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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION YEAR - Here's some good news for all those in-house lawyers who were hoping this year would bring them even more work: as Law.com's Chris O'Malley reports, legal departments will grapple with a heavy load of new employment laws taking effect in 2024, particularly in worker-friendly states like California, Illinois and New York. For instance, several states and cities are rolling out new laws forcing employers to boost pay and to grant employees additional leave. California, meanwhile, is cracking down hard on noncompete provisions. While the state already generally bans such postemployment restrictions, it may now impose civil penalties against employers that try to secure and enforce these agreements.

APPEALING ARRAY - The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a slew of high-profile cases this year, from a major challenge to administrative agencies' power to the scope of the obstruction charge applied in Jan. 6 prosecutions. SCOTUS-heads are understandably hyped, but don't sleep on the federal appellate courts, who have some doozies on their dockets for 2024 too. As Law.com's Avalon Zoppo reports, circuit courts across the country will be tackling an eclectic array of issues including venue tests in false statements prosecutions, the Inflation Reduction Act's drug pricing negotiation program, the "actual malice" standard for bringing defamation claims and the EPA's nationwide plan for curbing the interstate travel of ozone pollution.

ON THE RADAR - Robin S. Weiss and Charles E. Murphy of Clark Hill have stepped in to represent Marvele, Jigar Patel and other defendants in a pending securities lawsuit. The complaint, filed Nov. 17 in Florida Southern District Court by Greenberg Traurig on behalf of 2 3 Suited, accuses Patel of fraudulently inducing the plaintiff to purchase shares of Devi Holdings Inc. stock by deliberately concealing $13 million of undisclosed tax liability owed by Devi and making false and misleading statements regarding Devi's tax liability and overall financial condition. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks, is 9:23-cv-81503, 2 3 Suited, LLC v. Patel et al. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar 


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