Expert Analysis

• Recent Trade Secret Cases Show Sentencing Disparities

  

  Sentencing disparities in U.S. trade secret cases have surfaced in recent years, and legal practitioners should know that courts have found that the intended loss does not necessarily equal the cost of development of stolen trade secrets or the defendant's intended gain from misappropriation, says Steven Lee at Lewis Brisbois.

• 5th Circ. Ruling Signals Judicial Shift On SEC Admin Process

  

  The Fifth Circuit’s decision in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signals a growing discomfort in the judiciary with the SEC's administrative process, and those dealing with enforcement actions should bring their constitutional challenges early and often, say Benjamin Daniels and Trevor Bradley at Robinson & Cole.

• Thinking Strategically About The Weekend's Impact On Jurors

  

  Clint Townson at IMS discusses how experienced trial lawyers and consultants can utilize the strategic value of weekends in their favor by accounting for how the weekend break affects juror cognition and decision making as part of an integrated trial strategy.

• Dobbs Ruling Creates Compliance Dilemmas For Hospitals

  

  Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, hospitals in states with sweeping abortion prohibitions may struggle to reconcile state and federal legal regimes, including the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, say attorneys at Dentons.

• Opinion

  Now's The Time To Address Archaic Law School Curricula

  

  With law school enrollments jumping significantly ahead of a potential recession and more students graduating than the market can absorb, law schools should turn to creative solutions to teach students how to negotiate, work with clients, specialize and use technology to practice their craft more efficiently, says University of Colorado adjunct professor Jason Mendelson.

• Lessons From Lawyer Fee-Sharing Agreements Gone Wrong

  

  The recent fee-sharing dispute between Edelson and Girardi Keese is a reminder that lawyers who do not strictly follow the applicable rules may risk a disciplinary complaint, lose their share of the fee, or wind up in costly litigation with co-counsel, says David Grossbaum at Hinshaw.

• LeClairRyan Bankruptcy Highlights Pass-Through Tax Issue

  

  A Virginia bankruptcy court's recent ruling in the case of defunct law firm LeClairRyan shows there may be serious tax consequences for pass-through entity partners who give up their ownership interest without following operating agreement exit provisions and updating bankruptcy court filings, say Edward Schnitzer and Hannah Travaglini at Montgomery McCracken.

• Potential Next Steps For DOJ's COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement

  

  Although the U.S. Department of Justice's COVID-19 fraud enforcement has so far focused on individuals and entities blatantly abusing pandemic assistance funds, health care and life sciences companies should assess their compliance programs as the DOJ will likely turn to larger-dollar activity at the organization level soon, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• Navigating White Collar Attorney-Client Privilege Waivers

  

  In light of increased reliance-on-counsel defenses and waivers of attorney-client privilege in corporate fraud cases, defense counsel should think broadly about how attorney-client communications demonstrate that their client acted in good faith, and without fraudulent intent, says Edward Imperatore at MoFo.

• 8 Steps To Creating A Legal Ops Technology Road Map

  

  Legal departments struggling to find and implement the right technologies for their operations should consider creating a road map that summarizes their approach to technology changes, provides clearly defined metrics for success, and serves as the single source of truth for stakeholders, says Melanie Shafer at SimpleLegal.

• 2 Years Since Liu, Disgorgement Case Law Is Favoring SEC

  

  In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Liu v. the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, circuit courts have weighed in to answer the decision's open questions, and recent cases suggest that courts are unwilling to disrupt disgorgement orders, even where the awards would not survive Liu scrutiny, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• The Importance Of Data And Data Analysis In Litigation

  

  Understanding, analyzing and effectively presenting large data sets is an increasingly important skill in litigation as it allows plaintiffs to dramatically scale up the scope of cases and is often critical to defeating motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, says David Burnett at Motley Rice.

• Senate Bill Could Be A Sea Change For Crypto Regulation

  

  The recently introduced Responsible Financial Innovation Act, if passed, would transform the digital asset landscape by replacing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as cryptocurrency's default regulator, and by shifting oversight away from the current regulatory framework and legal standard for the space, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.

• Steps Companies Can Take To Mitigate Privilege Labeling Risk

  

  Although Google prevailed on a recent privilege labeling sanctions motion, an important takeaway from the decision is that companies should assess their in-house procedures and employee training programs regarding privileged communications to mitigate risks of the potential appearance of bad faith privilege claims, say Gareth Evans at Redgrave and e-discovery attorney James Hertsch.

• Opinion

  Aviation Watch: Why Boeing Pilot's Indictment Was Misguided

  

  Criminal fraud charges against test pilot Mark Forkner related to the Boeing 737 crashes — charges of which he was recently acquitted — appear to have been an effort to whitewash the failures of Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, and highlight that civil remedies are a better solution in such cases, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.