This week was chock full of new lawsuits, new COVID-19 regulations, and ideas for the upcoming year. We’ve selected the 10 best posts from our members here at LexBlog. They report on vaccines, trademarks, and law firm budgets while simultaneously offering their expert legal commentary and analyses.
Top 10
Employer vaccine update: As FDA reviews vaccines, drug makers report limited supplies
COVID-19 vaccines are being approved by the FDA, leaving many optimistic for 2021. The vaccine won’t immediately be available to the general public though, Husch Blackwell‘s Avi Meyerstein explains. Currently, the U.S. has pre-purchased 100 million doses from each candidate, and each individual needs two doses of the vaccine, Meyerstein reports on Safety Law Matters.
Does your law firm have a budget?
Law firms need to have a budget to ensure they stay within their financial parameters. A budget should include expenses such as payroll, taxes (federal, state and local), insurance, lease costs, supplies, utilities, and more—Stange Law Firm‘s Kirk Stange writes. He goes more in-depth on why firms need budgets and the possibility of getting a line of credit if things go south on Kirk Stange on Law.
Coloradans vote to give all employees in the state paid family and medical leave
With the passing of Proposition 118, Colorado joined eight other states and the District of Columbia in creating a state-level paid family and medical leave program. Nathan Schacht and Keeley Cronin of Baker & Hostetler discuss how this is different from federal Family and Medical Leave Act as well as key takeaways from employers on Employment Law Spotlight.
Facebook faces lawsuit alleging discrimination against U.S. workers
The DOJ filed a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming that the company offers jobs to immigrant visa holders over U.S. workers. The lawsuit follows a two-year investigation, Raymond Lahoud of Norris McLaughlin explains. Employers fear that this practice will render every employer vulnerable to charges of discrimination, he writes on Immigration Lawyers Blog.
Legal fallout for handling protests and covid business shutdown issues
Numerous lawsuits have been filed in Seattle regarding how the city handled months of protests. The largest comes from a collection of real estate developers, small businesses and property owners, Rush Nigut of Brick Gentry reports. Elsewhere, a bar in Iowa alleged that the pandemic-related restrictions on business activity are violating the Iowa Constitution, Nigut writes on Brick Gentry Trial Law Team.
Banksy loses EU trade mark due to “bad faith”
Banksy is one artist who has strayed away from copyright—mainly because the artist operates anonymously. Instead, he uses third parties and trade mark registrations, Alice Chaplin of A&L Goodbody discusses. Chaplin reports on the invalidation of a trademark on one of his most famous pieces due to “bad faith” on Ireland IP & Technology Law Blog.
FCA focus on Environmental Social Governance in product design and disclosure
Richard Monks, director of strategy at the FCA recently spoke about building trust in sustainable investments. However, he cautions against “greenwashing,” exaggerating the green credentials of a product. Squire Patton Boggs discusses a proposed set of guidelines that would help firms with “ESG product design and disclosure” on UK Finance Disputes and Regulatory Investigations Blog.
What California Employers Need to Know About The Emergency Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Regulations
New California regulations have come out in response to a surge of COVID cases. For starters, employers must develop a COVID Prevention Program. Akerman LLP discusses other new requirements for employers on the blog HR Defense, such as providing safety training and what to do if an employee gets sick.
LexisNexis releases commercial lease analytics product and COVID-19 real estate impact report
LexisNexis recently announced a unique analytics resource for real estate practitioners. “This is the first commercial product I can think of that is completely crowd sourced,” Jean O’Grady says. She discusses aspects and implications of the survey further on Dewey B Strategic.