Expert Analysis

• Okla. Reforms Will Curb Oil, Gas Royalty Litigation Risk

  

  Recent amendments to Oklahoma's Production Revenue Standards Act — the most comprehensive in decades — raise the stakes for true noncompliance with the state's oil and gas royalty payment framework, while offering operators clearer rules, defined interest boundaries and predictable exits from prolonged suspense situations, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

• Why Highly Specialized Experts May Risk Exclusion At Trial

  

  Expert witnesses with highly specific areas of focus may be vulnerable to exclusion in court, making it important for attorneys to check how potential witnesses' qualifications can be bolstered by their publications and other professional activities, say Evan Weisberg and Christopher Cunio at Hunton, and Kevin Cahill at FTI Consulting.

• Gatorade Suit Offers Lessons On Product Performance Claims

  

  A proposed class action in New York federal court disputing PepsiCo's claim that Gatorade "hydrates better than water" presents a broad challenge to the way food and beverage companies communicate product benefits — and the risks that arise when marketing claims outpace the evidence supporting them, says Pejman Javaheri at Juris Law Group.

• Steps For Employers After 7th Circ. BIPA Retroactivity Ruling

  

  The Seventh Circuit's recent ruling in Clay v. Union Pacific sharply limits per-scan statutory damages theories in pending Biometric Information Privacy Act cases by retroactively applying a 2024 amendment, but employers should not mistake the holding for a broad safe harbor, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

• Drawing A Line Between Settlement Pressure And Extortion

  

  U.S. v. Luo, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, may force courts to address anew when settlement negotiations become criminal extortion, particularly in the age of easily fabricated digital evidence, says attorney Denis Kiely.

• Recent Cases Clarify When Risk Disclosures Trigger Liability

  

  Several recent decisions highlight circumstances where risk disclosures can constitute actionable misrepresentations, providing clarity on how the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act's safe harbor and the common-law bespeaks caution doctrine apply to risk disclosures, and how publicly traded companies can guard against such claims, say attorneys at Katten.

• Securities Class Cert., 5 Years After Goldman Ruling

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's 2021 decision in Goldman Sachs Group v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System has not only armed defendants in securities cases with more arguments in individual class certification fights, but may also be providing greater certainty and finality in class certification battles, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Risk Reduction Lessons For PE Firms From PowerSchool Suit

  

  A California federal court's recent orders allowing claims against Bain Capital to proceed based on a data breach at its subsidiary PowerSchool indicate that private equity firms need to strategically approach acquisition activities to avoid cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

• Why Ultra-Processed Foods May Be The Next Big Mass Tort

  

  With multiple federal lawsuits filed already this year over the alleged harms caused by ultra-processed foods, and policymakers targeting UPFs for increasingly strict regulation, the sector exhibits the same structural characteristics identified historically in major mass torts, say Ruth Levy at Womble Bond and Elizabeth Epes at Financial Asset Recovery Analytics.

• Class Actions Have Entered The Fight Over Prediction Markets

  

  While disputes brought by states over the regulation of prediction markets have claimed most of the headlines, class actions brought by ordinary citizens, particularly in Kentucky and Massachusetts, represent another avenue to challenge the legality of the prediction markets themselves, says Laura Chiu at DarrowEverett.

• Series

  Founding An Autism Academy Made Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Starting a nonprofit autism school with no building, no funding model and no guarantee that families would trust us taught me the importance of mission, patience and purpose — lessons that sharpened my practice and showed how meaningful work outside the office can make lawyers better, says Phillip Russell at Ogletree Deakins.

• Why Private Sector Should Watch Gov't DEI Firing Class Bid

  

  Former federal employees' class certification attempt in Fell v. Trump is worth following, as their challenge of the Office of Personnel Management's elimination of DEI positions raises questions about commonality in employee classes and protections for nonminority advocacy that reach beyond the public sector, says Shaun Southworth at Southworth PC.

• Opinion

  Rule Of Law Requires Gov't Engagement With Bar, Not Retreat

  

  A federal agency's absence from national and local bar conferences, most recently illustrated by the U.S. Department of Justice's withdrawal from a New York City Bar Association white collar conference, disserves the bar, the government lawyers themselves and, ultimately, the administration of justice, says Muhammad Faridi at Linklaters.

• How Boards Can Shrink The AI Governance Gap

  

  While companies have overwhelmingly embraced artificial intelligence, most lack corresponding governance structures and director-level fluency to oversee these programs, highlighting the importance of board and executive supervision to keep pace with growing litigation risk, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

• The Paradoxical Duty To Adopt AI When You Can't Bill For It

  

  Both billing for hours saved using artificial intelligence and preserving billable time by not adopting AI may violate rules of professional conduct, but until bar associations' ethics rules catch up to this emerging economic dilemma, firms must decide how to adjust fee structures themselves, says Ines Lassalle at Peyrot & Associates.