Pennsylvania

Expert Analysis

• State Net

  A Look At How States Are Experimenting With Health Care

  

  The fate of the Affordable Care Act is currently pending in federal court, but states are proceeding on the premise that the law will survive its latest legal challenge as they consider competing Democratic and Republican visions of health care, says Lou Cannon of State Net Capitol Journal.

• 2 High Court Admiralty Cases Diverge On Common Law's Role

  

  Although the U.S. Supreme Court's recent admiralty ruling in Air & Liquid Systems v. DeVries indicates success in expanding the availability of common law protections to mariners, its decision in Dutra Group v. Batterton — decided just months later — counsels that new classes of remedies will now be harder to obtain under the common law, says Brian Maloney of Seward & Kissel.

• Opinion

  Time To Heed Justice Stevens' Criticism Of Gun Decision

  

  Justice John Paul Stevens was right that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008 gun rights decision in Heller desperately needs to be overruled, but while he viewed revision or repeal of the Second Amendment as the easier course for correction, only the court can clean up the mess it made, says Robert Ludwig​ of the American Enlightenment Project.

• Remembering Justice Stevens As A Law Firm Leader

  

  Rothschild Barry's John Coffey, who joined Justice John Paul Stevens' law firm in 1965, shares what it was like to watch Justice Stevens practice law, mentor younger lawyers and land a malfunctioning plane.

• Community Solar Needs Clear, Flexible State Regulations

  

  As states adopt and expand third-party solar development programs, regulators should streamline rules and avoid prescriptive requirements for developers, say Elliot Hinds and Diana Jeschke at Crowell & Moring.

• Answers To Key Legal Finance Ethics Questions

  

  While there is discussion in some quarters about new regulations on commercial legal finance, the hands-off approach taken by the majority of courts and legislatures is an implicit recognition that it is already sufficiently regulated, says Danielle Cutrona of Burford Capital.

• Federal Agencies Need A Uniform Record-Keeping Process

  

  The administrative record is very important to federal agency litigation — as showcased in last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census — yet there is no set of consistent principles to guide agencies in compiling these official records, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

• State Net

  Local Governments Push To Regulate Public Surveillance

  

  San Francisco's Board of Supervisors recently approved an ordinance banning the use of facial recognition technology by all city departments. The law is part of a growing movement among localities and states to increase oversight of the use of surveillance technologies by government entities, says Korey Clark of State Net Capitol Journal.

• The Role Of Dictionaries In Last Term's High Court Decisions

  

  Since 32 of the 67 decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court during its October term cite dictionaries, it’s worth reviewing the opinions to learn which dictionaries the justices consulted and how they used them, say Bruce Wessel and Brian Weissenberg of Irell & Manella.

• How To Evaluate The Rise In Legal Employment

  

  Although the rate of employment for law school graduates — which had been falling steadily — saw a small increase over the last year, other factors, such as fewer graduates overall and potential future job growth stagnation, temper the good news for those pursuing law degrees, say Tiffane Cochran and Tyler Grimm of AccessLex Institute.

• Revenge Porn Can Be Outlawed Under The First Amendment

  

  To date, 46 states and the District of Columbia have passed needed legislation penalizing nonconsensual distribution of pornographic images of another person, but constitutionally outlawing this phenomenon is tricky and some statutes will likely be struck down, says Nicole Ligon, supervising attorney of the First Amendment Clinic at Duke Law.

• Opinion

  Pa. Court Muddies Privilege And Work-Product Waters

  

  With respect to attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Superior Court's recent decision in Newsuan v. Republic Services is significantly flawed and will contribute to confusion, uncertainty and risks, says Kevin Allen of Eckert Seamans.

• Opinion

  The Business Case For Championing Diverse Legal Teams

  

  Leveraging the collective strengths of a diverse workforce is not only the right thing to do, it’s a strategic imperative for any successful firm or business, says Louise Pentland, executive vice president and chief business affairs and legal officer of PayPal.

• State Net

  Why States, Cities Are Requiring Merchants To Accept Cash

  

  New technology is broadening the ways people can pay without having to carry paper money and coins, possibly hastening the decline of cash. But some state and local lawmakers are pushing back, and retail businesses are taking note, says Dave Royse of State Net Capitol Journal.

• The Art Of The 'Science And Expert Team' In Mass Torts

  

  Science is at the foundation of mass tort lawsuits involving drugs or medical devices. Critical to a virtual law team in these cases, the "science and expert team" does more than get into the weeds of scientific issues and retain experts, say attorneys at FaegreBD, Peabody & Arnold and Shook Hardy.