This article focuses on how one state, Maryland, has chosen to address first-party bad faith claims arising out of property and casualty insurance policies. Maryland's experience handling these disputes teaches lessons to both carriers and insureds.
Lawyers for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) were enjoying something of a winning streak in their efforts to remove drug product liability lawsuits to federal court ' and keep them there ' by arguing that it has converted to a limited liability company that is based in Delaware. But that streak may now be over.
An in-depth review of recent litigation that affects this practice area.
The heightened pleading requirements of Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly require that practitioners who plan to file a complaint in a medical device case be even more cautious than usual. Otherwise, they may be subject to a dismissal on the pleadings.
Medical experts testifying about causation in toxic tort, medical device, and pharmaceutical litigation frequently claim to base opinions upon a dispassionate review of the scientific literature, the same analysis they perform in their clinical practices. But peeling back the fa'ade often reveals that they have done nothing of the kind.
If you're looking to test the cloud waters, e-mail is an excellent place to start. Eliminating complexity, adding an additional layer of "always-on" business continuity, and realigning your staff's priorities is worth the cost of admission.
For a few law firms, the post-recession legal world looks the same as it did pre-recession, but for most, it is one where significant changes must be made to their business models in order to survive and prosper.
How odd that at a time when unemployment in law firms is at a peak, and uncertainty about jobs for recent graduates is rife, enrollment at law schools is reported to be rising.
The two major challenges now facing lawyer management in many of these mid-sized firms are motivating the non-entrepreneurial attorneys to achieve and to perform, and retaining the "over-achiever" attorneys so they will not leave the firm.
Continuation of the in-depth discussion begun last month, with emphasis on Implications of behavioral finance for ERISA litigation.
