On Friday, May 12, the Texas Senate passed a bill that would create a specialized business court to oversee complex civil litigation. SHJ senior counsel Katherine Ring provides an overview of key changes proposed by the bill, which aims to streamline the resolution of high-stakes business disputes statewide.

On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling for stronger enforcement of antitrust laws to promote competition and curtail the consolidation of American industries. Since then, the DOJ has pursued a vigorous campaign of antitrust enforcement, including blocking purportedly anti-competitive mergers and addressing non-merger anti-competitive conduct. SHJ senior counsel Brandon Winchester and associate Kelly Swanson discuss the DOJ’s recent efforts and offer guidance for companies considering a merger in the current antitrust landscape.

Like any other type of litigation, trade secret cases rise or fall on the strength of the evidence that can be put before the factfinder. Yet before a lawyer can focus on what evidence they have to make or defend their case, they must first collect that evidence. With information technology being incorporated into every business at a lightning-fast pace, evidence has accordingly become increasingly complicated to source. The final part of this series outlines best practices for the identification, collection, and preservation of evidence for use in a trade secrets case.

As discussed in part one of this series, trade secret litigation presents a minefield of evidentiary challenges. But while the act of misappropriation is often simple enough to demonstrate, calculating the precise value of damages can be extremely difficult. This second article outlines the evidence needed to articulate a legally cognizable damages model.

Trade secret litigation is set to increase in the coming decades, accelerated by the enactment of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) in 2016. Most cases do not contain direct evidence of stolen secrets, however. Instead, stray pieces of indirect evidence must come together to tell a larger story of theft. Consequently, lawyers handling this type of litigation must take the time to understand its intricacies and machinations, particularly the specific statutory requirements imposed by the uniform trade secrets acts (such as the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act, or “TUTSA”) and the evidence that will and will not satisfy these requirements.

A new three-part series by SHJ partner Varant Yegparian examines different concerns regarding evidence in trade secret cases, aiming to shed light on the correlative legal requirements to which this evidence is applied. This first article articulates the legal framework envisioned by TUTSA, addressing the requirements to prove the existence of a trade secret and to establish liability.

On July 1, 2020, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) took effect, replacing the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The USMCA provides a three-year sunset period for investors to submit arbitration claims related to foreign investments established or acquired under NAFTA. Now that the practical deadline of April 1, 2023 has passed, investors can no longer access NAFTA’s dispute resolution mechanism and must file investment claims under the USMCA regime. A new article by SHJ managing partner Andy Hicks and associate Fatima Aslam outlines key changes that investors should look out for.

According to a recent decision handed down by the Delaware courts, corporate officers must now contend with a new avenue of liability: the duty of oversight. Previously, only a company’s board could face personal liability from derivative suits alleging failure to adequately oversee and mitigate the risks relevant to their duties. While courts have formerly held that corporate officers owe the same fiduciary duties of loyalty and care as directors, this decision clarifies that precedent by explicitly tethering officers to a duty of oversight. Senior counsel Brandon Winchester and associate Adam Greiner outline the implications of the decision as well as next steps for organizations seeking to mitigate risk.

The non-compete—a clause that binds approximately one-fifth of all American workers—may soon be a thing of the past. New guidance from the FTC threatens to abolish the use of non-compete clauses in all but the most limited of circumstances, upending a long-established protection used by countless corporations nationwide. Partner Varant Yegparian and associate Adam Greiner outline the implications of the FTC’s proposed rule and, should it be implemented, offer a path forward for in-house legal departments seeking to minimize damage to their businesses.

In February 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit laid down a landmark ruling in a lawsuit brought by a group of Colorado municipalities accusing several energy companies of climate change-related harm. Since then, multiple courts have provided further guidance as to where energy companies should anticipate litigating climate change lawsuits. SHJ senior counsel Brandon Winchester offers an overview of this shifting landscape.

Frequently referred to as “forever chemicals,” per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, have been subjected to rigorous scrutiny by the EPA, other governments and agencies, and litigants. With some commentators already referring to PFAS as “the mother of toxic torts” and the “next asbestos,” SHJ partner Adam Dinnell and associate Bryan Zubay consider what the future of PFAS litigation might look like—specifically, how parties might attempt to prove or defeat causation.