As the new year approaches, now is the perfect time for employees and employers alike to review key employment law changes to understand their rights, ensure compliance, and prepare for what’s coming starting January 1st. As an employment law expert and legal commentator, my goal is to cut through the complexity of the current landscape.
New California Employment Laws in 2026: What Employees & Employers Need to Know
The pace of legislative change in California remains fast and aggressive. Looking forward to the end of year festivities, a suite of new California employment laws in 2026 will take effect, drastically altering compliance requirements for employers and significantly expanding the rights of employees across the state. These laws touch upon everything from how you
Sam Altman Is Worried (And With Good Reason)
OpenAI’s Sam Altman has recently reacted with irritation and defensiveness when confronted in podcast and interview settings about the massive contrast between OpenAI’s annual revenue, reportedly between $13–$20 billion, and its commitment to spend over $1.4 trillion on compute and data center contracts over the next several years.
In a recent interview, Altman dismissed
The State of AI in the Current Legal Landscape: Interview with Relativity’s Cristin Traylor
At Relativity Fest, I sat down with Cristin Traylor, Senior Director of AI Transformation and Law Firm Strategy at Relativity to talk about how generative AI is rapidly transforming the legal landscape.
The post The State of AI in the Current Legal Landscape: Interview with Relativity’s Cristin Traylor appeared first on eDiscovery Today by Doug
Like Lawyers in Pompeii: Is Legal Ignoring the Coming AI Trust Crisis? Part Three
Part Three of the AI crisis series from myself and Melissa Rogozenski : The trust breakdown that’s making legal practice unsustainable. When senior partners spend evenings checking associates’ citations and local counsel can’t trust national counsel’s briefs, we’re not just dealing with verification costs, we’re watching decades-old professional relationships crumble. The AI bubble isn’t just
Hottest Patent Term of 2026? SMED.
Every year has its “it” term.In 2025, the crown belonged to AI, and rightfully so. AI dominated the headlines, flooded the USPTO’s dockets, and triggered more §101 rejections than any examiner would care to admit. If you worked in tech, you had to talk about AI. If you worked in patent law, you likely had
Troutman Pepper Locke Weekly Consumer Financial Services Newsletter – December 9, 2025
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patenting Handbook: Version 3.0
PatentNext Summary: Announcing the IPO’s AI Patenting Handbook V3.0, which is a newly updated third edition of IPO’s practical guide for attorneys working with AI-related inventions and technologies. It offers a clear framework for understanding modern AI (including foundation models and generative AI), drafting and prosecuting stronger AI patent applications, and navigating enforcement, global practice, and emerging AI inventorship and governance issues—designed as a day-to-day reference for in-house and outside counsel.
Social Media Scrutiny: What the New H-1B and H-4 Visa Policy Means for Your Workforce
Beginning December 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) will significantly expand its social media screening practices to include all H-1B Nonimmigrant Worker visa applicants and their H-4 dependents applying for visas at U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad. The H-1B visa allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers for professional jobs that require specialized education, such as doctors, engineers, financial analysts, university professors, scientists, tech professionals, and others.
Justicia Lab and New York Legal Assistance Group launch new chatbot Reclamo AI to help New Yorkers understand and address wage theft
NEW YORK —Today Justicia Lab – Pro Bono Net’s nonprofit innovation incubator for technology solutions supporting the worker and immigrant rights movement – along with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) announced the launch of Reclamo AI. The tool is a multilingual, mobile-first digital assistant that helps low-wage and immigrant workers to prevent,