Telecommunications

Expert Analysis

• Unusual TikTok Review Calls CFIUS Processes Into Question

  

  The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has departed from established processes in its national security investigation of TikTok, with comments from across the Trump administration casting doubt on the interagency committee's confidentiality, apolitical nature and focus, says Paul Marquardt at Cleary.

• Rebuttal

  Most Courts Follow 1st Circ. Generic-Delay Ruling's Standard

  

  Contrary to a recent Law360 guest article arguing that most courts have criticized or rejected the First Circuit's reversal of class certification in the 2018 Asacol pay-for-delay cases, most courts have in fact followed it, recognizing that precedent requires serious scrutiny of plaintiffs' proposed proof, say attorneys at White & Case.

• Analyzing Upward And Downward Trends In Legal Tech

  

  Advances in legal technology are often accompanied by bombastic overstatements, but it is important to separate the wheat from the chaff by looking at where various technologies stand on the hype curve, says Lance Eliot at Stanford Law School.

• Opinion

  ABA's New Guidance On Litigation Funding Misses The Mark

  

  The American Bar Association should revise its recently approved best practices on third-party litigation funding as they do not reflect how legal finance actually works and could create confusion among lawyers, says Andrew Cohen at Burford Capital.

• 3 Cases Spotlight Shareholder Interest In Public Co. Diversity

  

  Recent derivative claims filed in a California federal court over diversity and inclusion shortcomings at Oracle, Facebook and Qualcomm demonstrate shareholder willingness to hold directors and officers accountable for public companies' failure to deliver on environmental, social and governance commitments, say attorneys at Cleary.

• New IT Restrictions For Gov't Contractors Bring M&A Hurdles

  

  Prohibitions taking effect next week on the use of certain Chinese telecommunications technology by government contractors will have an immediate impact on M&A involving companies that do business with the federal government, and will require prospective buyers' careful consideration in four areas, say attorneys at Covington.

• What Firms Should Ask Before Hiring Attorneys From Gov't

  

  In the final year of any presidential administration, there is an undeniable appetite on the part of large law firms for government-savvy legal talent, but firms need to first consider how they will actually utilize their new star hire, says Michael Ellenhorn at Decipher.

• The Ethics Of Using Chatbots For Legal Services

  

  Delegating legal work to robots involves several risks, including running afoul of statutes dictating unauthorized practice of law, but with the right precautions, law firms can lawfully employ artificially intelligent chatbots that can imitate human conversations, say attorneys at Haynes and Boone.

• Market Rebound May Curb Securities Class Actions, Damages

  

  The stock market's dramatic recovery from its pandemic-prompted plunge may provide securities class action defendants an opportunity to rely on the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act’s rarely invoked bounce-back provision to ward off stock-drop claims, or sharply limit available damages, say John Schreiber and John Tschirgi at Winston & Strawn.

• Opinion

  ABA Must Seize Opportunity To Respond To Bar Exam Chaos

  

  The challenges of administering bar exams this year have put the future of the profession in jeopardy, but the American Bar Association at its ongoing annual meeting can adopt a resolution that would urge jurisdictions to take emergency actions with respect to licensure of new attorneys, says Nicholas Allard, former president of Brooklyn Law School.

• Opinion

  Recent Decisions Helpfully Narrow TCPA Scope

  

  A New York federal court's recent Telephone Consumer Protection Act decision in Gerrard v. Acara Solutions adds to a growing line of cases holding that phone calls or text messages related to offers of employment may not be directly subject to the harsher provisions of the TCPA, says Myriah Jaworski at Beckage.

• How High Court IPR Time-Bar Ruling Affects PTAB Practice

  

  Given the uncertainty surrounding the scope of the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Thryv v. Click-to-Call, that Patent Trial and Appeal Board rulings on inter partes review timeliness cannot be appealed, parties should effectively argue procedural bars — or risk losing IPRs, say attorneys at Finnegan.

• How Pandemic Is Affecting The Pace Of Judicial Opinions

  

  The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way judges work, but how has it impacted the volume of work product they generate? Ben Strawn and Omeed Azmoudeh at Davis Graham investigate using data from the PACER federal courts registry.

• Trade Secret Litigation Is Poised To Take Off Amid Downturn

  

  Companies can expect an explosion in trade secret claims amid the current economic downturn due to robust trade secret laws that favor plaintiffs, pandemic-related workplace changes and the need to address lawsuits urgently, says Patrick Dempsey at Therium.

• High Court TCPA Case May Curb Robocall Class Actions

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case, Facebook v. Duguid, that has the potential to transform the statutory definition of autodialer and make it much more difficult for plaintiffs to prevail in robocall cases, says David Poell at Sheppard Mullin.