What happens when the traditional understanding of workplace discrimination is turned on its head? Will the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services change how discrimination cases are evaluated when brought by members of majority groups? Attorney Leah Stiegler of Woods Rogers joins us to examine this decision that rejected the "background circumstances rule" -- a standard that previously imposed a heightened evidentiary burden on white, heterosexual, or ...

Waiting for lawsuits to present themselves is the worst growth strategy a litigator can have. In this episode, I get to speak with John Reed, founder and chief relationship builder at Rain BDM and host of Sticky Lawyers, to rethink business development from the ground up. His most popular episodes was about Bob Mionske, an Olympic road racing cyclist turned "bicycle lawyer." Give it a listen. With a background spanning law, marketing, and sales, John helps attorneys translate the...

What if business insiders could accelerate antitrust enforcement as they have done with other corporate misconduct, like fraud? That’s exactly what the Department of Justice is hoping for. In this special episode* of the Emerging Litigation Podcast, I’m joined by Julie Keeton Bracker of Bracker & Marcus and Dan Mogin of Mogin Law to dig into a new program designed to motivate antitrust whistleblowers. They trace the roots of qui tam cases—laws that let private citizens, called relators, b...

When it comes to business disputes -- despite the urge by some litigants to want to defeat the other side (even destroy them) -- the relationship between parties can be more valuable and lucrative than "winning" the conflict. Drawing on his decade on Florida's 11th Circuit bench and nearly 30 years in commercial litigation, Judge Alan Fine (ret.) of Private Resolutions offers a refreshing perspective on resolving disputes strategically and wisely, rather than destructively and emotional...

Insurance. It’s something we all pay for and hope we never need. But behind the scenes, it’s a world of evolving risks, high-stakes litigation, and technology that’s changing faster than the laws that govern it. In this episode of the Emerging Litigation Podcast, I interview Jeremy Moseley, partner at Spencer Fane in Denver, Colorado. Jeremy defends mass and class actions involving insurance regulations, healthcare, consumer products, and more. He’s seen firsthand how automation, AI, and clim...

What are the implications of recent court decisions for artificial intelligence systems trained on copyrighted materials? In this episode I get to speak with two repeat veteran guests of the podcast about two important cases dealing with fair use analysis in the context of large language model training. Here are a couple of highlights: • Courts found AI training to be "transformative use" because the process changes the works significantly through tokenization and processing. • Ju...

You say you want a deposition? Plaintiff attorneys often request and are sometimes successful in deposing corporate CEOs and other chief executives. But there are many times when defense attorneys want to spare the C-suite from what can be high-risk and time-consuming exercises for someone whose knowledge or expertise may have little or nothing to do with the facts and issues in a case. In this episode, I talk with Rachel M. Lary, a litigator with a nationwide practice at Lightfoot, Fr...

How do you know if your witness is credible? Is your evidence compelling—or confusing? And will a jury really care about those bright orange socks? In this episode of the Emerging Litigation Podcast, trial attorney and focus group consultant Elizabeth Larrick joins me to explain how remote focus groups are changing the way lawyers prepare for trial. Elizabeth shares what she’s learned from conducting over 1,000 Zoom focus groups—insights on testing case narratives, assessing witness credibili...

As political forces target Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, companies reassessing their DEI strategies must tread carefully—because, while the landscape has shifted, employment discrimination law has not. Joining me on the Emerging Litigation Podcast is employment law attorney Patice L. Holland, a Principal at WoodsRogers in Roanoke, Va. Patice shares with me what companies need to know as they reassess their DEI initiatives in light of President Trump's recent executive orders and ...

Southern California’s wildfire season has turned into a year-round crisis, and with it comes a surge in litigation. On this episode of the Emerging Litigation Podcast, we explore the aftermath of the devastating January 2025 wildfires, including the high-profile Eaton and Palisades fires, and the complex legal battles now unfolding. My guest, Ed Diab, is a founding partner of Diab Chambers LLP, a boutique law firm with a sharp focus on wildfire litigation. Ed and his team have worked alongsid...

Whopping jury verdicts from 2024 illustrate why trial teams sometimes include appellate counsel, because including them -- even as you prepare to defend a high stakes case at trial -- can improve your chances on appeal should a jury hand you a half-billion-dollar verdict.But what functions do appellate attorneys perform at trial? Are they listening for errors or proactively guiding trial counsel? Do they ever address the court or sit quietly at the defense table or maybe in the back row?To an...

The horrific wildfires unleashing carnage in Southern California underscore the need for reliable insurance protection both for businesses and homeowners. As of Jan. 16, 2025, these wildfires have scorched more than 60 square miles, claimed at least 25 lives, and left 26 people missing. With more than 12,000 structures destroyed and tens of thousands displaced, the economic impact is estimated between $135 billion and $150 billion. On a new episode of the Emerging Litigation Podcast, we...

NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – have taken the digital world by storm – or perhaps just a downloadable picture of a storm – promising to revolutionize not only the way we perceive, protect, purchase, and own digital assets, but how we might even buy a house or other assets in the real world. These unique digital certificates, recorded on a blockchain, exploded onto the scene in post-pandemic 2021 with record-breaking sales and widespread media coverage. One of the most amazing examples ...

As if the rocketing evolution of technology isn't presenting enough challenges to inventors under patent law, the Supreme Court has done its part, too. I just finished reading Graham Moore's novel "The Last Days of Night," where titans of the late 1800s and early 1990s Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla "clashed with sparks flying over AC and DC electrical power systems," a corny description suggested by my AI editor. Having read the book, it was fun to speak with modern day...

Once again we dive into one of the hottest topics in environmental law right now: PFAS. Specifically, our guest talks about the EPA’s new PFAS Safe Drinking Water Final Rule, which mandates acceptable levels of PFAS in public water systems. This episode is based on a CLE webinar our guest recorded for HB Litigation a couple months back. Since then, if you’ve been following PFAS developments, you know pushback on the rule is coming from several directions, as our guest predicted. I...

Soon after emergency response teams scramble into action to address chemical fires, explosions, or other toxic events, attorneys begin gathering and analyzing information either to mitigate corporate risk or to seek remedies for anyone impacted by such an event. Listen to my interview with Edgar C. "Ed" Gentle III and Katherine "Kip" Benson of Gentle, Turner & Benson LLC, about legal activity that goes on in the immediate aftermath of a toxic event, using as a backdrop the recent chemical...

People. We’re complicated creatures. We can be compassionate. We can fall in love. Sometimes we don’t care for each other, but here we are. Also, some people cross the lines of propriety, causing emotional or even physical harm to others on our teams, whether we work with them, for them, or whether we supervise them. And sometimes we work more than regular hours, either because we’re directed to or because we’re willing to do what it takes to help our teams succeed. The workplace can be...

The United Nations and World Economic Forum calculates that the cost of corporate corruption globally is $5 trillion a year, or 5% of the world’s 2022 GDP. Corruption can hamper economic growth by discouraging investment, increasing transaction costs, and distorting market competition. It can perpetuate poverty by diverting resources away from essential services and benefiting the wealthy and powerful. It can undermine democratic institutions and erode public trust in governments. It can...

The DOJ’s annual report for 2023 revealed that the agency’s Health Care Fraud Unit was its busiest criminal enforcement section, responsible for convicting more than $3.8 billion in False Claims Act and whistleblower claims. There has reportedly been an uptick in whistleblower work among law firms and a record number of whistleblower cases. Still, some healthcare providers and hospital systems tend to hide their heads in their scrubs after being served. Today we’re going to talk about h...

How secure is our nation's critical infrastructure? One recent event serves as a cautionary tale. In this episode, we tackle this pressing question in the context of cybersecurity. We'll address President Biden's recent National Security Memorandum on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, and its implications for sectors like energy, water, and transportation. Our guest, Elizabeth Burgin Waller, from Virginia's WoodsRogers law firm, brings her extensive knowledge in privacy a...