That lightness in your step, the extra cheeriness in your smile, it can only mean one thing: the release of a new edition of the Top 10 in Law Blogs (and yes, okay, the fact that it’s Friday may have something to do with it, too)! Though this week’s assortment of posts isn’t quite as eclectic as last week’s, there are still some interesting topics, including Christy E. Kiely’s report on a major federal victory for LGBT rights; Matthew Landis’ post on his visit to the Supreme Court; and Kathryn Rattigan’s exploration into how drones are helping to bring power back to Puerto Rico. We’ll see you next week!
California’s Cannabis Regulations: Did They Get It Right? – By Habib Bentaleb of Canna Law Blog: When California’s state legislature passed the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA) back in 2015, it was the first time that California enacted a statewide licensing and regulatory regime for commercial cannabis businesses. Prior to the passage of the MCRSA, cannabis collectives and non-profits in California were operating under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Prop 215), Senate Bill 420 a/k/a the Medical Marijuana Program Act (passed in 2004), and the California Attorney General guidelines that were issued in 2008 (bonus points if you knew that current Governor Jerry Brown was the AG at the time). View Full Post
Use of Artificial Intelligence During Due Diligence Creates A Global View of a Target Company – By Justin Evans of Intellectually Jay: For the past few years, business outlets have published numerous stories about failed mergers of gigantic corporations due to failed due diligence studies. In fact, Hewlett-Packard’s deal with Autonomy was one of those highly reported stories of a large corporation losing billions due to an oversight in its due diligence review.[1] In 2011, Hewlett Packard acquired Autonomy for 11.1 billion, a 64% premium over the company’s 1 billion in yearly revenue. What went wrong with this deal?[2] In its review of Autonomy, Hewlett Packard was unable to detect that the CFO and CEO of Autonomy had been cooking their books, reporting profits that it had not made. For ten months before its acquisition, Autonomy reported revenues that were within the 4 percent of analyst expectations.[3] How did Hewlett Packard miss this? View Full Post
More Energy From Carbon, Lower Emissions – By Frederick R. Eames of The Nickel Report: There are 7.6 billion people on the planet today. By 2050, there are projected to be 9.7 billion—or put another way, in just thirty years we will add the equivalent population of seven United States. The world’s most credible energy forecasting entities predict a global increase over that time not only in demand for energy, but demand for fossil energy. Even with steady increases in energy efficiency and a massive increase in renewables, consumption of fossil fuels will grow. That means carbon dioxide emissions won’t be reduced significantly without some technology to do so.The only technology to deeply reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels is carbon capture and storage. CCS can control and sequester nearly all greenhouse gas emissions from an industrial facility. View Full Post
Federal Victory For LGBT Rights – By Christy E. Kiely of Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives: This week the LGBT community and its supporters won an important case in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In Zarda v. Altitude Express, the Court ruled that Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination extends to same-sex, or “anti-gay,” discrimination. In that case, Donald Zarda, a gay skydiving instructor, alleged he was unlawfully fired after a customer complained about him disclosing his same-sex orientation. The gay rights community has argued for some time that Title VII’s protections based on “sex” includes the subset of sexual orientation. View Full Post
Game Changer? New Sex Discrimination Case Regarding Sexual Orientation – By Michael Kelsheimer of Employer Handbook: Discrimination based on sex is illegal. Does that include sexual orientation? It depends on where you live. In Texas, discrimination based on sexual orientation may be inappropriate, but it is not illegal. Elsewhere in the U.S. that is changing, and Texas could soon be impacted as well. On February 26, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which has jurisdiction over Vermont, New York and Connecticut, ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation can be sex discrimination. This differs from the view of the Federal Court of Appeals over Texas, creating a division, or “split” across the country. Citizens of different states can now be treated differently under the same federal law and the U.S. Supreme Court does not like it when that happens. View Full Post
CFPB to look to state AGs for more leadership in enforcement arena – By Barbara S. Mishkin of Consumer Finance Monitor: In remarks yesterday at the winter meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington, D.C., Mick Mulvaney indicated that the CFPB will be looking to state attorneys general for “much more collaboration and much more leadership” when deciding which enforcement cases to bring. Mr. Mulvaney stated that a significant, although not determinative, factor in the CFPB’s decision to initiate an enforcement action in a particular case will be whether state AGs or regulators are also considering whether to take enforcement action. View Full Post
Drones Helping to Restore Power in Puerto Rico – By Kathryn Rattigan of Data Privacy + Security Insider: In the mountains near Ponce, Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria tore through, the terrain made it difficult to repair power lines that stretched from peak to peak. For over four months, the entire area was in the dark and so were its residents. In January, utility companies started using a new approach to restoring power: drones. Drones carrying lightweight nylon cord can easily fly over dense, jungle-like vegetation to a pole on the opposite sides of ravines. Then, a 3-D-printed electromagnet attached to the drone allows the drone to drop the cord into the correct position. Finally, utilities workers can attach a larger, stronger cord, and then pull the conductor wire into place, allowing them the ability to restore power. View Full Post
Russia: Main Takeaways from Roskomnadzor’s Open Doors Day – By Natalia Gulyaeva, Maria Sedykh, and Katherine Gasztonyi of Global Media and Communications Watch: Recently, the Russian Data Privacy Authority (Roskomnadzor) organized an Open Doors Day in honor of the International Data Privacy Day. During the occasion, Roskomnadzor officers presented on the authority’s 2017 enforcement activities. They followed this presentation with an open question and answer period, during which they responded to numerous questions raised by attendees. We summarize the key takeaways below. View Full Post
Austin Passes Law Requiring Private Employers to Provide Paid Sick Leave – By Russell Cawyer of Texas Employment Law Update: This month the City of Austin passed the State’s first municipal paid sick leave ordinance requiring private employers to provide earned sick time to employees. Beginning on October 1, 2018 (and October 1, 2020 for employers with five or fewer employees), employers with employees working in the City of Austin must provide employees with earned sick time. The new law will eventually apply to employers of all sizes who pay an employee to perform work and exercise control over the employee’s wages, hours and working conditions. View Full Post
A Trip to the Supreme Court of the United States – By Matthew Landis of Lancaster Law Blog: Last week, I had the honor and privilege of being admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. The trip is organized on an annual basis by the Lancaster Bar Association. Since we were allowed one guest, I invited my mom to attend with me. The admission ceremony occurred prior to two oral arguments before Court. After going through security to enter the building and spending some time in a conference room waiting for the next step, we were ushered into the Courtroom. My first reaction was surprise at how small the Courtroom actually is. This was immediately followed by nervousness – I was sitting about 15 feet from the bench where the nine justices of the Supreme Court would soon be seated. View Full Post