Trials

Expert Analysis

• How ITC Arrived At Proportional Discovery In IP Investigations

  

  A review of post-2015 discovery orders reveals that the International Trade Commission has followed trends toward proportional discovery in patent-infringing import investigations by considering the cost-benefit calculus associated with requested information, say Joshua Hartman and Hayley Ostrin at Adduci Mastriani.

• Lesser-Known Litigation Funding Best Practices For Attorneys

  

  Following the American Bar Association's recent publication of third-party litigation funding guidance, Jiamie Chen and Dai Wai Chin Feman at Parabellum Capital outline some additional considerations, including the ethical limitations on single-case funding and the futility of economic prenegotiations between attorneys and their clients.

• Opinion

  ADA Protects Lawyers With Disabilities, But We Must Do More

  

  As an attorney with cerebral palsy, Danielle Liebl at Reed Smith says that while the 30-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act has protected her against discrimination, the legal industry must do more to accommodate lawyers with disabilities and make them more comfortable in self-identifying.

• Perspectives

  Legal Deserts Threaten Justice In Rural America

  

  Many small towns and rural counties have few lawyers or none at all, which threatens the notion of justice for all Americans and demands creative solutions from legislators, bar associations and law schools, says Patricia Refo, president of the American Bar Association.

• 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.

• Special Masters Can Ease COVID-19 Criminal Case Backlog

  

  As courts resume criminal jury trials amid the pandemic, there are several ways special masters can assist overtaxed federal judges in efficiently and expeditiously navigating pretrial issues, say former Third Circuit Judge Thomas Vanaskie and Geoffrey Johnson at Stevens & Lee.

• 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.

• Opinion

  Courts Are Right To Scrutinize Food Labeling Suits

  

  While putative class action filings against the food and beverage industry over often baseless allegations around food labeling persist during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is fortunate that judges are dismissing many of these cases based on a lack of any plausible theory of deception, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

• 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.

• How Federal Patent Tutorial Video Influences Jurors

  

  The Federal Judicial Center's patent tutorial video is intended to provide unbiased explanation to jurors, but the recent research of Alexis Knutson and ​Jeffrey Jarman at Tsongas Litigation Consulting reveals that the video influences the perception of the patent process in subtle but meaningful ways.

• 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.

• FIFA Ruling Brings New Risks For Development Bank Projects

  

  After the Second Circuit's recent decision upholding FIFA officials' bribery convictions, foreign businesses with multilateral development bank-sponsored projects whose financing emanates from the U.S. must ensure they are not violating U.S. wire fraud statutes, even if commercial bribery is legal in the foreign country, says Joshua Ray at Rahman Ravelli.

• Houston Rockets' Virus Coverage Claims Face Key Hurdles

  

  The NBA's Houston Rockets' recent insurance coverage claims for interruption losses due to COVID-19 may not survive summary judgment or trial because of clearly worded policy requirements and the absence of direct physical damage, say Glenn Jacobson and Mark Binsky at Abrams Gorelick.

• 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.

• 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.