Legal insights
Analysis from the front lines of IP & technology law.
Our attorneys write about the developments shaping intellectual property—from the PTAB and the Federal Circuit to the practical realities of protecting fast-moving technology.
Medicare Toolkit: Enrollment, Coverage Decisions, Appeals, and Cost Assistance
This toolkit collects the working documents of a Medicare matter: the employer coverage verification request, the Medigap and plan comparison worksheets, the observation status inquiry, the expedited appeal script, the demand bill request, the redetermination and reconsideration letters, a physician medical necessity letter template, the drug exception requests, the IRMAA life-changing-event filing, and a deadline calendar. Each item is annotated with the rule it invokes and the mistake it prevents. Adapt the templates to the plan and the state, and check current amounts before filing.
Mass Tort and MDL Toolkit: From JPML Petition to Settlement Administration
This toolkit supplies the working documents of mass tort practice. It contains a JPML motion outline for both sides, a leadership application framework, a common benefit time protocol, an index of the case management orders every MDL produces and what each controls, an intake vetting screen and records request letter, fact sheet and deficiency response guidance, a general causation brief outline, a bellwether selection protocol, settlement matrix design considerations, and the aggregate settlement disclosure letter and individual informed consent form that Rule 1.8(g) requires. It closes with a lien resolution workflow and a client closing statement format.
Health Coverage Denial and Appeal Checklist: A Practical Checklist
A deadline driven checklist for a health insurance denial. It opens with the three day one questions including whether the plan is self funded, which changes the applicable law, the available remedies, and the standard of review. It then runs the claim file request that produces the clinical criteria and reviewer credentials, the line by line comparison of those criteria against the medical record, the letter of medical necessity that must answer each stated ground, the internal appeal and its expedited track, the external review that binds the plan and is most often skipped, the regulatory complaints to file in parallel, the bill management steps while the appeal is pending, and the ERISA record rule that makes the internal appeal the only opportunity to build a file.
Fraud Response Toolkit: Freeze Requests, Dispute Letters, Reports, and Recovery Steps
This toolkit contains the calls, letters, and worksheets that determine how much of a fraud loss is recovered, ordered strictly by urgency. It opens with a fraud department phone script and a wire recall request, because the difference between recovery and no recovery is measured in hours, followed by a freeze letter to the receiving institution. It provides a written dispute that triggers error resolution obligations and a demand for provisional credit, an escalation letter for the denial that fraud-induced transfers usually receive, an IC3 narrative structure, a police report worksheet, and a master incident log. It then covers the account security sweep including the email forwarding rule attackers hide, the prevention documents worth setting up in ten minutes, and the elder exploitation demands—an accounting from an agent, a transfer hold request, and an APS report.
U.S. Citizenship Through Marriage
Marrying a U.S. citizen opens a path to a green card and, eventually, naturalized citizenship—but it is a multi-year, multi-form journey, not a shortcut. This guide walks through every stage in plain English with primary authority: the I-130 family petition, the choice between adjustment of status (Form I-485) and consular processing, the Affidavit of Support and the public-charge rule, conditional permanent residence and the I-751 petition to remove conditions, and the shortened three-year naturalization track for spouses under INA Section 319(a). It explains what makes a marriage "bona fide" under cases like Bark v. INS, the Stokes interview, and the severe and permanent consequences of marriage fraud under INA Section 204(c). It covers good moral character, continuous residence, physical presence, and the English and civics requirements, plus the VAWA self-petition and I-751 waivers that protect abused and divorced spouses. Worked hypotheticals illustrate common scenarios, and a detailed FAQ answers the questions couples ask most. Because forms, fees, and timelines change constantly, the article flags where to verify current information and when to bring in counsel.
Public Records Request and Appeal Checklist: A Practical Checklist
This checklist runs a public records request from drafting through appeal and, if necessary, litigation. It covers identifying the right statute and the right office, drafting a request that names records rather than asking questions, the preservation demand that must accompany any request for perishable material, fee waiver and expedited processing, and the tracking that makes an appeal possible. It then works the response review that identifies the defects most denials contain, the appeal that produces most of the records that get released, and the litigation posture. A final section covers open meetings compliance and complaints.
Publicity and Free Speech Toolkit: Transformative Use Memos, Newsworthiness Analyses, and Anti-SLAPP Motions
This toolkit collects the working documents that publicity disputes over expressive works actually run on, each annotated for both the creator and the person depicted. It opens with a real-person use log and then provides a transformative use memorandum, a chart for comparing a depiction against the decided cases, a newsworthiness and public interest analysis, and a commercial speech worksheet for marketing and brand content. The litigation templates cover a California anti-SLAPP motion, the supporting declarations, the plaintiff's opposition, a federal Rule 12 outline for courts that will not hear a special motion, and a tracker for fees and appeals that reflects the Ninth Circuit's 2025 en banc decision in Gopher Media v. Melone. A final pair of pre-release letters covers the subject's objection and the creator's response. Each template states its purpose, its owner, and when to use it, and is followed by drafting notes tied to the controlling authority.
Resolving a Trademark Ownership Dispute: A Practical Guide
This guide walks through a trademark ownership dispute from the first sign of trouble to a recorded resolution, for the company, founder, band, manufacturer, distributor, or licensee on either side. It begins with the decisions to make before acting: what kind of dispute it is, what the contracts say, how old any registration is, and what outcome actually matters. Eleven numbered steps then cover freezing and organizing evidence of first use and control, reading the USPTO record and assignment chain, analyzing ownership under the right legal test, securing filings and digital assets, sending or answering a demand, cancelling a void registration at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, litigating in district court with Section 1119, seeking a declaratory judgment, negotiating an assignment, buyout, or coexistence agreement, and implementing the result. Each step explains what to do, why, the governing authority, pitfalls, timing, and cost. A timeline and cost table, a worked example involving a Danish cookware maker and its former U.S. distributor, common mistakes, an FAQ, and takeaways close the guide.
Trade Secret Identification and Discovery Checklist: A Practical Checklist
This checklist turns the law of trade secret identification and discovery into a sequence of concrete tasks for trade secret owners, accused employees and competitors, in-house counsel, and outside litigators. It starts with the first seventy-two hours after a suspected theft, covering preservation, forensic imaging, and the pre-suit investigation, then walks through drafting a numbered identification with reasonable particularity, negotiating the sequence of discovery, and testing an opponent's identification. Later parts cover the two-tier protective order, source code and prosecution-bar provisions, neutral forensic protocols for devices and personal accounts, emergency relief and the DTSA seizure remedy, written discovery and depositions, spoliation under Rule 37(e), and amendments to the identification. The final parts address summary judgment, trial, courtroom confidentiality, and the supplier-and-customer version of the case. Each item carries a short note and the governing statute, rule, or decision, and the checklist reflects the law as of September 2026, including the Ninth Circuit's 2025 decision in Quintara and the Seventh Circuit's 2026 decision in NEXT Payment Solutions.
Responding to a School Discipline Matter: A Practical Guide for Parents
This guide covers a school discipline matter from the phone call through the appeal, in the order the work has to be done. It opens with what to do in the first hour and the four documents to obtain before any meeting, then explains the question that changes the most outcomes—how many days the student has been removed this year, counting partial days and in-school removals. It walks through the manifestation determination and stay-put protections for students with disabilities, the written evaluation request that can bring an unidentified student within them, and how to prepare for and conduct the meeting itself. It closes with the appeal, what actually wins on it, expungement of the record, and the free help that exists in every state and is almost never used.
Buying and Living in a Manufactured Home: A Practical Guide
This guide walks a manufactured home from the shopping trip through the years of living in it and, eventually, selling it. It covers what to inspect and what to ask before signing, why dealer-arranged financing is rarely the best available, and the difference in cost between a chattel loan and a mortgage that turns on nothing but how the home is titled. It explains how to read a lot lease against your state's mobile home park act, what a park can and cannot do about rent, rules, utilities, and buyer approval, and how to respond to an increase, a rule change, or an eviction notice. It closes with the two events that decide most manufactured housing outcomes: a defect discovered in the first year, and a park closure notice with a purchase window measured in weeks.
Global Patent Litigation Strategies: Navigating the Complex Web of International IP Disputes
This in-depth guide explains how to plan, coordinate, and prosecute patent litigation across multiple countries when a single product line infringes parallel patents in many markets. It begins with the bedrock principle of territoriality and the treaty architecture (Paris Convention priority, the PCT, and the European Patent Convention) that lets innovators build a coordinated multinational portfolio, then walks through the major litigation forums: the U.S. district courts and the International Trade Commission, the Unified Patent Court and Germany's bifurcated system, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, and Korea. It analyzes the standard-essential patent (SEP) and FRAND wars in detail, including the Huawei v. ZTE protocol, global rate-setting in Unwired Planet v. Huawei and the InterDigital litigation, the German Sisvel v. Haier line, and the escalating tit-for-tat of anti-suit and anti-anti-suit injunctions. The article also covers cross-border discovery tools (28 U.S.C. 1782, the Hague Evidence Convention, and the Aerospatiale comity analysis), coordination of parallel proceedings and global settlements, and the recognition and enforcement of judgments abroad. Throughout, it offers concrete worked examples and practical guidance for both patent owners and accused infringers operating on a global stage.