Welcome back to one of the more eclectic editions of the Top 10 in Law Blogs. This week Vince Sliwoski reports on the FDA’s recent approval of a drug trial on “magic mushrooms,” Joseph Green writes about the potential cancer risks of night shift work, and Kyle Kroll discusses the trademark triumphs of both Comic Con and Grumpy Cat. To paraphrase English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, “the power of the Top 10 is in the uncertainty of the law.”
Metrics isn’t a Dirty Word – What you can Learn from CLOC – By Lindsay Griffiths: If you’re a regular reader of Zen, you know that I’m a big fan of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC). They’re working to revolutionize the legal industry, and engage all facets of it to do so. One of the ways that legal departments excel and law firms majorly lag behind is with tracking metrics.While the law is indeed a very specialized set of skills, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to track the data that matters. View Full Post
U.S. Senate passes bill requiring prescription drug ads to include prices – By Alice Valder Curran, Meredith Manning, Heidi Gertner and Kathleen Peterson: On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed (85-7) the fiscal year 2019 minibus appropriations bill (H.R.6157) that would fund the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education, attaching to it a large amendment package. The bill includes S.Amdt. 3964, an amendment introduced by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that provides HHS with $1 million “to issue a regulation requiring that direct-to-consumer prescription drug and biological product advertisements include an appropriate disclosure of pricing information with respect to such products.” View Full Post
Investor Files Sexual Misconduct-Related Securities Suit Against CBS – By Kevin LaCroix: As I have noted in prior posts, one of the noteworthy aspects of the whole #MeToo movement has been that the accountability efforts have included not only claims against the wrongdoers themselves, but also against the wrongdoers’ companies and company executives for enabling the misconduct or turning a blind eye. In the latest of these kinds of sexual misconduct-related lawsuit, a CBS shareholder has filed a securities class action lawsuit against CBS Corporation based on revelations that the company’s CEO, Leslie Moonves, allegedly engaged in sexual harassment at the company. View Full Post
This is Not a Dream … Agencies Actually are Reviewing the Cancer Risks of Night Shift Work (UPDATED) – By Joseph Green: ** UPDATE 8/29/2018 ** NTP just released a draft report recommending that “frequent and long term night shift work … that causes circadian disruption is known to be a human carcinogen” based on human studies. The draft report concludes that: Human epidemiological studies provide evidence that persistent night shift work is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and mechanistic and other related studies provide evidence that circadian disruption plays a major role in the cancer pathway in humans.View Full Post
Skills Down, Claims Up: What the Infrastructure Boom Means for Insurers – By James Rigney and Nina O’Keefe: The recent collapse of a 50 year-old suspension bridge in Genoa Italy is a stark reminder of the devastating impact that failed infrastructure projects can have. Roads and rail, hospitals and schools, airports and stadiums: there’s no doubt Australia is going through a turbulent infrastructure boom, perhaps its biggest yet. The Federal government has announced more than $75 billion in infrastructure projects across the nation over the next 10 years. View Full Post
Cryptocurrency and Family Law: The Basics (Part 1) – By Andrew Speer: Cryptocurrency and Family Law: The Basics (Part 1) Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are not going away any time soon. Both have been sanctioned by the United States government, and millions of people within our country utilize these electronic currencies every day in a variety of ways. Some use them as vehicles for investment, some use them to trade goods and services, and others use them as sources of income. View Full Post
FDA Approves Drug Trial for Psylocibin (Magic Mushrooms) – By Vince Sliwoski: Let’s talk about psylocibin today. Psylocibin is the naturally occurring, psychedelic ingredient found in around 200 species of mushrooms. Like cannabis, it is believed that psylocibin use by humans predates recorded history by at least a few thousand years. Also like cannabis, psylocibin has always been thought to have medical applications; and it has demonstrated promising, preliminary results in formal studies. View Full Post
California Lists Humboldt Marten and Rare Flower as Endangered – By Liz Klebaner: On August 23, 2018, the California Fish and Game Commission (“Commission”) listed the Humboldt marten (Marten caurina humboldtensis) as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act (“CESA”). The Commission also ratified its decision to list the Lassics lupine flower (Lupinus constancei) as an endangered plant under CESA.Members of the weasel family, Humboldt martens were previously designated as a California Species of Special Concern and are currently under review for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. View Full Post
After Battles for Fees, Victory for Comic Con and (partially) Grumpy Cat – By Kyle Kroll: The battle for attorneys’ fees after an intense trademark dispute often leaves many prevailing parties empty handed. This is because the Lanham Act only provides for attorneys’ fees in “exceptional cases.” Congress’s (and courts’) reluctance to award attorneys’ fees stems from the “American Rule,” which provides that each party to a lawsuit is responsible for paying its own fees–unless a statute provides otherwise. View Full Post
Why am I blogging while on vacation? – By Heather Morse: It’s morning in Cabo. Not early morning, but morning enough. Day three of vacation. It hasn’t gone perfectly. We’re changing rooms later today. But so far so good. Everyone is getting along, and a tan has begun. So why am I blogging? Why am I not down at the spa, or packing a bag for the beach? Or getting ready to swap out our room for a better one? View Full Post