The biggest news of the week in Suits by Suits is the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawson v. FMR LLC, which was handed down on Tuesday. Our Jason Knott weighed in with two excellent, in-depth pieces examining both the majority opinion as well as the concurring and dissenting opinions (including the very unusual dissenting lineup of Sotomayor, Kennedy, and Alito). We think this is a groundbreaking decision for whistleblowers and employers that will continue to affect the legal landscape for years. Other analysts have weighed in on Lawson, including the ABA and The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
Of course, that’s not all that happened in the news this week:
Here at our polar vortex bunker in the freezing Nation’s Capital, supplies are running short and we’re vigorously debating whether we should make a mad dash to the Suits by SuitsMobile and drive straight down to visit our colleagues in Tampa, Florida, or just tough it out and pray/chant/hope that the cold will ultimately break. In the meantime, we’ve defrosted the following interesting bits of news from the world of executive employment issues:
Here at the Suits by Suits Worldwide Operations Center, weather continues to have us flummoxed, vexed, and annoyed: even though a famous Pennsylvania rodent discerned that we would have six more weeks of our brutal winter, we’ve had a pleasant warm spell that is about to come to a crushing end due to a storm front that goes by the curious name of "Texas Hooker" (we did not make that up). And we’re about to be plunged back into the depths of the polar vortex yet again – although our earlier bouts with the grim chill may have wiped out our area’s growing population of stink bugs.
In any event, we always take shelter from the storms, the cold, and the heat by digging into our Inbox of interesting developments in executive employment disputes and the issues that surround them, including:
Love is in the air as couples celebrate Valentine’s Day with chocolates, flowers and romantic dinners. But there’s no love lost between some employers and their executives, as this week’s Inbox shows:
Our legal world was abuzz this week with the news that the law firm of Quinn Emmanuel will inaugurate a "work away week" in which its lawyers will be given $2,000, told to travel to anywhere in the world (so long as they have 24/7 internet access) and work from the beach or travel destination of your choice. We here at Suits by Suits aren't quite so fortunate, but we do have all the inside information about the latest disputes between employers and employees:
Here at Suits by Suits Polar Vortex Centre, the debate rages even as the hours tick down to kickoff: who should we root for in Sunday’s big game, the Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks? Both teams’ home bases, from our point of view, have much to commend them in terms of the executive employment issues we love so much. Seattle is home to Robinson Cano’s almost-quarter-billion-dollar deal with the Seattle Mariners – maybe not C-suite, but a great employment arrangement in and of itself. Colorado, on the other hand, has given us some toothy stories over the years: from kidnapping to wrongful termination related to speech and a neat case on national origin discrimination.
But since our beloved Washington football club was essentially eliminated from contention in about, er, October, none of it has really mattered much to us.
In any event, before you dig into the chili and chicken wings (or not), here are some of the week’s most interesting happenings that concern executive-employer relationships:
No, this headline is not a pun about the closed on-ramps to the George Washington Bridge. Rather, it’s meant to acknowledge that as the New Year gets into full swing, folks are starting to ramp up their analysis of ongoing issues in disputes that involve executives and their employers. We’ve seen a number of interesting stories and summaries cross our desk:
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night – and certainly not a batch of freezing rain and ice that’s currently paralyzing the greater Baltimore-Washington area right now – stays your trusty editors from the swift completion of their appointed rounds; namely, bringing you the weekly roundup of Suits by Suits:
As the regulatory and business environments in which our clients operate grow increasingly complex, we identify and offer perspectives on significant legal developments affecting businesses, organizations, and individuals. Each post aims to address timely issues and trends by evaluating impactful decisions, sharing observations of key enforcement changes, or distilling best practices drawn from experience. InsightZS also features personal interest pieces about the impact of our legal work in our communities and about associate life at Zuckerman Spaeder.
Information provided on InsightZS should not be considered legal advice and expressed views are those of the authors alone. Readers should seek specific legal guidance before acting in any particular circumstance.
John J. Connolly
Partner
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Andrew N. Goldfarb
Partner
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