Trials

Expert Analysis

• Remembering Justice Stevens As A Law Firm Leader

  

  Rothschild Barry's John Coffey, who joined Justice John Paul Stevens' law firm in 1965, shares what it was like to watch Justice Stevens practice law, mentor younger lawyers and land a malfunctioning plane.

• Answers To Key Legal Finance Ethics Questions

  

  While there is discussion in some quarters about new regulations on commercial legal finance, the hands-off approach taken by the majority of courts and legislatures is an implicit recognition that it is already sufficiently regulated, says Danielle Cutrona of Burford Capital.

• Federal Agencies Need A Uniform Record-Keeping Process

  

  The administrative record is very important to federal agency litigation — as showcased in last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census — yet there is no set of consistent principles to guide agencies in compiling these official records, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

• The Role Of Dictionaries In Last Term's High Court Decisions

  

  Since 32 of the 67 decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court during its October term cite dictionaries, it’s worth reviewing the opinions to learn which dictionaries the justices consulted and how they used them, say Bruce Wessel and Brian Weissenberg of Irell & Manella.

• How To Evaluate The Rise In Legal Employment

  

  Although the rate of employment for law school graduates — which had been falling steadily — saw a small increase over the last year, other factors, such as fewer graduates overall and potential future job growth stagnation, temper the good news for those pursuing law degrees, say Tiffane Cochran and Tyler Grimm of AccessLex Institute.

• Opinion

  The Business Case For Championing Diverse Legal Teams

  

  Leveraging the collective strengths of a diverse workforce is not only the right thing to do, it’s a strategic imperative for any successful firm or business, says Louise Pentland, executive vice president and chief business affairs and legal officer of PayPal.

• Getting AI Tools Litigation-Ready Is Crucial For Finance Cos.

  

  Because artificial intelligence tools are becoming ubiquitous in the financial services ecosystem, financial companies will need to be ready for the unique discovery challenges that AI-related litigation will bring, and for plaintiffs attorneys' attempts to exploit such challenges for strategic advantages, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

• Mass. Court Reminds Employers Of FMLA Due Diligence

  

  The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's recent Family and Medical Leave Act decision in DaPrato v. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority highlights for employers why determining whether an employee has misused FMLA leave may not be as straightforward an analysis as it seems, says Danielle Lederman of Morgan Brown.

• The Art Of The 'Science And Expert Team' In Mass Torts

  

  Science is at the foundation of mass tort lawsuits involving drugs or medical devices. Critical to a virtual law team in these cases, the "science and expert team" does more than get into the weeds of scientific issues and retain experts, say attorneys at FaegreBD, Peabody & Arnold and Shook Hardy.

• Competing Legal Factors Vex Insurance Arbitration Disputes

  

  The Fifth Circuit ruled in May that international arbitration policy trumped state insurance law in McDonnel Group v. Great Lakes Insurance. But the courts have been inconsistent in applying conformity-to-statute clauses, the McCarran-Ferguson Act and a related U.S. treaty in the battle between federal preemption and state reverse preemption, says Gilbert Samberg at Mintz.

• The Curious Case Of Crypto Valuations

  

  Cryptocurrency assets can be hard to value, and none of the valuation methods proposed thus far have been significantly tested in court. To head off possible litigation, companies and investment managers holding crypto assets should be transparent about the valuation methods they use, say Justin Steffen and Michael Perich of Ice Miller.

• The Supreme Court’s Stealth Revolution In Civil Procedure

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  Over the last decade, U.S. Supreme Court decisions have created several procedural weapons, including personal jurisdiction, venue forum selection clauses, gatekeeping rules for pleadings, arbitration protections for businesses, and limits on class actions, says Jim Wagstaffe of Wagstaffe von Loewenfeldt.

• Rethinking The Tech-First Approach To Law Firm Solutions

  

  When a lawyer complains about some workflow inefficiency they are having, the knee-jerk reaction of many firms is to look for a technology-based workaround. This overlooks the importance of human psychology and behavior, which may be the root of the problem, says Ryan Steadman of Zero.

• Role Of Online Reviews In Litigation Hinges On The Analysis

  

  The use of online consumer reviews in the courtroom is moving beyond simplistic links between reviews and sales and into more complex issues, such as a consumer's propensity to purchase and reviewer sentiment analysis, says Ashish Pradhan at Cornerstone Research.

• Top 10 Techniques For Crafting A Dazzling Brief

  

  Legal writing often falls flat not because it’s unorganized, but because it’s technically unsound and riddled with gaffes that cheapen and degrade it. Avoiding the most common mistakes will keep judges interested and, most importantly, make them trust you, says Daniel Karon of Karon LLC.