Expert Analysis

• Series

  Being In The Peace Corps Made Me a Better Lawyer

  

  When I served in the Peace Corps, the people of the West African village where I was stationed helped me acclimate to my new surroundings and enabled me to develop problem-solving, teamwork and empathy skills that have bolstered my legal practice far beyond the ability to offer technical advice, says Brian Bewley at McGuireWoods.

• Remote Work Ruling Clarifies Calif. Law Limits, With Caveats

  

  Although a California state appeals court's recent decision in Saberin v. Alation confirmed that California employment laws do not operate extraterritorially merely because a company is headquartered in the state, employers shouldn't construe this as authorization to relocate decision-makers to circumvent statutory obligations, says Hallie Aylesworth at Sheppard.

• What $5.7B Apple Verdict Reveals About Patent Risk

  

  A California federal jury's recent $5.7 billion damages verdict against Apple exemplifies the enormous financial exposure that can occur when patent-infringing features are incorporated into many units, though the outcome is ultimately dependent on the strength of the underlying infringement, validity and damages theories, says Michael Dorfman at Barclay Damon.

• FTC's BOTS Act Blitz Raises Stakes For Ticket Resellers

  

  Recent lawsuits and enforcement actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission under the Better Online Ticket Sales Act signal sustained ticket industry enforcement, but industry actors can reduce risk by screening practices and partnerships related to ticket purchasing, and evaluating the scale of their ticket operations, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

• AGs' Paramount Settlement Reflects States' Growing Influence

  

  The recent California federal court approval of the California v. Paramount Skydance settlement illustrates how state attorneys general are gaining new independence and influence, and companies must account for state enforcement when assessing merger risks ahead of a deal's closing, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

• 5 Prediction Market Queries For Every League, Athletic Dept.

  

  The NFL's recent amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split over regulating prediction markets and operators like Kalshi raises important, enterprisewide governance questions for leagues, teams and athletic departments, and highlights that regulatory oversight and institutional integrity are related but distinct, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

• Protecting Trade Secrets When AI Agents Go Rogue

  

  In light of a recent incident in which artificial intelligence agents compromised parts of Hugging Face's production systems, and the uncertain court guidance surrounding liability in such situations, companies looking to update their trade secret protections should carefully examine agents' permissions and technical limitations, says Matt Nealon at Marshall Gerstein.

• Tips For Employers As Calif. Court Limits Harassment Liability

  

  Doe v. Wells Fargo appears to be the first published California appellate decision to determine that the harasser must have supervisory authority over the plaintiff to trigger strict liability, underscoring the value of accurately documenting job roles and reporting lines, says Ellen Connelly Cohen at Call & Jensen.

• Planning For D&O Exclusions As Risks Mount For Banks

  

  Banks should scrutinize directors and officers exclusions for artificial intelligence, disclosure and cybersecurity risks during policy renewal negotiations to preserve coverage amid the current uptick in insurer scrutiny and related shareholder litigation, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

• Clippers Salary Cap Probe Offers Investigation Tips For Cos.

  

  The NBA's recent investigation into whether the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented salary cap rules offers an unusually detailed look at how a significant organizational probe was conducted and how its findings were presented, offering practical lessons for companies conducting their own investigations, say attorneys at Wiley.

• Calif. PFAS Pesticide Reporting Law Raises Cos.' Legal Risks

  

  A new California law requiring public reporting of how registered pesticides containing intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are used across the state could increase regulatory scrutiny — and provide a road map for litigation involving growers, applicators, distributors, pesticide manufacturers and upstream chemical suppliers, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

• How A New Case Redefines The Birthright Citizenship Battle

  

  After the U.S. Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling last term in Trump v. Barbara, the Trump administration issued a new executive order attempting to limit the categories of individuals eligible for this status — and a pending court challenge to the new order shows where the legal battle lines are being redrawn, say attorneys at Fragomen.

• Terminix Deal Shows Risks Of Calif. Aggregating Local Lapses

  

  California district attorneys’ novel use of an unfair competition law to merge unrelated local enforcement matters against pest control providers Rentokil and Terminix into one recently settled statewide case demonstrates that lack of adequate communication between facilities and corporate compliance managers may cause isolated regulatory violations to snowball into larger challenges, say attorneys at Kazmarek Mowrey.

• What Lawyers Should Know Before Accepting Crypto Payment

  

  As clients increasingly request to pay legal fees, retainers and escrow funds using cryptocurrency, lawyers should consider how only a handful of state bar authorities have addressed the issue with varying ethics opinions, as well as the related questions that no authority has yet answered, says attorney Felix Shipkevich.

• How To Use AI In Employment Contract Drafting

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Before using artificial intelligence to draft employment contracts, law firms and employers must assess practical ethical guardrails, appropriate use cases, core risk areas and validation workflows, says Samuel Mitchell at Smith Gambrell.