Technology

Expert Analysis

• Avoiding Inadvertent Privilege Waivers In E-Communications

  

  Attorneys at WilmerHale highlight recent developments in privilege law, the significant challenges raised by nontraditional working arrangements popularized during the pandemic, and ways to avoid waiving attorney-client privilege when using electronic communications.

• 5 Tips For Drafting Effective Legal Billing Guidelines

  

  To properly manage outside counsel, it's imperative for a company's legal department to implement and maintain rules on what they will and won't pay for, on staffing cases and requesting rate increases, and on how matters will be handled, says Chris Seezen at Quovant.

• The Death Of The Combination Patent Claim

  

  Recent Federal Circuit cases appear to suggest that if your patent claim to a combination of otherwise known elements does not include a specific technical improvement, then the claim is not patent-eligible — meaning a bedrock patent principle has been overruled implicitly, says Howard Skaist at Berkeley Law & Technology Group.

• Strategies For Managing Calif. Litigation As Courts Reopen

  

  As state and federal courts in California begin to reopen, strategic decisions need to be made about where cases should be filed, public and private perception of litigation conduct, alternative plans for discovery, and more, says attorney Steven Brower.

• Where We Are In The US Trade Secret Crackdown On China

  

  As the U.S. Department of Justice continues to focus on prosecuting trade secret theft by China, U.S. companies are also filing private civil lawsuits against Chinese companies in federal courts, relying on both the Defend Trade Secrets Act and state trade secret laws, say attorneys at Wiggin and Dana.

• Opinion

  Don't Cancel Your Summer Associate Programs

  

  While pulling off an effective summer associate program this year will be no easy feat, law firms' investments in their future attorneys should be considered necessary even during this difficult time, says Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.

• Tech Will Play Key Role In Real Estate's Road To Recovery

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  With unprecedented stress on real estate operations due to the COVID-19 crisis, this is a time to reflect on the property technology industry's success in recent years and to recognize how those models can be used to rebuild for the future, say attorneys at Goodwin.

• Tips For Spoliation Claims In Trade Secret Cases

  

  As businesses move toward the complete digitization of information, spoliation issues are increasingly arising in the context of trade secret litigation, and a recent California federal court's decision in WeRide v. Huang is a great example of how plaintiffs can use spoliation offensively to obtain a win, say attorneys at Arent Fox.

• Early Securities Litigation Trends Stemming From Recent IPOs

  

  Attorneys at WilmerHale analyze Securities Act complaints against companies that went public immediately prior to and during the COVID-19-induced market volatility, providing preliminary insights into whether, when and on what basis recent issuers are facing securities litigation.

• New Trend In IPR Institution Appealability Demands Scrutiny

  

  While a recent trend of federal courts holding that U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decisions instituting inter partes reviews are not appealable requires close following, there are two remedies practitioners can seek apart from appeal, say Brett Cooper and Kevin Schubert at McKool Smith.

• The Legal Risks Of Bias In Artificial Intelligence

  

  Bias in artificial intelligence algorithms is inevitable, so companies that use AI should take proactive steps to avoid disparate impact on legally protected classes and minimize the risk of lawsuits, say Brig. Gen. Patrick Huston at the Army JAG Corps and Lourdes Fuentes-Slater at Karta Legal.

• 5 Ways To Reduce Post-Pandemic Legal Malpractice Exposure

  

  History suggests that legal malpractice claims will rise following the current economic downturn, and while a certain percentage of the claims will be unavoidable, there are prophylactic steps that law firms can take, says John Johnson at Cozen O'Connor.

• Opinion

  Justices Should Construe Computer Fraud Law Narrowly

  

  In U.S. v. Van Buren, the U.S. Supreme Court should follow burglary and trespass cases to limit the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s scope to accessing or misusing employer data and avoid the absurd result of criminalizing an employee's unauthorized Facebook visit, say Anthony Volini and Karen Heart at DePaul University.

• Using The M&A Slowdown To Prepare A Portfolio Co. For Sale

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  Dealmakers can take advantage of COVID-19’s dampening effect on M&A activity to work through timing, pandemic considerations and sale process coordination for portfolio company sales so their deals will be ready when the market eventually picks back up, say Michael Gilligan and Caitlin Cornell at Schulte Roth.

• Opinion

  Credibility Concerns About Virtual Arbitration Are Unfounded

  

  Concerns that videoconferenced arbitration hearings compromise an arbitrator's ability to reliably resolve credibility contests are based on mistaken perceptions of how many cases actually turn on credibility, what credibility means in the legal world, and how arbitrators make credibility determinations, says Wayne Brazil at JAMS.