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April 24, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
Debra Friedman, a member of the Labor & Employment Department, comments on the EEOC’s proposed rule on wellness programs differing from HIPAA’s wellness program incentives in that it extends the 30 percent limit on incentives under health-contingent wellness programs to participatory wellness programs that require disability-related inquiries or medical examinations.
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April 23, 2015
News - Labor & Employment
Michael Schmidt, vice chair of the Labor & Employment Department, has been invited to join the Advisory Board for Bloomberg BNA’s Social Media Law & Policy Report.
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April 19, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
Debra Friedman discusses the EEOC’s recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which describes how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to employer wellness programs that are part of group health plans.
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April 15, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
David Barron discusses the potential legal troubles a company can run into by prohibiting employees from facial piercings.
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April 14, 2015
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt was a guest on Fox 29 News to discuss the recent police scrutiny of the “free-range parents” in suburban Washington, D.C.
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April 13, 2015
News - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Leading professionals give 5 tips to insurers: look at the whole picture, humanize your case, don’t attack the policyholder, and keep it simple to win coverage.
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April 03, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “You Can Complain About Work on Facebook – But You Shouldn’t,” Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the specific kinds of complaints employees can make on social media that are actually protected by law, no matter your employer’s policy. “When an employee or group of employees are speaking on social media collectively about work and conditions at work, they have a right to engage in that activity according to the NLRB,” says Michael, “The NLRB considers that kind of action — connecting with your fellow employees on social media to discuss working conditions — a 'protected, concerted activity.'"
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April 02, 2015
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, a member of the firm’s Family Law Group, was a guest on Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield on CNN to Discuss the Aaron Hernandez trial, as well as the Boston bomber trial.
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April 01, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
Jeffrey Pasek, a member of the Labor & Employment Department, discusses Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and how the meaning of RFRA-type laws have changed.
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April 01, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “What to Do About Employees’ #StupidTweets,” Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses whether an employer should take action against an employee for an inappropriate tweet. Michael remarked that “assuming no outright prohibition [by the law] on disciplining the employee for the tweet, the employer also may consider both the impact that the tweet has or may have on co-workers, as well as the impact on morale if the offending employee or others perceive the employer as overly regulating employee speech and expression, particularly of a more innocuous and not patently offensive message.”
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March 31, 2015
News - Products Liability
In an article titled “Defense Focus in Risperdal Cases May Shift to Causation,” Jim Heller, chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Products Liability Practice Group, discusses the two defenses available to Janssen Pharmaceuticals following verdicts in the first two Risperdal cases: the first for failure to warn and the second for causation. As for whether Janssen should drop its failure to warn defenses entirely, Jim said, “I abandon defenses when the jury gets angry at the evidence … here I don't think that either jury has gotten angry. But I clearly would focus my defense on causation.”
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March 31, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “Indiana’s Anti-LGBT Law is Even Worse Than it Seems,” Jeffrey Pasek, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses Indiana’s new state law SB 101, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is broader than existing federal law and differs from other state laws in significant ways. “Nothing like this exists under federal law,” observes Jeff; under SB 101, those claiming religious grounds to justify discrimination “are much less likely to be challenged and much more likely to prevail.”
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March 27, 2015
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Family Law Practice Group and editor of the blog ''Family Law Focus,'' was selected by Suburban Life Magazine as one of their 2015 ''Top Family Law Attorneys.'' Suburban Life asked their readers to share their opinions on which attorneys excel in family law, resulting in hundreds of votes that helped compile a definitive list of attorneys to turn to for help and guidance in matters of divorce, adoption and other aspects of family law.
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March 26, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “Indiana’s ‘Religious Freedom Restoration’ Law is Far Broader Than RFRA,” Jeffrey Pasek, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, comments on Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. ““This bill goes far beyond the federal RFRA,” explains Jeff. “It would fall to the individual who is being discriminated against to attempt to justify an otherwise neutral law by asserting that the government has a compelling interest in enforcing the law, but nothing in this bill says the government has to get involved in those cases,” he added. “At least if someone outright challenges a governmental requirement against government enforcement, we can expect the government to make a reasoned decision about whether to support its requirement and to apply that rationale on an even-handed basis. That is totally lacking here.”
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March 25, 2015
News - Labor & Employment
Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses lawyer blogging and what it means to be “part of the social media conversation.” He also talks about the issues of oversharing, setting goals and calculating marketing success, and why every lawyer should be on LinkedIn in an interview with the Legal Talk Network.
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March 18, 2015
News - Aviation, Transportation & Trade, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) / Drones
David Heffernan of the Transportation & Logistics Practice Group and co-chair of the Aviation Industry Team, discusses Industry Reaction to FAA's Drone Proposals in this San Diego Daily Transcript article "Industry Has Mixed Reaction to FAA's Drone Proposals."
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March 16, 2015
News - Sports
Cozen O’Connor’s “2015 Sports Law for Rookies and Veterans” in Eden Roc Miami Beach generated a buzz in the NBA community regarding the National Basketball Players Association interest in having the age limit to go pro lowered in the next round of collective bargaining. General Counsel for the NBPA Gary Kohlman spoke at the conference saying that it is “quite likely the union will be taking a radically different position” than the NBA on the age issue. NFL Players Association Executive Director, DeMaurice Smith, was also on hand to discuss his expectations on the upcoming NFLPA elections that took place in Hawaii on March 15, he was hoping to be elected to his third term (ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed DeMaurice Smith was re-elected). "I have a boring job," Smith said. "My job is far more dictated every day by law, regression analysis, budgets, salary, perspective, opinions about where the economy's going to go and the cap. That's a pretty boring job — but I dig it."
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March 13, 2015
News - Aviation, Transportation & Trade, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) / Drones - Aviation
David Heffernan of the Transportation and Logistics Practice Group and co-chair of the Aviation Industry Team presented on drones at the Air Law Institute 2nd Annual Air & Space Law Symposium on San Diego, CA March 13-14, 2015. San Diego Channel 6 News interviewed a few of the presenters at the Symposium to discuss the future of drone regulation.
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March 11, 2015
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, a member of the firm’s Family Law Group, was a guest on Good Day Philadelphia to discuss the lawsuit of Marvin Gaye's estate against singer Robin Thicke and producer Pharrell Williams in the claim that Thicke's song "Blurred Lines" copied Gaye's music. Gaye's estate was awarded $7.4 million.
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March 09, 2015
News - Labor & Employment
A. Martin Wickliff, Jr., a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department in Houston, was recently featured in Law360’s Minority Powerbrokers series in recognition of his leadership in championing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. In a Q&A with Law360, Marty shares his perspective on breaking into the legal profession and offers advice to law firms seeking to increase diversity in their ranks.
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