Expert Analysis

• 2 Discovery Rulings Break With Heppner On AI Privilege Issue

  

  While a New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner suggests that some litigants’ communications with AI tools are discoverable, two other recent federal court decisions demonstrate that such interactions generally qualify for work-product protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Joshua Dunn at Brown Rudnick.

• Series

  Isshin-Ryu Karate Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  My involvement in martial arts, specifically Isshin-ryu, which has principles rooted in the eight codes of karate, has been one of the most foundational in the development of my personality, and particularly my approach to challenges — including in my practice of law, says Kaitlyn Stone at Barnes & Thornburg.

• What Cos. Should Look For As Minn. Plans PFAS Product Ban

  

  As regulators finalize rulemaking for Minnesota's sweeping restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in consumer and commercial products, manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers should pay attention — especially to how the pathway for essential use exemptions ends up being defined, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

• Opinion

  CBP's $166B Tariff Refund Portal Needs 4 Safeguards

  

  Before launching its automated web portal to process tariff-refund disbursements on April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection should apply the expensive lessons learned from the pandemic-era employee retention credit, says Peter Gariepy at RubinBrown.

• Microplastics On Water Contaminant List Could Spur Claims

  

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to include microplastics in its draft sixth Contaminant Candidate List under the Safe Drinking Water Act could influence consumer fraud claims and enforcement by state attorneys general, as well as claims against manufacturers from entities facing regulatory compliance costs, says Arie Feltman-Frank at Jenner & Block.

• 'Made In America' EO May Not Survive Section 230

  

  President Donald Trump's recent executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in advertising directs the Federal Trade Commission to deem online marketplaces' failure to verify third-party origin claims as unlawful, but such a rule would likely run into Section 230's publisher immunity doctrine, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

• Rebuttal

  FTC Case Reinforces Established Price Discrimination Rules

  

  Far from redefining price discrimination, as contended by a recent Law360 guest article, the Federal Trade Commission's suit against Southern Glazer's falls squarely within the historical interpretation of the Robinson-Patman Act, says retired attorney Irving Scher.

• Opinion

  State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

  

  Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

• Calculating Damages In IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation

  

  To calculate damages in the spate of refund litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the central question will be how to determine where in the supply chain their economic burden ultimately came to rest, say analysts at Charles River Associates.

• 'Made In America' Rules Raise Stakes For Gov't Contractors

  

  The convergence of widely varying "buy American" requirements, increased enforcement efforts and continuing regulatory attempts to limit foreign sourcing suggests that government contractors should carefully review their supply chain and country-of-origin compliance to remain competitive, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• Series

  Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

• Chicago Suits Highlight Struggle Over Piercing Corporate Veil

  

  A union's latest lawsuit against the owners of a storied Chicago bar and restaurant that closed in 2023 illustrates how doing business via a limited liability company does not necessarily protect owners' personal assets — but also that obtaining a judgment does not mean that collection is automatic, says James Trail at Ginsberg Jacobs.

• Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

  

  The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

• Why MDLs Slow Down — And How To Speed Them Up

  

  Multidistrict litigation has become central to mass tort practice, but as MDLs grow in size and complexity, so do delays and costs — so tools like the new federal rule governing MDLs, targeted use of special masters and strategically deployed Lone Pine orders are more essential than ever, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

• What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

  

  My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.