Telecommunications

Expert Analysis

• Guest Feature

  5 Ways Firms Can Avoid Female Atty Exodus During Pandemic

  

  The pandemic's disproportionate impact on women presents law firms with a unique opportunity to devise innovative policies that will address the increasing home life demands female lawyers face and help retain them long after COVID-19 is over, say Roberta Liebenberg at Fine Kaplan and Stephanie Scharf at Scharf Banks.

• ITC Vs. Court Remedies For Trade Secret Theft Abroad

  

  Recent cases illustrate that companies facing misappropriation of their trade secrets outside the U.S. should carefully choose between obtaining significant damages in district courts and timely exclusion orders in the U.S. International Trade Commission, say Charles Sanders and Nathanial McPherson at Latham.

• FCC Radio Spectrum Reallocation Could Impair Vehicle Safety

  

  A proposed Federal Communications Commission rule change would allocate radio spectrum currently reserved for vehicle signals to the cable industry, which could negatively impact car safety applications due to interference with vehicle communications, say Gretchen Stoeltje and Greg Winfree at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

• SEP Users Should Jettison Antitrust For Patent, Contract Law

  

  Because the recent holdings in Federal Trade Commission v. Qualcomm and Continental Automotive Systems v. Avanci demonstrate antitrust's flaws in resolving disputes over licensing rates for standard-essential patents, users should employ contract and patent law for more flexibility in negotiations and litigation, say Erik Puknys and Michelle Rice at Finnegan.

• Opinion

  Lawyers Must Fight Voter Suppression This Election Season

  

  Lawyers should use their unique skill sets, knowledge and spheres of influence to fight burdensome ID requirements and other voter suppression tactics that may influence the 2020 elections, and to participate in potential post-election litigation, say CK Hoffler and Allyce Bailey at the National Bar Association.

• Why Online Mediation May Be Here To Stay

  

  Videoconferenced mediation offers several advantages and helps cases settle faster and more cordially, making it hard to imagine going back to logistically difficult in-person dispute resolution after COVID-19 restrictions are gone, says Sidney Kanazawa at ARC.

• Clients Have The Power To Promote Wellness At Law Firms

  

  Law firm clients can play a role in lowering mental distress in the legal profession by seeking lawyer wellness data from firms and factoring those responses into outside counsel hiring decisions, says Jonathan Prokup at Cigna.

• Opinion

  Appellate Courts Should Welcome Well-Crafted Amicus Briefs

  

  A Seventh Circuit judge's recent order granting leave for three organizations to file amicus curiae briefs in Prairie Rivers Network v. Dynegy Midwest Generation is a reminder that relevant, nonduplicative amicus briefs can provide courts with helpful perspective, important facts and legal arguments, says Lawrence Ebner at Capital Appellate Advocacy.

• 4 Compliance Tips Amid Increased Ransomware Scrutiny

  

  In light of two new U.S. Treasury Department advisories signaling increased oversight of ransomware payments, victim companies and their third-party response teams considering making payments should follow certain due diligence and compliance best practices, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

• High Court Oracle-Google Copyright War May Benefit Artists

  

  After Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in the Google v. Oracle copyright dispute, artists have reason for optimism, because the law favors reining in the overly expansive transformativeness test and keeping fair use determinations within the province of judges rather than unpredictable juries, says Sandra Aistars at Antonin Scalia Law School.

• 11th Circ. Ruling Threatens Class Rep Incentive Awards

  

  Following the Eleventh Circuit's recent finding in Johnson v. NPAS Solutions that incentive awards improperly confer a benefit on class representatives, litigants should expect more challenges to such settlement provisions and closer scrutiny from courts, say Peter Morrison and Zack Faigen at Skadden.

• Nigerian Oil Spill Ruling Shows Limits Of UK Class Actions

  

  The High Court of Justice of England and Wales recently required thousands of Nigerians suing Shell in London over an oil spill to provide individual evidence of damage and individual defenses in Jalla v. Shell, illustrating how U.K. class action claimants must truly have a common interest, say attorneys at Signature Litigation.

• What Hiring Law Firms Should Consider Instead Of Grades

  

  With law schools forgoing traditional grading due to the pandemic, hiring firms that have heavily weighted first-year grades during the on-campus interview process should turn to metrics that allow a more holistic view of a candidate, says Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.

• Bid Protest Spotlight: Methodology, Conflict, Corrective Scope

  

  In this month's bid protest roundup, Caitlin Crujido at MoFo looks at three recent U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions that shed light on the viability of the highest technically rated, reasonably priced offeror methodology, organizational conflict of interest issues when an awardee evaluates its own performance under a separate contract, and challenges of protesting the scope of corrective actions.

• Series

  Judging A Book: Schroeder Reviews 'Collegiality'

  

  Mark Barringer's new book, "Collegiality and the Constitution," is an engaging, vibrant work of judicial history in Texas' Eastern District, and reveals an atmosphere of civility and respect among all those involved in the business of the court, says U.S. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III.