The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) was originally envisioned as a true people’s broadband radio service – one that would be either free or highly affordable for small, locally-based operations of limited breadth and duration. The paradigm was a conscious break from the Metropolitan Statistical Area – or- larger sized service areas with 10-year renewable terms that have dominated regulatory thinking for the last few decades, effectively limiting the licensees of most new spectrum to billion-dollar companies with plenty of cash to acquire licenses. View Full Post
The Supreme Court of Ohio ruled yesterday that the Mahoning County Board of Elections must place a proposed city charter amendment—the so-called “Youngstown Drinking Water Protection Bill of Rights”—on the May 2018 ballot, which includes several anti-fracking provisions. State ex rel. View Full Post
On April 18, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Lagos v. United States.  Lagos presents the important issue of whether a corporate victim’s professional costs—such as investigatory and legal expenses—incurred as a result of a criminal defendant’s offense conduct must be reimbursed under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. View Full Post
In U.S. contract law, a contract is considered “irreparably broken” after a “material” breach of contract—a breach that is so severe that essentially destroys the basis of the contract and goes to the root of the agreement between the contract’s parties. View Full Post
On April 20, 2018, Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. of the US District Court of Maine issued a well-reasoned 39 page decision granting an injunction against the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) from prohibiting a high school student from Zambia, seeking asylum in the US, from participating in a national poetry recital contest.  View Full Post
Two notable developments in the past few weeks signal potential changes ahead to the policies and timeframes for pipeline approvals, particularly natural gas pipelines under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) oversight. These developments reflect both the increased public scrutiny of the pipeline approval process seen in recent years and the emphasis placed by the current administration on expediting review and approval of major infrastructure projects, two factors that are in some tension with each other. View Full Post
Having spent time with a wide variety of senior partners in major business law firms throughout California and Arkansas, I have lost count how many times I have heard them wish that law school graduates who enter into a business law practice would better understand the business aspects of business law, including finance, business strategy, and business analytics.  View Full Post
A legal research tool that uses artificial intelligence to help legal researchers quickly find key language critical to a court’s reasoning has been selected by the American Association of Law Libraries as winner of its 2018 New Product Award. AALL cited Points of Law, a tool developed by Bloomberg Law, for its ability to provide […] view full post » View Full Post
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation (“Commerce Committee”) recently held a nomination hearing to fill two vacancies on the Surface Transportation Board (“STB”), the economic regulator of railroads.  The nomination hearing of Patrick Fuchs and Michelle Schultz provided Senators with a venue to vent concerns related to the U.S. View Full Post
Although Iowa’s drug testing statute was enacted more than 30 years ago, it is still considered one of the most difficult laws in the country for purposes of employer compliance. The 10-page law includes provisions addressing permissible types of tests, written notice requirements, rehabilitation for positive alcohol test results, split-specimen testing, and mandatory supervisor training, among other things. View Full Post
Data breaches have become commonplace. Despite the best efforts of many, identity thieves and hackers always seem to find a new vulnerability somewhere in the system of virtually every company that conducts business online. And, as the recent Facebook debacle reveals, sometimes data is even shared with legitimate third parties in ways customers neither realized nor anticipated. View Full Post
A company’s ability to quickly and effectively conduct a forensic investigation is often critical to limiting the impacts of a data security incident, determining the scope of the incident and developing an effective communications plan. In BakerHostetler’s 2018 Data Security Incident Response Report, we analyzed over 560 data security incidents that we worked on in 2017. View Full Post
In recent months, sexual harassment has seized national headlines and raised significant questions about company policies, procedures, and culture. In response, many companies and HR personnel have questioned how to appropriately respond to complaints of sexual harassment. A recent decision out of the Western District of Wisconsin provides a helpful summary of the state of Title VII, the federal anti-discrimination and harassment law, and the appropriate company response to harassment. View Full Post