Energy

Expert Analysis

• Why AFAs Are Key To The Future Of Legal Practice

  

  Alternative fee agreements can help align law firm and client interests, increase efficiency and eliminate corporate extortion, among other benefits. They are the best thing to happen to the practice of law in decades, says Kelly Eisenlohr-Moul at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.

• What To Expect In Environmental Law In 2019

  

  From a business perspective, the environmental law developments that are likely to have the most immediate domestic consequences in the coming year are air- and water-related litigation and regulations, say attorneys with Reed Smith LLP.

• Series

  Judging A Book: Barron Reviews 'The Clamor Of Lawyers'

  

  Can lawyers lead a revolution? According to "The Clamor of Lawyers: The American Revolution and Crisis in the Legal Profession" — a slim but elegant volume by Peter Charles Hoffer and Williamjames Hull Hoffer — they can and they did, says First Circuit Judge David Barron.

• Constitutional Challenges To Pipeline Takings Face Obstacles

  

  In a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, the plaintiffs in Berkley v. Mountain Valley Pipeline claim the Natural Gas Act does not preclude district court review of constitutional objections to the law. However, their arguments are at odds with Supreme Court precedent, says Clay Massey of Alston & Bird LLP.

• Handling Corporate Congressional Probes In The Trump Era

  

  President Donald Trump’s approach to crisis communications has changed the game enough to demand companies' consideration of a whole new set of options. John Hellerman of Hellerman Communications and Bill Pittard of KaiserDillon PLLC discuss whether corporations can successfully use similar tactics.

• Discovery Confidentiality At Risk After Columbia Pipeline

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent Columbia Pipeline ruling highlights the risk that litigants may find their confidential materials, produced in discovery, attached to their opponents' filings for the purpose of unsealing the documents, say Arthur Bookout and Lilianna Townsend of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

• Opinion

  The Case For Lawyer-Directed Litigation Funding In NY: Part 2

  

  Lawyer-directed nonrecourse litigation funding is more likely to protect a lawyer's exercise of independent professional judgment than traditional means of litigation finance, and furthermore enables worthwhile cases that otherwise could not be funded, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson of Holland & Knight LLP.

• Opinion

  The Case For Lawyer-Directed Litigation Funding In NY: Part 1

  

  Contrary to what the New York City Bar Association concluded in an ethics opinion last year, lawyer-directed nonrecourse commercial litigation funding does not violate New York rules on sharing fees with nonlawyers, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson of Holland & Knight LLP.

• In Pennsylvania, Drone Misuse Will Soon Be A Crime

  

  This Saturday, Pennsylvania will enact one of the most comprehensive collections of criminal penalties for drone infractions in the country. Businesses manufacturing, distributing or using drones in the state face new legal jeopardy, says John Rafferty of Gawthrop Greenwood PC.

• How Coast Guard Reauthorization Affects Maritime Sector

  

  The Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, signed into law last month, modifies regulation of commercial vessel discharges, reauthorizes multiple maritime agencies, and makes important changes to safety and antitrust regulations, say attorneys and government affairs advisers with K&L Gates LLP.