Loading...
  • Arson Investigations: Best Practices for Establishing Fraud and Avoiding Bad Faith

    Arson-related insurance claims are rising—and so are the risks for insurers who don’t investigate thoroughly and by the book. Guest contributor Melissa A. Segel breaks down how carriers can use modern tools, smart strategy, and legal precision to uncover fraud while steering clear of costly bad faith pitfalls. A must-read for anyone navigating the intersection of fire science and insurance law.

  • Facing PFAS lawsuit, Apple claims watch bands are safe, but what does the evidence say?

    Amid rising concerns about toxic chemicals in consumer products, Apple finds itself under scrutiny. Guest contributor Justin Ward examines the controversy surrounding Apple’s smartwatch bands after researchers detected elevated levels of PFAS, or “forever chemicals.” While Apple insists its products are safe, a class action lawsuit alleges deceptive marketing and health risks, raising broader questions about accountability and chemical transparency in tech and apparel.

  • AI tool that summarizes evidence from cracked phones wades into uncharted constitutional waters

    As law enforcement agencies adopt cutting-edge AI to process digital evidence, constitutional questions are quickly coming into focus. Guest contributor Justin Ward explores how Cellebrite’s new AI-driven tool—capable of scanning and summarizing entire phone contents—may clash with Fourth Amendment protections. While the tech promises efficiency, civil rights advocates argue it opens the door to warrantless digital dragnets, with court interpretations varying widely across jurisdictions.

  • Valid Antitrust Concerns or Partisan Objectives: Which Will Guide Trump’s FTC?  

    Concerned that the spirit of retribution that drove executive orders against some of the nation's largest law firms will carry over to business deals, Tom Hagy writes about recent changes at the Federal Trade Commission and some of the comments from the new chair that suggest infusion of retribution into the process of examining business deals is inevitable.

  • AI tools may be the cause of the explosion in nuclear verdicts — and also the solution

    Guest contributor Justin Ward discusses how artificial intelligence is both fueling and fighting the rise of “nuclear verdicts.” Plaintiff attorneys are using AI to identify high-damages cases, favorable jurisdictions, and winning arguments—driving a spike in verdicts over $10 million. At the same time, defense lawyers and insurers are adopting tools like NaVeL to spot high-risk cases early and craft smarter strategies. As AI reshapes legal practice, the very technology accelerating massive awards may also be the best hope for containing them.

  • Supreme Court to Reconsider Separate Sovereignties

    The Supreme Court’s decision to review Barrett v. United States signals a potential shift in how the long-standing “separate sovereignties” exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause is applied. This article by guest contributor Bret Thurman offers a deep dive into the historical, constitutional, and practical complexities of double jeopardy, from its roots in ancient Greece to modern-day interpretations. It explores how exceptions—like implied acquittals, mistrials, and fraud—have shaped the doctrine, and raises questions about whether dual prosecutions still make sense in today’s legal landscape.

Emerging Litigation Podcast

The Corporate Transparency Act: A New Effort to Fight Money Laundering with Lori Smith

In this episode, we discuss the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) with Lori Smith of Stradley Ronon, including the key facets of the Act's requirements, potential penalties, and chances for litigation. As Lori notes, "the U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where you can form entities, and nobody can tell who owns them". The CTA aims to prevent this from being the case. Listen and learn more!

Litigators, YES Litigators: One Attorney’s Journey Within and Without the Legal Industry

In this episode, we discuss all the things one former litigator, Somya Kaushik, Senior Corporate Counsel at Mineral and Adjunct Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School has done, and the advantages she feels a litigator can bring to a small company – one that isn’t embroiled in litigation (and would like to keep it that way). As she notes, "a litigator is well-positioned to identify actual but often overlooked legal risks, effectively mitigating issues and reducing both business and legal risks". Listen and learn more!

Massive Mass Tort Settlements and Liability Forecasting

In this episode, we discuss Liability Forecasting and the role it plays in the administration of massive, sometimes multi-billion-dollar mass tort settlement trusts with guests Mark Eveland and Ed Silverman of Verus LLC, which provides litigation support services to law firms working on mass torts, such as case management and medical review services, settlement administration, business and advisory services, and analytics. Liability forecasting mechanisms were built to fairly and judiciously compensate current and future claimants for their injuries. Listen and learn more!

A Shameless Plug for Our Content Services

Your content marketing is everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Right?

White Label Critical Legal Content for your organizationSara is marketing director at a boutique law firm. When we asked her how their blog was going, she made a sad face. But then, we made Sara smile.*

Critical Legal Content was founded by Tom Hagy, former Editor & Publisher of Mealey’s Litigation Reports and VP at LexisNexis, founder of HB, current litigation podcaster and editor-in-chief. CLC’s mission is to help smaller firms and service providers not only create content — blogs, articles, papers, webinars, podcasts (like the stuff on this site) — but also to get it out there. How? Via social media, this website, your website, and potential via our podcast and journal which we publish in collaboration with vLex Fastcase and Law Street Media. The goal is to attract readers and dizzy them with your brilliance.

*Inspired by actual events.

Create content like a real legal publisher.

Emerging Litigation Journal

Litigation After Biometric Privacy Law Violations: Policyholder Victories and Their Implications

Insurance companies are implementing new measures to try to avoid paying for liabilities attached to consumer and employee biometric privacy law violations. The authors, Cort Malone and Abigail Damsky explore the issues companies and policyholders should be examining to ensure adequate protection in the present and future. As the authors note, “as more states pass biometric privacy laws, it is critical not only to follow court decisions but also to understand how insurance companies are attempting to avoid liability for such claims.”

Expert Depositions and Trial Disclosures: What Every Litigator Needs to Know

Expert disclosures in litigation are vitally important for trial testimony and planning for trial. The author, Ethan Minkin examines issues surrounding expert depositions and trial disclosures, which he argues need to be appreciated to avoid unanticipated surprises at trial. As Ethan discusses, "the pretrial process requires an eye toward the future. Trial work is not limited to just knowing the applicable Rules of Evidence. The applicable Rules of Civil Procedure play an equally important, if not greater, role in helping to define what will happen at trial".

Copyright Issues in Generative AI for Software: Doe v. Github, Inc. et al.

The ongoing case of Doe v. Github Inc. et al. addresses copyright-related issues inherent in the Copilot generative AI that allows users to enter prompts to generate software code. This case addresses many of the issues involved in the training and use of generative AI for generating software code. The author, Jeffrey Gluck examines these issues, which he anticipates will have far-reaching implications for AI-generated works in the future. As Jeffrey notes, "Github is a case that may have far-reaching implications for AI-generated works in the future".

HB Webinars on CeriFi LegalEdge

Content Partners

Go to Top