around transparency, timing and precedential effect.