Life Sciences

Expert Analysis

• A 'Smoking Gun' In Reverse-Payment Settlements

  

  The authors of a recent Law360 guest article take issue with our interpretation that in some reverse-payment cases, a stock price jump could be so telling as to merit the label “smoking gun.” They are incorrect in theory, empirically and legally, say experts at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, American University and Greylock McKinnon Associates.

• Shedding Further Light On The FCPA Pilot Program

  

  The different outcomes for BK Medical and Johnson Controls in recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements suggest that the U.S. Department of Justice is serious about rewarding full cooperation as it has defined the phrase in its “pilot program,” say attorneys with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP.

• Prevent Litigation From Becoming A Threat To Data Security

  

  Recent headline-grabbing data security incidents have shed light both on direct and collateral impacts to companies and their employees. Attorneys should take steps to ensure that their role in the conduct of litigation does not in itself lead to similarly damaging disclosures of sensitive information, say Dante Stella and Sherrie Farrell of Dykema Gossett PLLC.

• Corporations In The Crosshairs Of Product Liability Claims

  

  More than in past presidential campaigns, the leading candidates have targeted American corporations, taking turns outbidding one another in appealing to anti-corporate sentiments. And the plaintiffs bar has been trying to leverage the mood across a broad front — from changes in jury selection to trial strategy to the types of claims they bring, say attorneys at Jones Day.

• OPINION: Our Juries Are Being Circumvented

  

  The Freddie Gray case and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell demonstrate how the government replaces juries, eliminating an important community decision maker and a check on governmental power, says Professor Suja Thomas of the University of Illinois College of Law.

• The Internet Of Health Things: Privacy And Security Issues

  

  While "internet of health things" devices share many privacy and security concerns with their smart kin, other issues are heightened by — or unique to — the health care environment and the sensitive nature of health data, says Kimberly Metzger at Ice Miller LLP.

• Legal Aid, Meet Legal Tech

  

  Because there will never be enough free lawyers to satisfy demand from low-income Americans, we need to leverage technology to allow the legal expertise of one lawyer to reach hundreds or thousands of clients at once, say Jonathan Petts and Rohan Pavuluri, co-founders of startup nonprofit Upsolve.

• Recent Off-Label Device Cases Are A Road Map For The Future

  

  Although the question of whether the government may properly use off-label speech as evidence of intent to misbrand a medical device is likely to remain unsettled for years, two recent decisions offer clues to the government’s future off-label prosecution strategies, notwithstanding how that question is resolved, says Dulce Foster at Fredrikson & Byron PA.

• Testing The UBE: Portable But Inaccurate Bar Exam Scores

  

  While there is not much that is new about the uniform bar exam’s components, what is new is that where you take the bar exam may make the difference between passing and failing. Half of the score depends on the strength of the applicant pool in the jurisdiction where the candidate wrote the exam, which may lead to “UBE shopping,” says Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus, director of bar programs at Touro Law Center.

• Benefiting From FDA's Medical Device Risk-Benefit Guidance

  

  Medical device manufacturers should understand the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's considerations for benefit-risk assessments so they can advocate for favorable FDA decisions by using the enumerated factors to illustrate the high benefits and low risks of the company’s device, say Dan Wittenberg and Tim Scalo at Snell & Wilmer LLP.