Legal Current

he ABA's Business Law Section M&A Committee's flagship Private Target M&A Deal Points Study is considered the industry's gold standard reference for deal points in private acquisition agreements. Through Practical Law's new partnership with the ABA, select Practical Law forms now contain integrated slides from the study as well as continuously updated Practical Law What's Market Analytics charts a...

The CDC estimates that about 7.5% of the U.S. population may be dealing with long COVID or what is also termed long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, long-term effects of COVID or chronic COVID.   Because long COVID is not as well understood as COVID-19 in terms of causes, symptoms and treatment, it can be complicated for employers to deal with.   Lindsay Ditlow Of McDermott Will & Emery discusses...

Various states are exploring new models on who can practice law, new ownership models of law firms, and other paradigm shifts.  Arizona changed its alternative business structure to non-lawyer ownership and investment in law firms.  Scout Law is the first such entities to take advantage of the change.  Steve Germann discusses why he created the new firm, and his expectations for similar firms. 

A lot of attention has been paid lately to lateral hiring and associate compensation, but changes are also taking place in law firm staffing.  Thomson Reuters Institute recently completed its annual analysis on law firm staffing ratios.  Today, we'll talk about what the new trends are with Isaac Brooks, senior industry data analyst and Natalie Runyon, director, ESG content and advisory services.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the hot craze. While the initial coin offering ("ICO") craze of 2017-2018 fizzled out in the face of government enforcement actions, a resurgence in the global market for bitcoin and the new category of NFTs is fueling a new boom in digital assets as mainstream interest increases. Recently, Christie's became the very first major auction house to offer a fully digital...

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum and dogecoin saw a record $9.3 billion inflow in 2021.  Governments and regulatory bodies are racing to keep up with explosion of cryptocurrencies, associated marketplaces and exchanges, and other digital assets such as NFTs.  Thomson Reuters is hosting a two-day exploration of risk and reward for the global crypto community.  Will anticipated oversight b...

Get your brackets out!  For the first time in three years, March Madness, as we're accustomed to seeing it, is back.  NCAA, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and the Olympics all navigated their way through the pandemic through a combination of delays, bubbles, cancelled games, and various COVID protocols.  Will any of this have lasting effects on players' rights, collective bargaining agreements, etc.? Glen Rot...

The events last summer following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police shook the city of Minneapolis to its core.  Days of riots and unrest destroyed scores of business, particularly in the Lake Street area, where rebuilding is still taking place.  Many parts of the community have pulled together to assist with the rebuilding as well as tackle the broader community issues that also in...

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected in-person court hearings, but has similarly affected the arbitration world as well.  In-person arbitration hearings are now difficult to hold, owing to travel restrictions and the difficulty in safely conducting face-to-face hearings.   The arbitration world is rapidly adapting to remote arbitration hearings.  The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm C...

Global Lawyer Hackathon Addresses Climate Change Hundreds of lawyers around the world are participating in a unique global "hackathon" to create new contracts and model laws to help fight climate change.  The Chancery Lane Project aims to create legal frameworks to enable and encourage businesses and communities to have a positive impact on the environment, and envisions a world where every contra...

Small law firms have had to endure not only the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal market, but also the additional challenges of being a small business during the current conditions. The 2020 State of the U.S. Small Law Firms Report looks at how small firms are faring against the recent challenges.  Mark Haddad, general manager of the Small Law Firm Segment at Thomson Reuters discusses t...

The tremendous disruptions caused by COVID-19 may introduce a new term to the business lexicon: business divorce.  Many small, privately-held and family-owned businesses may not have anticipated the kind of business and personal stressors being brought on by the pandemic. Lee Weinberg of Weinberg Gonser LLP discusses how "business divorces" may surge because of the COVID-19 situation.

When the year began, 2020 had been expected to be a growth year for the Canadian legal market.  Now the outlook has changed to one of uncertainty. But legal needs remain, and law firms and corporate legal departments still need to meet those needs, and therein remains potential opportunities.  Thomson Reuters is offering the new  2020 State of the Legal Market in Canada Infographic  which uses dat...

One of HighQ's strengths is its versatility in solving a myriad of problems that law firms and legal departments deal with.  That has taken another leap forward with the introduction of HighQ 5.4.   Stuart Barr, Chief Product & Strategy Officer, discusses the innovations in version 5.4, including seamless integration with Contract Express, allowing more powerful document automation. 

Legal technology is advancing at lightning speed these days, and HighQ is no exception.  The innovative cloud-based platform is continually bringing new innovations to the legal industry. Stuart Barr, chief product and strategy officer, discusses the some of the advances HighQ has introduced recently. 

It was just over a year ago that Thomson Reuters brought HighQ into the fold.  Irish McIntyre, head of Legal Software & Workflow at Thomson Reuters discusses what the past year has been like planning and executing strategies to continue to grow and improve HighQ's innovative workflow platform.

The legal industry faces an uncertain future in many respects, including efforts to advance gender equality.  Transforming Women's Leadership in the Law is doing a series of webinars discussing the evolving circumstances due to COVID-19.  The discussions will include a renewed focus on the future of the legal industry along with practice methods to advance gender quality and support necessary cult...

Social media is skyrocketing, as people connect with friends and family as shelter-in-place and work-from-home continue.  But as we take advantage as these apps, it's still important to be careful – others may be seeing the personal & professional information that you're posting. Robert Braun - co-chair of the Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell Cybersecurity and Privacy Group  -- says it's important...

While women lawyers and lawyers of color have made many advances in the legal profession, there are still some areas that are particularly challenging.  Sports and sports law are among those. Sharon Sayles-Belton, vice president of partnerships and alliances for Thomson Reuters, talked recently with two attorneys who have made inroads to help increase diversity in those areas.  Demeka Fields is as...

HighQ is considered one of the most advanced and versatile technology platforms.  Stuart Barr, Chief Product & Strategy Office for HighQ, discusses how HighQ improves efficiency for law firms and corporate legal departments, and how the recent version 5.3 release takes HighQ to a new level.

Episode 5 of our special podcast series marking the 50th anniversary of the first publication of Wright & Miller's Federal Practice & Procedure continues the discussion between Prof. Arthur Miller, founding author of the treatise, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, including her thoughts on what it's like to argue a case before the High Court with her perspectives and experience on both sides of the...

The law and the courts have undergone many changes over the years.  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses what she believes is "the most heartening change" in the legal profession. Episode 4 of our special podcast series marking the 50th anniversary of the first publication of Wright & Miller's Federal Practice & Procedure is a discussion between Prof. Arthur Miller, founding author of the treatis...

The Antonio Brown saga continues to spawn new revelations.  On the heels of the NFL initiating an investigation into allegations of sexual assault stemming from a civil lawsuit filed by Brown's former personal trainer, an attorney representing  a painter commissioned by Brown  has asked the NFL to investigate allegations of additional sexual misconduct as well as threats and initimidation.  The NF...

The cases Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal still reverberate through the Federal court system for setting new standards for specificity and "plausibility" in pleadings. Similarly, cases such as World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson are still much discussed and debated for their impact on personal jurisdiction. Episode 3 of our special podcast series marking the 50th anniversar...