Expert Analysis

• What Texas Employers Should Know After PWFA Ruling

  

  After a Texas federal judge recently enjoined federal agencies from enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act against the state of Texas, all employers must still remain sensitive to local, state and federal protections for pregnant workers, and proactive in their approach to pregnancy-related accommodations, says Maritza Sanchez at Phelps Dunbar.

• 5 Issues To Consider When Liquidating Through An ABC

  

  Assignments for the benefit of creditors continue to grow in popularity as a tool for an orderly wind-down, and companies should be considering a number of issues before effectuating the assignment, including in which state it should occur, obtaining tail coverage and preparing a board creditor mailing list, says Evelyn Meltzer at Troutman Pepper.

• Opinion

  Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

  

  As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.

• AI In Performance Management: Mitigating Employer Risk

  

  Companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools in performance management, exposing organizations to significant risks, which they can manage through employee training, bias assessments, and comprehensive policies and procedures related to the new technology, say Gregory Brown and Cindy Huang at Jackson Lewis.

• Series

  Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

• What To Watch As Justices Consider Appeal Deadline Case

  

  Next week, in Harrow v. U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider for the first time whether a statutory deadline for appealing from a federal agency to an Article III court is jurisdictional, setting the stage for a decision that could dramatically reshape the landscape for challenging agency decisions, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

• Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

  

  In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

• Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

  

  Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

• What The NIL Negotiation Rules Injunction Means For NCAA

  

  A Tennessee federal court's recent preliminary injunction reverses several prominent and well-established NCAA rules on negotiations with student-athletes over name, image and likeness compensation and shows that collegiate athletics is a profoundly unsettled legal environment, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

• What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

  

  A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• EEOC Case Reminds That Men Can Also Claim Pay Bias

  

  The Maryland State Highway Administration recently settled U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that a male employee was paid less than his female colleagues, highlighting why employers should not focus on a particular protected class when it comes to assessing pay bias risk, say Barbara Grandjean and Audrey Merkel at Husch Blackwell.

• 3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'

  

  Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.

• Takeaways From NLRB Advice On 'Outside' Employment

  

  Rebecca Leaf at Miles & Stockbridge examines a recent memo from the National Labor Relations Board’s Division of Advice that said it’s unlawful for employers to restrict secondary or outside employment, and explains what companies should know about the use of certain restrictive covenants going forward.

• What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

  

  Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

• Shaping Speech Policies After NLRB's BLM Protest Ruling

  

  After the National Labor Relations Board decided last month that a Home Depot employee was protected by federal labor law when they wore a Black Lives Matter slogan on their apron, employers should consider four questions in order to mitigate legal risks associated with workplace political speech policies, say Louis Cannon and Cassandra Horton at Baker Donelson.