Federal Government

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the worst medical outbreak of the disease in recorded history. Currently, there are no treatments or vaccines proven to be safe or effective for the Ebola virus, and investigational vaccines and treatments are only in the early stages of development. As such, the primary approach to containing the virus includes identifying and isolating infected people, and ensuring that health care workers have access to protective equipment.

While the current Ebola outbreak is a natural epidemic, the idea that the virus could be used as a bioterrorist threat has been considered. Accordingly, the potential for obtaining Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002 (SAFETY Act) protection for products or services related to fighting the Ebola virus is not completely far-fetched.

* Will we have a nominee for Attorney General Eric Holder’s position “shortly after the election”? Per a White House spokesperson, our lame-duck Congress might just get a chance to confirm America’s next top lawyer. [WSJ Law Blog]

* In the wake of an associate general counsel’s suicide last week, Deutsche Bank has taken steps to further separate its legal and compliance teams to tamp down on its “legal and regulatory headaches.” Well then. [Corporate Counsel]

* David Tresch, Mayer Brown’s former chief information officer, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in bilking the firm out of $4.8 million. Hey, it could’ve been worse, says his lawyer, whose client got off relatively easily. [Am Law Daily]

* Thanks to the rise of the “energy phenomenon,” law schools have started to offer various classes focusing on oil and gas law in the hopes of making their graduates employable. Good luck with that. [Times Online]

* If you plan to retake the LSAT, you need to study smarter. Don’t sweat it too much, though — it’s not like you’ve got a lot of competition trying to apply to law school. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

The clock is running down for the FCC’s sports blackout rules. The two-minute warning (actually, the 31-day warning) has been whistled.

Last Friday, in the wake of numerous data breaches, President Obama signed a new Executive Order that will change how federal agencies use payment cards and allow access to certain government portals. Those changes include the adoption of chip-and-PIN (also known as EMV) payment terminals and cards, and the implementation of multi-factor authentication on digital applications where consumers can access personal information.

Ed note: This post originally appeared on Bankruptcy Law Insights. The perception that public employee pension obligations cannot be impaired in bankruptcy suffered a damaging blow several months ago in the City of Detroit bankruptcy case, and has now been fatally wounded by the recent ruling of Judge Christopher Klein in the Chapter 9 case […]

Ed note: This post originally appeared on CommLawBlog. With SuperPAC money flowing and political ads running on Internet streams, caution in dealing with political spots is in order. There may be just a few weeks remaining in this election season, but broadcasters should be paying attention – now and in future elections – to an […]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of focusing on a niche practice area?

Which distinguished lower-court judge came extremely close to landing a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court?

Ed note: This post originally appeared on InfoLawGroup. California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law an amendment to California’s data breach notification law on Monday. Although at least one news outlet has reported that the law requires a company to offer credit monitoring services, this interpretation is misguided. Rather, the law only places restrictions on […]

Ed note: This post originally appeared on Reed Smith’s Global Regulatory Enforcement Law Blog. Unmanned aerial cameras have been legal in other parts of the world but prohibited for commercial use in the United States until last week, with the limited exception of two commercial-drone operations, which the FAA had previously approved for Alaskan oil […]

Petition against a broadcast license renewal cites offensive nature of “Redskins” name as basis for denial. Should the FCC really be involved with this?

Who are some of the legal luminaries being suggested as possible AG picks?

Every election season there is the same refrain from candidates who are attacked in political ads run on broadcast stations – that ad is unfair and the broadcaster who is running it should take it off the air. Sometime, that request is sent by a lawyer with threats to bring legal actions if the broadcaster does not stop airing the ad. What is a broadcaster to do when it gets one of these requests to pull a political ad from the air? While we have written about this issue many times before (see, for instance, our refreshers on the rules with respect to candidate ads, here, and non-candidate, third-party attack ads, here), questions still come up all the time. Thus, broadcasters need to know the rules so that they don’t pull an ad that they are not allowed to censor under the FCC’s rules, and that they don’t run one for which they could in fact have liability.

The battle to confirm Eric Holder’s successor will be messy, according to conservative columnist Tamara Tabo.

You won't have Eric Holder to kick around anymore.

In this age social media justice, sooner or later you’re going to have an encounter with a negative online review, whether your a business owner, or simply a consumer. It seems like it’s becoming an accepted aspect of our lives. Increasingly, however, consumer reviews posted on various Internet sites are becoming the subject of litigation.

How does the PMF program work, and when is the application deadline?

Federal employees caught up in Congressional or inspector general investigations are another sad example; they can be hit with massive fees for something they have no control over.

Are you aware of all these great job opportunities for graduating law students and recent law school graduates?