Expert Analysis

• Virginia 'Rocket Docket' Slowdown Is Likely A Blip

  

  After being the fastest or second-fastest federal civil trial court for 14 straight years, the Eastern District of Virginia has slid to 18th place, but the rocket docket’s statistical tumble doesn't mean the district no longer maintains a speedy civil docket, says Robert Tata at Hunton.

• High Court Underscores DOJ's Role In Policing FCA Litigation

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Polansky v. Executive Health Resources reaffirms that the government has final say in False Claims Act cases, allowing for meaningful guardrails that deter private litigators from seeking to regulate industries that Congress has delegated to expert administrative agencies, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• 5 Management Tips To Keep Law Firm Merger Talks Moving

  

  Many law firm mergers that make solid business sense still fall apart due to the costs and frustrations of inefficient negotiations, but firm managers can increase the chance of success by effectively planning and executing merger discussions, say Lisa Smith and Kristin Stark at Fairfax Associates.

• What 3rd Circ. Niaspan Decision Means For Class Cert.

  

  The Third Circuit's recent denial of class certification in the Niaspan antitrust case underscores its particularly stringent understanding of the implicit ascertainability requirement, which further fuels confusion in the courts, threatens uneven results and increases the risk of forum shopping, says Michael Lazaroff at Rimon Law.

• The Texas Two-Step May Be Losing Steam

  

  The Texas Two-Step is a powerful bankruptcy strategy that has been used in recent high-profile cases, including Johnson & Johnson’s talc unit bankruptcy case, but ongoing debate and legal challenges raise the question of whether this maneuver is losing reliability, say Brendan Best and Justin Allen at Varnum.

• New NJ Law Creates Flexibility For Corporate Conversion

  

  Come November, the new conversion provisions in New Jersey's recently enacted S.B. 142 will provide corporations and LLCs with additional flexibility in structuring certain types of common business and investment transactions, representing an important step for the incorporation of businesses in the state, say attorneys at McCarter & English.

• 3 Abortion Enforcement Takeaways 1 Year After Dobbs

  

  A year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, confusion continues to abound amid the quagmire of state-level enforcement risks, federal efforts to protect reproductive health care, and fights over geolocation data, say Elena Quattrone and Sarah Hall at Epstein Becker.

• Pay Transparency Laws Complicate Foreign Labor Cert.

  

  State and local laws adopted to help close the gender pay gap pose challenges for U.S. companies recruiting foreign nationals, as they try to navigate a thicket of pay transparency laws without running afoul of federally regulated recruitment practices, say Stephanie Pimentel and Asha George at Berry Appleman.

• Rethinking In-Office Attendance For Associate Retention

  

  The hybrid office attendance model doesn't work for all employees, but it does for many — and balancing these two groups is important for associate retention and maintaining a BigLaw firm culture that supports all attorneys, says Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.

• Opinion

  ALI, Bar Groups Need More Defense Engagement For Balance

  

  The American Law Institute and state bar committees have a special role in the development of the law — but if they do not do a better job of including attorneys from the defense bar, they will come to be viewed as special interest advocacy groups, says Mark Behrens at Shook Hardy.

• Murdaugh Trials Offer Law Firms Fraud Prevention Reminders

  

  As the fraud case against Alex Murdaugh continues to play out, the evidence and narrative presented at his murder trial earlier this year may provide lessons for law firms on implementing robust internal controls that can detect and prevent similar kinds of fraud, say Travis Casner and Helga Zauner at Weaver and Tidwell.

• What Courts Say About Workers' Comp And Medical Marijuana

  

  Whether employers and insurance carriers are required or allowed to reimburse employees for out-of-pocket costs for treating work-related injuries with medical marijuana has spawned a debate, and the state courts that have addressed this matter are split on a number of issues, say Alexandra Hassell and Anthony Califano at Seyfarth.

• How Electric Vehicles Will Affect Land Use And Development

  

  The increasing use of electric vehicles will bring significant issues for cities and real estate developers to consider, as cities will require substantially more infrastructure to meet electric vehicles' charging needs, says John Lushis at Norris McLaughlin.

• Title IX Damages Outlook 1 Year After High Court Ruling

  

  Federal courts have been extending the holding of last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision, Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, to disallow emotional distress damages under Title IX, but students and educators suing educational institutions for gender discrimination can still recover monetary damages under alternate theories, say attorneys at Sanford Heisler.

• Health Staffing Shortages May Draw More Antitrust Scrutiny

  

  Though courts have been historically hesitant to police hospital staffing under antitrust laws, recent staffing shortages in the health care industry have created a stronger need to preserve competition in the market and will likely result in crackdown efforts from courts, say Dylan Newton and Michael Horn at Archer & Greiner.