Employment

Expert Analysis

• Rebuttal

  ABA Is Defending Profession's Values From Monied Influences

  

  A recent Law360 guest article suggested that the American Bar Association ignored new opportunities for the legal industry by opposing nonlawyer ownership of law practices, but any advantages would be outweighed by the constraints nonlawyer owners could place on the independence that lawyers require to act in the best interest of their clients, says Stephen Younger at Foley Hoag.

• Where States Stand On The Legality Of Abortion

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  In light of Indiana recently joining 19 other states in criminalizing abortion prior to viability, Amanda Zablocki and Mikela Sutrina at Sheppard Mullin review the current slate of state abortion laws and their broader implications.

• What Ore. Employers Can Do Ahead Of Paid Leave Law

  

  Employers with more than 25 employees anywhere in the world, who have at least one employee in Oregon — including remote employees — should consider taking five steps now before the Oregon Family Leave Act takes effect on Jan. 1, says Florence Mao at Ogletree.

• How In-House Counsel Can Better Manage Litigation Exposure

  

  In anticipation of economic downturn and increased litigation volume, the true struggle for an in-house team is allocating their very limited and valuable attentional resources, but the solution is building systems that focus attention where it can be most effective in delivering better outcomes, say Jaron Luttich and Sean Kennedy at Element Standard.

• Forecasting A Rise In 11th Circ. State Court Class Actions

  

  Two recent opinions from the Eleventh Circuit have created an unusual landscape that may result in a substantial increase of class action litigation in state courts, particularly in Florida, that will be unable to utilize removal tools such as the Class Action Fairness Act, says Alec Schultz at Hilgers Graben.

• Key Employer Takeaways From DOJ's Poultry Antitrust Case

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice’s settlement with three major U.S. poultry processors for allegedly conspiring to fix employee wages and benefits may signal an uptick in antitrust violation investigations and serves as a reminder to companies of the risks they face when managing employee personal data, say attorneys at Akin Gump.

• Practical E-Discovery Lessons From The Alex Jones Case

  

  The accidental disclosure of mobile phone data during the Alex Jones defamation damages trial underlines the importance of having in place a repeatable e-discovery process that includes specific steps to prevent production of data that may be privileged, sensitive or damaging to the case, say Mike Gaudet and Richard Chung at J.S. Held.

• Employer Compliance After 4th Circ. Gender Dysphoria Ruling

  

  The Fourth Circuit's recent ruling on gender dysphoria in Williams v. Kincaid changes what constitutes a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and to contend with this new interpretation of the law, employers would be wise to consider ways of learning what transgender employees need in the workplace, says Jakob Williams at Clark Hill.

• The Ethical Risks For Lawyers Accepting Payments In Crypto

  

  Ohio recently became the fifth jurisdiction to provide attorneys guidance on accepting cryptocurrency as payment or holding cryptocurrency in escrow, but lawyers should beware the ethics rules such payments may implicate, and consider three practical steps to minimize the risks, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Jared Marx at HWG.

• Recent Employer Lessons On Facing Calif. Labor Hearings

  

  A California state appeals court in Elsie Seviour-Iloff v. LaPaille recently set forth multiple important holdings expanding the potential relief available to employees pursuing administrative relief for wage claims with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and they offer crucial takeaways for employers, says Tyler Bernstein at Sheppard Mullin.

• Envisioning Metaverse-Based Litigation In The Real World

  

  Attorneys should entertain the possibility of the metaverse becoming a matter of interest in real-world courts by considering what could cause actions outside the virtual world and digital forensics hurdles to be cleared in demonstrating the offense, identifying the culpable parties and collecting damages, say consultants at Keystone Strategy.

• What May Lie Ahead For ITC Trade Secret Claims

  

  As more employees have switched jobs in recent years, a surge in trade secret claims at the U.S. International Trade Commission may be around the corner, and their outcome could turn on the misappropriation standard developed in the commission’s Bone Cements decision last year, say Daniel Muino and Caroline Pohl at MoFo.

• Narrower Vax Mandate Block Muddles Contractor Compliance

  

  The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Georgia v. President of the United States, narrowing a nationwide injunction that prevented enforcement of the federal contractor COVID-19 vaccine mandate, leaves behind six different injunctions, and an uncertain compliance landscape for contractors, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

• Poultry Sector Wage-Fixing Case Shows Info Exchange Risks

  

  The nearly $85 million settlement of a U.S. Department of Justice case accusing Cargill and other poultry processors of conspiring to suppress worker pay should prod employers and trade groups to scrutinize all exchanges of potentially competitive sensitive information for compliance with labor market antitrust rules, say attorneys at Mintz.

• Opinion

  ABA Stance On Role Of Nonlawyers Is Too Black And White

  

  The American Bar Association's recent resolution affirming its long-standing opposition to nonlawyers owning law practices or receiving shares of legal fees overstates the ethical, professional and regulatory challenges — and ignores the potential benefits — of allowing nonlawyers greater participation in the legal industry, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Rich at Holland & Knight.