Expert Analysis

• Series

  The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Getting The Message Across

  

  Communications and brand strategy during a law firm merger represent a crucial thread that runs through every stage of a combination and should include clear messaging, leverage modern marketing tools and embrace the chance to evolve, says Ashley Horne at Womble Bond.

• Opinion

  Horizontal Stare Decisis Should Not Be Casually Discarded

  

  Eliminating the so-called law of the circuit doctrine — as recently proposed by a Fifth Circuit judge, echoing Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence in Loper Bright — would undermine public confidence in the judiciary’s independence and create costly uncertainty for litigants, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.

• 11th Circ. Ruling Stresses Economic Reality In Worker Status

  

  The Eleventh Circuit's recent worker classification decision in Galarza v. One Call Claims, reversing a finding that insurance adjusters were independent contractors, should remind companies to analyze the actual working relationship between a company and a worker, including whether they could be considered economically dependent on the company, say attorneys at Ogletree.

• 10 Commandments For Agentic AI Tools In The Legal Industry

  

  Though agentic artificial intelligence has demonstrated significant promise for optimizing legal work, it presents numerous risks, so specific ethical obligations should be built into the knowledge base of every agentic AI tool used in the legal industry, says Steven Cordero at Akerman LLP.

• 11th Circ.'s 6-Step Review May Be Ripe For Insurer Challenge

  

  In its recent decision in Johnson v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance, the Eleventh Circuit utilized an unwieldy six-step approach to abuse-of-discretion review to find coverage in a disability benefits suit, a standard that creates subtle cognitive bias and that insurers should seek to overturn, says Scott Garosshen at Robinson & Cole.

• Series

  Preaching Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Becoming a Gospel preacher has enhanced my success as a trial lawyer by teaching me the importance of credibility, relatability, persuasiveness and thorough preparation for my congregants, the same skills needed with judges and juries in the courtroom, says Reginald Harris at Stinson.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Client-Led Litigation

  

  New litigators can better help their corporate clients achieve their overall objectives when they move beyond simply fighting for legal victory to a client-led approach that resolves the legal dispute while balancing the company's competing out-of-court priorities, says Chelsea Ireland at Cohen Ziffer.

• Florida Throws A Wrench Into Interstate Trucking Torts

  

  Florida's recent request to file a bill of complaint in the U.S. Supreme Court against California and Washington, asserting that the states' policies conflict with the federal English language proficiency standard for truck drivers, transforms a conventional wrongful death case into a high-stakes constitutional challenge, say attorneys at Farah & Farah.

• Series

  The Law Firm Merger Diaries: How To Build On Cultural Fit

  

  Law firm mergers should start with people, then move to strategy: A two-level screening that puts finding a cultural fit at the pinnacle of the process can unearth shared values that are instrumental to deciding to move forward with a combination, says Matthew Madsen at Harrison.

• Mulling Differing Circuit Rulings On Gender-Affirming Care

  

  Despite the Eleventh Circuit's recent holding in Lange v. Houston County that a health plan's exclusion for gender-affirming surgery did not violate Title VII, employers should be mindful of other court decisions suggesting that different legal challenges may still apply to blanket exclusions for such care, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

• Why Justices Must Act To End Freight Broker Liability Split

  

  The Sixth Circuit's recent ruling in Cox v. Total Quality Logistics Inc., affirming states' authority over negligence claims against transportation brokers, deepens an existing circuit split, creating an untenable situation where laws between neighboring states conflict in seven distinct instances — and making U.S. Supreme Court intervention essential, says Steven Saal at Lucosky Brookman.

• Rare Tariff Authority May Boost US Battery Manufacturing

  

  Finalizing preliminary tariffs on active anode material from China — the result of a rare exercise of statutory authority finding that foreign dumping hampered the development of a nascent U.S. industry — should help domestic battery manufacturing, but potential price increases could discourage related clean-energy use, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

• Takeaways From First Resolution After FCPA Pause Was Lifted

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent deferred prosecution agreement with TIGO Guatemala — its first Foreign Corrupt Practice Act corporate resolution after issuing new guidelines and resuming enforcement — highlights several aspects of the administration’s approach to corporate foreign bribery enforcement, say attorneys at Cleary.

• Considerations When Invoking The Common-Interest Privilege

  

  To successfully leverage the common-interest doctrine in a multiparty transaction or complex litigation, practitioners should be able to demonstrate that the parties intended for it to apply, that an underlying privilege like attorney-client has attached, and guard against disclosures that could waive privilege and defeat its purpose, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

• NBA Gambling Probes Highlight Sports Betting's Broad Risks

  

  Recent NBA gambling scandals illustrate the integrity risks arising from legal sports betting, but organizations, which must navigate a patchwork of state laws, can protect their reputations by drafting and enforcing internal policies to address betting-related risks and complying with league and institutional rules, say attorneys at Littler.