In a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court held in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 600 U.S. 122 (2023), that a Pennsylvania statute explicitly providing notice that registering to do business in that state represents consent to the state’s general “all purpose” jurisdiction does not violate due process. Mallory, however, left unanswered important constitutional […]
Consent-By-Registration Needs Due Process Guardrails Read More »
On June 23, 2026, members of the DRI Center for Law and Public Policy’s Amicus Committee presented an online “lunch-and-learn” for the DRI Corporate Counsel Committee (C3) titled “Strategic Use of Amicus Support: When to Seek It, How to Get It, and Tips for Working with Amicus Counsel.” Designed especially for in-house corporate counsel, the
On behalf of ALF, I have submitted an amicus letter supporting a petition for review urging the California Supreme Court to resolve, inter alia, a disagreement among California lower courts about whether the losing party in an arbitration proceeding can challenge the arbitrator’s jurisdiction, for the first time, in the Court of Appeal after the trial
ALF Urges California Supreme Court To Enforce Finality of Arbitration Awards Read More »
“Going solo” after decades in a big law firm reshaped my career in ways I never expected—including more connection & fulfillment than I ever imagined. In this article for DRI | Association for Lawyers Defending Business, I share some reflections on what I’ve learned along the way. Read it here.
What I’ve Learned About Solo Practice Read More »
I am honored to have been selected by Thomson Reuters as a Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer – Appellate for the 9th consecutive year. I am one of relatively few solo practioners to have received this recogition.
More than 60 state and local governments have filed state-law tort suits in state courts around the United States collectively seeking billions of dollars in damages and other relief from major oil and natural gas producers for the alleged local effects of global climate change. Preclusion of these proliferating climate-change tort suits is crucial not
Supreme Court Should Hold That Federal Law Precludes Climate-Change Tort Suits Read More »
Under Pennsylvania and Minnesota laws, companies that register to do business in those states are deemed to have consented to the state’s general (“all purpose”) jurisdiction. This means that an out-of-state corporation can be sued by an out-of-state plaintiff for a cause of action that has no connection to Pennsylvania or Minnesota. All states have
ALF Amicus Briefs Urge Supreme Court To Revisit State Consent-By-Registration Statutes Read More »
On April 22, 2026 ALF Executive Vice President & General Counsel Larry Ebner participated in a webinar panel previewing the Supreme Court oral argument in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell (24-1068). The question presented by the case is whether FIFRA, the federal pesticide regulatory statute, preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims based on a pesticide producer’s failure to provide a
Monsanto Co. v. Durnell: A Supreme Court Oral Argument Preview Read More »
For more than 50 years the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been enforcing a “Gag Rule,” 17 C.F.R. § 202.5(e), whenever a civil enforcement target enters into a judicial or administrative settlement agreement with the Commission. The Gag Rule requires settling enforcement targets to agree that they will not publicly deny any allegation in
ALF Urges Supreme Court To Review & Invalidate SEC “Gag Rule” Read More »
I was pleased to be part of a panel on “Amicus Briefs at the Trial and Appellate Levels” at the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel’s Winter Meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 27, 2026. The panel, sponsored by FDCC’s Appellate Law Section, which I chair, was moderated by Angela Flowers and also included Matt
Amicus Briefs At The Trial and Appellate Levels Read More »
