Blog Post
Published 06/08/2021
By Jason Tremblay, Alexander Reich
Alert
Published 06/07/2021
By Patrick M. Hromisin, Kelsey Marron
Services Cybersecurity and Privacy | White Collar and Government Enforcement
On June 3, 2021, the Supreme Court drastically narrowed the reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (“CFAA”), a federal statue prohibiting individuals from “exceeding authorized access” to computers and computer systems. In Van Buren v. United States , the Court grappled with the meaning of “exceeding authorized access”– does this phrase cover those who misuse computer access that they otherwise lawfully have, or only those who obtain information on a computer to which they do not have lawful access? In a 6-3 majority opinion authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Court held...
Alert
Published 06/07/2021
By Darius C. Gambino, Zachary B. Kizitaff
Services Intellectual Property
By now, you have likely heard about Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, which have taken off considerably in the last year. NFTs are a form of crypto asset, similar to popular crypto currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The main difference is that Bitcoins are fungible assets, meaning you can trade one Bitcoin for another and have an exchange of equal value. NFTs, on the other hand, are unique and thus cannot be the basis for an equal-value exchange. This uniqueness allows for an immutable and unalterable digital record on any blockchain network. Importantly, the blockchain stores the entire...
Alert
Published 06/04/2021
This month’s Friday Five highlights both circuit and district court opinions on the scope of ERISA preemption, discretionary review and exhaustion of administrative remedies. The Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr Employee Benefits/ERISA Litigation Team June 4, 2021 | By Amy Kline , Caitlin Strauss and Erin Westbrook Ninth Circuit Confirms ERISA Does Not Preempt State-Run IRA Savings Program. In a dispute over a California law that creates a state-managed individual retirement (“IRA”) program for employees without access to a tax-qualified retirement savings plan through their employer, the Ninth...
Blog Post
Published 06/04/2021
By Anna Maria Tejada
Videos
Published 06/04/2021
Services : Emerging Company and Entrepreneur Services | Commercial Litigation
In this episode of "The Entrepreneur Advisor", Partner Steven Malitz of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Litigation Practice discusses the key steps a business owner should take before and after being served with a lawsuit, as well as important litigation avoidance tips. Learn about what to do when you receive a demand letter; how to select the right registered agent; how to trigger insurance coverage; and how to approach settlement negotiations.
Alert
Published 06/03/2021
By Kathryn Beaumont Murphy, Rob Duston, Levi Schy
Industries K-12 Schools
On May 10, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12-15, expanding the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) originally issued on December 11, 2020 for individuals ages 16 and older. This development may require K-12 schools to quickly firm up their position on vaccinations for students for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. (A school’s approach to vaccinations for employees requires a different legal and practical analysis, which Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr has analyzed in this blog .) For private schools, whether to require, or...
Article
Published 06/03/2021
Services White Collar and Government Enforcement
Podcast episode
Published 06/02/2021
In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Paul Schiefer, senior director of sustainability at Amy’s Kitchen, which started in a home kitchen in Santa Rosa, California and now serves millions of consumers globally with organic ready-made canned and frozen meals. Paul discusses with Jonathan how Amy’s Kitchen last year became a Certified B Corporation®, a designation which means that the company has met the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. Paul outlines for listeners the B Corporation® certification process that took several months to complete and analyzes the company’s operations and performance across several areas, such as governance, supply chain, adjacent and internal communities, and environment. Finally, Jonathan and Paul talk about how the B Corporation® principles mirror the company’s ethos and align with its sustainability goals, including scaling organic agriculture, investing in research to make it more productive, and decreasing the cost of organic food so it is affordable and accessible to everybody.
Alert
Published 06/02/2021
By Judith B. Kassel
Industries Government Contracts
Historically, the Federal Government has incorporated socio-economic policy into Government contracting procurement requirements. On June 1, 2021, President Biden announced that it intends to use the Federal Government’s purchasing power as a tool to help narrow the racial wealth gap and to reinvest in communities that have been left behind by failed policies. Specifically, the Administration intends to increase the share of Federal contracts going to small disadvantaged businesses by 50 percent, to $100 billion, by 2026. If achieved, this goal will be the largest increase in small...
Article
Published 06/02/2021
Industries Health Care
Article
Published 06/01/2021
Industries Sports and Entertainment
Alert
Published 05/27/2021
By Bruce Armon, Samantha Gross, Patricia Varona Garcia
Industries Health Care
On May 25, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced that Peachstate Health Management, LLC d/b/a AEON Clinical Laboratories (Peachstate) agreed to pay $25,000, enter into a Resolution Agreement, and adopt a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule. Peachstate provides diagnostic and laboratory-developed tests, including clinical and genetic testing services. Peachstate is based in Georgia and is certified under the Clinical...
Alert
Published 05/26/2021
By Andrea A. Lipuma
Services Environmental | Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
This week the Supreme Court decided Territory of Guam v. United States , No. 20-382 (U.S. May 24, 2021) , and held that contribution claims under section 113(f)(3)(B) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), 42 U.S.C. § 9613(f)(3)(B) are only permitted in cases where there has been “resolution of a CERCLA-specific liability.” The United States Navy constructed the Ordot Dump in Guam during the 1940s and allegedly disposed of toxic waste there for decades before ceding control of the landfill to Guam. EPA sued Guam under the Clean Water Act for...
Alert
Published 05/25/2021
By Alexander (Sandy) R. Bilus, Rebecca J. Reist, Judith B. Kassel
Industries Government Contracts
Services Cybersecurity and Privacy
In the wake of several recent major cyberattacks, President Biden issued a sweeping Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity (“Order”) on May 12, 2012. The Order reflects the Administration’s policy of “prevention, detection, assessment and remediation of cyber incidents as a top priority and essential to the national and economic security.” President Biden issued the Order following a series of recent cyberattacks on Federal Government and private company networks, including the Colonial Pipeline and the SolarWinds incidents. The Order aims to improve the nation’s...
Alert
Published 05/21/2021
By Pamela Goodwin
Services Environmental | Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
President Biden yesterday issued an Executive Order directing the national climate adviser and director of the National Economic Council to develop a comprehensive, government-wide climate strategy by the end of September. The Order calls for a plan to identify and disclose financial risk to government programs, assets and liabilities, posed by climate risks, and determine the public and private financing needed to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Key Elements of the Order Financial regulators, including the Secretary of the Treasury, to consider assessing climate-related financial risk...