April 15, 2016
Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Late last year, significant changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure inserted a new consideration for courts when deciding the proper scope of discovery. Gone is the familiar test of “reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” In its place is a requirement of proportionality “to…
March 24, 2016
Investor state dispute settlement and the $50 billion case
On July 18, 2014, an arbitral tribunal sitting in The Hague ordered the Russian Federation to pay shareholders of the defunct oil company Yukos an unprecedented sum of damages — $50 billion, plus $60 million in legal fees and costs. One year later, after Russia had made no move…
February 23, 2016
Attorney Tad Bartlett provides legal perspective to The Louisiana Record
From The Louisiana Record: A white paper by Emory University Law Professor Joanna M. Shepherd examines the costs and consequences of the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (LUTPA), but not everyone agrees with her assessment. The 26-page report published by Shepherd and the American Tort Reform Foundation,…
February 18, 2016
Why did Louisiana spend nearly $700 million last year on prisons?
Louisiana imprisons more of its own citizens, per-capita, than any other state in the country. But are the people of Louisiana so much more dangerous than people who live in all the states along its borders — more than in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama? Should its per-capita incarceration…
