Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  Humanism Should Replace Formalism In The Courts

  

  The worrying tendency for judges to say "it's just the law talking, not me" in American decision writing has coincided with an historic decline in respect for the courts, but this trend can be reversed if courts develop understandable legal standards and justify them in human terms, says Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.

• Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy

  

  As clients increasingly impose requirements for attorney hiring and retention related to diversity and secondment, law firms must remember their ethical duties, as well as broader issues of lawyer development, culture and firm integrity, to maintain their independence while meaningfully responding to social changes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

• As EVs Surge, Regs For Charger Warranties Remain Murky

  

  Even as electric vehicles move rapidly into the mainstream, extended warranties for EV chargers do not always fit clearly into existing regulatory categories — but how such contracts are classified can have serious implications for the companies that issue and sell them, say attorneys at Locke Lord.

• Opinion

  Federal Judge's Amici Invitation Is A Good Idea, With Caveats

  

  An Arkansas federal judge’s recent order — inviting amicus briefs in every civil case before him — has merit, but its implementation may raise practical questions about the role of junior attorneys, economic considerations and other issues, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.

• Fox Ex-Producer Case Is A Lesson In Joint Representation

  

  A former Fox News producer's allegations that the network's lawyers pressured her to give misleading testimony in Fox's defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems should remind lawyers representing a nonparty witness that the rules of joint representation apply, says Jared Marx at HWG.

• And Now A Word From The Panel: Baseball And MDLs

  

  With the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation meeting on MLB opening day, Alan Rothman at Sidley explores connections between the national pastime and MDL, including sports-related proceedings in the areas of antitrust, personal injury, and marketing and sales.

• Defamation Alternatives For Suing Hoax Social Media Users

  

  A recent proliferation of false or hoax social media content has targeted public figures and corporate accounts, and for plaintiffs seeking redress there are three types of claims that may be less-risky alternatives to defamation and libel litigation, say Charles Schafer and Ross Kloeber at Sidley.

• Cellphone Ruling Illuminates Divide On TCPA Interpretation

  

  A North Carolina magistrate judge's reasoning in Gaker v. Q3M — which said the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's do-not-call prohibitions do not include cellphones, contrary to the the Federal Communications Commission's stance — is interesting to consider, particularly for its textualist reading, says Ellen Berge at Venable.

• New Rulings Show Job Duties Crucial To Equal Pay Act Claims

  

  Two recent decisions from the Fourth and Tenth Circuits emphasize that it is an employee's actual responsibilities, and not just their job title, that are critical to a pay discrimination claim under the Equal Pay Act and can offer some lessons for employers in avoiding and defending these claims, say Fiona Ong and Lindsey White at Shawe Rosenthal.

• How Does The 4th Circ. Define A Hostile Work Environment?

  

  In Laurent-Workman v. Wormuth, the Fourth Circuit recently showed an expanded view of what a hostile work environment looks like, an analysis that stands in sharp contrast to the circuit court's prior decisions, say Kirsten Eriksson and Elisabeth Hall at Miles & Stockbridge.

• How Proposed BOEM Regs Will Boost Offshore Wind Projects

  

  Newly proposed offshore wind project regulations from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management represent a substantial regulatory shift that will improve transparency around the timing of lease auctions, streamline approval and oversight for projects in development, and provide needed guidance for future projects, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

• And Now A Word From The Panel: 2022 MDLs By The Numbers

  

  A highlight of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's practice during 2022 was the significant percentage increase of new MDL petitions granted — and given how many actions and plaintiffs may be involved in a single MDL, the true impact of this increase may be even greater than it appears, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.

• The IRS' APA Rulemaking Journey: There And Back Again

  

  Attorneys at Dentons examine recent challenges in which taxpayers successfully argued Internal Revenue Service rulemaking was invalid under the Administrative Procedure Act, how tax exceptionalism and U.S. Supreme Court regulatory deference prompted such challenges, and similar challenges the agency will likely face following this line of cases.

• 4th Circ. Disability Ruling Shows ERISA Procedure Flaw

  

  The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Tekmen v. Reliance Standard that summary judgment was inapt highlights how summary judgment has been misused in Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation — and may help restore civil procedure norms in such lawsuits, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

• How Defense Attys Can Stem The Tide Of Runaway Verdicts

  

  The latest example of a so-called runaway verdict comes from a Georgia jury’s $1.7 billion award against the defendant in Hill v. Ford Motor, highlighting for defense attorneys a trend that should be resisted through better communication with clients and colleagues about the resources and strategies needed to succeed at trial, says Jeffrey Melcher at Dickinson Wright.