Trials

Expert Analysis

• Knowledge Lawyers Can Help Firms Stay Ahead Of The Curve

  

  In a profession notoriously averse to change, it should come as no surprise that there is skepticism about the value of having attorneys perform nonbillable tasks. But U.S. law firms have slowly begun to incorporate knowledge lawyers into their operations — and the trend is likely to continue, says Vanessa Pinto Villa of Hogan Lovells.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1 Year Later

  

  In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California — limiting where plaintiffs can bring claims and curbing forum-shopping in mass tort litigation — courts have grappled with questions that the ruling did not address, and defendants have pursued jurisdictional defenses in class actions and federal cases that were not previously available, say attorneys with Eversheds Sutherland LLP.

• High Court Answers Appeal Question For Consolidated Cases

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hall v. Hall is significant because it clarifies that parties have an immediate right of appeal following a final decision in actions consolidated under Rule 42(a). Companies that routinely face consolidation will have to be diligent in taking timely appeals, say Desiree Moore and Daisy Sexton of K&L Gates LLP.

• A Few Tips For Affordable And Defensible ESI Collection

  

  In the course of litigation, one of the first steps you’ll take toward responding to a request for production of information — after issuing your litigation hold notice of course — is the collection of documents. Nearly everything else in e-discovery flows from this. Preserving metadata values of electronically stored information is especially critical, says Erich Potter, discovery counsel at Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker LLP.

• An Unprecedented Look Inside The FARA Unit

  

  For close observers of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the June 8 release by the U.S. Department of Justice of over 50 FARA advisory opinions was a watershed. These opinions offer an unprecedented glimpse into how the FARA Registration Unit interprets the law, say Brian Fleming and Andrew Herman of Miller & Chevalier Chtd.

• A Farxiga Opinion That's All Hat, No Cattle

  

  Is everything really bigger in Texas? A New York federal court's ruling in Aron v. Bristol-Myers Squibb — apparently the first reported opinion from the Farxiga multidistrict litigation — would have us believe that pharmaceutical manufacturers have bigger tort liability under Texas law. But the court let the plaintiffs slide on a number of key points, says Lora Spencer of Reed Smith LLP.

• Why Lawyers Shouldn't Accept Fees In Cryptocurrency: Part 2

  

  The legal industry has already begun to feel the impact of anti-bribery and anti-money laundering requirements. When involved with cryptocurrency trading and remittance, law firms face more than the risk of being perceived as organizations that support money laundering practices, says John Reed Stark of John Reed Stark Consulting LLC.

• Why Lawyers Shouldn't Accept Fees In Cryptocurrency: Part 1

  

  Law firms are increasingly accepting cryptocurrency as payment for services. While this might seem innovative and forward-thinking, ironically it is much more of a throwback, says John Reed Stark of John Reed Stark Consulting LLC.

• Clearer Rule On Witness Compensation Disclosure Is Needed

  

  In April, the Fifth Circuit vacated a jury verdict in the Pinnacle hip implant product liability litigation due to undisclosed payments made to plaintiffs' experts. This issue would not have arisen if Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(C) imposed an affirmative duty to make a complete disclosure regarding compensation of nonretained expert witnesses, says Ekaterina Long of Godwin Bowman & Martinez PC.

• Breaking Down The 2nd Criminal Spoofing Trial: Part 2

  

  The criminal prosecution of Andre Flotron was ill-fated and suffered from a series of missteps and miscalculations by the government. However, it is now beyond any legitimate dispute that spoofing occurs, that it is illegal, that prosecutors are willing and able to charge spoofing as a criminal violation, and that it is possible to prove those charges in court, say attorneys with K&L Gates LLP.