Pennsylvania

Expert Analysis

• Series

  Judging A Book: Kendall Reviews 'On The Jury Trial'

  

  As someone who spent half her days last year on the bench presiding over trials, I often find the alarmist calls to revamp the jury trial system a tad puzzling — why is making trial lawyers better rarely discussed? Then along comes a refreshing little manual called "On the Jury Trial: Principles and Practices for Effective Advocacy," by Thomas Melsheimer and Judge Craig Smith, says U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northe... (continued)

• Lessons For Data Breach Lawyers From Product Liability

  

  Lawyers in data breach litigation can learn from their contemporaries in more established fields such as product liability, where the law has developed well-established approaches to many of the same issues that will arise in the merits stage of data breach cases, says Michael Ruttinger of Tucker Ellis LLP.

• Do I Need New Trial Counsel? 9 Questions To Ask

  

  Initial selection of defense counsel is usually made at the outset of litigation, long before it is known whether the case may actually proceed to trial. Attorneys with McDermott Will & Emery discuss questions in-house lawyers should consider when deciding whether their litigation counsel should remain lead trial counsel in a case proceeding to trial.

• Appointment Of CFPB Director Causes Rift Among State AGs

  

  With challenges to the president’s pick for acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the federal courts, opposing contingents of state attorneys general have weighed in with filings as amici curiae. The controversies have centered largely on whether the Consumer Financial Protection Act or the Federal Vacancies Reform Act controls the appointment, say Stephen Piepgrass and Robert Claiborne Jr. of Troutman Sanders LLP.

• Lessons From President Trump's Failed Judicial Nominations

  

  On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced 12 new judicial nominations. We will soon discover whether these candidates learned from the mistakes of the three nominees forced to withdraw in December after bipartisan concerns arose over their qualifications, says Arun Rao, executive VP of Investigative Group International.

• 3rd Circ. Confirms Limits Of The Rooker-Feldman Doctrine

  

  The Third Circuit's recent decision in Philadelphia Entertainment & Development Partners limited the reach of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine as a defense to bankruptcy avoidance actions. The court’s reasoning, however, has implications that go beyond bankruptcy, say Steven Wilamowsky and Sara Ghadiri of Chapman and Cutler LLP.

• How To Control Data As Technology Complicates E-Discovery

  

  While technology is making certain aspects of e-discovery faster and easier, it is also creating new challenges as quickly as we can provide solutions. The good news is that there are concrete steps businesses can take to address those challenges, says Peter Ostrega of Consilio LLC.

• 3 Antitrust Cases Drug Companies Should Watch This Year

  

  Pending cases involving biosimilar competition, the Noerr-Pennington doctrine and claims brought by state attorneys general highlight the need for pharmaceutical companies to assess the antitrust implications of their strategies, say Chad Peterman and Carl Minniti of Paul Hastings LLP.

• 2017 Health Care Enforcement Review: Materiality Under FCA

  

  As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court's Escobar decision triggered a spate of litigation over how to apply the materiality standard in False Claims Act cases. Throughout 2017, the lower courts built upon the standard, but we expect courts to continue to grapple with the issue through 2018, say Laurence Freedman and Jordan Cohen of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.

• What It Means If States Can Set Medicaid Work Requirements

  

  In a long-anticipated move, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced that it will allow states to implement Medicaid work requirements, representing a major shift in the agency's policy. However, the move will only impact a small percentage of the Medicaid population, say Caroline Brown and Philip Peisch of Covington & Burling LLP.