[!<CDATA[ Generally, the government has immunity from being sued with some exceptions grounded in statute or case law. Having a contract with the federal government is one such exception, and an interrelated exception falls under the Severin doctrine ...
On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed the long-titled Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. Seen as a result of the #MeToo movement, this fairly simple amendment to Title 9 of the United States Code prohibits private employers from mandating that employees submit to arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment claims ...
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up? I grew up in a small town of about 3,500 in rural North Carolina, nestled in the middle of the Uwharrie National Forest. Like many small towns, it fostered a close-knit community of people who supported and encouraged me to dream big ...
Until recently government enforcement and regulatory scrutiny of fraud and other misconduct relating to COVID-19 relief programs were generally limited to end recipients of the relief. These efforts have mostly been directed to fraud in connection with the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, a nearly $1 trillion business loan program administered by the U.S ...
When Neil Young wrote that “Southern change gonna come at last,” he wasn’t talking about cannabis— but he might as well have been in light of the recent and extraordinary developments in the cannabis industry in the southern United States ...
Bradley attorneys Heather Howell Wright, Elizabeth R. Brusa and Andrew Tuggle authored chapter 12 of A Practical Guide to Cyber Insurance for Businesses. This book is a practical guide for insurance brokers, underwriters, risk managers and businesses as each of these constituencies work with each other to choose the right cyber insurance product for commercial businesses ...
Construction law is NOT boring, at least that’s what I tell my daughters. In these series of posts, I will explore some of the VERY interesting historical facts about construction law that can be used at your next motion hearing, family gathering, social event or fellow lawyer meeting. While these anecdotes may not keep your kids or significant others from rolling their eyes, hopefully they can provide a small respite from your (yes, I admit) sometimes boring life in construction law ...
Successfully navigating the Florida state court litigation system has become easier and less costly based on recent procedural and logistical developments. With more changes on the horizon, staying current on these developments is vital for anyone with a presence in the state court system. The COVID-19 pandemic brought extensive logistical changes to Florida courthouses ...
The Second Circuit recently broadened the circumstances for when a public company should disclose government investigations. Bradley partner Elisha Kobre explains that companies will need to consider when reasonable investors would “want to know” about a probe, which is a higher standard than in earlier cases ...
The onslaught of ransomware attacks by cybercriminals increases unabated every year, affecting everyone from mom and pop shops on Main Street to corporate lions of Wall Street. Hackers infiltrate an organization's computer network through social engineering tactics like phishing emails or by exploiting network security weaknesses, allowing vital digital information to be hijacked and held for ransom ...
Have you ever heard a story and thought, “That only happens in the movies!”? Well, this story may invoke that thought, but unfortunately for one lawyer, it transpired in real life. Although the rule is clear that lawyers cannot reveal privileged communications without client authorization, a Washington lawyer’s conduct illustrates that the rule is tough to remember, or recognize, in casual, friendly settings ...
The leaked opinion overturning Roe, combined with a largely unknown workers’ compensation case pending before the Supreme Court, reveals the Biden administration’s position on cannabis: The Biden administration doesn’t care about cannabis issues ...
Cyber risks are increasing, and as a result, due diligence inquiries and valuations are increasingly focusing on the cybersecurity and privacy risks inherent in a business’s collection, use, retention and disposal of data. Similarly, a business’s information security posture and vulnerability to cyberattacks has become a key concern in corporate due diligence ...
Introductory signals, according to The Bluebook, help legal writers “organiz[e] authorities and show how authorities support or relate to a proposition given in the text.” In a perfect world, The Bluebook would be easy to follow, all lawyers would use it uniformly, and there would always be a case on point. But the practice of law is rarely perfect. Consider The Bluebook ...
The overturning of Roe v. Wade, combined with a largely unknown workers' compensation case presented to the U.S. Supreme Court — for which certiorari was recently denied — reveal the Biden administration's position on cannabis: The Biden administration doesn't care about cannabis issues ...
As we begin 2022, the renewable energy industry in the United States has much for which to be thankful: A strong demand for clean power, increasing recognition of the need for an accelerated energy transition, and a thriving, successful base of developers and contractors working toward this common goal ...
The changes in the cannabis industry in Southeastern United States represent some of the most surprising and remarkable changes in the history of the industry. The South is well positioned to be a leader in the cannabis industry, and in some ways, it should be expected. The region has been instrumental in highly regulated industries, such as alcohol and tobacco, and the only federally sanctioned cannabis grow program has operated at the University of Mississippi since the 1960s ...
A ruling of the National Labor Relations Board in favor of an employee fired for using vulgar language on a company bulletin board was affirmed in August by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The ruling of both the NLRB and the court of appeals in Constellium Rolled Products v. NLRB regarding the employer's discipline for the comment is a perfect example of how confusing the protection of concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act can be ...
Earlier this month, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco delivered a shot across the bow to individuals responsible for corporate malfeasance, and the companies that protect them. On September 15, 2022, in a memorandum and in public remarks, she issued marching orders to federal prosecutors and a warning to corporate America. She made clear that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would seek and allocate significant resources to “prioritize and prosecute corporate crime ...
In a civil case, is it wiser for a business to try to persuade the counterparty to agree from the outset to arbitration—or potentially to place it's very solvency in the unpredictable hands of a judge and jury? Many "form" commercial contracts contain clauses mandating that any disputes that arise be resolved by binding arbitration rather than a jury or bench trial ...
Introduction: Lawyers as Stewards of a Noble Profession In the final scenes of the movie “A Few Good Men” – one of the great classics of legal cinema – under dramatic, but extremely risky cross-examination by Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise), Col. Nathan Jessup (played by Jack Nicholson) admitted to directing the kind of “Code Red” discipline which led to the unintentional death of a Marine stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ...
A Fourth Circuit ruling in a False Claims Act case has created a 4-4 circuit split over the issue of the act’s knowledge requirement, Bradley partner Elisha Kobre explains. This makes the issue ripe for the US Supreme Court, where a ruling on whether an objective or subjective standard should apply will resonate in FCA litigation for years, he says. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s en banc decision Sept ...
No employer wants to make decisions based on an employee's social media activity. Everyone tells employees to keep their private life private and don't let it affect the job — right? What happens when it is not the employee's social media conduct but a viral video of the employee that becomes the center of a social media firestorm? As with so many things in employment law, you can't make this stuff up ...
According to a 2017 report, more than half of the companies that have Black owners are turned down for loans—a rate twice as high as white business owners.[1] Even when Black business owners get approved for bank loans, their rate of failure to receive full financing is the highest among all categories by more than 10% ...
Female attorneys are leaving the practice of law. Although this isn’t a new problem, it’s a problem that has plagued the legal profession for decades. Many departures go unexplained and leave legal employers reeling. While answers may be hard to come by, I suggest that legal employers look to an unlikely source for information: TikTok. TikTok is a social media networking platform that allows users to post short-form videos ranging from 15 seconds to several minutes ...
