Expert Analysis

• Series

  Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

  

  Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

• 11th Circ. Ruling Reflects Shift In Digital Consent Frameworks

  

  The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Tejon v. Zeus Networks that a browsewrap terms-of-service hyperlink was insufficiently conspicuous to bind a consumer to an arbitration agreement could accelerate a broader industry shift to clickwrap as the baseline for enforceable digital consent, say attorneys at Sheppard.

• Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

  

  In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings from cases involving allegations of internet data misuse, consumer fraud claims, immigration, insurance and First Amendment violation claims.

• Justices' FCC Fine Ruling May Weaken Agency Leverage

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T upheld the commission's forfeiture framework as consistent with Jarkesy, but it is also likely to reduce the effectiveness of the commission’s forfeiture proceedings as a collection and deterrence tool, say attorneys at Venable.

• 8 Ways 2026's Market Divide Is Rewriting Real Estate Risk

  

  As construction activity increasingly concentrates in data centers, healthcare and other resilient sectors, real estate developers and their counsel in the second half of 2026 should consider earlier risk allocation and more protective contract terms, and expect greater pressure on labor, pricing and infrastructure, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

• 2 Prediction Market Cases Will Test Insider Trading Theory

  

  Prosecutors in two recent Southern District of New York cases have filed separate charges against two defendants who used confidential information gathered from each employer to place prediction market bets, but each prosecution must overcome different legal hurdles established by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Second Circuit, says John Siffert at Lankler Siffert.

• Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

  

  An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

• Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

  

  Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

• The Future Of WDTX Patent Litigation After Judge Albright

  

  With U.S. District Judge Christopher Wolfe set to take over much of Judge Alan Albright's patent infringement docket in the Western District of Texas later this year, attorneys should prepare for potential differences in Judge Wolfe's approach to the court's high volume of patent litigation, say attorneys at Sidley Austin.

• 3rd Circ. Decision Sheds Light On BIPA Bank Exemption

  

  The Third Circuit's recent decision in McGoveran v. Amazon illuminates how courts are extending the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act's financial institution carveout beyond banks and insurers to technology vendors and other businesses handling biometric data, a defendant-friendly shift that still casts uncertainty around BIPA's enforcement, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

• Constructing AI Compliance Plans As State Laws Diverge

  

  With Colorado, Connecticut and the federal government recently announcing wildly different approaches to artificial intelligence regulation, creating a workable compliance program means addressing overlapping obligations using shared systems rather than separate silos, say attorneys at Ogletree.

• As Quantum Computing Evolves, So Do Antitrust Risks

  

  Amid quantum computing's increased strategic importance there are five potential antitrust fault lines that may arise not only between quantum developers, but also within and across the layers of the stack as the industry matures, say attorneys at Proskauer.

• Opinion

  State Courts Must Be Gatekeepers Of Expert Testimony

  

  Based on my experience in the state judiciary, emulating federal courts' role as gatekeepers of expert witness testimony would help state court judges maintain the appearance of impartiality and assist juries, thus enhancing the overall confidence people have in their justice system, says Lorie Gildea at Greenberg Traurig.

• 5 Key Factors Behind USPTO's Inter Partes Review Decisions

  

  Though U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has drawn criticism for failing to explain his reasoning in inter partes review decisions, his recent precedential order in Magnolia v. Kurin provides five important insights into his decision-making process, says Christopher Loh at Venable.

• Weighing The Implications Of The Anthropic Export Directive

  

  The Trump administration recently issued an export control directive against Anthropic to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, representing one of the first uses of the regime against a frontier large language model in widespread commercial distribution, says attorney Sohan Dasgupta.