Immigration

Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  Time To Consider Percentage Rental Agreements For Lawyers

  

  It has long been the law that attorneys cannot use percentage rental agreements because doing so would constitute an impermissible sharing of fees with nonlawyers, but such arrangements can help lawyers match expenses with revenues in lean times like now, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson at Holland & Knight.

• Are False Accusations Of Racism A Form Of Defamation?

  

  Racism is so repugnant that it is tempting to suggest that falsely labeling someone as racist should be legally considered defamation — but courts and litigants have struggled with such cases given the strict requirements of defamation law, says Phillip Zisook at Schoenberg Finkel.

• 'Settle And Sue' Malpractice Cases Have New Clarity In Calif.

  

  A California state appellate court's recent decision in Masellis v. Law Office of Leslie F. Jensen provides a road map for proving causation and damages in settle-and-sue legal malpractice cases — an important issue of long-standing confusion, says Steven Berenson at Klinedinst.

• A Midyear Look At Key US Sanctions Developments

  

  During an active first half of 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control strengthened its sanctions programs, issued new guidance documents and announced several enforcement actions, underscoring that even during a pandemic, sanctions compliance is indispensable, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• What You Say In Online Mediation May Be Discoverable

  

  Mediation conducted online with participants in different states makes it harder to determine where communications were made, increasing the risk that courts will apply laws of a state that does not protect mediation confidentiality, say mediators Jeff Kichaven and Teresa Frisbie and law student Tyler Codina.

• Opinion

  Nonimmigrant Worker Ban Exceeds Presidential Authority

  

  President Donald Trump's recent proclamation banning nonimmigrant workers from entering the U.S. overreaches by failing to include an exception for nonworking family members who pose no threat to U.S. jobs, says Jeffrey Gorsky at Berry Appleman.

• Justices' Asylum Ruling Further Limits Migrant Protections

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Thuraissigiam v. Barr eliminates the only avenue for challenging the propriety of early denials in the asylum process at a time when the standards for determining a migrant's credible fear of persecution are increasingly uncertain, says former immigration judge Jeffrey Chase.

• 10 Tips For A Successful Remote Arbitration Hearing

  

  As I learned after completing a recent international arbitration remotely, with advance planning a video hearing can replicate the in-person experience surprisingly well, and may actually be superior in certain respects, says Kate Shih at Quinn Emanuel.

• Cos. Must Prep For More DOJ Probes To Protect US Workers

  

  Employers should review the Immigration and Nationality Act, understand the evolution of enforcement, and take steps to mitigate risk in order to prepare for a potential increase in U.S. Department of Justice investigations into perceived preferential treatment of foreign workers due to the economic downturn, say Ginger Solon Partee and Matthew Gorman at Baker McKenzie.

• Opinion

  To Achieve Diversity, Law Firms Must Reinvent Hiring Process

  

  If law firms are truly serious about making meaningful change in terms of diversity, they must adopt a demographically neutral, unbiased hiring equation that looks at personality traits with greater import than grades and class rank, says Thomas Latino at Florida State University College of Law.

• Employers More Likely To Fight Visa Denials Amid Pandemic

  

  In the past, employers would commonly refile when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied employee visa petitions, but pandemic-related travel bans and suspended visa processing have made challenging such denials more attractive, say Lynn O'Brien and Kane Vongsavanh at Berry Appleman.

• Cybersecurity Steps For Law Firms Amid Heightened Risks

  

  With large swaths of the population indoors and primarily online, cybercriminals will be able to exploit law firms more easily now than ever before, but some basic precautions can help, says Joel Wallenstrom at Wickr.

• The Research Compliance Landscape Is Evolving Quickly

  

  Government actions against researchers with undisclosed connections to China, as well as legislation designed to safeguard U.S. research, reinforce the probability that new rules for global collaboration and foreign engagement are on the horizon, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• Opinion

  Trump's Broader Visa Suspension Won't Help US Unemployed

  

  Were one intent on protecting U.S. workers in the wake of the pandemic, it is difficult to believe that one would select for suspension the work visa categories President Donald Trump suspended this week, say Amy Haberman and Zlatko Hadzismajlovic at McCarter & English.

• Opinion

  It's Time For Law Firms To Support Work-From-Home Culture

  

  Now that law firms are on board with fully remote work environments, they must develop policies that match in-office culture and align partner and associate expectations, says Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.