Construction

Expert Analysis

• Now Is The Time To Go Digital With Compliance Training

  

  To properly meet the U.S. Department of Justice's latest corporate compliance expectations and adapt to the current remote working environment, consider collaborating with a client on an e-learning solution tailored to its employees, says Alexander Holtan at Eversheds Sutherland.

• Overcoming The Pandemic's Hurdles To Pro Bono Work

  

  Sarah McLean at Shearman & Sterling looks at how attorneys and law firms can partner with nonprofits to leverage their collective resources, sharpen their legal skills and beat the unique pandemic-induced challenges to providing free legal services to low-income individuals.

• Opinion

  Trump's Tax Tactics May Be Criminal

  

  Apologists who defend President Donald Trump as having shrewdly exploited legal loopholes by deducting dubious consulting fees from his taxes are ignoring major badges of fraud that would have led the Internal Revenue Service to investigate any other taxpayer, says Daren Firestone at Levy Firestone.

• Best Practices For Presenting Exhibits In A Remote Deposition

  

  In this era of fully remote depositions, attorneys must carefully consider whether they want to deliver exhibits to opposing counsel in advance or on the day of the deposition, and think creatively about the technological resources available to them, say Helene Wasserman and Nathaniel Jenkins at Littler.

• Recent Turmoil Accelerates Evolution Of Homebuilding Trends

  

  Although the pandemic, widespread protests and West Coast wildfires have presented significant challenges for the homebuilding industry, shifting preferences and a steady appetite for new homes continue to drive a strong industry outlook, say Rick Rubin and Will Soper at Fox Rothschild.

• What We Know About How Judicial Bias Can Influence Rulings

  

  The struggle to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg raises the question whether U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges are able to separate their political beliefs and world views from their judicial opinions, with studies in political science and social psychology providing clear answers, says Drury Sherrod at Mattson and Sherrod.

• Law Firm Social Responsibility Strategies In The New Normal

  

  Law firm leaders and marketers should consider several fundamental questions as they develop their corporate social responsibility programs amid the pandemic with reduced available time, money and personnel, including identifying a realistic charitable spending budget and seeking input from firm lawyers, clients and nonprofit partners, says Tina van der Ven at NewStar Media.

• What To Expect On Key Civil Procedure Issues From Barrett

  

  Judge Amy Coney Barrett's prolific opinion writing on the Seventh Circuit reveals a clear picture of what we can expect from this jurist on issues such as state court personal jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants, Article III standing and the application of federal law in diversity actions, says James Wagstaffe at Wagstaffe von Loewenfeldt Busch.

• A Likely Tipping Point For Nonlawyer Ownership Of Law Firms

  

  The Arizona Supreme Court's recent decision to eliminate prohibitions on nonlawyer ownership of law firms may show that the organized bar's long-standing rhetoric that such rules are essential to protecting the legal profession's core values is overblown, say Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law and Bradley Wendel at Cornell Law School.

• A Road Map For Drafting Persuasive Discovery Motions

  

  Best practices that can help litigators write convincing discovery motions include thinking about the audience, addressing a few key questions, and leaving out boilerplate from supporting briefs, says Tom Connally at Hogan Lovells.

• How Congress Can Depoliticize The Supreme Court

  

  Congress has multiple means to take the politics out of federal judicial nominations and restore the independence of the U.S. Supreme Court — three of which can be implemented without a constitutional amendment, says Franklin Amanat at DiCello Levitt.

• 5 Ways Retailers Can Mitigate Product Liability Litigation Risk

  

  While courts sometimes hold retailers liable for injuries caused by products they sold but did not manufacture — as a California appeals court did recently in Bolger v. Amazon — retailers can implement a number of strategies to reduce product liability litigation risk, say Alexandra Cunningham and Elizabeth Reese at Hunton.

• Opinion

  The Case For A Nonpolitical Federal Judiciary

  

  For the last 20 years, at the insistence of both parties, U.S. Supreme Court nominations have been fierce ideological battles — which is bad for the country and bad for the public's perception of the legitimacy of the court, say Judge Eric Moyé, Judge Craig Smith and Winston & Strawn partner Tom Melsheimer.

• The Keys To A Better Privilege Logging Paradigm

  

  Current privilege logging practices to identify what information is being withheld from discovery often lead to costly disputes, so practitioners should adopt a system based on trust and good faith, similar to the presumptions embedded in the business judgment rule for corporate directors and officers, say Kevin Brady at Volkswagen and Charles Ragan and Ted Hiser at Redgrave.

• White House Due Process Memo Could Reform Enforcement

  

  A little-noticed memo recently issued by the Trump administration in response to the pandemic, directing federal agencies to provide greater due process to individuals and companies under regulatory investigation, represents a long-overdue sea change in the way justice is carried out in enforcement proceedings, say Joan Meyer and Norman Bloch at Thompson Hine.