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Court Says Uber and Lyft Drivers May be Employees
March 28, 2015
Drivers for Uber and Lyft claimed they are employees, not independent contractors. Two different judges hearing these cases both held that factual questions preclude summary judgment in favor of Uber and Lyft. As Judge Chhabria, who is hearing the Lyft dispute, notes, “[w]hether a worker is classified as an employee or an independent contractor has great consequences.” The courts both run through the independent contractor/employee test, which first look to whether the plaintiff is providing...
March 28, 2015
Drivers for Uber and Lyft claimed they are employees, not independent contractors. Two different judges hearing these cases both held that factual questions preclude summary judgment in favor of Uber and Lyft. As Judge Chhabria, who is hearing the Lyft dispute, notes, “[w]hether a worker is classified as an employee or an independent contractor has great consequences.” The courts both run through the independent contractor/employee test, which first look to whether the plaintiff is providing...
25% of Ohio’s 2010 Bar Admittees Aren’t Practicing Law
March 27, 2015
A law professor who used a bar directory and online resources to track down more than 1,100 lawyers who passed Ohio’s bar exam in 2010 feels “great sadness” for her study subjects. Ohio State University law professor Deborah Jones Merritt found that at least a quarter of the 2010 bar admittees weren’t using their law licenses four years later, a finding she attributes to structural changes in the market for legal labor. Merritt summarizes her findings at the Law School Café. Merritt...
March 27, 2015
A law professor who used a bar directory and online resources to track down more than 1,100 lawyers who passed Ohio’s bar exam in 2010 feels “great sadness” for her study subjects. Ohio State University law professor Deborah Jones Merritt found that at least a quarter of the 2010 bar admittees weren’t using their law licenses four years later, a finding she attributes to structural changes in the market for legal labor. Merritt summarizes her findings at the Law School Café. Merritt...
Texas: Arbitration Clause Survives Termination or Repudiation of Contract
March 27, 2015
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals, in BBVA Compass Investment Solutions, Inc. v. Brooks, held that an agreement to arbitrate contained within a contract survives the termination or repudiation of the contract as a whole. The arbitration agreement within a written contract is separable from the entire contract. After finding that the arbitration provision survived, the Court then examined the scope of the arbitration provision, focusing on the factual allegations in the complaint, rather than the legal...
March 27, 2015
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals, in BBVA Compass Investment Solutions, Inc. v. Brooks, held that an agreement to arbitrate contained within a contract survives the termination or repudiation of the contract as a whole. The arbitration agreement within a written contract is separable from the entire contract. After finding that the arbitration provision survived, the Court then examined the scope of the arbitration provision, focusing on the factual allegations in the complaint, rather than the legal...
The Will as an Implied Unilateral Arbitration Contract
March 27, 2015
My colleague, Gary Spitko of Santa Clara University School of Law, is publishing an article entitled, “The Will as an Implied...
March 27, 2015
My colleague, Gary Spitko of Santa Clara University School of Law, is publishing an article entitled, “The Will as an Implied...
Litigation Drop Has Goodwin Laying Off Lawyers
March 26, 2015
Goodwin Procter has laid off 21 lawyers and 17 staffers in its litigation department, but it will consider hiring laid off lawyers for open transactional positions. The law firm blamed the layoffs on an overall decline in market demand for litigation services. Above the Law, the first to report the layoffs, and the Am Law Daily have stories. “The legal industry continues to see a decline in demand for litigation services, driven by—among other factors—clients resolving cases more quickly...
March 26, 2015
Goodwin Procter has laid off 21 lawyers and 17 staffers in its litigation department, but it will consider hiring laid off lawyers for open transactional positions. The law firm blamed the layoffs on an overall decline in market demand for litigation services. Above the Law, the first to report the layoffs, and the Am Law Daily have stories. “The legal industry continues to see a decline in demand for litigation services, driven by—among other factors—clients resolving cases more quickly...
Texas: Published Advertisement Isn’t a Sanctionable Violation of the ADR Statute
March 26, 2015
In The Orchards on the Brazos, LLC v. Stinson, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals was asked to decide whether an advertisement placed in a local newspaper that outlined a settlement offer violated the Texas ADR statute. According to the court's opinion, after mediation and a trial, one of the parties took out an ad in a local newspaper that included statements about the settlement negotiations, including language that "At one point we turned down an offer of 100k from the developer." The other party...
March 26, 2015
In The Orchards on the Brazos, LLC v. Stinson, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals was asked to decide whether an advertisement placed in a local newspaper that outlined a settlement offer violated the Texas ADR statute. According to the court's opinion, after mediation and a trial, one of the parties took out an ad in a local newspaper that included statements about the settlement negotiations, including language that "At one point we turned down an offer of 100k from the developer." The other party...
Supreme Court Grants Cert in Another Arbitration Preemption Case
March 26, 2015
[On Monday], in DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburg, 2015 WL 1280237 (Mar. 23, 2015), the Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari in a case stemming from a California Court of Appeal decision holding that a California choice of law clause in the parties’ arbitration agreement (which is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act) trumped the FAA preemption doctrine, which is federal law under the FAA. The California Court of Appeal ruled that, under reigning California state law, a class action waiver...
March 26, 2015
[On Monday], in DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburg, 2015 WL 1280237 (Mar. 23, 2015), the Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari in a case stemming from a California Court of Appeal decision holding that a California choice of law clause in the parties’ arbitration agreement (which is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act) trumped the FAA preemption doctrine, which is federal law under the FAA. The California Court of Appeal ruled that, under reigning California state law, a class action waiver...
Data Analytics Poised to Move Up Another Gear in Legal
March 25, 2015
Data analytics will move to a new level in law firms over the next two years, with additional applications beyond e-discovery, legal techies predict. Data analytics are gaining traction in the legal market Data analytics in the legal marketplace will dictate legal spend in the next couple of years with large organisations and law firms seeing such information as core to legal strategy, according to research from Huron Legal. In a survey of 129 legal technologists, two in three (68 per cent)...
March 25, 2015
Data analytics will move to a new level in law firms over the next two years, with additional applications beyond e-discovery, legal techies predict. Data analytics are gaining traction in the legal market Data analytics in the legal marketplace will dictate legal spend in the next couple of years with large organisations and law firms seeing such information as core to legal strategy, according to research from Huron Legal. In a survey of 129 legal technologists, two in three (68 per cent)...
CPR Announces Winners of 32nd Annual Academic Awards
March 25, 2015
The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), a global non-profit organization focused on advancing dispute resolution practices and providing high quality dispute resolution solutions, presented its 32nd Annual Awards for Outstanding Scholarship in dispute resolution on Feb. 19, 2015, at a ceremony held at The Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA, at CPR’s Annual Meeting. The CPR Institute’s Awards Program recognizes stellar scholarship in this field. Award criteria...
March 25, 2015
The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), a global non-profit organization focused on advancing dispute resolution practices and providing high quality dispute resolution solutions, presented its 32nd Annual Awards for Outstanding Scholarship in dispute resolution on Feb. 19, 2015, at a ceremony held at The Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA, at CPR’s Annual Meeting. The CPR Institute’s Awards Program recognizes stellar scholarship in this field. Award criteria...
Legal Departments Admit to Being in Early Stages of Technology Maturation
March 25, 2015
Intentional or not, the adage “do as I say, not as I do” is in practice at many organizations today when it comes to technology. While operational efficiency is a top priority for in-house attorneys in 2015, most corporate legal departments readily admit their organizations are in the early stages of process and technology maturation. For all the progress that corporate legal has made over the last few years to reduce costs and improve performance, data shows corporate legal departments still...
March 25, 2015
Intentional or not, the adage “do as I say, not as I do” is in practice at many organizations today when it comes to technology. While operational efficiency is a top priority for in-house attorneys in 2015, most corporate legal departments readily admit their organizations are in the early stages of process and technology maturation. For all the progress that corporate legal has made over the last few years to reduce costs and improve performance, data shows corporate legal departments still...
