Pennsylvania

Expert Analysis

• 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.

• State Net

  Comparing States' Preparations For An Economic Downturn

  

  Statistics indicate that many states have learned lessons from the Great Recession, and are better prepared for the next recession. Those that are not setting aside money to see them through the inevitable fiscal crisis would be wise to start saving for a rainy day, says Lou Cannon of State Net Capitol Journal.

• 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.

• Searching For A Legal Pathway For CBD Products

  

  Sales of products containing CBD are booming, but companies selling them are still faced with a regulatory quagmire, struggling to understand how to legally promote, label and distribute CBD consumables in light of gridlock at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and inconsistent state laws, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

• 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.

• 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.

• State Net

  How Online Wagers Are Shaping States' Sports Betting Regs

  

  Just over a year after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized sports betting nationwide, the industry is seeing an explosion of activity online, but the influence of entrenched gambling interests means that some states are only allowing bets to be placed in person at casinos and racetracks, says Dave Royse of State Net Capitol Journal.

• 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.

• FDCPA Takeaways From 3rd Circ. QR Code Opinion

  

  The Third Circuit's decision in DiNaples v. MRS BPO that a debt collection letter with a QR code on the envelope violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act may seem straightforward, but the opinion sheds light on how two common FDCPA defense tools remain somewhat viable, say Jason Tompkins and Jonathan Hoffmann at Balch & Bingham.

• 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.

• Evolving No-Poach Landscape Requires A Vigilant Eye

  

  As class actions challenging no-poach agreements are pending against multiple franchise organizations and the applicable analytical standard for analyzing such provisions hangs in the balance, it's a good time to review the current framework, say Bob Buchanan and Stefano Sharma at Choate.

• Notable Tax Amendments From Pennsylvania’s Budget Bill

  

  The recently passed Pennsylvania budget bill included significant changes in the areas of personal income, sales and use, and estate tax, says Jennifer Karpchuk of Chamberlain Hrdlicka.

• 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.