Earlier this month, proceedings opened in Austria in a civil suit brought against the authorities by the widow and son of a man who died of Covid-19 after staying in Ischgl, the ski resort widely regarded as having hosted a super-spreader event early in the pandemic. The week before, former French health minister Agnès Buzyn was ordered by a court to answer, essentially, for the government’s lack of anticipation of the pandemic. In the UK, meanwhile, the government has promised a public inquiry into the handling of the crisis. It’s due to start next spring. Those pushing for it to […]

Julie Katz, a highly experienced intellectual property litigator, remarks on how she has witnessed this shift in attorney attitudes first-hand and offers her insights as to how and why it should be reversed.  How have you observed incivility manifesting in intellectual property litigation? I have observed and experienced a high level of incivility first hand in IP litigation, and I can only say that it makes an attorney’s job more difficult than it already is. We are engaged to advocate for our clients, which may require advocating zealously. What some attorneys seem to forget is that it is our client’s […]

“Daddy, I want it now!” whined Veruca Salt throughout the 1971 classic film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. I often wondered why Salt couldn’t wait a day and just ask her dad to give Mr. Wonka a call to talk about the golden goose. If she’d have just had some PATIENCE and enjoyed the day, she wouldn’t have ended up in the garbage chute. Salt should be a lesson to men and women going through a divorce. Why? Because when going through a divorce, patience is the biggest key to an easier time in coping with divorce; a time […]

New Report Shows Increase in Litigation Spending in the U.S. According to a new report, litigation spending in the United States continues to increase and is expected to “outpace new cases.” The newly released BTI Consulting Group’s 12 Litigation Outlook 2022, discussed in Law360 Pulse, shows that both companies and law firms are spending more on outside counsel while clients are spending more on litigation. Trends indicate that more money will be spent on litigation and individual matters along with law firms increasing partnerships to handle the increased volume. The pandemic resulted in a backlog which many firms are currently […]

Several years ago, one of my best girlfriends called me. Through tears, she said, “My husband left me for another woman.” It was horrible. I could not have felt worse for her. She had been happily married (or so she thought) for over two decades, and was unearthed her husband asking fora divorce, and then marrying the woman he was cheating with, just days after their divorce was final. It was a tough road for my friend. I watched her go from rock bottom at day one, trying to absorb the shock, through all the phases. They included tears, depression, […]

From a recently separated reader:  I’m going through a divorce after 21 years of marriage and want to know how to survive divorce. Will I survive? I felt strong until we sold our house and I actually moved out. I’m sick, sad, and very depressed. I don’t know who I am without him and I don’t know how to be single and independent. How will I survive?     Messages I receive like this one from people going through a divorce and wanting to know how to survive divorce are perhaps the most heartbreaking for me. I can only imagine this […]

Litigation finance has grown considerably over the past five years, according to Olivier Maurice, co-manager of Syz Capital, the Swiss group’s private markets arm. However, most law firms in targeted jurisdictions are considering using it, with up to 70% of US law firms involved in litigation finance in 2020. ‘Demand is growing fast and it’s going to attract more capital. It’s definitely becoming more mainstream,’ he said. The UK litigation finance sector has doubled its total assets, to now sit at £2bn (€2.35bn), over the past three years, according to law firm RPC. On a global scale, the industry is valued […]

It could take another year to bring the court backlog down to pre-pandemic levels, Dominic Raab has predicted in his first live interview since being appointed lord chancellor and justice secretary. Raab was asked at a Conservative fringe event hosted by The Spectator about the impact of delays on victims. Statistics published last month show a record 60,692 outstanding cases in the Crown court at the end of June. The justice secretary said it was impossible to continue with jury trials at the start of the pandemic due to social distancing rules. However, the backlog in February 2020 was 19% lower […]

“What the hell?” a divorced woman asked on a Facebook group page. “Is he not interested anymore or just busy?” Here is her story in a nutshell and my advice on why she shouldn’t be asking “What the hell?” but rather facing the truth: no one’s too busy when it comes to love.   This woman (who is divorced with children) connected with a guy she grew up with on a dating app. After a few text exchanges, he told her he didn’t want to date a woman with kids. She reached out to him after hearing some sad news […]

A brave woman, Daphne Franks, wants to reform some of the laws connected with marriage. Since 2016, when her mother died and it emerged that she had secretly wed, Ms Franks has become a spokesperson for victims of “predatory marriage”. The term originates in Canada, where several states have altered their laws to insert safeguards aimed at protecting vulnerable people from being coerced into unions to which they do not have the capacity to consent. In 2018, Ms Franks’s MP, Fabian Hamilton, tried to use a private member’s bill to change the law in England and Wales along similar lines. […]

Lawyers are not known for their love of risk. But a growing number of UK law firms are following their US peers and betting on the outcome of cases in return for a share of the winnings, through closer links with litigation funders. City law firm Mishcon de Reya — which plans to float on the London Stock Exchange as early as this year — announced a deal with Harbour Litigation Funding this month to set up a litigation financing facility. It follows London-headquartered Rosenblatt, which set up its own litigation funding unit last year called LionFish Litigation Finance. Others, […]

Of all the emails I have ever received, (and there’s a lot) this one truly left me heartbroken: No One Knows My pain. What do people do when there is no one left who loves them or even cares?   Let me offer a little bit of this reader’s background. She is in her early forties and getting divorced after a 5 year marriage. The couple has no children and her father died a few years ago. They were very close. Her mom isn’t doing well and I am going to assume she doesn’t have siblings (although I could be wrong.) […]

My husband has been the primary breadwinner and has dealt with all financial matters throughout our marriage, as I gave up work to look after our children. We are now getting a divorce and he has locked me out of our shared bank accounts. I have nothing in my own name to pay for the legal costs and fear that any legal advice I can afford won’t be a fair match. What are my options? Should I go to a litigation funder, who will loan me monies to pay for my legal advice, or will this mean I give a huge amount of my settlement away to that […]

Divorced Girl Smiling received this comment from a woman seeking inspiration and asking how to start dating again. Still kind of saddened by my divorce of 6 years ago. My ex’s son and I live across the country and enjoy a new life – but with single mom duty and a very, very thin budget, I just do not understand how dating is even doable.   Babysitters cost more than I have, plus all my time goes to being a mom anyway. How on earth do most find the support/money/time to date?? How does one help with homework, make supper, clean […]

There are many different kinds of affairs. They include one-night stands, flings, emotional affairs, affairs that never go beyond some flirty texting and/or talking, affairs where one person is married, and affairs when both parties are married.   The first thing I want to say is, having an affair does not make someone a horrible person. I have learned over the years not to judge without having all the facts. That said, having an affair, especially affairs when both parties are married always always hurts someone, and for that, I wish more people would take accountability if they decide to […]

Home Publications Data breach litigation – how organisations can protect themselves Print publication 10/09/2021 Download the pdf here The Curve There is a marked increase in the volume of data breach claims being pursued by both individual claimants and via proposed group/class actions. This is likely to be partially related to a number of high profile group actions involving well-known brands/organisations combined with the proactive recruitment of claimants by claims management firms. In many instances the amount claimed is small and the legal basis of the claim is debatable. However, irrespective of the legitimacy/value of the claim, organisations may be […]

In the environmental context, potentially misleading disclosures and claims are known as “greenwashing”, a term that encompasses a wide range of actions that exaggerates and misrepresents “green” credentials. At one end of the scale it may be marketing spin designed to create a favourable impression about a company or its products. While at the more nefarious end it is conduct designed to mislead and deceive investors and customers. Amid growing urgency for corporate Australia to respond to the climate crisis and the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report in August 2021, Australian companies have found themselves […]

No one wants to be “that girl…” the jealous, insecure psycho that gets upset if her boyfriend even glances at another woman. But coping with jealousy and insecurity in a relationship–especially if he’s the love of your life, isn’t easy. There are two words that could ruin your amazing relationship: jealousy and insecurity. That said, these are natural emotions that most people have at one time or another, and they don’t have to ruin it. The key is learning how to cope with them in a productive way. Let me explain. It’s every girl’s definition of bliss. You meet a […]

Canada, and many other developed countries besides, is struggling under a backlog of criminal and civil cases awaiting their date in court. This has had a knock-on effect for family law, adding unneeded stress to couples and parents during some of the most difficult times of their lives. This month, we have the pleasure to hear from Laura Bruyer and Tiffany Stokes of Bruyer & Mackay LLP, who have a vision for how the legal profession can rise to meet this challenge. In this article they explore the factors behind the case backlog and how its adverse effects on families […]

Business News Digital Legal Media By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 31 August 2021 The collective of independent movie producers that has recently been following the music industry’s lead and suing loads of US internet service providers for not doing enough to combat piracy has now taken its litigation into another realm, this time suing four VPN companies. There are various reasons why people use VPNs – or virtual private networks – when accessing the internet, of course. And the VPNs themselves would probably be keen to stress that the primary motivation is the increased privacy and security they provide for […]