Autonomous Vehicles Drive New Practice for Fisher Phillips
The labor and employment firm's new autonomous vehicles practice addresses workplace issues surrounding driverless cars and other new technologies.
September 10, 2018 at 01:21 PM
3 minute read
Fisher Phillips has revved up an autonomous cars practice to address workplace issues driven by the fast-developing new technology.
Undeterred by recent slowdowns—and the inevitable liability issues—in the development of driverless vehicles, the national labor and employment firm has assembled a multidisciplinary practice to advise management on ancillary issues: workplace safety; labor, unionizing and collective bargaining; gig economy workers; employee defection and trade secrets; data privacy and security; and government advocacy.
Michael Greco, a specialist in trade secrets and restrictive covenants law, is leading the 23-lawyer practice from Denver for Fisher Phillips, which has more than 370 lawyers in 32 U.S. offices.
“Autonomous vehicles are on the brink of changing our lives in dramatic ways,” Greco said in a statement.
Standard and Poor's predicts that driverless cars will make up a 2 percent to 30 percent share of vehicle sales by 2030. The emerging technology “will have profound impacts on how employers manage and interact with employees,” Greco said.
That includes companies involved in the development, production and operation of autonomous vehicles, ranging from manufacturers to trucking companies. What's more, venture capital firms, private equity and multi-family housing investors that are investing in autonomous vehicles need advice in employment-related matters for their portfolio companies, according to Fisher Phillips.
The autonomous vehicles industry is “technology-based and information-driven,” the firm says, so departing employees present risks of trade secret theft and unfair competition. Information shared through the supply chain is also at risk.
Data privacy and cybersecurity are other big concerns, since driverless cars use extensive digital information to operate. An autonomous vehicle relies on external sensors—camera, radar and laser-based light rays called lidar—to “see” what's around it and how to respond, guided by digital maps–all of which present hacking risks.
That will require massive upgrades to infrastructure, Fisher Phillips predicts, requiring government partnerships with the private sector that could raise employment issues for companies.
Autonomous vehicles are also being used increasingly in the workplace, presenting unique safety concerns to avoid accidents and make sure companies are compliant with government regulations.
What's more, autonomous vehicles will likely reduce the number of employees in driving industries. The trucking industry employs almost 3.5 million workers, according to Fisher Phillips associate Anet Drapalski, in an entry in the firm's new Autonomous Vehicles blog. Unions will fight the loss of these jobs, so new collective bargaining agreements are needed—while new jobs are expected in engineering, data analysis, cybersecurity and vehicle monitoring.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'Stock Car Monopoly'?: Winston Lawsuit Alleges NASCAR Anticompetitive Scheme
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Cravath Elevates 7 to Partnership, Up From Last Year
- 2Kline & Specter Hit With Lawsuit From Another Former Associate
- 3USPTO Director Kathi Vidal Announces Resignation Ahead of Administration Change
- 4As Gen AI Acceptance Grows, Lawyers Race to Mitigate Risks
- 5Decisions Have 'Real-Life Consequences': Juvenile Court Judge Considered for Appellate Bench
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250