In House

"Oh, so that's how tips work." The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Amazon to pay out $61.7 million to the company's Flex drivers, following an investigation that discovered the company was keeping nearly one-third of driver tips. Amazon Caught Using Driver Tips to Cover Base Pay This isn't the first time gig drivers have made this complaint, either.

With remote workforces unlikely to return en masse any time soon, it is worth revisiting how corporate counsel are handling this novel work environment. It appears to be going well. Well enough, at least, that many companies are considering shifting permanently to more flexible work arrangements. The Association of Corporate Counsel has been polling members regarding remote work experiences. In June, almost 90% of respondents indicated they are currently working from home.

As work wellness programs have grown in popularity in recent years, there have been significant pushes by businesses large and small to encourage participation among employees. Wellness programs can involve weight loss and physical activity, behavioral treatment, smoking cessation, and medical examinations. In theory, this improves the health and productivity of workers and can help to lower costs for a business.

According to the general counsel of 50 of the nation's top corporations, federal courts are not sufficiently exercising their gatekeeping power under federal evidentiary rules to ensure that expert testimony “is the product of reliable principles and methods.

The tools to move e-discovery in house have been around for years. Only recently, however, has a narrow majority of in-house departments spent the time and money necessary to develop a dedicated e-discovery team, according to a recent survey by Exterro. According to the survey, in 2019 51% of in-house legal departments have either IT staff or legal personnel that performs e-discovery. Most companies use internal e-discovery teams for information retention and processing.

Law firms are naturally reticent to change. That means a real push for diversity in the legal profession requires more than good intentions. It takes a concerted effort and actionable steps to jar firms out of the status quo. Toward that end, in January of 2019, 170 general counsel signed an open letter to law firms stating that they would prioritize legal spend on firms that included a diverse lawyer workforce.