International Arbitration

Expert Analysis

• A Post-Brexit Guide To UK-Swiss Disputes

  

  Following Brexit, jurisdictional issues in U.K.-Swiss disputes and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments will be governed by each country's respective national laws, rather than the Lugano Convention, creating uncertainty and potentially more expense and satellite litigation, say Janine Alexander at Collyer Bristow and Sébastien Collart at 100 Rhône Avocats.

• Ethics Tips For Attorneys Telecommuting Across State Lines

  

  Attorneys working remotely from jurisdictions in which they are not admitted should take precautionary steps to avoid engaging in unauthorized practice of law, say John Schmidt and Michael Seaman at Phillips Lytle.

• 6 Ways Legal Employers Can Help Pandemic-Weary Parents

  

  Parenting during the pandemic has introduced a series of competing personal and professional obligations for attorneys and professional staff, and even organizations that are supportive of their parent employees can take steps to do better, says Meredith Kahan at Saul Ewing.

• Remote Working Tips For Lawyer Trainees And Their Firms

  

  The prospect of joining a law firm during the pandemic can cause added pressure, but with a few good practices — and a little help from their firms and supervising attorneys — lawyer trainees can get ahead of the curve while working remotely, say William Morris and Ted Landray at King & Spalding.

• What Biden's Ethics Pledge Means For Gov't Revolving Door

  

  Attorneys at Nossaman look at how President Joe Biden’s ethics pledge goes beyond those of his predecessors by imposing post-employment shadow lobbying and golden parachute restrictions on his administration’s appointees — and how a House bill proposing expansion of federal ethics law could affect enforcement.

• Opinion

  Punishing Bar Exam Policies On Menstrual Products Must Go

  

  Law graduates across the states are sitting for the grueling two-day bar exam this week despite menstruation-related barriers, such as inadequate menstrual product and bathroom access, which could be eradicated with simple policy tweaks, say law professors Elizabeth Cooper, Margaret Johnson and Marcy Karin.

• Int'l Arbitration Rules Revision Reflects Flexible Approach

  

  The International Bar Association's recent update to its Rules on the Taking of Evidence resists prescriptive requirements in favor of a nuanced revision, especially when it comes to areas where technology is altering the practice, say Albert Bates and Zachary Torres-Fowler at Troutman Pepper.

• Transaction Toolkit For A More Litigious M&A Environment

  

  As transaction disputes rise amid evolving market conditions, certain strategies can help companies mitigate risk while remaining live to M&A opportunities, say attorneys at Freshfields.

• It's Time For Law Firms To Start Loving And Leveraging Data

  

  The volume and diversity of data managed by law firms today — from client files to internal financial records — may seem daunting, but when properly organized, good data can help practitioners stay competitive by providing sharper insight into firm resources and cost of work, say Jaron Luttich and Barry Wiggins at Element Standard.

• Keys To Protecting Clients During Law Firm Dissolution

  

  Whether a law firm dissolution is amicable or adversarial, departing attorneys should take steps to maintain their legal and ethical responsibilities toward clients, and beware client confidentiality pitfalls when joining new firms, say John Schmidt and Colin Fitzgerald at Phillips Lytle.

• How Case Management Orders Can Support New Attorneys

  

  Courts are leading the way in ensuring oral argument opportunities for newer attorneys by incorporating innovative language in a variety of orders, and private parties can and should follow suit by incorporating similar language into case management orders, say Megan Jones and Halli Spraggins at Hausfeld.

• An In-House Counsel's Guide To Better Work Management

  

  Amid economic uncertainty and increasing pressure on corporate legal departments to do more with less, work management processes should be aimed at tracking legal teams' every contribution, including routine matters that can be reallocated to nonlegal staff, says Aaron Pierce at LexisNexis CounselLink.

• Avoiding Materially Adverse Conflicts After New ABA Opinion

  

  The American Bar Association's recent guidance on what constitutes materially adverse interests between clients makes clear that lawyers should not take comfort in a current representation just because a former client is not on the opposite side of the v., and those hoping to avoid disqualification should consider five steps, says Hilary Gerzhoy at Harris Wiltshire.

• Start Preparing For Germany's Corporate Sanctions Act

  

  Germany’s soon-to-be-adopted Corporate Sanctions Act carries a presumption of mandatory prosecution but also a defense in cases where reasonable precautions fail to prevent nonmanagers from committing crimes, so companies should start putting such compliance programs into place now, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• Rebuttal

  US Legal System Can Benefit From Nonlawyer Ownership

  

  Contrary to claims made in a recent Law360 guest article, nonlawyer ownership has incrementally improved the England and Wales legal system — with more innovation and more opportunities for lawyers — and there is no reason why those outcomes cannot also be achieved in the U.S., say Crispin Passmore at Passmore Consulting and Zachariah DeMeola at the University of Denver.