Expert Analysis

• The Patent Circuit: Minding Patents' Family Histories

  

  The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Epic Tech v. Pen-Tech highlights the relevance of patent families in determining whether to maintain an ongoing patent infringement litigation, and the sanctions risk that may stem from failing to account for patent relatives, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

• How AI Could Help Judges Spot Their Own Biases

  

  In close cases where there’s room for discretion, artificial intelligence could challenge judges’ implicit biases by running counterfactual tests at scale — but any judicial use of such tools would need guardrails, say Arnold Peter at Peter Law and Nancy Rapoport at University of Nevada.

• Online Presence Complicates Defamation's Public Figure Test

  

  Recent defamation cases demonstrate that online presence can affect how courts distinguish between public and private figures, so litigants should consider several questions when evaluating potential claims and defenses where public figure status may affect the litigation, such as whether there is a connection between the plaintiff's public activities and the alleged defamation, say attorneys at Brown Rudnick.

• 3 Strategies To Reduce AI Sycophancy In Legal Work

  

  The tendency of generative artificial intelligence models to tell users what they want to hear can reinforce attorneys’ confirmation bias when testing the strength of arguments, and it can’t simply be prompted away — but a few practices can help mitigate it, says Michael Ott at Ice Miller.

• Open Issues After 2nd Circ.'s Airport Phone Search Ruling

  

  While the Second Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Alisigwe decision confirms border agents' broad authority to conduct routine manual cellphone searches at ports of entry, significant questions remain about more wide-ranging forensic searches at the border, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

• 2nd Circ. EFAA Ruling Shifts Employer Litigation Strategy

  

  In Diaz-Roa v. Hermes Law, the Second Circuit recently held that, under the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, employers can't carve out nonharassment claims and send them to arbitration, which has implications for discovery, litigation costs and resolution strategy in EFAA-covered disputes, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

• 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.

• Rebuttal

  North Carolina's Funding Ban Is An Outlier, Not A Model

  

  A recent Law360 guest article argues that North Carolina's litigation funding ban should be adopted by other states, but that analysis overstates what North Carolina did and misjudges how the law will travel, says Dai Wai Chin Feman at the International Legal Finance Association.

• SEC's Insider Trading Duty Rule May Face Loper Bright Test

  

  In U.S. v. Jennings, pending in New Jersey federal court, the defense has an opportunity to challenge the rule defining the boundaries of the misappropriation theory of insider trading under Loper Bright, as the only litigated case testing the rule's limits relied on Chevron deference, 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.

• 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.

• Series

  Mentalism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Convincing strangers I can read their minds may seem like an unusual second career for a legal practitioner, but both disciplines share several important requirements, including trust and preparation, says Warren Biro at Manatt.

• Why And How To Build A Neurodiversity-Informed Practice

  

  By better understanding neurodiversity and implementing simple accommodations for clients with autism, ADHD or learning differences, attorneys can build stronger relationships with those who may otherwise struggle to obtain and benefit from legal services, while developing good habits that will benefit everyone they represent, says Ting Cheung at Sanford Heisler.

• AG Watch: Texas Takes A Lone State Stand Against Tech Cos.

  

  A look at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent actions against Meta Platforms and Amazon.com illustrates how Texas is distancing itself from multistate coordination, offering practitioners a crucial perspective on navigating individual state actions amid coordinated attorney general litigation, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

• Religious Accommodation Lessons From Recent EEOC Focus

  

  With several recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforcement actions focusing on religious accommodations, employers should identify the actual burden an accommodation imposes, distinguish operational hardship from co-workers' objections, and pay attention to how the accommodation is implemented, says Crystal Banse at Spencer West.