Emerging Litigation Podcast

If you're feeling bad about being a lawyer, or just maybe tingling with the holiday spirit of giving back, this episode is for you.  Listen to three professionals (well, maybe two "professionals") who deeply admire for the legal profession, the important role attorneys play in society, and all the potential they have to make the world a better place. When there is strife, there is a...

In this episode we talk about the weather. But only for a minute. Mostly we’re going to talk about the use of big data in the practice of law. There is a reason IBM acquired the digital assets of The Weather Channel , and it's not because they are climate nerds. They bought it to put weather data to work to “operationalize [the] understanding of the impact of weather on business outcomes.” Th...

These stubborn chemicals are everywhere. But when they find their way into products, shouldn't someone tell consumers? Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) are a family of more 12,000 manmade compounds.  That's a huge family. Most people would recognize the brand names Teflon, produced by Dupont and Scotchgard produced by 3M. They also go by the nickname “forever chemicals” beca...

Marissa, a resident of a small town in Kentucky, learned that for some time her drinking water may have been contaminated with so-called "forever chemicals" or PFAS. It's really a collection of chemicals used in products like fire-suppression foam, cookware, stain-resistant sprays, and food packaging. A local public radio reporter covering the story asked Marissa for her reaction. &...

Attorneys are increasingly required to demonstrate technological proficiency in addition to remaining current on the law and legal practice. It’s not just a skill requirement but an ethical one, too, as states continue to adopt new rules. The challenge for attorneys, judges, and the rule makers is that technology is generally evolving faster than they can keep up. This creates grey areas and blind...

According to the online Covid Coverage Litigation Tracker (CCLT) run by Penn Law there have been more than 2,300 insurance coverage cases filed over denial of claims relating to Covid-19. Restaurants and bars were hardest hit by the pandemic and so led the way in seeking – and being denied – coverage, too. They are also leading the way in suing their insurers. The top five insurers in the defense...

According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness there are 43 million people around the world living with blindness, and 300 million living with moderate to severe visual impairment. Put those statistics next to these: There are nearly 2 billion websites, and 550,000 created every day. Shouldn’t sight-impaired people have the same access to these sites as sighted people? Of co...

We’re closing in on 400 million guns in America, weapons that have been used to kill 1.5 million Americans between 1968 and 2017. In 2020 alone there were more than 45,000 gun deaths. The beyond tragic and senseless mass shootings at schools has become all too routine. Most Americans want stricter gun laws which they believe will reduce the senseless killing in our country, which leads the world i...

When a contingency fee case reaches a verdict or settlement, it’s a big day for a plaintiff attorney. You have worked hard and shouldered litigation costs -- often for years without compensation -- to achieve the best outcome for your client. Finally, your ship comes in. At that point, however, it is officially too late to think about how to best handle a sudden influx of capital; that is, if you...

In this episode we discuss reducing corporate risk caused by laxity, inattention, misconduct, unethical behavior, or even illegal activities by people and organizations in your supply chain. Often these things are what happen when people are under pressure. They may feel pressure to bend rules to hit sales targets, or they feel significant competitive pressure. Shareholders demand a return on inve...

Among the legal and regulatory avenues one might follow to mitigate the impact of racism, most of us would look to various manifestations of discrimination law in  employment, lending, real estate, education, healthcare, voting rights, and other categories. When presented in those contexts, the anti-racism objectives are clear.  But there is at least one area where the primary goal is capitalism,...

Let's assume this is good news. The divorce rate appears to be coming down. Either people are more committed to these unions or have succumbed to lifetimes of misery. But the common belief -- that "50% of all marriages end in divorce" -- doesn't enjoy statistical support. Six percent of people who divorce get back together, so that's something, too.   Not that marriage or...

For an individual, merely navigating litigation can be expensive, time consuming, and at times overwhelming. But when that individual is also unable to work, or cannot function normally  because they have been disabled by an injury – like the loss of a limb in a railroad accident -- or is undergoing treatment for disease – like cancer from a toxic herbicide -- that explodes the level of stress on...

While we may be in the final days, months, or years of it, the use and possession of cannabis remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.  But a patchwork of state laws is bringing the country closer to some form of legalization.   Some states allow its use for medical purposes, others have made it legal for recreational purposes, and others have decriminalized it. But when cannab...

So, apparently this is true:  Running a lending operation without registering with the SEC makes them crabby. Spoiler Alert : On Valentine’s Day this year the SEC announced a $100 million fine against retail crypto lender BlockFi Lending. Nothing says "will you be mine?" like a nine-figure bill -- for  that special someone who has everything. The company agreed to put an end to some of i...

“Chinese companies view American and EU companies as very risky, in large part because so many American and EU companies are looking to move their manufacturing out of China.” –Dan Harris, co-founder of HarrisBricken and co-editor of The China Law Blog .  A major potential avalanche of risks are those that would shake the business world  should – as some expect it will –  trade relations between C...

The PFAS  family of chemicals is one stubborn bunch. They are a class of man-made products dubbed "forever chemicals," because of the difficulty of removing them from the environment, humans, and other animals.  They are also at the center of sprawling litigation around the country involving alleged property damage, water contamination, and bodily injury. More than 1,500 cases are consol...

Economic sanctions leveled against Russia, its leaders, and selected oligarchs by the United States and many other countries for its invasion of Ukraine are arguably the most aggressive in history. Their impact on the Russian economy has been severe and immediate, pushing the nation to the brink of economic collapse. Yet, the world of business goes on, as it must. But what risks do American corpor...

Jurors' perceptions of big corporations, insurance companies, drug companies, physicians and other healthcare providers is increasingly colored by TV and social media.  The same is true for people's understanding of the practice law or medicine, which may be as wrong as it is immovable. “Social inflation” refers to rising litigation costs and the resulting higher insurance payouts which...

"Your proposition may be good, but let’s have one thing understood: Whatever it is, I’m against it. And even when you’ve changed it or condensed it—I’m against it!" —Professor Wagstaff (Groucho Marx) in the 1932 movie Horse Feathers  Attorney John P. Blumberg ’s new book, Persuasion Science for Trial Lawyers , published by Fastcase Full Court Press , “takes a fascinating new approach to...

In our first two-part episode, we dive into the troubling existence of a group of chemicals referred to as PFAS, with the nickname "Forever Chemicals," because they stubbornly hang around in water, air, fish, soil, people, and animals.   PFAS -- which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl  chemicals -- are man-made creations that have been used in industry and consumer products worldwide s...

“The Telephone Consumer Protection Act had humble beginnings,” our guest writes, “with the bill’s sponsor explaining that the statute would permit consumers to bring small claims cases ‘without an attorney,’ and provides for an ‘amount of damages … fair to both the consumer and the telemarketer.’ Twenty-eight years after its enactment in 1991, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Distric...

"Attorneys possess many of the same characteristics as their human cousins." Someone said that. Probably me. They often bring to their jobs cognitive barriers that get in the way of negotiating resolutions to conflicts. Same for their human clients. Things like refusal to cede the moral high-ground, or stubbornly believing  there must always be someone to blame. Then there is overconfide...

According to an article written by our guest, "Some of the most exciting, vexing, and terrifying issues at the intersection of AI and law involve robojudges. Can we build a robojudiciary that replaces human judiciaries? Should we? Doing so would massively disrupt how our legal systems operate. It also might transform democratic self-government." I have to ask: Would any of that be so bad...

There are now billions and billions of interconnected devices in the world with more coming online every day. Smart cars. Smart cities. Smart agriculture and so much more. Even our pets are connected. And you have to look no further than the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack to see the real-world consequences of what criminals can pull off by connecting with things large and small. Worried about...