Trials

Expert Analysis

• Law Firms Must Transition To An Industry Sector Approach

  

  Clients are beginning to expect and even demand that their external lawyers provide advice that is tailored to the client's industry. Aside from this, law firms should want to move toward a sector approach because industry-focused groups are a natural place for cross-practice collaboration to flourish, say Heidi Gardner and Anusia Gillespie of Harvard Law School.

• Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition Strategies For Employers: Part 2

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  In the final part of this article, Marjorie McMahon Obod of Dilworth Paxson LLP addresses Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) deposition tactics, such as preparing a designee, defending the deposition, and reviewing and finalizing the deposition transcript.

• Sham Affidavits In Medical Product Liability: Part 2

  

  When a witness says one thing in a deposition, but later offers an affidavit directly contradicting the prior testimony, with no credible explanation, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the affidavit should be disregarded. James Beck of Reed Smith LLP offers a survey of significant medical product liability cases in which both plaintiffs' experts and plaintiffs themselves have contradicted their own prior statements.

• Series

  Judging A Book: Kozinski Reviews 'The Judge'

  

  In their new book, "The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons," do Ronald Collins and David Skover prove their thesis that hypocrisy is the key to judicial greatness? Some of the examples they present are hard to dispute, says Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit.

• Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition Strategies For Employers: Part 1

  Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor

  

  Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) allows an employee to depose an employer that is a corporation, governmental agency or other organization. Marjorie McMahon Obod of Dilworth Paxson LLP examines the use of depositions under this rule when an employee has sued an employer for a violation of employment law.

• Sham Affidavits In Medical Product Liability: Part 1

  

  In the 20 years since the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed the sham affidavit doctrine — precluding creation of “genuine” factual issues by witnesses contradicting their own previous testimony — it has been important in many medical product liability cases, and practitioners should be aware of significant examples, says James Beck of Reed Smith LLP.

• Financial Crisis Anniversary

  New Post-Recession Metrics For BigLaw Partner Success

  

  After nearly a decade of recession-accelerated change in the legal industry, “merit-based” compensation has largely come to mean measuring attorney success using some combination of origination and working attorney hours metrics. However, there are signs that the real impact of the recession is still around the corner, and that building a book isn’t enough, says Peter Zeughauser of Zeughauser Group.

• Why The Supreme Court Could Rule ALJs Unconstitutional

  

  Following recent federal appeals court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to address the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's use of administrative law judges, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's use of them may require further litigation, say David Perlman and Britt Steckman of Bracewell LLP.

• Opinion

  Time To Lift Student Loan Counseling Restrictions

  

  While it lends more than $100 million each year to our nation’s college students — including law students — the U.S. Department of Education surprisingly limits loan counseling to one-time entrance counseling for first-time student borrowers. Is this rational? asks Christopher Chapman, president of AccessLex Institute, a nonprofit focused on access to legal education.

• Sometimes It Pays To Litigate Against The CFPB

  

  Companies' reluctance to litigate Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims has allowed the bureau to establish a value for its claims based on what it can extract from companies seeking peace rather than what it can prove in a neutral federal forum. Several recent examples demonstrate that when a company has sound defenses, litigating can dramatically improve outcomes compared to settlement, say attorneys with Williams & Connolly LLP.