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.

Employment LawDiscrimination

Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA: The Interactive Process in Practice

The Americans with Disabilities Act asks employers to do something most management training never covers: hold a structured conversation, document it, and make an individualized decision. This article explains how. It starts with who is protected after the 2008 amendments broadened the disability definition to the point that coverage is rarely the real fight, then covers what makes someone qualified and how essential functions are determined, which is where most cases are actually won or lost. It walks the interactive process step by step, including what medical information an employer may request and from whom, and surveys the accommodations that arise most often: schedule changes, telework, leave, equipment, job restructuring, and reassignment. Later sections address undue hardship and direct threat, the special rules for pregnancy and religion, confidentiality obligations, and the documentation that decides litigation, with a worked example, a decision framework, and an FAQ.

Casey Scott McKayApril 15, 202525 min read

CommercialProduct Regulation

Product Recall Readiness Checklist: A Practical Checklist

The cost of a recall is decided long before it happens, by whether the company can identify which units are affected and where they went. A manufacturer that cannot narrow the scope must recall everything, and the difference between forty thousand units and nine hundred thousand is the entire economics of the event. This checklist builds the readiness that determines that outcome: traceability infrastructure from lot codes on the product through distribution records to purchaser data, a complaint intelligence system that surfaces patterns rather than resolving incidents one at a time, a written plan with named decision-makers and reporting analyses for each applicable regulator, prepared notification and logistics capability, supplier and customer contract provisions that allocate the cost, and the mock recall exercise that reveals whether any of it works. It closes with the mock recall exercise, which is the only way to learn whether the traceability infrastructure can answer the scope question within twenty-four hours.

Casey Scott McKayApril 15, 20259 min read

Intellectual PropertyTrade Secret

Trade Secret Misappropriation Litigation Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act: A Practical Guide

Before 2016, a company whose engineer walked out with the source code had to sue in state court under a patchwork of state trade secret statutes, or find a federal hook. The Defend Trade Secrets Act created a federal civil cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets related to a product or service used in interstate commerce, and with it a federal forum, nationwide service, and an extraordinary ex parte civil seizure remedy. This guide covers the entire life cycle of a DTSA case. It explains what qualifies as a trade secret and why reasonable measures to maintain secrecy is where most cases are actually decided, how misappropriation and improper means are defined, and how the DTSA relates to state law under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which it does not preempt. It works through the emergency phase, including temporary restraining orders, expedited discovery, forensic imaging protocols, and the rarely used and frequently misunderstood seizure provision of section 1836(b)(2). It covers the trade secret identification fight, the inevitable disclosure doctrine and its state-by-state divergence, remedies including exemplary damages and attorney fees, the whistleblower immunity of section 1833(b) and the notice requirement that conditions enhanced remedies, and the criminal overlay of the Economic Espionage Act. It closes with strategy for both sides, a worked example, an FAQ, and related reading.

Casey Scott McKayApril 9, 202528 min read

Real EstateNatural Resources

Negotiating an Oil and Gas Lease: A Practical Guide for Landowners

This guide is written for the landowner across the table from a landman. It explains what to establish before responding to any offer, how to value what you own, and then works through every clause worth negotiating in order of economic significance: the royalty fraction and the deduction language that can matter more than the fraction, the primary term, the Pugh and depth clauses that prevent a single well from holding everything forever, shut in and savings clauses, pooling limits, and warranty. It then covers the separate surface use agreement, what to do when the first check arrives, and how to verify the decimal interest that determines every payment thereafter.

Casey Scott McKayApril 9, 202529 min read

Intellectual PropertyTrade Secret

Building a Trade Secret Protection Program Checklist: A Practical Checklist

This checklist walks a company through standing up a trade secret protection program that satisfies the "reasonable measures" requirement at the heart of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 1836-1839) and the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. It is organized into phases: inventorying and classifying confidential information, building physical, technical, and administrative security layers, layering contracts on top of the statutes (including the easily-missed Section 1833(b) whistleblower-immunity notice), training the workforce, and keeping the program alive through audits. Each phase pairs actionable checkboxes with the reasons behind them and the traps that sink trade secret claims. The goal is a documented, defensible record that converts valuable information into a legally protectable asset before anyone tries to take it.

Casey Scott McKayApril 9, 202511 min read

CommercialConsumer Protection

Defending a Debt Collection Lawsuit: A Practical Guide

Seventy percent of consumer debt collection cases end in default judgment because the defendant never files anything. This guide is written to change that outcome. It explains what the summons actually requires and by when, how to write an answer that preserves every defense, which defenses succeed against debt buyers and why, how to use discovery and requests for admission to reach the documents the plaintiff usually does not have, when to move to compel arbitration and why it works in this setting, how to counterclaim under the FDCPA, how to settle on terms that do not create new problems, and what to do if a default judgment has already been entered.

Casey Scott McKayApril 8, 202527 min read

LitigationCivil Procedure

Civil Damages Toolkit: Contract, Tort, Statutory, and Punitive Recovery

A working kit of damages instruments. Section A is a measures table covering the common claims with the formula for each. Section B is a lost profits worksheet with the fixed-versus-variable cost analysis that decides most commercial damages fights. Section C holds document templates: an itemization interrogatory, a damages document request set, an expert engagement scope, a demand letter framework, and a settlement valuation model. Section D outlines a motion to exclude and its opposition. Section E supplies jury instruction language and a verdict form. Section F collects the primary authorities.

Casey Scott McKayApril 8, 202514 min read

Family LawDomestic Violence

Domestic Violence and Protective Orders: Safety Planning and the Legal System

Domestic violence law sits at the intersection of criminal law, family law, housing law, immigration law, and firearms regulation, and a person in danger usually has to navigate all of them at once. This article explains what conduct qualifies, how the civil protective order system works from the emergency ex parte order through the full hearing, what a protective order can actually order, how the federal full faith and credit provision makes an order portable across state lines, how the firearms prohibitions operate after United States v. Rahimi, why Castle Rock v. Gonzales means an order is not self enforcing, how criminal cases proceed when a victim does not want to testify, and what housing, employment, and immigration protections exist alongside the order.

Casey Scott McKayApril 7, 202528 min read

LitigationPre-Litigation Practice

Drafting a Demand Letter: A Practical Checklist

A demand letter is the cheapest and often most effective tool in pre-litigation practice, but a careless one can damage a case or expose the sender to liability. This checklist walks through assessing the claim and the legal landmines before you write, assembling the eight load-bearing components of an effective letter, staying on the safe side of Federal Rule of Evidence 408 and the extortion line, complying with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when collecting a consumer debt, triggering and honoring the duty to preserve evidence, checking for required statutory and contractual pre-suit demands, and proving delivery. It pairs each step with the governing authority and flags the single most important caution: never threaten criminal charges to extract a civil payment. It is general information, not legal advice; the law varies by jurisdiction.

Casey Scott McKayApril 4, 20259 min read

ContractDamages

Damage Statistics: Contract Litigation

When a contract is broken, the law's first instinct is not to punish the breaching party but to make the injured party whole--to give them the benefit of the bargain they were promised. This guide explains how courts actually compute contract damages, from the foundational rule of Hadley v. Baxendale through the Uniform Commercial Code's sale-of-goods formulas, liquidated-damages clauses and the penalty bar, the duty to mitigate, the new-business rule for lost profits, and the limited availability of specific performance. It walks through the differences among expectation, reliance, and restitution measures, explains why punitive damages almost never appear in contract cases, and shows how attorney's-fee shifting works. It also looks honestly at "damage statistics"--what aggregate figures can and cannot tell you, why the overwhelming majority of cases settle before any number is entered, and how to read median-award data without being misled. Worked hypotheticals featuring clearly labeled parties illustrate each measure. The article closes with a FAQ and a plain-language disclaimer.

Casey Scott McKayApril 4, 202542 min read

LitigationTrial and Post-Trial

Jury Selection and Voir Dire Checklist: A Practical Checklist

Voir dire exists to identify the people who cannot be fair to your client and to build a record supporting their removal, and almost everything else lawyers do in jury selection is a distraction from that. This checklist sets the preparation sequence — learning the judge's format, deciding whether to seek a questionnaire, writing strike criteria in advance — then runs the day itself: question design that produces information rather than agreement, preserving a cause challenge before anyone offers rehabilitation, the arithmetic of a limited number of peremptory strikes, and the contemporaneous notes that answer a Batson objection. It closes with the post-verdict issues that trace directly back to what was asked and what was preserved. It closes with the Batson sequence and the record-building that makes a challenge, or a defense of one, survive appeal.

Casey Scott McKayApril 2, 20258 min read

Labor and EmploymentDamages

Damage Statistics: Labor and Employment Litigation

This guide explains how money is actually awarded in labor and employment lawsuits, from the bread-and-butter of back pay and front pay to the headline-grabbing world of compensatory and punitive damages. It walks through the statutory architecture that controls each category, including the Title VII compensatory and punitive damage caps in 42 U.S.C. 1981a, the Supreme Court's Kolstad standard for punitive damages, and the doubling of liquidated damages under the ADEA and the FLSA. It covers emotional distress proof, attorney's-fee shifting, wage-and-hour collective recoveries, and the steep premium that retaliation claims carry. It also frames damage "statistics" honestly, explaining why publicly available numbers skew low and why the median tells you almost nothing about your own case. The aim is a clear, accurate map of what employment cases are worth and why.

Casey Scott McKayApril 2, 202534 min read