Life Sciences

Expert Analysis

• Lenders Score Major High Court Victory In Foreclosure Case

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling on Wednesday in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP removes nearly all activities taken by creditors seeking nonjudicial foreclosure of liens and mortgages from the ambit of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, says John Baxter of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.

• Trial Counsel's Role On A Mass Tort Virtual Law Team

  

  Trial counsel’s contribution to the virtual law team throughout the life cycle of a mass tort litigation rests in the key skill of viewing the case through the eyes of the ultimate audience for the defense, the jury, say attorneys at Covington & Burling LLP and Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

• Tech Trends From SXSW Pose Unique Questions For Lawyers

  

  These days, a popular theme in media is that lawyers' jobs will be taken by robots. However, based on the tech issues discussed at the South by Southwest technology conference in Austin, Texas, last month, robots may in fact need lawyers, says Nick Abrahams of Norton Rose Fulbright.

• In Bar Admissions Process, It's Candor Or Bust

  

  You passed the bar exam and are ready for the character and fitness committee interview. Time to think about how to discuss that minor incident in college, that misdemeanor in high school or that mental health issue that you have totally under control, says Richard Maltz of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC.

• Off-Label Promotion Still A Litigation Risk For Pharma Cos.

  

  In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has shown some reluctance to bring cases involving off-label promotion of pharmaceutical products, but this type of marketing remains the driving force behind many product liability and mass tort litigations, say Dae Lee and Jesse Dresser of Frier Levitt LLC.

• Justices Offer Practical Approach To Class Appeal Deadline

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's recent opinion in Nutraceutical v. Lambert held that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f)’s 14-day limit for class certification appeals is not subject to equitable tolling, presenting important lessons for both the winners and losers of class certification orders, say attorneys at Faegre Baker Daniels.

• Series

  Judging A Book: Bashant Reviews 'Doing Justice'

  

  My initial reaction to "Doing Justice" was that author Preet Bharara may have bitten off more than he could chew — an accusation leveled against him when he served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York — but I found the book full of helpful gems, says U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant of the Southern District of California.

• If There, Then Here: How Gov't Probes Help Antitrust Plaintiffs

  

  Private plaintiffs seeking to bolster their price-fixing complaints by citing government investigations or guilty pleas concerning different markets should consider instructive decisions from the Auto Parts, Generic Drugs, and SRAM and Flash Memory litigations, say William Reiss and Dave Rochelson of Robins Kaplan LLP.

• Firms Can Leverage Communications When Economy Is Slow

  

  Though most experts believe that an imminent recession is unlikely, slowdown fears are increasing. Now is the time for firms to consider how to best leverage their communications and marketing teams to lessen impacts from a potential economic slowdown, says Tom Orewyler of Tom Orewyler Communications LLC.

• Opinion

  Hikma V. Vanda Exaggerates Treatments' Patent Eligibility

  

  Hikma's recent certiorari petition claims the Federal Circuit’s decision in Vanda v. West-Ward amounts to a free pass under Section 101 for method-of-treatment claims. But Vanda is a fact-specific ruling that attempts to find some middle ground in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Section 101 precedents, say Sasha Rao and Erin Gaddes of Maynard Cooper & Gale PC.