Drawing from the January 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, Natale and Kayla source evidence that labor unions are gaining momentum across the country. The authors address the reasons that employees seek a union and discusses the red flags that could mean employees are actively organizing. The authors encourage employers to take proactive steps to facilitate positive employee relations by improving communications and developing legally compliant policies and practices that effectively address employee concerns. Unionization is a real possibility for all manufacturers and can have a large effect on a business’ operations. Manufacturers can take some important steps now that may not be available once a union organizing drive begins. Read the full article.
“Accelerating Home” was a four-day conference designed to bring together industry trailblazers, innovators and critical thinkers to identify how organizations can seize this point in time to unleash the industry’s potential and accelerate the shift to person-centered care in the home. As providers, payers, private equity investment and even the retail sector continue to drive up bidding and keep home care a hot topic – and opportunity – the panel analyzed how the economy is impacting selloffs, which sectors have the strongest valuation, strategies that will lead to greater leverage, and where deal volume is most likely to accelerate in the next 18 months.
Civil engineering firms continue to seek to benefit from the technical skills and varied experiences of a broader array of non-U.S. citizen job candidates. The webinar discussed current legal options for expanding the professional employee pipeline in the civil engineering sector through taking advantage of opportunities to hire and retain foreign national engineers and students on a temporary (non-immigrant) or permanent (immigrant) basis.
The panel presented a federal perspective on the status of the mortgage industry and major regulatory issues, with an update on Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island legislative developments and what to expect in 2023.
The article recounts the Hanukkah celebration at the White House last month, attended by her son, Jacob, and his new bride, Lizzy. Its main focus, however, is on Christmas Eve of 1942 in Poland - “a predominantly Catholic country where Christmas is widely celebrated” - and the remembrance of that time as recounted by her mother, Irene Frisch, an 11-year old desperately hiding along with her family from the Nazis as they systematically rounded up the Jews in their town. The op-ed is a remarkable account of something approaching “a Christmas miracle,” wrought in the midst of some of humanity’s darkest days while also illustrating the full capacity for human compassion and courage. Sharone is a member of the board of directors of Voices of Hope, a Connecticut-based 501(c)3 Holocaust education organization. Read the full story here.
The presentation discussed the impact, both immediate and longer-term, on facilities in Middlesex County, New Haven County and the Town of Shelton as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency’s reclassification, which became effective on November 7, 2022. A&WMA-CT comprises a group of environmental professionals with scientific, engineering, and health backgrounds drawn from private-sector companies, government agencies, and academia.
The article examines the recent Delaware Chancery Court’s decision in the Buzzfeed litigation about the company’s SPAC transaction. The lawsuit highlights a number of emerging trends likely to impact SPAC transactions in the coming years including the difficulty of handling employee-shareholder disputes, the importance of clear arbitration agreements, and courts’ inclination to honor the traditional separation of liabilities between subsidiary and parent corporations.
The virtual program surveyed the potential fallout from EPA’s proposal to list PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA and the draft regulations on medium-sized Publicly Owned Treatment Works that would impose reporting obligations on all sending facilities. The firm was pleased to be a sponsor.
The virtual program discussed corruption in connection with the World Cup site selection process, with Dan’s focus being on the Federal Corrupt Practices Act and anti-corruption issues.
The panelists shared practical advice on selecting outside counsel and ensuring that outside counsel: understand the client and its business objectives; partner with them to set the strategy for each matter; engage in thorough and timely communications and status updates; ensure compliance with budgets; avoid surprises; and provide strong recommendations.
Civil engineering firms continue to seek to benefit from the technical skills and varied experiences of a broader array of non-U.S. citizen job candidates. The article discusses current legal options for expanding the professional employee pipeline in the civil engineering sector through taking advantage of opportunities to hire and retain foreign national engineers and students on a temporary (non-immigrant) or permanent (immigrant) basis. To read the article, click here.
As health care attorneys are increasingly turning to arbitration, the interactive program was designed to impart the knowledge and skills needed to arbitrate health law cases effectively. Lisa presented workshop sessions on topics including: selecting an arbitrator, arbitrator ethics and disclosures, and arbitrator authority and responsibilities; post-hearing issues, such as reconsideration by the arbitrator, vacating an award, limitations of review, and enforcement of a final award; and a group exercise on awards, involving analysis and group discussion of the drafting an award based on a hypothetical set of facts. Following the training sessions, a Q&A discussion was conducted by the instructors.
Successful completion of the training qualified attendees to serve through AHLA’s Dispute Resolution Service, which features a roster of individuals with health law and health care expertise in arbitration, mediation, peer review, and serving as a neutral. Lisa serves on AHLA’s Dispute Resolution Council and is on their arbitration and mediation panels. She also is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
The CLE program focused on strategies to ethically communicate with clients, opposing counsel, and government agencies, and included discussion of recent cases, practical tips, and best practices. The presentation also addressed how to effectively communicate the results of IP clearance searches, pursue cease & desist communications, and ethically satisfy your duty of candor to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The seminar featured up-to-date information on how business owners can protect themselves in today’s digital and connected world. The program addressed current trends in cyber-attacks, shared insights for preventing an attack and offered a review of the legal landscape and legal obligations and related risks. Kathryn also provided an overview of available cyber liability insurance products and how coverage works, and best practices and IT-related controls that cyber liability underwriters are concerned with.
This keynote presentation addressed recent cybersecurity risks to health care organizations, including details of how threat actors are attacking health care organizations and new schemes that are being used and vulnerabilities being exploited. Linn discussed how health care entities are responding to the threats and ways to prepare for an attack and its consequences, including how to identify and assess the newest cybersecurity threats and how to implement risk management and mitigation strategies.
The program addressed the recently-enacted No Surprises Act (NSA) and NSA regulations. The overview included the regulatory requirements and expectations, enforcement trends, and how health systems are reacting to implement the various NSA requirements. It also examined state-level issues that have arisen in connection with the NSA regulations as well as the status of certain delayed regulatory provisions, offering an update on legal challenges to some NSA provisions and addressing how other market participants may be using NSA regulations as part of contractual negotiations and network design.
The theme of the 24th annual Conference was “Supply chain continuity management (SCCM).” Founded in 1915, ISM has more than 50,000 members drawn from the supply chain profession across 100 countries. ISM-Japan is part of the organization’s network of global partners.
The U.S. Department of Education recently referred a discrimination complaint filed by college athletes against NCAA Division I schools to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because the complaint arises in the context of employment. The virtual workshop session reviewed this development, including the current legal landscape on the student-athlete debate and the relevant implications for colleges and universities. CCIC's Annual Forum provides members an opportunity to gain information about the latest trends on campuses and discuss them with industry experts and colleagues from other institutions.
The diverse panel of construction industry professionals discussed how the market has been on a roller-coaster due to the pandemic and recent fluctuating economic conditions. Project teams have had to navigate dynamic material price increases, labor shortages, and supply chain-related issues to keep their projects on track. The session addressed these issues and offered best practices for managing them. The panelists presented specific strategies, tactics, and claims, using real-life project examples highlighting pre-construction, contract negotiation, procurement, and project execution. A Q&A session followed the panel’s presentation.
The panel discussed how business enterprises with closely-held capital structures and intersecting interests engage counsel in the bankruptcy universe, who must immediately face a set of thorny ethical issues. Whether in “small” cases or “large,” the very nature of closely-held companies may involve pre- and post-petition lenders, equity sponsors, and significant unsecured creditors that may be affiliates of one another and of the debtor itself. The 2022 conference provided an overview and in-depth focus on current topics in business and consumer bankruptcy.
These breakout learning sessions were focused on small-group work within a specific industry type, designed to facilitate detailed discussion on how to consider the multiple overlapping types of design rights for the designated industry. David moderated a program covering consumer products as well as software and Graphical User Interface (GUI). He later moderated a program focused on textiles and clothing, along with architecture and retail space. The Design Rights Boot Camp is a five-day, comprehensive CLE program designed for both new and experienced IP practitioners who wish to learn about protecting and enforcing designs in all areas of IP, including design patents, copyright and trademark dress.
The panel offered an overview of the bankruptcy process and addressed the overarching question, what should mass torts attorneys know about bankruptcy? The discussion delved into a number of areas, including pre-and post-bankruptcy filing practice pointers, recovery options, and certain hot topics that affect the mass tort litigation sphere from Bankruptcy Code and policy perspectives and recent cases.
The program was part of the half-day Commercial Bankruptcy section’s offerings, which also included programs on case law updates, commercial and consumer mediation, and ethics. The two-day Bankruptcy Institute 2022 was designed to offer insightful, relevant and practical sessions taking a close look at trending topics shaping today’s bankruptcy practice, including updates from judges, representatives of the U.S. Trustee’s office and top practitioners, as well as a quick-hits summary of the top commercial and consumer cases of the year.
Following an overview of the firm’s many diversity efforts, guest speaker Lauren Romansky, Head of People at Divert, Inc., and co-author of “How to Measure Inclusion in the Workplace,” shared the findings of her research into developing metrics for tracking inclusion and how organizations can adjust their focus based on those results. This closed-discussion group included leading construction industry organizations in the Northeast.
Health Law Group member, Danielle Tangorre, presented the program “The No Surprises Act: Updates and Lessons from 2022” as part of the G2 Intelligence Lab Institute Virtual Event “Advancing the Profession of Diagnostic Medicine” on November 8, 2022. The No Surprises Act (NSA) went into effect on January 1, 2022. The federal NSA protects consumers from surprise medical bills from out-of-network providers at certain health care facilities, or requires good-faith estimates under certain circumstances if the consumer has coverage through an employer or federal or state marketplace. During the year, we have seen legal challenges to the law and additional guidance provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The webinar discussed the current state of the law and key questions that can arise, such as What does this mean for your company? What are the enforcement challenges commonly faced as a result of the NSA? What interaction(s) can you expect between state and federal surprise billing requirements? The program highlighted challenges in compliance and offered other guidance to help navigate the law. A Q&A session followed the presentation.
The program discussed the types of fundraising challenges that exist for intercollegiate athletics programs and addressed strategies for mitigating liability in gift agreements that direct monies to intercollegiate athletics programs, actions institutions can take to limit risks from booster organizations not affiliated with the institution, and how an internal audit can support the institution in its Title IX assessment of athletic policies and procedures.
The No Surprises Act (NSA) went into effect on January 1, 2022. The federal NSA protects consumers from surprise medical bills from out-of-network providers at certain health care facilities, or requires good-faith estimates under certain circumstances if the consumer has coverage through an employer or federal or state marketplace. The year has seen legal challenges to the law and additional guidance provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The webinar discussed the current state of the law and key questions that can arise, such as What does this mean for your company? What are the enforcement challenges commonly faced as a result of the NSA? What interaction(s) can you expect between state and federal surprise billing requirements? The program highlighted challenges in compliance and offered other guidance to help navigate the law.
The “Expert Analysis” article examines the affirmative action cases Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, dating from November and February 2021, respectively, following oral arguments presented before the U.S. Supreme Court. The authors conclude that “the fate of race-conscious admissions in higher education is no longer in any real doubt." The two cases closely resemble the most recent attempt in Fisher II (2016) to prohibit university admissions from considering race, in which the court’s then-majority determined that consideration of racial minority status was constitutional because the educational benefit of diversity in collegiate environments was 1) a sufficiently measurable compelling interest and 2) there was not a workable, race-neutral alternative to achieve diversity. Since then, the composition of the court’s justices has shifted dramatically to the right. However, the authors note that “there appear to be divisions within the court’s conservative bloc that may shape the breadth of holdings for the cases’ common petitioner.”