The Age of Social Disparagement with Charlie Kingdollar It was my pleasure to interview Charlie Kingdollar for our first episode of the Emerging Litigation Podcast. Charlie spent more than four decades with General Reinsurance, three-quarters of which as the company’s Emerging Issues Officer. One colleague described him as “one of the most prescient and gifted industry futurists I have met in my 36 year professional career within the insurance industry. Entertaining and insightful, his ability to digest and communicate complex issues, many before they are readily apparent, is both a gift and a talent.” This interview is based on his article on social disparagement coming out in the inaugural issue of the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation in January 2021.  The Journal is a collaborative project between HB and Fastcase. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects, or want to tell me how awesome Charlie is, drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com. We hope you enjoy the interview. Are the risks posed by social media — which has added jet fuel to one person’s ability to smear another — adequately addressed by the insurance market?

Offshore Wind Power Initiatives with Jack Smith Joining me to discuss this important subject is Jack Smith, a partner with Nelson Mullins in Charleston, South Carolina. Jack's practice includes hazardous waste site management and remediation, contaminated property liability negotiation, litigation, redevelopment and related regulatory counseling. He has also worked for several state and federal government environmental agencies. Jack earned his JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law and a BS in Psychology, also from the University of South Carolina. This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation, a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, Docket Alarm and, most recently, Judicata. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects, or want to tell me how insightful and informative Jack is, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com. This interview is based in part on an article Jack is writing for the Journal. I hope you enjoy the interview, and especially my solution for preventing birds from flying into windmills. I'm going to be rich. --Tom Hagy President Biden  has called for the doubling of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. To say the process for getting such projects up and running is complex is an understatement. There will be plenty of obstacles to the administration's lofty goal. Where will these impediments to development arise? What role will states play? How will NGOs react to this ambitious ramp-up?

Labor Law in 2021 with Kathryn Hatfield Participation in labor unions is less than half of what it was 40 years ago. It has seen an uptick in the service sector, but a sharp decline in manufacturing. According to economist Heidi Shierholz decline in union rolls is partly responsible for today's yawning income inequality gap. Recently we've seen the formation of a modest union at Google and a movement among Amazon workers. We've also seen how the pandemic has shone a bright light on the fragility of our nation's workforce struggling to survive at the bottom rungs of the pay scale. Joining me to speak about these issues is Kathryn Van Deusen Hatfield, a senior managing partner at Hatfield Schwartz Law Group in New Jersey.  Kathy represents private and public sector employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, with expertise in litigating state and federal cases on behalf of employers involving Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, and providing legal opinions and advice on personnel, employment and labor issues.  Kathy shares her insights on recent developments in the labor movement, some of the causes of its decline, how unions get a bad rap, and how, even though she represents management, she believes unions can be a good thing for everyone -- employees and companies alike. This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation, a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, Docket Alarm and, most recently, Judicata. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects, or want to tell me how insightful and informative David and Dan are, please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com. I hope you enjoy the interview, and how I managed to demonstrate how little I [...]