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.

Opinion

PTAB Panels Should Revamp Their IPR Merits Decisions

In light of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires' recent announcement about returning merits institution determinations to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the implementing framework should strengthen PTAB panels' responsibility for the benefit of both petitioners and patent owners, says Brandon Theiss at AddyHart.

Patent Eligibility Bulletin: Claim Solutions, Not Results

In the third quarter of the year, two Federal Circuit decisions illustrated that claims sharing the same disclosure can fall on opposite sides of the patent eligibility line, depending on the specific nuances of tech patents' claims, says Reilley Keane at Banner Witcoff.

Abbott FCA Deal Shows Enforcement Adequacy Quandaries

Abbott Laboratories’ recent False Claims Act resolution illustrates several tricky questions that both prosecutors and defense counsel must address when weighing whether a civil enforcement action alone adequately addresses allegedly wrongful conduct, says James Koukios at MoFo.

New DNA Screening Standard Has No Clear Playbook

Although the government has not yet released promised guidance intended to support its new standards for screening mail-order DNA, companies should not read this as a reprieve from the Oct. 13 compliance deadline because the delay shifts enforcement risk to statutes that need no new authority, including false statements, the False Claims Act and fraud, says Ashwin Ram at Buchalter.

Series

Mich. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

We are at an inflection point for Michigan financial services law, with a state Supreme Court decision recently overruling more than 25 years of precedent on the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, and pending legislation that could significantly shift the regulatory landscape, say attorneys and advisers at Dykema.

Testing AI's Promise For Large-Scale Document Review

Our document-review comparison of attorneys' responsiveness and issue coding decisions versus predictions generated by artificial intelligence across 1,600 documents suggests that these tools can offer a reasonable and reliable basis for improved discovery workflows, provided lawyers understand where guardrails are needed, say attorneys at Redgrave.

AG Watch: Va. Vape Product Regulations Enter A New Phase

Virginia's new vape enforcement framework carries important implications related to product eligibility and certification requirements for businesses operating in the marketplace, representing the culmination of several years of legislative action, regulatory development, litigation and interagency planning, says Chuck Slemp at Cozen O'Connor.

Navigating A Key Inflection Point In Biosimilar Sector M&A

As biosimilar mergers and acquisitions gain notice amid U.S. Food and Drug Administration reforms, a maturing patent framework and a looming patent cliff, companies diversifying into the higher-growth biologics space should align their regulatory, intellectual property and transactional strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.

AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

FDA Bill Shows Risk Of Inexact Statute Text, Post-Loper Bright

A recent House bill to amend the Food and Drug Administration's drug preclusion framework reveals the increased importance of precision when drafting statutory rules in a post-Loper Bright landscape, as several minor errors in the text could lock in unintended results that will be difficult to repeal, say attorneys at Venable.

$95M Nev. Case Provides Clues On Wound Care Enforcement

Federal prosecutors’ recent U.S. v. Dubin indictment, charging a Nevada physician with healthcare fraud over an alleged $95 million Medicare billing scheme involving amniotic wound allografts, provides a clearer picture of an increasingly data-driven enforcement strategy that follows the entire wound care transaction, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

Beware Daubert Pitfalls With Technical Experts In Patent Suits

Recent decisions on Daubert motions in patent cases show that courts will exclude expert testimony that lacks a solid factual or methodological foundation, regardless of the expert's credentials — underscoring the importance of demonstrating reliability, say attorneys at Steptoe.

4 Tips On Expert Gatekeeping From J&J Talc Deal

Johnson & Johnson's successful campaign to exclude plaintiff-side oncologist testimony about whether its talcum powder caused ovarian cancer, which prompted the recent resolution of 70,000 claims, offers lessons on how product liability defendants can reshape risk calculation by rigorously applying expert admissibility rules, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.