“Apple has tentatively agreed to a $500 million settlement after admitting to slowing down older phones. The deal would provide small payouts for many iPhone owners in the US, plus greater compensation for named class members and attorneys. It covers people who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 lineup — which Apple secretly throttled to conserve battery life.” reports Adi Robertson in The Verge.

“As Bloomberg Law notes, the settlement was filed in a California court last Friday and is awaiting final court approval. The deal — which took months to negotiate — would resolve dozens of class action lawsuits that were filed between 2017 and 2018, then later consolidated into one complaint.”

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“While organizations make significant investments in protecting their data from outside infiltration, they can often overlook the serious threats that exist within their own workforce. According to a 2020 study released by the Ponemon Institute, the biggest threat in terms of disclosure of sensitive information comes from so-called “insider threats,” in the form of employees who disclose protected information or provide a means of access to that information to third parties, either unwittingly or otherwise. That threat has only grown in recent years, increasing by 47% in the last two years alone,” reports Risa B. Boerner in Fisher Phillips Newsletters.

She further breaks down her article into the following sections:

• The Costs Can Be Staggering
• Why The Recent Surge?
• First Steps: Awareness + Training
• Advanced Tactics

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“Legal marketing is a relatively new concept. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that the ethics rules began to change, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, in which attorney advertising was deemed to be commercially protected speech.” discusses Nicole Black in ABA Journal’s Web First.

“Since then, ethics regulations have been modified to permit attorney advertising, and the vast majority of lawyers now advertise their services in one way or another.”

“With online advertising leading the way, there is an increased need to track and manage legal marketing efforts. That’s where legal client relationship management tools come in.”

“Typically, this software streamlines the lead intake process and then provides tools to manage communications and appointments with potential clients. Other features often included are the ability to run analytics and create reports that provide insight into lead sources and the lead management process.”

Nicole discusses some legal-specific CRM options.

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“Legal technologies promise to flourish in the coming decade, and although it is not possible to predict all the innovations that are likely to become mainstream, the use of smart contracts appears to be on the rise. A typical smart contract uses computers and code to automate performance of some or all of the parties’ obligations. However, the legal terms of the contract are likely to remain in written form in a contract that people can read. If a dispute arises, the parties may prefer arbitration as an alternative to court, but arbitration doesn’t happen on its own – it typically requires a properly drafted arbitration clause.”

Steven K. Davidson, Michael J. Baratz, Jared R. Butcher and Molly Bruder Fox provide some tips in Steptoe’s News/Publications to keep in mind when considering how to draft these clauses.

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Read the LawSite’s article.

“Limitation of liability provisions place limits on the amounts that the parties would otherwise be able to recover in court.” Rob Scott of Scott Technology Attorneys in the blog discusses how “Broad limitations of liability in IT contracts have given way to more balanced approaches where certain types of claims are carved out from the limitation altogether.”

“Limitations of liability clauses in AI contracts are particularly important given the unsettled nature of the law in this area.”

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“Sneaky data can be the most lethal to any corporate entity – the data that hides in the dark corners of most companies and goes largely unnoticed – until is it found by a bad actor.” warn Gina Ginn Greenwood and Brad Moody of Baker Donelson’s Publications.

Many copiers today are equipped with smart technology, allowing confidential data to be stored when scanning, printing, faxing, etc. In light of this, organizations must treat copiers as other smart technology. The authors provide a list of best practices for managing smart copiers/equipment.

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