Regulatory and Product Liability Practices: Siloed No More
January 01, 2017
In the field of product liability law, the silo phenomenon — in which different departments of an organization decline to share information with other departments of the same organization or field — is puzzling, since there have been several examples of situations where additional regulation has resulted in additional litigation.
The Power of Monitoring for Recovering Lost Revenue
January 01, 2017
Realization has hit an all-time low of 83%, plunging from 93% just a decade ago. Most firms are building pricing groups as the place to start addressing this pain. This is certainly a good starting point, but if your firm is pricing and not monitoring, you've actually got a problem.
Fallout from the 'Panama Papers'
January 01, 2017
Among the first things we learn as defense attorneys is to keep informed and alert about events that may spawn or affect actions taken by prosecutors. This article sets forth an example of how one stays sensitive to what may be happening in the closed venues of prosecutors' offices.
Are You Your Tenant's Keeper?<br><font size="-1"><b><i>Maintaining BFP Status in the Face of PACA Liens</b></i></font>
January 01, 2017
In September 2016, a national title company invoked the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) when it raised an exception on a title commitment for the sale of real property upon which a grocery store was a tenant. The title company asked the owner to execute an affidavit and indemnity in the title company's favor with regard to any PACA liens incurred by the tenant. This new exception has elicited a fair amount of confusion as to why an 86-year-old statute would suddenly present a cloud on title.
The Scope of the Equitable Subrogation Doctrine
January 01, 2017
Recently, the Second Department faced three claims of equitable subrogation over a two-week period and in two of those cases, indicated that the doctrine would not be applicable if the junior mortgagee advanced funds to satisfy a senior mortgage with knowledge of an interest whose priority was inferior to that senior mortgage.
AI and the Law: The Paradigm Shift Hits the Fan
January 01, 2017
In its astonishing "Free the Law" project, Harvard has teamed up with a California start-up called Ravel Law to digitize every state, federal, territorial and tribal judicial decision since colonial times by feeding over 40 million pages physically cut from the books shelved in the Harvard Law Library into a high-speed digital scanner.
Movie Filtering Company Is Told To Shut Down
January 01, 2017
A start-up that provides a technology that filters movies for profanity, violence and other objectionable content has vowed to take a copyright battle against Hollywood all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal judge granted an injunction blocking its service.
Cybersecurity Comes Together In Legal and Finance
January 01, 2017
Data security in the financial and legal industries is a tale of two sectors. While the financial industry is heavily regulated and constantly watched by federal agencies, law has at times operated in an almost laissez-faire environment, more ruled by a culture of confidentiality and secrecy than hard regulatory rules.
Insider Trading Liability for Liability Based on Tips from Family
January 01, 2017
When the Supreme Court last year agreed to hear the defendant's appeal in <i>United States v. Salman,</i> it raised expectations in some quarters that it might significantly change insider trading law by curtailing liability for trading on tips from family members. But when it issued its opinion in December, it disappointed those expectations by unanimously reaffirming liability for trading on family tips, even where the tipper receives no monetary gain.
