Expert Analysis

Recent legislative efforts to amend the Communications Decency Act and remove Section 230 protection from websites that facilitate sex trafficking are commendable, but the vague language in the proposed legislation could open the door for the plaintiffs’ bar to file vexatious lawsuits against even law-abiding websites, says Charles Harris of Mayer Brown LLP.

There is an Obama antitrust legacy of aggressive enforcement, particularly on mergers, but this legacy is mostly ignored. The antitrust bar should care about this oversight, says Kelsey Shannon of the Lynn Law Firm.

Medical monitoring claims against the U.S. Navy have recently foundered on the shoals of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act’s jurisdictional rules. If affirmed, Giovanni v. U.S. Department of the Navy, a case currently pending appeal to the Third Circuit, will set the Third Circuit on course to split with the Ninth Circuit, say Thomas Manakides and Alexander Swanson of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Recent actions by the S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell highlight growing concerns within the investment community regarding multiclass voting structures. However, it is unlikely these actions will have a uniform impact on every multiclass company, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.

While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in TC Heartland could reduce the number of patent infringement suits filed by patent trolls, patent pools of all types will remain viable vehicles for reducing patent litigation risk, says William Van Curen of Snell & Wilmer LLP.

Recent Bank Secrecy Act enforcement underscores credit unions’ obligations not only to adhere to the rules and regulations, but also to possess a sufficient anti-money laundering compliance program of policies, training and reporting, says former federal prosecutor Timothy Westrick of Treliant Risk Advisors.

Despite the fact-dependent nature of privilege, complicated by the diversity of approaches across jurisdictions, corporations can take effective measures to best protect confidential attorney-client communications and attorney work product relating to internal investigations, say attorneys with Pepper Hamilton LLP.

The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Groshek v. Time Warner Cable is a valuable win for employers, as it provides important guidance as to what does not constitute a concrete injury with respect to the Fair Credit Reporting Act stand-alone disclosure rule, say attorneys with Proskauer Rose LLP.

An outdated legal restriction prohibits foreign ownership or control of U.S. commercial nuclear reactor licenses. Foreign companies nonetheless invest in U.S. reactors, but must partner with U.S. firms, which distorts the marketplace. Properly vetted foreign companies owning U.S. reactor licenses would promote the country's economic interests without endangering security, says John Matthews of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Last month a Florida jury returned a verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., but declined to impose punitive damages. This result underscores the importance and value of a focused punitive damages defense — especially in mass tort contexts where compensatory liability may be difficult to fully avoid, says Mitchell Morris of McGuireWoods LLP.

As August winds down and summer interns transition back to school, some of the workplaces that welcomed interns last spring may wonder if they might face a lawsuit for wages and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. While such lawsuits were trending just a few years ago, several court rulings have put a damper on such litigation, says Shlomo Katz of Brown Rudnick LLP.

David Coale, leader of the appellate practice at Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst LLP, shares his insights into what works — and what does not — when setting up and maintaining a legal blog.

In Dear v. Q Club, a jury in the Southern District of Florida returned a verdict in favor of Q Club, finding that the hotel owner was right to increase its annual maintenance costs. This verdict is important to the condominium hotel industry, as many owners are not collecting an adequate amount of the shared costs at their properties, say Larry Litow of Burr & Forman LLP and Barry Mukamal of KapilaMukamal.

Two recent cases in New York and New Jersey will impact how medical practice transactions should be structured in the future. New Jersey and New York courts may find fraud if they believe the purpose of a contractual agreement or transaction is to extract profits out of a practice, says John Fanburg of Brach Eichler LLC.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that represents the first concrete step toward reforming the regulations that implement the Volcker Rule. The OCC’s willingness to issue the ANPR reflects a forward-thinking approach that will have a significant long-term impact on financial market participants, say attorneys with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.

As a new associate faced with vexing facts and unfavorable case law, I confidently told a senior partner that there was no way to win. The partner's response taught me something vital about the legal profession, and reflected the wisdom of Willy Wonka's "105 percent" formula, says Thomas Ciarlone Jr. of Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC.

It is not entirely clear whether the Dodd-Frank Act or the Federal Vacancies Reform Act would control succession in the event of Director Richard Cordray’s resignation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But there will be real and significant differences in the operation of the CFPB depending on which statute prevails, say Andrew Sandler and Benjamin Olson of Buckley Sandler LLP.

​In a dramatic turn of events, the British security researcher who stopped the WannaCry malware attack has been indicted in the U.S. for creating and selling the Kronos malware. But it is an open question whether the indictment fails to allege a sufficient nexus between Marcus Hutchins and the U.S. for purposes of the Fifth Amendment, says Alex Berengaut of Covington & Burling LLP.

The impact of the Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Jones v. Waffle House may be far-reaching, as it has significantly widened the circuit split over the "wholly groundless" exception to arbitrability clauses, and has added persuasive authority that could sway undecided circuits to join in rejecting that exception, say attorneys with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.