We’ve become aware that some clients are using artificial intelligence (AI) to summarize or analyze things like complaints, briefs, internal documents, or even – horror of horrors! – law firm bills. If the client performing these tasks is an in-house lawyer, such work might be protected by the attorney client privilege or work product doctrine
Book Review: The Pain Brokers
In truth, this post is not so much a review as a full-throated endorsement. We are telling colleagues that they need to read Elizabeth Chamblee Burch’s The Pain Brokers (One Signal Publishers 2026). Two things drive our enthusiasm for this book: cynicism and pride.
First, let’s indulge our cynicism. The Drug and Device Law
Court Enjoins Texas Food/Beverage Warnings as Forced Speech Violative of First Amendment
Who would’ve thought that Texas, of all states, would become a nannyocracy? The Lone Star State typically positions itself as the home of rough and ready folks who can take care of themselves. Think Jim Bowie, Willie Nelson, or Bob Lilly, not Mr. Rogers, Mary Poppins, or Nanny McPhee. Texans don’t need the government telling
Plaintiff Talc Law Firm Disqualified after Working with Defendant’s Former Lawyer on Settlement Strategy
Our law school days were long ago. Reagan was the president. Footloose and Beverly Hills Cop topped the movie box office. Prince made great music, Lionel Ritchie made good music, and Macca and Jacko teamed up to make awful music. The Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics, which made the games … really excellent.
Even
Court Upholds California Ban on “Flavored” Tobacco
We do not quite fit the stereotype of the fat cat – at least (we hope), not anymore. But there was a time when at least one evening per week would be marked by scotch and cigars. Our antiquity and iffy physical constitution have now reduced such festivities to two or three times per annum.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rejects Dilution of “Reasonable Certainty” Standard for Expert `testimony
How many times have you seen a lawyer end the trial direct examination (or deposition redirect) of his/her expert by perfunctorily asking, “Do you hold all your opinions to a reasonable degree of certainty?” Then there is the obligatory “Yes.” The magic words have been uttered. All is right with the world, right?
Maybe.
If
No Privacy Interest in Internet Searches
Our favorite aspect of being a prosecutor was the investigation phase. Snooping is fun. Figuring out what the crook did and how he did it made us feel like Columbo or Mannix. (Surely those references are lost on anyone under 50. Maybe we should have alluded to Poker Face.) Surveillance, telephone records, and bank accounts
We Snap Back in Favor of Snap Removals
This is a defense blog. Are we biased? Yes, we are. We come by that bias honestly, via temperament, principle, and client loyalty. We are happy to report on defense wins. If we report at all on plaintiff wins, it will be grudgingly and typically accompanied by heaping helpings of regrets and criticisms.
Have we
High Dose Adderall Supports Defense of Involuntary Intoxication
Bexis gave us a splendid Christmas present when he handed us a case that is right in our wheelhouse: a criminal matter with (literally) crazy facts and some connection to prescription drug labels. United States v. Rainford, 2025 WL 3522333 (10th Cir. Dec. 9, 2025), is a relatively rare (something the opinion itself mentioned)
N.D. Fla. Upholds Snap Removal
If it’s Wednesday, it’s plainly time to talk about removal. Today’s case, In re Depo Provera Prods Liab. Litigation, 2025 WL 3252445 (N.D. Fla. Nov. 13, 2025), upholds one of the defense bar’s favorite procedural maneuvers,snap removal. The case was snapped in California, in the Ninth Circuit, and transferred to the Multidistrict Litigation in