Business of Law

Series

Pursuing Wellness: Steps Toward A Supportive Firm Culture

As an early advocate of the American Bar Association's year-old well-being pledge, we launched an integrated program to create and sustain a supportive workplace culture with initiatives focused on raising mental health awareness, embracing creativity and giving back to the community, says Casey Ryan at Reed Smith.

Series

Pursuing Wellness: Mental Health Education As A Firm Priority

Our firm drives a holistic concept of well-being through educational opportunities, such as a series of expert-led workshops intended to address mental health and substance abuse issues that we vowed to fight when we signed the American Bar Association's well-being pledge one year ago, says Krista Logelin at Morgan Lewis.

Series

Pursuing Wellness: A Firm's Work With Mental Health Experts

Signing the American Bar Association's well-being pledge last year was a natural progression of our firm's commitment to employee wellness, which has included developing partnerships with professionals in the mental health space to provide customized programming to firm attorneys and staff, say Annette Sciallo and Mark Goldberg at Latham.

Series

Pursuing Wellness: When A Firm Brings Counseling On Site

One year ago, our firm signed the American Bar Association's well-being pledge and embraced a commitment to providing on-site behavioral health resources, which has since become a key aspect of our well-being program, say Meg Meserole and Kimberly Merkel at Akin Gump.

Series

Pursuing Wellness: Inside A Firm Meditation Program

After our firm signed the American Bar Association’s well-being pledge one year ago, we launched two key programs that included weekly meditation sessions and monthly on-site chair massages to help people address both the mental and physical aspects of working at a law firm, says Marci Eisenstein at Schiff Hardin.

5th Circ. Ruling Offers Map For Avoiding Daily Rate OT Claims

At first glance, it's no surprise that in U.S. Shale Solutions v. Faludi the Fifth Circuit rejected overtime claims from a highly compensated lawyer turned consultant, but the facts of the case and the court’s analysis provide guidance on whether daily rates can give rise to overtime lawsuits, says Debra Friedman at Cozen O’Connor.

Early Sampling Of Electronic Info Is Underutilized In Discovery

The early and prompt provision of samples from all electronically stored information sources as a part of ESI protocol search methodology is consistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and may allow for significant cost savings during discovery, says Zachary Caplan at Berger Montague.

The Factors Courts Consider In Deposition Location Disputes

In the absence of a federal rule governing deposition location, federal courts are frequently called on to resolve objections to out-of-state deposition notices. Recent decisions reveal what information is crucial to courts in making the determination, says Kevin O’Brien at Porter Wright.

What To Consider Before Filing For A Rule 57 Speedy Hearing

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 57 and its state counterparts provide a method for expediting claims for declaratory judgment that warrants closer attention than it has historically received from litigants and courts, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

Series

Why I Became A Lawyer: Expanding The Meaning Of Diversity

My conservative, Catholic parents never skipped a beat when accepting that I was gay, and encouraged me to follow my dreams wherever they might lead. But I did not expect they would lead to the law, until I met an inspiring college professor, says James Holmes of Clyde & Co.

Discovery Counsel Vital In All Phases Of Mass Tort Litigation

Experienced discovery counsel helps the virtual law team shape case strategy and provides necessary advocacy, consistency and efficiency, plus cost savings, from the beginning of a case through trial, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins and FaegreBD.

How The Wayback Machine Can Strengthen Your Case

The Wayback Machine, which archives screenshots of websites at particular points in time, can be an invaluable tool in litigation, but attorneys need to follow a few simple steps early in the discovery process to increase the odds of being able to use materials obtained from the archive, says Timothy Freeman of Tanenbaum Keale.

Opinion

Draft Civil Procedure Jurisdictional Rule Needs A Tweak

The Judicial Conference Advisory Committee’s proposed addition to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 needs to be amended slightly to prevent late-stage jurisdictional confusion in cases where the parties do not have attributed citizenship, says GianCarlo Canaparo at The Heritage Foundation.

New Insights On Privilege, Ethics Duties For In-House Attys

A New York federal court's recent decision in Fischman v. Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings dispels the notion that in-house legal advisers are prohibited from using information about their employers in pursuing discrimination claims against them, says Jessica Westerman at Katz Marshall.

New Best Practices Under E-Discovery Spoliation Rule

The amended Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e) provides explicit criteria for imposing sanctions when electronically stored information has been lost during discovery, but courts are still not consistently applying the new rule, with some simply ignoring it in favor of inherent authority, say Matthew Hamilton and Donna Fisher at Pepper Hamilton.