Regulation

On Feb. 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a landmark ruling, overturning precedent only two decades after it held that Canadian citizens have the right to end their lives, but if done with the assistance of a physician, that physician could be held liable. This highly anticipated decision is expected to encourage the efforts of right-to-die advocates in the United States and abroad.

On Sept. 16, 2011, the America Invents Act became effective, including provisions directed at non-practicing entities, commonly known as "patent trolls." Many believe, however, that patent trolls are still a plague, and that more must be done to curtail abusive patent litigation. This has led to the introduction of several patent reform bills.

Electronic discovery experts continue to put an emphasis on recognizing e-discovery as part of a complete information governance (IG) solution. Yet, despite its ubiquity, many professionals who have a solid grounding in electronic discovery struggle to understand how it falls into the broader world of information governance.

This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect between Jan. 1, 2015 and April 1, 2015. It also looks at some recent decisions of interest from the courts of Delaware, Georgia and Maryland.

While the convergence of legal management and enterprise governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) is not new, more recent efforts to manage this development through integrated technology are fast becoming a strategic imperative.

The threat of criminal environmental prosecutions is real. Most federal and state environmental statutes provide for criminal prosecution in appropriate circumstances, often for knowing violations of environmental law, but sometimes even on a negligence or strict liability basis. Here's what you need to know.

Pick up pretty much any 21st century smart phone, tablet or PC, and in minutes, a treasure trove of information about its owner can be uncovered. Missives to a significant other, photos from summer vacation, browsing history that spans years; all of this information, generally considered of the most intimate nature, is easily accessible with even a rudimentary technical knowledge of the device's operating system. Needless to say, unwanted disclosure of such information can be highly damaging.

This Spring, Representatives Luke Messer (R-IN) and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the bipartisan Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act of 2015. According to The New York Times, "the bill would prohibit operators of websites, apps and other online services for kindergartners through 12th graders from knowingly selling students' personal information to third parties ...."