Expert Analysis

• Level Up Lawyers' Business Development With Gamification

  

  With employee engagement at a 10-year low in the U.S., there are several gamification techniques marketing and business development teams at law firms can use to make generating new clients and matters more appealing to lawyers, says Heather McCullough at Society 54.

• Mallory Ruling Leaves Personal Jurisdiction Deeply Unsettled

  

  In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court recently rolled back key aspects of its 2017 opinion in Daimler AG v. Bauman that limited personal jurisdiction, leaving as many questions for businesses as it answers, say John Cerreta and James Rotondo at Day Pitney.

• 5 Ways Firms Can Rethink Office Design In A Hybrid World

  

  As workplaces across the country adapt to flexible work, law firms must prioritize individuality, amenities and technology in office design, says Kristin Cerutti at Nelson Worldwide.

• C-PACE Laws Offer Boost For Sustainable Development

  

  As more emphasis is placed on energy-efficient infrastructure and sustainability projects, state laws establishing property assessed clean energy financing — known as C-PACE in the commercial context — have become increasingly relevant to project developers' capital stacks, say attorneys at Frost Brown.

• Opinion

  Bar Score Is Best Hiring Metric Post-Affirmative Action

  

  After the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down affirmative action admissions policies, law firms looking to foster diversity in hiring should view an applicant's Multistate Bar Examination score as the best metric of legal ability — over law school name or GPA, says attorney Alice Griffin.

• Piecing Together The Blockchain Evidentiary Hurdles

  

  There are common challenges to introducing blockchain evidence at trial and a lack of uniformity in evidentiary codes at the state and federal levels means litigants must carefully navigate the uncertain blockchain puzzle, says Brett Sager at Ehrenstein Sager.

• Ghosting In BigLaw: How To Come Back From Lack Of Feedback

  

  Junior associates can feel powerless when senior colleagues cut off contact instead of providing useful feedback, but young attorneys can get back on track by focusing on practical professional development and reexamining their career priorities, says Rachel Patterson at Orrick.

• Would Biden Airline Service Order Raise 'Major Questions'?

  

  President Joe Biden's recent pledge to require airlines to compensate passengers for delays and cancellations could run afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court's recently expounded "major questions" doctrine — but that will depend on what kind of action the administration takes, and how federal courts choose to apply the doctrine, says Roger Clark at Signature Resolution.

• Opinion

  States Must Fight Predatory Real Estate Listing Agreements

  

  As momentum against long-term real estate listing agreements continues to grow, states should take action to render existing agreements unenforceable and discourage future unfair and deceptive trade practices in real estate, says Elizabeth Blosser at the American Land Title Association.

• Steps To Success For Senior Associates

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Adriana Paris at Rissman Barrett discusses the increased responsibilities and opportunities that becoming a senior associate brings and what attorneys in this role should prioritize to flourish in this stressful but rewarding next level in their careers.

• What 6th Circ. Ruling May Portend For PFAS Coverage Cases

  

  The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Admiral Insurance v. Fire-Dex, rejecting the insurer's attempt to avoid coverage, shows that federal courts may decline to resolve novel PFAS state-law issues, and that insurers may have less confidence than originally intimated in the applicability of the pollution exclusion to PFAS claims, say attorneys at Hunton.

• How To Avoid A Zombie Office Building Apocalypse

  

  With national office vacancy rates approaching 20%, policymakers, investors and developers will need to come together in order to prevent this troubling trend from sucking the life out of business districts or contaminating the broader real estate market, say Ryan Sommers and Robyn Minter Smyers at Thompson Hine.

• Legal Profession Must Do More For Lawyers With Disabilities

  

  At the start of Disability Pride month, Rosalyn Richter at Arnold & Porter looks at why lawyers with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in private practice, asserting that law firms and other employers must do more to conquer the implicit bias that deters attorneys from seeking accommodations.

• Ohio Tax Talk: Building On Federal Affordable Housing Credit

  

  Ohio's soon-to-be-implemented low-income housing tax credit could significantly affect the state's affordable housing landscape and influence tax-credit deal financing for these projects, though Senate changes may have dampened the new credit's immense potential, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.

• NBA Players Must Avoid Legal Fouls In CBD Deals

  

  The NBA’s recently ratified collective bargaining agreement allows athletes to promote CBD brands and products, but athletes and the companies they promote must be cautious of a complex patchwork of applicable state laws and federal regulators’ approach to advertising claims, says Airina Rodrigues at Brownstein Hyatt.