Expert Analysis

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  Playing Magic: The Gathering Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  The competitive card game Magic: The Gathering offers me a training ground for the strategic thinking skills crucial to litigation, challenging me to adapt to oft-updated rules, analyze text as complicated as any statute and anticipate my opponent’s next moves, says Christopher Smith at Lash Goldberg.

• Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

  

  An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

• Managing Tort Risk After Justices' War Zone Immunity Ruling

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Hencely v. Fluor changes the tort landscape for battlefield contractors, whose liability for employee injury will now turn on compliance with battlefield directives — a question that will require discovery into highly sensitive details of combat operations and military decision-making, says Warren Bianchi at Fluet.

• Steps To Consider As DOJ Launches Fraud Division

  

  The establishment this month of the National Fraud Enforcement Division within the U.S. Department of Justice is a significant reorganization that suggests an increase in enforcement activity involving federally funded programs but leaves a number of important questions unanswered, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

• What We Did And Didn't Learn From DOJ's 1st Illegal DEI Deal

  

  IBM's recent $17 million deal with the U.S. Department of Justice marks the first resolved False Claims Act enforcement action under the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, and while it validates the core of the government's FCA antidiscrimination enforcement road map, it leaves its most aggressive theories untested, say attorneys at Nutter.

• New DEI Clauses Will Reshape FCA Exposure For Contractors

  

  As federal agencies mandate new procurement language aimed at curbing contractors' DEI practices and embedding False Claims Act materiality concepts into antidiscrimination obligations, contractors should account for both compliance and litigation risks before signing, and understand the legal constraints that govern FCA materiality, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

• DOD Contractors May Be Overlooking Import Duty Exemption

  

  In today's high-tariff environment, defense contractors and subcontractors should consider a nontraditional application of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement’s duty-free exemption clause that might substantially reduce their import costs, says Jason Monahan at Honigman.

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  Officiating Football Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Though they may seem to have little in common, officiating football has sharpened many of the same skills that define effective lawyering in management-side labor and employment: preparation, judgment, composure, credibility and ability to make difficult decisions in real time, says Josh Nadreau at Fisher Phillips.

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  Law School's Missed Lessons: How To Draft Pleadings

  

  Most law school graduates step into their first jobs without ever having drafted a complaint, answer, motion or other type of pleading, but that gap can be closed by understanding the strategy embedded in every filing, writing with clarity and purpose, and seeking feedback at every step, says Eric Yakaitis at Haug Barron.

• E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On ESI Control

  

  Several recent federal court decisions have perpetuated a split over what constitutes “control” of electronically stored information — with judges divided on whether the standard should turn on a party's legal right or practical ability to obtain the information, say attorneys at Sidley.

• 2 Discovery Rulings Break With Heppner On AI Privilege Issue

  

  While a New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner suggests that some litigants’ communications with AI tools are discoverable, two other recent federal court decisions demonstrate that such interactions generally qualify for work-product protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Joshua Dunn at Brown Rudnick.

• Bid Protest Spotlight: Evidence, Tailored Talks, Materiality

  

  In this month's bid protest roundup, Brian Doll at MoFo delves into three recent decisions from the Government Accountability Office about the evidentiary standards necessary to sustain a protest, discussions tailored to individual proposals, and misrepresentation claims involving factors irrelevant to the agency's decision.

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  Isshin-Ryu Karate Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  My involvement in martial arts, specifically Isshin-ryu, which has principles rooted in the eight codes of karate, has been one of the most foundational in the development of my personality, and particularly my approach to challenges — including in my practice of law, says Kaitlyn Stone at Barnes & Thornburg.

• Fraud Enforcement, Sentencing Face Unusual Convergence

  

  The Trump administration’s newly created task force to eliminate fraud and the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent proposals to scale back certain elements of the federal sentencing framework seem to point in opposite directions, creating a collision of policy priorities that may reshape how fraud cases are charged, negotiated and sentenced for years to come, says David Tarras at Tarras Defense.

• Defense Contractor Tips For Commercial Solutions Openings

  

  Defense contractors interested in participating in the Army’s recently announced commercial solutions opening should familiarize themselves with the process, which promotes flexibility but requires prudence in preparing proposals, negotiating award terms, and crafting supporting documents such as teaming agreements and subcontracts, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.