Telecommunications

Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  Congress Must Bolster Bias Remedies After Comcast Ruling

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s Comcast v. National Association of African American-Owned Media ruling still allows plaintiffs to fight summary judgment in discrimination cases, but Congress must step in to ensure their ability to win relief at trial, says Michael Lieder at Mehri & Skalet.

• Telehealth During COVID-19: New Rules And Considerations

  

  Changes in federal and state regulations are expanding access to remote health care in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and health care providers need to be thinking about licensure, how to establish valid practitioner-patient relationships, prescribing authority, technology requirements and more, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• Confronting The Challenges Of Virtual Mediation

  

  Conducting mediation via videoconference amid the ongoing pandemic poses significant challenges, including the difficulty of reading people when you are not with them in person. Daniel Garrie at JAMS shares six tips to overcome the limitations.

• 3 Steps To Building Effective Teams While On Lockdown

  

  When your team is working from different locations due to the COVID-19 outbreak, don’t default to just sending emails. Collaboration is much easier when team members are also communicating in real time over the phone or through videoconferences, say William Oxley and Meghan Rohling Kelly at BakerHostetler.

• Private Infrastructure Investment And The COVID-19 Pandemic

  

  COVID-19 has already led to the postponement of a number of private infrastructure mergers, acquisitions and financing activities, but investment in the sector will likely show resilience due to continuing demand, say Fred Day at Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Roald Nashi at Kirkland.

• Client Advocacy Tips For Remote Hearings During COVID-19

  

  As the judiciary implements telephone and video hearings in response to the coronavirus pandemic, attorneys can deliver effective advocacy by following certain best practices, such as using backup materials and specially preparing witnesses and exhibits, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

• How To Conduct Depositions Remotely

  

  Remote depositions are a useful tool for meeting discovery deadlines while allowing all parties to stay at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak. But they come with a unique set of challenges, say Eliot Williams and Daniel Rabinowitz at Baker Botts. 

• A Guide To Zealously Representing Clients During COVID-19

  

  The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct require lawyers to be zealous advocates for clients' interests, but how do these rules apply in this unprecedented time of COVID-19? Anne Lockner at Robins Kaplan offers some pointers.

• 7 Ways Attys Can Create The Right Home Office Environment

  

  In the midst of this health crisis when lawyers are working from home with their loved ones around all day, practitioners need to ensure their “home” and “office” settings coexist without one trumping the needs of the other, says Luciana Fragali at Design Solutions.

• 10 E-Discovery Challenges Caused By COVID-19

  

  The COVID-19 crisis will continue to affect e-discovery long after we overcome this pandemic. When litigation and investigations reengage and courts start moving their schedules forward, these concerns will need to be addressed, say David Kessler and Andrea D'Ambra at Norton Rose.

• BigLaw Leaders Must Prepare For COVID-19 Economic Fallout

  

  The financial impact of COVID-19 is already starting to ripple through law firms in the form of diminished demand and time entry. A few lessons from the 2008 financial crisis and some new ideas can help firm leaders navigate the storm, says Peter Zeughauser at Zeughauser Group.

• Federal Gov't Memos Can't Override State COVID-19 Closures

  

  Recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Defense memoranda identify essential critical infrastructure industries, but they don’t overrule state and local directives requiring businesses to close during the coronavirus outbreak, creating difficult choices for some, say Jeffrey Bialos and Erin Park at Eversheds Sutherland.

• 3 Ways Leaders Can Improve Remote Work For Lawyers

  

  Remote working doesn’t work when people feel they must apologize for or hide it, and lawyers often feel that way — even in unavoidable, disaster-related scenarios like we see with the pandemic today, says David Pierce at Axiom.

• Tips For Online Mediation In The Age Of Social Distancing

  

  While mediating via an internet conferencing platform during the COVID-19 crisis, remember that visual interactions are of vital importance. A simple phrase can be transformed into a sincere inquiry, a shocked response or a sarcastic put-down depending upon how we visually convey that message, says mediator Sidney Kanazawa at ARC.

• Telephonic Outreach During Coronavirus

  

  Courts have yet to consider whether automated telephone calls about the coronavirus will be subject to the emergency purposes exemption under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, but it seems likely that at least certain calls would qualify, say attorneys at Manatt.