The “on demand” economy appears to be the newest front of wage and hour lawsuits targeting non-traditional and independent employment arrangements, Seyfarth Shaw reports.

Rob Whitman and Adam Smiley wrote the article.

“So how is a business supposed to know if a worker may be designated an independent contractor? The Supreme Court has never created a bright-line test,” they wrote. “Rather, the Court supports a totality of the circumstances approach that evaluates the entirety of the economic relationship between the business and the worker.”

The article outlines some cases and factors to consider.

Read the article.

The Expert Institute interviewed several top accounting experts to find out how you can be sure you’re selecting the right accounting expert witness for your next case. Joe O’Neill’s report is available at TheExpertInstitute.com.

“When it comes to complex financial litigation, an expert witness with the skills and training of an accountant can be an essential part of any case, providing answers and insights into the intricacies of company balance sheets or the value of personal property,” he wrote. “With a range of specializations, certifications, and professional backgrounds, selecting an accounting expert witness can present a unique challenge, however the right expert can greatly increase the odds of victory well before a case ever reaches trial.”

Read the report.

FoodLegal, an online publication of Australian Lawyers & Consultants, publishes a roundup of current developments in food law and policy, both Australian and international.

Some of the headings include Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) news, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) news, food-related news and policy on the European Union, the United States and Asia.

Founded in 1986 by managing principal Joe Lederman, the firm developed the FoodLegal division in the mid-1990s as the leading food regulatory specialist offering services in food law, regulatory compliance, education and training, the firm says on its website. With its principal Australian offices located near the heart of the Melbourne Central Business District, FoodLegal advises organizations of all types and sizes from all around the world and throughout Australia. Its clientele includes some of Australia’s most well-known food companies, health and nutrition groups, government agencies, industry bodies, manufacturers and start-ups and many food importers and exporters.

Read the updates.

Drinker Biddle offers a discussion of 10 points to think about in drafting employment agreements that often go overlooked. The white paper is published on the firm’s LaborSphere blog.

The paper covers such topics as severance, fixed term, restrictive covenants, cause, good reason provision, award equity, state law and venue selection, assignment, and more.

Partner David J. Woolf of Philadelphia wrote the paper.

Read the white paper.

Merrill DataSite for Contract Management has developed a complimentary white paper, “Assessing security in contract management systems.”

With security breaches making headlines, understanding potential vendors’ security programs and whether they align with your company’s specific requirements is an important step in the process of selecting a contract management solution.

The paper outlines the four steps to achieve alignment and screen vendors:

1. Identify the access needs of your company
2. Work with vendors to determine capabilities
3. Work with IT to assess vendor capabilities and determine alignment with your company’s needs
4. Meet with IT and selected vendors for a detailed review

Read the white paper.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis has been actively expanding the scope of its mandatory surveys of U.S. and foreign companies and investors to cover many industries and companies that may not have had to report previously, reports Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

These surveys often are announced with little fanfare, but they can involve significant time and expense for affected companies and may lead to substantial civil and criminal penalties for those who fail to comply.

“Given the penalties and reporting burdens involved, these BEA surveys should be on the radar of every general counsel,” the report says. “This article provides an outline of key points that general counsels should be aware of to protect their companies from liability and the steps companies can take to reduce or eliminate their compliance burden, including by engaging directly with BEA officials and advisory groups.

Read the article.

Borrowing base reductions seem a certainty for many oil and gas producers, says a new white paper published by Haynes and Boone.

“While E&P companies continue to cut CAPEX and reduce overhead to conserve cash and look for ways to stretch their borrowing bases, many companies will opt for divesting non-core assets to pay down debt and improve liquidity, in order to survive until commodity prices improve.” the authors write. “The press is full of reports of investors on the sidelines eagerly evaluating opportunities to acquire oil and gas assets at the lower end of the price cycle. Buyers looking to take advantage of this opportunity may be able to save millions of dollars up front with a well-designed title due diligence plan in place prior to starting their transaction process. And, after acquiring the assets, the new owners will find fewer surprises down the road.”

Read the white paper.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not addressed whether the availability of class arbitration is a substantive “gateway” issue for the courts if the parties have not explicitly delegated the decision to the arbitrator or whether it is a procedural question to be decided by arbitrators, points out Moore & Van Allen in a paper published on its MVA Litigation Blog.

“In the absence of a decree from the Supreme Court on this issue, companies could find themselves facing unfavorable, but reviewable, court determinations in some jurisdictions, while being more tightly bound in other jurisdictions by arbitrator determinations subjecting them to class arbitration against their will,” the paper says. “There are, however, steps that companies can and should take to minimize the risk that this conundrum will manifest and derail their dispute resolution strategies.”

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The Bureau of Land Management at the U.S. Department of the Interior has issued a final rule governing drilling and hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal lands, reports Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Updating 25-yearold regulations that did not address fracking in detail, BLM established requirements for fracking requests, well integrity, disclosure of chemicals and storage of recovered fluids, write Sarah A.W. Fitts and Stuart Hammer.

.While the requirements only apply to public lands, some states may use them in formulating their own fracking regulations.

Read the white paper.

By Osipov Georgy Nokka, via Wikimedia Commons

The law relating to intellectual property in Russia has recently been reformed in order to make the regime more user and business friendly. The new system supports businesses looking to protect their intellectual property rights — regardless of whether they are a local or international business — so long as they make their petition in line with the local law.

One of the main concerns in the past has been that enforcement bodies in Russia, such as courts and the police, are biased in favour of local companies, however, this is simply not the case. The courts, customs authorities and police are completely indifferent to the nationality of the person whose rights have been infringed and will uphold the law without regard to the country of origin.

In a white paper posted on PrimaryOpinion.com, Gorodissky & Partners of Moscow offers some advice for international companies looking for efficient protection and exploitation of IP rights in Russia.

Read the white paper.

Employment Screening Resources offers a complimentary white paper that provides an informative introduction to international background screening, what risks employers conducting such screenings should be aware of, and the many ways background screening overseas differs from background screening in the United States.

Employers in the United States have long recognized that conducting due diligence on new hires with background screening is a mission critical task, ESR says on its website. “However, with the mobility of workers across international borders it is no longer adequate to conduct these background screening checks just in the United States. Background screening also must be done internationally since an increasing number of workers have spent part of their professional careers abroad. The number of countries from which U.S. employers seek information about applicants with International Background Screening is expansive, and includes many countries.”

Read the white paper.

Above the Law has posted the fourth installment of Dan Harris’ series on negotiating with Chinese companies. The latest installment focuses on the cultural disconnects that so often impact negotiating between American and Chinese companies.

Topics include the role of the contract, perpetual negotiations, and common ground.

Dan Harris is a founding member of Harris Moure, an international law firm with lawyers in Seattle, Chicago, Beijing, and Qingdao. He is also a co-editor of the China Law Blog.

Read the article.

A survey by J Johnson Executive Search Inc. takes a look at some of the highlights of a critical, and still evolving role: the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in the legal industry.

The report on the survey is available online. Jennifer Johnson Scalz is the author.

“We’ve come a long way from a decade ago when the C-Suite first beckoned,” the report says. “Clearly there’s been a lot of hard work done by long-tenured CMOs who are battle-tested in the industry and from newer CMOs who are shaking things up a bit. With legal experience or not, the legal role is an attractive career option for results-oriented professionals who still want room to shape and evolve the role.”

Read the report.

CARCO Group Inc., a worldwide leader in background screening and investigations, has posted online a white paper that explores the importance of contractor and vendor employee screening.

Published in response to a growing trend by companies to employ contractors and vendors in key roles, along with the need to justify the expense to upper management, the white paper reviews the benefits and best practices of contractor and vendor employee screening. The paper also discusses the risks associated with not screening these workers, CARCO says on its website.

“Most companies today have spent time evaluating and addressing physical security needs, most have also addressed environmental safety concerns, and many companies today practice some form of employee background screening. But many companies fall short on designing and implementing sound vendor and contractor employee screening programs,” notes Fred Giles, CARCO’s Senior Vice President, Research Division.

This white paper addresses some of the traps and dangerous practices that can ensnare the well-intentioned professional, and outlines the elements of a strong vendor employee screening program.

Download the white paper.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently issued an important decision that highlights a few important takeaways for all government contractors, reports The Federal Government Contracts & Procurement Blog.

The case is K-Con Building Systems, Inc. v. United States, Case No. 2014-5062.

Documents in the case indicate that K-Con Building Systems, Inc. (K-Con) entered into a contract to construct a building for the United States Coast Guard.  After a delay in contract completion, the federal government imposed liquidated damages (or LDs).  K-Con presented three discrete claims against the federal government in the Court of Federal Claims: (1) remission of LDs on the grounds that the LDs clause was unenforceable, (2) remission of LDs on the grounds that K-Con was entitled to a time extension, and (3) additional compensation for constructive changes.

Read the article.

A white paper published by ICF International examines how different oil price scenarios will have varied implications, strategies, and opportunities for producers, midstream developers, and investors. Key discussion topics include oil and gas prices and strategic implications and opportunities for the oil, natural gas, and NGL sectors.

ICF manager Dr. Ananth Chikkatur wrote the paper.

“Recent declines in oil prices have halted several production and midstream investments and have increased the risks for new projects, ICF says on its website. “However, opportunities always exist for those with an eye to the longer term. Reduced oil prices can help increase efficiency and ‘cut the fat’ across the industry. Savvy companies are focused on identifying new opportunities and making the most out of the assets they own.”

Read the white paper.

An increase in U.S. domestic crude oil and natural gas production coupled with transportation infrastructure limitations have resulted in supply and demand imbalances across the country and increased market price volatilities, reports a white paper posted by Oil & Gas Financial Journal and sponsored by Opportune.

As a result of the imbalances and volatilities, energy companies continue to enter into OTC and exchange traded energy derivative instruments to manage commodity price risk.

“While these energy derivatives can be effective economic hedges, they do present management with challenges springing from the complex rules that dictate how they should be recorded in financial statements,” the report says.

The article discusses the complex accounting rules for these instruments as well as the accounting challenges specific to the energy industry.

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Cyber threats to oil and gas production — both cyber espionage campaigns and damaging cyber-attacks — are increasing, according to a white paper published by Oil and Gas IQ.

“Securing workforce and supply chain access to your data is a vital component of your defense against these cyber threats,” the paper says. “A robust Vendor Management System (VMS) can help protect your data and provide visibility into who has access to both your physical and intellectual property at all times.”

The white paper covers:

* Why your non-employee workforce data should be independently audited and certified

* Why single-tenant architecture keeps your data more secure

* Why the physical location of your data centre matters

* Why you should know your VMS provider’s disaster contingency plans

Read the white paper.

The need for innovation in the oil and gas sector has been recognised throughout the industry. Faced with lower commodity prices, increasingly difficult geographical locations, and the search for unconventional energy sources, maximizing productivity through investments in R&D is central to ongoing profitability and commercial success, according to a new article posted by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.

“Service and equipment providers have traditionally been leading innovators in the sector and are investing increasing amounts in R&D. For example, in 2013 alone, Halliburton invested US$588 million in R&D, an increase of more than $100 million on its 2012 investment,” writes the authors of the piece, writes Rebekah  Gay, Benjamin Cameron and Camille Sullivan. “For the leaders in the field, this expenditure corresponds to large patent portfolios, with companies such as Schlumberger and Baker Hughes being in the top 100 patent filers in the US.”

Oil and gas companies themselves, however, have been slower to recognize the value of innovation and intellectual property, she writes.

Read the article.

When bringing processes online, the question on most organizations’ minds is no longer whether electronic signatures are legal. Rather, how reliable is the technology? How can the risks associated with electronic transactions be minimized? How do businesses relying on electronic signatures fare in settlement negotiations? And failing settlement, do judges admit and enforce electronically signed records in courts when contested?

Silanis Inc. has posted a free white paper that answers those questions.

This six-page article serves to answer these questions, as well as outline how organizations can leverage electronic signatures in settlement when contested, and, failing settlement, effectively prepare for court should a dispute reach that point. The article reflects the recommendations of Greg Casamento, Partner at Locke Lord LLP, and Frank Zacherl, partner at Shutts & Bowen LLP.

Read the white paper.