Civil Law

2026 Shareholder Proposal Season and Look Forward

The annual shareholder proposal season often serves as a useful barometer of investor priorities, corporate governance trends, and emerging areas of potential D&O risk. This year, however, the proxy season also provided a glimpse into what may become a fundamentally different shareholder activism landscape.

On June 5, 2026, the Cooley law firm published its 2026 Shareholder Proposal Season Early Review and Look Ahead to 2027 (Cooley Report).  The report provided a mid-season review of 2026 shareholder proposals, showing, in part, … Read the rest

Civil Law

EEOC’s New National Enforcement Plan Signals Shift Toward Intentional Discrimination and DEI Enforcement

On June 4, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) approved its National Enforcement Plan (“NEP”) for FY2025 – FY2029, rescinding and replacing the agency’s FY2024 – FY2028 Strategic Enforcement Plan (“SEP”) before that plan’s scheduled endpoint. The NEP identifies and focuses the agency’s attention and resources on specific substantive categories of enforcement priorities including (1) “remedying DEI-related race and sex discrimination”; (2) “protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination”; (3) “defending women’s rights to single-sex spaces at work … Read the rest

Civil Law

How to Get More Value From Every Event You Host or Sponsor

Law firms invest enormous amounts of time, energy and money into events. Between sponsorships, client receptions, seminars, roundtables, webinars and conferences, events often represent one of the largest investments in a firm’s marketing and business development budget. Attorneys spend hours preparing presentations. Marketing and business development teams manage logistics, invitations and promotions. Weeks or even months of planning go into making sure everything runs smoothly.

Given that level of investment, you’d think every firm would have a clear strategy for … Read the rest

Civil Law

April 2026 Consumer Litigation Filings: All Major Statutes Up for the First Time in Over a Year

Statistics for April consumer litigation filings are in, and, for the first time in over a year, all three of the top consumer protection statutes moved up month-over-month. According to a report by WebRecon, court filings under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) all increased in April compared to March. This is the first time since March 2025 that all three statutes have been up in the same … Read the rest

Civil Law

Federally Reported Multistate Listeria Outbreaks since January 2024 — CDC, FDA & USDA-FSIS

This covers multistate Listeria monocytogenes outbreaks in which CDC, the FDA, and/or USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) were the lead investigating agencies, with illness activity reported or investigations advanced from January 2024 onward. 

1. Queso Fresco & Cotija Cheese — Rizo-López Foods (Feb 2024)

Lead agencies: FDA + CDC (with FSIS public health alerts for downstream products).

This was a long-running outbreak reopened and solved in early 2024. The outbreak sickened 26 people across 11 states between June … Read the rest

Civil Law

The Balancing Act – Navigating the ESG & Anti-ESG Movements

Intelligize Webinar | June 3, 2026
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Register here.

The ESG landscape has shifted significantly in recent years, presenting new challenges for organizations operating in this rapidly evolving space. In this session, we will explore the legal and regulatory risks emerging on both sides of the ESG debate and examine the impact of key regulatory developments in the United States and Europe.

Our presenters will address the following topics:

  • The Sustainable Finance Market. An analysis of
… Read the rest
Civil Law

Memorial Day 2026: Arlington National Cemetery And Takings

Programming note: On the weekend we’ve set aside to remember our nation’s war dead, we thought we’d repost this one, about how Arlington National Cemetery came to be,. And yes, there’s a takings story there.

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You know how we’re always saying that the provisions in the Takings Clause are “self-executing,” that even in the absence of a waiver of sovereign immunity, the Tucker Act, and section 1983, property owners would still be able to maintain a claim for compensation? … Read the rest

Civil Law

Event in Review | Ad Agency Contracts: Key Negotiating Points, Leverage, and Getting to Win-Win

Advertising agency agreements require careful balancing of legal risk, commercial realities, and long-term working relationships. In a recent webinar, Venable partner Barry M. Benjamin discussed how brands and agencies can structure agreements that support collaboration while addressing the unique issues that arise in creative services, media buying, influencer marketing, and promotions administration.

Whether you are negotiating an agency agreement for creative services, media buying, influencer marketing, or promotions administration, each area has particular concerns. Because difficult initial contract negotiations may … Read the rest